Sep 2, 20221 min read

Family Newsletter- 9.2.22

Harwood Families -

And, we’re off!

It has been a beautiful start to the 2022-2023 school year. Hawood 7th and 9th graders had a day to acclimate to the community on Monday before the arrival of 10th -12th graders on Tuesday during which we came together Harwood 7-12 to kick off the start of the school year in our first assembly.

Spirit abounded as usual and only increased during lunch with the return of the salad bar in the cafeteria.

With the building once again full of students reconnecting with laughter, chatter and learning we couldn’t feel more excited for the year ahead.

Enjoy the long weekend,

Laurie, Duane and Meg

Calendar:

Harwood Union HIGH SCHOOL Bell Schedule WEEK 2 9/5-9/9 2022

Harwood Union MIDDLE SCHOOL Bell Schedule WEEK 2 9/5-9/9 2022

9/14 - 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Board Meeting (Harwood Library)
9/23 - Picture day *more information to come
10/13 - 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. Open House *more information to come
11/9 & 11/15 - 3:30 - 7:00 p.m. Family Conferences *more information to come

Safe - seen, heard, respected & understood:

Topics	Information/Links
	Families are asked to complete the Student Attendance Form if their child will be absent, late to school, or having an early dismissal. (Please make sure to use the link, or a link on our Harwood Web page. Do NOT use saved links from previous years, as we will not receive the information.)* Please note: If your student is absent related to any illness, our health office staff may be in touch to confirm symptoms and plan for a return to school. In the event of a chronic illness (mental or physical health), please contact your students’ school counselor to discuss on-going needs and support. If your student is absent for more than 5 consecutive days for an illness (mental or physical health), you will need to provide a doctor’s note for the absences to be excused. In the event chronic illness (mental or physical health) will result in repeated absences for part or all of a day please contact your students’ school counselors to discuss on-going needs and support. Excused Absence, Late Arrival, or Early Dismissal from school: Sick-Physical Health or Sick-Mental Health (up to 5 consecutive without doctor’s note) Single Medical Appointment (defined as brief, singular appointments) Scheduled court appearance Driver’s license road test appointment Required attendance by military recruiter Religious holiday (on the day of the holiday only) College Visit (for Juniors and Seniors only) Family Emergency (defined as severe accident, serious illness, death, or funeral of close family member) All other reasons are considered unexcused.
	This summer the school district received updated guidance from the Vermont Agency on Education pursuant to state-mandated drills including fire drills (school evacuations) and intruder drills.The safety and security of our students and staff is of the utmost importance. For this reason, our school conducts various drills to familiarize students and staff with procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. Fire drills (school evacuations) and intruder drills are conducted on a regular basis. Listed below is a monthly schedule of the drills that will be conducted during the 2022-2023 school year. The purpose of many of the drills we conduct is to help to develop decision-making skills in our students to be used in the event of an actual emergency. Students are reminded to utilize three strategies if a serious event does occur. We appreciate the support of our school community, the professionalism of our staff, and the conduct of our students in all of our school safety endeavors. Please feel free to contact Duane Pierson dpierson@huusd.org or at 802.583. 8144 if you have any questions regarding our school safety drills.

Topics

Information/Links

Families are asked to complete the Student Attendance Form if their child will be absent, late to school, or having an early dismissal. (*Please make sure to use the link, or a link on our Harwood Web page. Do NOT use saved links from previous years, as we will not receive the information.)

Please note:

If your student is absent related to any illness, our health office staff may be in touch to confirm symptoms and plan for a return to school.
In the event of a chronic illness (mental or physical health), please contact your students’ school counselor to discuss on-going needs and support.
If your student is absent for more than 5 consecutive days for an illness (mental or physical health), you will need to provide a doctor’s note for the absences to be excused.
In the event chronic illness (mental or physical health) will result in repeated absences for part or all of a day please contact your students’ school counselors to discuss on-going needs and support.

