First, we welcome our new families, whether in kindergarten or one of the other grades! We sincerely hope you will find a home here at Highland as your child grows through their elementary years. We strive to make Highland a welcoming place, where all students and families know they belong and are included and our many differences are valued. We look

forward to meeting you in person and to welcoming all of our returning families to a new school year! It's going to be another good one!

Mark your calendars for these opening of schools events:

We hope to see you at the upcoming PTA Popsicle Playdate on Thursday, August 21 from 5:30-7 pm on our playground! The PTA supports our school in so many ways and we appreciate their efforts to build community and kick the year off right!

We hope that you will find a way to be involved in the PTA this year, by volunteering to help at (or lead!) family events or contributing to teacher appreciation events or attending the PTA meetings, etc.

We are very pleased to welcome the following new members of the teaching staff:

Ms. Sydney Anderson (Grade 2)

Mrs. Jacquie Foley (Reading Intervention)

Ms. Frazish Khan (Multilingual Learner Specialist)

Ms. Claire Durwood (RISE Program Gr 3-5)

Ms. Ariel Swain (RISE Program Gr K-2)

Ms. Sarah Sullivan (RISE Program Speech Therapist)

Ms. Claire Schuette (RISE Program Social Worker)

Ms. Ami Denenberg (RISE Program Psychologist)

We are excited to welcome the following new teachers' assistants to the Highland team:

Ms. TiErika Hunt (RISE Program)

Mr. Tom Nakic (RISE Program)

Ms. Shanela Azam (RISE Program)

Ms. Alanna Kish (RISE Program)

Ms. Jasmin Smith (RISE Program)

Ms. Maleyna Cabrera

Ms. Athanasia Hester

Monday 8:40 am -2:30 pm

Tuesday-Friday 8:40 am -3:30 pm

The school calendar is linked here. We will also send you an easy to read list of days off of school so you can update your personal calendar.

School supplies lists can be found linked here or on your Parent Square app.

Breakfast is available for students who need it from 8:25-8:40 am.

Lunch can be ordered from the classroom teacher on a daily basis. Students have a number of options to choose from. Use Infinite Campus to add money to the account if your child pays for lunch. A menu is sent home at the beginning of the month and the options are also on the district website.

Snacks please send a healthy snack with your child each day. We do not have the capacity to provide students with snacks.

Drop off and Pick up times are one of our biggest challenges for student safety at Highland. Our safety plans only work if everyone does their part. Please note the following:

● The front driveway is for buses and staff only.

Entry for breakfast is through the front door. Drop your child at the corner of Payne and they can walk down the front sidewalk to the front door.

● There is no parking on the school side of Payne St. That area is for "drop and go". You may not leave your car.

● We do not have crossing guards around the school and school staff are not able to cross children. Please cross with your child at the intersections.

● Supervision on the playground begins at 8:30 am. No child should be on the playground before 8:30 am.

After the first day, Grade 1-5 parents are not permitted on the playground before school. Please leave your child at the gate to make their way to the lines. School staff will be there to assist them.

Kindergarten and RISE Program parents are permitted for the first week to walk their child to the line. We ask that you do not linger, this is part of the transition process. After that first week, we ask that you also leave the mat the gate.

Dismissal will be at the following doors. Parents should meet their child at the door assigned to their child's class.

Door 7- Allen, Cahill, Hussain, Hoefler

Door 6- Swain, Durwood, Byas, Barnett

Door 5- Clemmons, Stevens, Pascarella, Rowen, Anderson

Payne St. Door- Burrell, Holden, Nielsen, Cooney, and Linforth

Bus service is handled by our transportation department, not the school. Please call them with any questions whether about service or a late bus. We don't always have the information here at Highland nor do we assign buses, etc. The quickest way to get the information you need is to contact them directly. The number is 847-568-7625 or 847-676-9000.

Please be patient on the first days or snowy days as the routes can take a few extra minutes.

Your stop and times are available to you in your Infinite Campus Parent Portal.

Being at school every day is very important! Students who are frequently absent quickly fall behind their peers. However, everyone gets sick sometimes and has to miss school. Please keep your child home if they have a fever, diarrhea or are throwing up. If your child wakes up not feeling well but begins to feel better later int he day, bring them to school--a partial day of attendance is better than missing the whole day.

Student absence is reported through Infinite Campus or Parent Square. You do not need to call the school to report your child's absence. Simply complete the information in IC or PS to let us know the reason. As usual, we will follow up with you if more information is needed.

You are kindly requested to try to schedule appointments for outside of school hours. If it is necessary to schedule an appointment during school hours, consider if your child needs to miss the whole day or could come for at least part of the day.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us.