Parent Newsletter

School is in full swing!

As a reminder, there is no school, Monday, September 4 in observance of Labor Day.

We have our first Walk to School Day this Wednesday, Sept. 6, followed by coffee with Dr. Bradshaw in the media Center.

Click the link for details: https://hhespta.square.site/events

Below are a few upcoming important dates:

• Literati Book Fair on September 11-15. https://efairs.literati.com/?school=huntley-hills-elementary-school-chamblee-ga
  
• Pastries for Parents-Come and meet your teacher and students in the class. The event is from 7:15am-7:45am. Donuts and juice boxes are needed. Please consider donating.
• Montessori Education Parent meeting-September 20-8:30am-Montessori and traditional parents are welcome to attend! Come & learn about our DCSD School Choice Montessori program
• ESOL Program Parent meeting-September 20 at 10:30am-Parents of students receiving ESOL services are invited to learn more about the program and ACCESS testing.

Don't forget we have our biggest fall fundraiser in October! Run for the Hills and Fall Festival October 28, 2023. The funds go directly to the school to support students and teachers!

Have a wonderful work and school week!

Proud to Serve,

Mia Bradshaw, Principal

#AimingHigh

#WeRunAsOne

Twitter

Voting is September 19 – September 26, 2023

**Please email me a photo and bio if you are going to be running in the election. mia_ford@dekalbschoolsga.org

What is the role of the Principal Advisory Council?

• Act as a link between the school and the community
• Encourage the engagement of parents and other stakeholders within the school community
• Work to increase student achievement through transparent operations and shared best practices
• Review the Continuous School Improvement Plan and monitor progress toward goals
• Participate in the selection of the school principal

Complete the form below to run for a position on your school’s Council.

Parent/Guardian Candidate Declaration Form (Spanish Translation Included)

If you declare your name, please email Dr. Bradshaw at mia_ford@dekalbschoolsga.org with your bio and picture. Thank you!

La ventana de declaración de candidatos para las elecciones del Consejo Asesor Principal de 2023-2024 estará abierta hasta el Viernes, 3 de septiembre. Los Consejos Asesores de Directores reúnen a padres, empleados de la escuela, estudiantes y miembros de la comunidad para crear una mejor comprensión y respeto mutuo por las perspectivas de los demás y compartir ideas para aumentar el rendimiento y el rendimiento de los estudiantes.

¿Cuál es el papel del Consejo Asesor Principal?

• Actuar como vínculo entre la escuela y la comunidad.
• Fomentar la participación de los padres y otras partes interesadas dentro de la comunidad escolar
• Trabajar para aumentar el rendimiento de los estudiantes a través de operaciones transparentes y mejores prácticas compartidas
• Revisar el Plan de Mejoramiento Continuo de la Escuela y monitorear el progreso hacia las metas
• Participar en la selección del director de la escuela

Complete el formulario correspondiente a continuación para postularse para un puesto en el Consejo de su escuela.

• Parent/Guardian Candidate Declaration Form (Traducción al Español Incluida)

Si declara su nombre, envíe un correo electrónico al Dr. Bradshaw a mia_ford@dekalbschoolsga.org con su biografía y foto. ¡Gracias!

I am excited to be a member of Huntley Hills Principal's Advisory Council, where I hope to bring our families and community together to build a better educational environment for our region.

I have two students that currently attend HHES. In my free time, I love to volunteer at the school for Run Club and within the classrooms. I also enjoy spending time with friends and family, traveling and running.

If you plan to volunteer as a reading buddy, field trip chaperone, help in the media center this school year, you will need to be approved by public safety.

Level III volunteers must be approved by Public Safety AND the local school principal prior to the volunteer participation in activities involving direct, unsupervised interaction with students. Examples of Level III volunteers include chaperones on overnight field trips, chaperones or volunteers for local school events, volunteer tutors, office/media center volunteers, or any other volunteers who will have any unsupervised interaction with students. Level III volunteers shall be fingerprinted by the district and have GBI/FBI criminal background checks on file prior to rendering volunteer services.

Directions for Level 3 Volunteers!