Excused Absence, Late Arrival, or Early Dismissal from school:

Sick-Physical Health or Sick-Mental Health (up to 5 consecutive without doctor’s note)
Single Medical Appointment (defined as brief, singular appointments)
Scheduled court appearance
Driver’s license road test appointment
Required attendance by military recruiter
Religious holiday (on the day of the holiday only)
College Visit (for Juniors and Seniors only)
Family Emergency (defined as severe accident, serious illness, death, or funeral of close family member)

All other reasons are considered unexcused.

This summer the school district received updated guidance from the Vermont Agency on Education pursuant to state-mandated drills including fire drills (school evacuations) and intruder drills.The safety and security of our students and staff is of the utmost importance. For this reason, our school conducts various drills to familiarize students and staff with procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. Fire drills (school evacuations) and intruder drills are conducted on a regular basis.

Listed below is a monthly schedule of the drills that will be conducted during the 2022-2023 school year. The purpose of many of the drills we conduct is to help to develop decision-making skills in our students to be used in the event of an actual emergency. Students are reminded to utilize three strategies if a serious event does occur.

We appreciate the support of our school community, the professionalism of our staff, and the conduct of our students in all of our school safety endeavors. Please feel free to contact Duane Pierson dpierson@huusd.org or at 802.583. 8144 if you have any questions regarding our school safety drills.

Topics	Information/Links
Student Athletes and Academic Responsibility	Student-Athletes are students first! Our athletes’ academic success in class is important to us. Please review this section of the Student Athlete Handbook specific to ACADEMIC OBLIGATIONS and CO-CURRICULAR ELIGIBILITY. If you have any questions, please contact the Athletic Director, Chris Langevin clangevin@huusd.or
Extended Learning Opportunities	ELO stands for Extended Learning Opportunities and is in all students’ schedules in both the middle and high school. The first day of teacher- and student- booked ELO is this Friday 9/9. Students will view and book their ELOs through a program called Adaptive Scheduler. In the high school, students will book their ELOs in TA. More details on high school ELO can be found here and will be shared with students through TA. In the middle school, students will book their ELOs with the support of their team teachers. The main purpose of ELO is to provide students the time for both support and enrichment within their current courses. Depending on the needs of individual students, each student’s ELO blocks over the course of a week could include small group instruction for support or extension in a specific course or skill individual work time clubs, school-wide assemblies, and other activities that support social/emotional wellbeing and community

Topics

Information/Links

Student Athletes and Academic Responsibility

Student-Athletes are students first! Our athletes’ academic success in class is important to us. Please review this section of the Student Athlete Handbook specific to ACADEMIC OBLIGATIONS and CO-CURRICULAR ELIGIBILITY.

If you have any questions, please contact the Athletic Director, Chris Langevin clangevin@huusd.or

Extended Learning Opportunities

ELO stands for Extended Learning Opportunities and is in all students’ schedules in both the middle and high school. The first day of teacher- and student- booked ELO is this Friday 9/9. Students will view and book their ELOs through a program called Adaptive Scheduler.

In the high school, students will book their ELOs in TA. More details on high school ELO can be found here and will be shared with students through TA.

In the middle school, students will book their ELOs with the support of their team teachers.

The main purpose of ELO is to provide students the time for both support and enrichment within their current courses. Depending on the needs of individual students, each student’s ELO blocks over the course of a week could include

small group instruction for support or extension in a specific course or skill
individual work time
clubs, school-wide assemblies, and other activities that support social/emotional wellbeing and community

Positive school climate and culture:

Topics	Information/Links
	We encourage you to check out the Harwood website or Intagram for more information & updates on what’s new in our community.
22-23’ Harwood Family Handbook	We ask all families and students to review Harwood’s Handbook in order to understand our expectations and procedures as we start a new year.
Free & Reduced Lunch application	In School Year 2022-2023, all students will receive free breakfast and lunch at school. The State of Vermont has provided money to do this for one year through the Universal School Meals Act. Please remind your student(s) that meals are limited to one meal per person. We need your help to keep providing free meals to all students in future years, as well as making our school and community eligible for other benefits. Please review this application for free and reduced price school meals and complete it if you believe your family might be eligible. If all eligible families fill out and return this form, we will get more money from the federal government for free school meals now and in the future. Please find the application on this site. Please print and return to Harwood. Applications were also sent home at the start of the year.