August 25, 2023
Dear CH-UH Staff & Families,
Welcome to a new school year! First and foremost, I hope that everyone is staying safe in the wake of last night’s storms. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we worked through today’s school closure. It was certainly an unexpected way to end the week, but we’re nothing if not flexible in Tiger Nation.
I’ve enjoyed visiting the buildings over the last couple of weeks as staff and students returned, seeing smiling faces and feeling that unmistakable Heights energy all around. As we prepare for our first full week of school, I want to provide you with some key updates and information.
Updated Kindergarten & Preschool/Pre-K Dates
Today’s school cancellation will affect our kindergarten and preschool start schedules. Details:
Kindergarten
Our Kindergarten Staggered Start Day 3 for students with last names S-Z will now take place on Monday, August 28. This pushes back the start date for ALL Kindergartners to Tuesday, August 29. Due to the delay, phone calls for classroom placements will take place after 3:30 p.m. on Monday, August 28.
Preschool/Pre-K
Preschool and Pre-K Orientations scheduled for today, August 25, are rescheduled for the same times on Wednesday, August 30. The first day of preschool and pre-kindergarten will now be Thursday, August 31.
Staying connected
Did you receive this morning’s robocall, email, and text message about the school closures? If you didn’t, you may need to update your information in Infinite Campus. Instructions:
Staff | Families (requires an Infinite Campus account)
For families, if you do not yet have an Infinite Campus account, please fill out this short form to request one. Once the account is created, you will receive a notification via email. Through Infinite Campus, you can also access your child’s attendance, grades, schedule, test scores, assignments, and report cards. Please contact Mary Pigott at [email protected] if you have any questions.
Attendance - Every Minute Counts
These last few years have shown us just how much being in school positively impacts our students. The District continues to focus on monitoring chronic absence (missing 10% or more of the school year or 18 days over an entire year). The district target for daily attendance is 92% and chronic absenteeism is 28% for the 23-24 school year. I want to share some of our strategies to improve attendance this year and reach these goals.
The District is continuing our partnership with Every Day labs, which launched last year. EveryDay labs sends mail and text communications to families of students who are at risk of chronic absenteeism throughout the year to help them keep their students’ attendance on track. These nudges are research backed, proven to improve student attendance, and encourage families to connect with their school sites.
Attendance intervention will be based on a three-tier approach - prevention-oriented supports (Tier 1), more personalized outreach or early intervention (Tier 2), and intensive intervention (Tier 3).
Schools will continue to provide incentives for students who improve or maintain good attendance.
Our overall attendance campaign slogan this year is “Every Minute Counts.” You will see this slogan in our future attendance communications as well as in schools.
Support is always available. Contact your child’s school principal, counselor, or social worker if you have concerns about your child’s attendance.
At-school care with MetroHealth
MetroHealth will continue to offer on-site health care services to students, their families, and our employees. Services include physicals (athletic, work permit, and routine), immunizations, injury/illness care, lab tests, prescription medications and more. There is never a co-pay or out-of-pocket expenses for students and insurance is accepted.
The new Heights Wellness Center at the high school is open 2-3 days a week, and the mobile unit will begin visiting other schools in September. A complete Fall schedule for the wellness center and mobile unit is available here. To make an appointment, call 216-957-1303 or email [email protected]. You can also request an appointment through your school nurse.
Enrolling your child is easy - simply submit the online consent form. The consent form remains active for students for as long as they attend CH-UH Schools.
Heights Family Academy returns in September
The beloved CH-UH event will take place on Saturday, September 16 from 9 a.m. to noon. at Heights High School. This year’s focus is on equity in our schools. We are proud to welcome our District’s partner in this work, ICS Equity, to facilitate Part 4 of their Community Equity Ally Academy. Keep an eye out for additional details as we get closer to the event (and join us virtually for Part 3 on August 31!).
I wish you a happy, successful start of the school year. And best of luck to our 1-0 varsity football team as they take on New Jersey’s Paramus Catholic High School tomorrow at 1 p.m. at home.
GO TIGERS!
Sincerely,
Superintendent Liz Kirby