DeKalb County School District’s Volunteer Training By signing on as a volunteer, you become a member of our team of professionals that proudly provides educational services to more than 93,000 students in our DeKalb County School District. This webpage is designed to assist you in registering to be a volunteer with the DeKalb County School District. Please complete the following steps to become a DCSD Volunteer.

The process for volunteering takes about 30 minutes total and includes about 20 minutes of online mandatory child abuse reporting training required by the State of Georgia for all volunteers.

Step 1 Watch the DCSD Volunteer Orientation (Power Point Presentation here in presentation mode)

Step 2 After watching the presentation, please complete the Volunteer Training Quiz, available at the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/c6PyQL8Qnu

Step 3 Please complete the Mandated Reporter Training, click on the following link to access the training: https://www.prosolutionstraining.com/store/product/index.cfm?tDisplayAdd=1&tProd uctVersion_id=2225&CatalogFilter_id=1042 Please make sure to save the certificate you will receive after completing the training, you will need it later.

Step 4 Once you finish both parts of the training, complete the Volunteer Application Form available at the following link: https://bit.ly/DCSDVolunterApplicationAndRelease

Step 5 If you are a Level II Volunteer, congratulations! You have completed your training. Please send Photo ID, Mandated Reporter Training Certificate of Completion to the following email address: DCSDvolunteer@dekalbschoolsga.org.

You will receive a confirmation email with a certificate of completion and instructions to contact the school.

Step 6 For Level III Volunteers ONLY. Schedule an appointment with the Public Safety Department for the fingerprints.

The appointment can be scheduled at: Calendly.com/dcsdvolunteer Contact Us If you need assistance, please send an email to: DCSDvolunteer@dekalbschoolsga.org or call 678-676-0384

You may view Board Policy IFCD: School Volunteers by clicking below.

September 4-Labor Day--No school

September 6-Walk to School Day/Coffee with Dr. Bradshaw

September 12-Grandparents Luncheon Prek & Kindergarten

September 15-Pastries with Parents 7:15-7:45

September 20-Montessori Parent meeting at 8:30-9:30 AM and ESOL Parent meeting at 10:00am-11:00am

September 19-26-PAC elections begin

September 21-Hispanic Heritage Night at 6pm; 5:30 PM: PTA All Member Meeting before Hispanic Heritage Night

October 2-Individual Picture Day

Happy Summer from your HHES PTA!

We are excited to let you know that our PTA Leadership Teams are already working hard to plan initiatives that will enhance your student's experience at Huntley Hills Elementary & Montessori School! We'd LOVE your help!

Here are 4 ways you can support our school over the summer:

1. Join our PTA by making a donation here
2. Volunteer for a Leadership Role here
3. Sign up for Tiger Talk emails here
4. Explore our *updated* PTA website here

*NEW* Join our private Facebook GROUPS designed to unify and support our families! Choose your group(s) based on the grade your student(s) will be starting in August. Find your groups here.

We welcome your support and look forward to serving our school together!

ptahhes@gmail.com

PTA President, Amanda Hall

Afterschool Program "Tiger-Time"- Tiger time will have a table in the Cafeteria to register your child for after school care. After care is 2:45-6:00, M-F. The registration fee is $25.00 and $60.00 each week. Tiger time begins the first day of school, August 7th. Please bring cash, money order, or check for registration fee and first week of payment. Ms. Camille Harvey is the After School Director. Her email address is camille_harvey@dekalbschoolsga.org.

To register submit your application to the front office M-F; 7:30am-3:00pm.

MUST HAVES:

School Dojo: The school code is here to receive message from the school (text messages from Dr. Ford)

Weekly Tiger Talk: (https://hhespta.square.site/#ZEQvWw) emails from PTA/school)

School Messenger-See flyer below to opt-in to receive text messages/emails from DCSD (text messages/emails from DCSD)

Optional:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/huntleyhills?lang=en (follow me)

PTA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huntleyhillselementary/ (follow PTA)

If your child needs to take prescription medication at school, please complete the form below, notify your child's teacher and Nurse Faiza Khan at faiza_khan@dekalbschoolsga.org.

Parents must submit a new application every year to receive meal benefits. The Free & Reduced Meal application can be completed online at www.schoolcafe.com.

The application process is simple and takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. Parents can also download the app to pay on your child's account for breakfast and lunch. You can also visit the DCSD website for more information.

In accordance with Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, all LEAs are required to notify parents at the beginning of each school year of their ‘Right to Know’ the professional qualifications of their student’s classroom teachers and paraprofessionals.

Requirements for Content of the Notification: Notifications MUST use the language of the law.

In compliance with the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act, parents may request the following information: Whether the student’s teacher—has met State qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction; is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which State qualification or licensing criteria have been waived; and, is teaching in the field of discipline of the certification of the teacher. Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.

In Georgia, notifications must occur within 30 calendar days from the start of school or upon enrollment.

For verification purposes, notifications must contain the month/year of dissemination or, if included in another document, the primary document must contain a date.

For verification purposes, the name of the LEA and/ or school must be included.

In Georgia, districts are required to notify parents in ALL schools or programs.

Responses to requests must be provided in a timely manner.

Maintain records of annual notification(s) from ALL schools or programs.

Best Practices for the Notification:

• ESSA does not prescribe the exact method of dissemination for notifications. In Georgia, the following are considered best practices when notifying parents:
• Develop written procedures for compliance, which include a timeline and person, by position, responsible for verifying notification content, verifying dissemination of notification, and maintaining notification documentation.
• Notify parents in multiple formats in order to ensure that all parents have the opportunity to receive the information. This may include, school handbook, a letter mailed home, a newsletter or brochure, posting on a website, and/or a school-wide email.
• Notify parents, to the extent practicable, in a language that they may understand.
• Ensure the notification includes school/program/LEA name and a point of contact by position.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mia Bradshaw, Principal

The priority of the DeKalb County School District is the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community partners. As we approach the 2023-24 school year, we want to make sure you know about our recent investments in two safety enhancements that help us provide more secure and nurturing learning environments.

These two cutting-edge safety and security initiatives are the CENTEGIX Crisis-Alert and EVOLV Express® security solutions. These safety systems are designed to empower and protect, to help ensure our educational campuses remain safe havens for learning.

The first system, the CENTEGIX Crisis-Alert, is a safety and security system that will be deployed across all DCSD schools. Crisis-Alert allows staff and security professionals to request assistance and implement emergency protocols from anywhere on campus, allowing for rapid response and resolution to potential threats. The safety of our students and staff is just a "push button" away with this state-of-the-art system.

EVOLV Express is the second system in all DCSD middle and high schools. Unlike traditional metal detectors, EVOLV Express utilizes advanced artificial intelligence and sensor technology to distinguish potential weapons and components of weapons from personal items or harmless objects. This non-invasive system respects students' privacy and allows them to walk through the equipment without slowing down or stopping, removing coats or backpacks, or empty pockets. With image-aided alarms, EVOLV Express pinpoints the location of potential threats on the student or their belongings, thus improving the overall security of our schools.

It is important to note that EVOLV Express does not use facial recognition or collect any personal data, ensuring the privacy of our students is safeguarded. Additionally, the system is designed to focus solely on identifying potential threats rather than individuals, thus reducing possible biases.

The implementation of EVOLV Express will significantly reduce screening times, allowing up to 1,000 students to be screened in about 15 minutes, so that students can move freely while feeling safe and secure on campus.

At DCSD, we are pleased to share these latest security enhancements that will provide real-time information, detection, and alerts to make our schools much safer. Even with these new measures, we still rely on our longstanding, supportive DeKalb County community partners to work with us to provide the best educational experiences.

If you have any questions regarding these security systems, please contact your school administrators or our Department of Public Safety.

Thank you for your trust and continued support.

PTA President -Amanda Hall-ptahhes@gmail.com

Principal Advisory Council Chair-Yane Yoo

School Counselor (504's & SST)-Sonya Nelson sonya_nelson@dekalbschoolsga.org

Registrar (registration & withdrawals)-Brenda Able- brenda_able@dekalbschoolsga.org

Title I Parent Liaison (Spanish)-Rebeca Arbona rebeca_arbona@dekalbschoolsga.org

Nurse-Faiza Khan faiza_khan@dekalbschoolsga.org

Assistant Principal & Testing Coordinator-Amanda Moss amanda_moss@dekalbschoolsga.org

Principal-Mia Bradshaw mia_ford@dekalbschoolsga.org