Bellringer Newsletter

Good morning. I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and was able to spend time with friends and family. June and the end of the school year are right around the corner. Please continue to check the Important Dates and Reminders section of the Bellringer Newsletter for a schedule of upcoming events. If you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to contact me directly at everner@easthamptonct.org.

• June 1--Tri-M Induction Ceremomy
• June 1--EHHS Spring Concert--6:30
  
• June 2---EHHS Junior-Senior Prom
• June 5--Top 10 Celebration (Town Hall--6:00)
• June 8--Senior Scholarship Evening
• June 9---EHHS Graduation--6:00
• June 13--Last Day of School--Early Dismissal

Congratulations to Mrs. Kristin Dean.Mrs. Dean has been chosen as the 2023-24 East Hampton Public Schools Teacher of the Year.

Graduation for the Class of 2023 will be held on Friday, June 9, 2023 at 6:00 P.M. with a Rain Date of Saturday, June 10 at 10:00 A.M.

The event will also be available via Livstream and a link will be made available toe day of graduation.

Freshman Orientation will be held on Wednesday, August 23, 2023. More information will be sent out over the summer.

We are excited to announce this year's Halo nominations for our spring musical.

The Halos are Thursday, June 1st at 7 p.m.

The following nominations were given to our production of the Addams Family

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL: Julia Stone
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Emily Vick
BEST COMIC MALE PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL: Will Faber
BEST COMIC FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL: Noelle Lavender
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL: Richard Carl
BEST SPECIALTY ENSEMBLE: Marley Paris, Macie Brazal, Delaney Sullivan, Jillian Leonardo, Nadia France & Addie Partridge as Moon & Me Dancers in The Addams Family
BEST STAGE MANAGEMENT: Cadence Thibodeau
BEST RUNNING CREW: • East Hampton High School: Run Crew for The Addams Family

SUMMER JOB OPPORTUNITIES:

• Nelson's Family Campground is looking for people ages 16 and older who are available to work afternoons, some nights and some weekends. Duties will include answering phones, making reservations, customer service, helping with activities, stocking merchandise, etc. If you are interested, please call (860) 267-5300.
• Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park is hiring for all positions. Applications are available online at www.brownstonepark.com. For more information contact Deb Bernsenhaver at (860) 894-2206.

SUMMER OPPORTUNITY:

The Central Connecticut Student Writing Project is the premier summer writing institute for students in grades 4-12 with a passion for writing. Students who take part in our program will...

• Create authentic, organic pieces of writing from the ground up
• Improve their current writing skills
• Work within a community of other passionate student writers
• Learn from certified teachers

Please see the attached flier for registration and contact information.

Varsity Baseball has concluded their regular season. Their current record is 6-14. They are scheduled to play n the CIAC Class S State tournament on Tuesday 5/30 at H-K.

Junior Varsity Baseball was defeated by Hale-Ray 8-11. Their final record is 3-7. Their season has concluded.

Varsity Softball was defeated by Lyme-Old Lyme in the Shoreline Conference Tournament 1/4 Finals. Their current record is 8-12. They are scheduled to play in the CIAC Class M State Tournament on Tuesday 5/30 at Wilcox Tech.

Varsity Boys Tennis season has concluded. Their final season record is 1-13.

Varsity Girls Tennis season has concluded. Their final season record is 3-12.

Varsity Golf was defeated by H-K and they finished 10th in the Shoreline Conference Tournament. Their current season record is 5-10. They are scheduled to play in the CIAC State Tournament on June 6th .

Varsity Track teams competed in the Shoreline Conference Tournament. The girls finished 4th and the boys finished 6th. They are scheduled to compete in the CIAC Class M (girls) and Class S (boys) State Championships on Tuesday 5/30 in New Britain.

All athletic schedules, directions and results may be found at CIACSPORTS.com.

Maya Dobson, Macie Brazal, and Grace Montovani have been nominated for a Fox61 Student News award for their piece on the recent step-up concert! Their category is "CT Creative Futures."

There's a ceremony on June 7th where winners will be announced.

We are so proud of their work and delighted they chose to highlight such a great program in our district. You can view their piece using the link below:

https://www.fox61.com/article/news/local/outreach/student-news/fox61-student-news-awards-2022-2023-nominees/520-6afa7f4f-68e8-4aa2-8bba-ae2f03489072

Please take the opportunity to view EHHS Student Art Displays.

At the Town Hall, the following artists from East Hampton High School have artwork on display in the gallery right outside of the Superintendent’s Office:

Andrea Berg

Maya Byrne

William Faber

Hailey Geoffrey

Lyndsey Gravel

Emily Jovel

Aiden Niderno

To celebrate our amazing EHHS senior artists, an exhibit of their work is being displayed at the Middle Haddam Library. The following seniors have artwork on display:

Madeline Ballou

Sam Brubaker

Sophia Cahoon

Kevin Collins

Jonas DeLauro

Lehan Dharmatilake

Salem Didato

Christylee Dus

Matt Gallmon

Caidyn Galovich

Meaghan Hall

Cody Keilbach

Noelle Lavender

Kate Marshall

Brianne Miller

Grace Nichols

Ryan O’Sullivan

Savannah Partridge

Madelyn Rolland

Sophia Shellenberger

RJ Stanford

Sophia Theobald

Shea Thibodeau

Emily Vick

The Profile of the Graduate Portfolio process has begun for the classes of 2025 and 2026. Students are developing a Google Site that they will use over the course of their high school career to provide students an opportunity to demonstrate their growth and development of the five attributes in the East Hampton Public Schools: compassion, innovation, perseverance, collaboration, and active learning. This portfolio will display various achievements, projects, and activities over the course of the high school experience that will show attainment of skills, broadening of horizons, and pursuit of passions. Students will reflect on experiences, strengths, and abilities to confidently approach challenges. During XBlock students used a template developed by the Portfolio Committee, wrote a brief autobiography and are crafting their paragraphs explaining their understanding of the core values. By the end of the school year, students will have written about each of the values and uploaded examples of their work. Ultimately, this work will become part of their Senior Capstone beginning with the Class of 2025.

The East Hampton Public Schools is proud to introduce School Based Health Centers in each of our schools. Soon, enrolled students will be able to receive behavioral health services during the school day. The School-Based Health Care (SBHC) staff are licensed health care providers, who are able to deliver behavioral health services to students during the school day. They work in conjunction with the student’s primary care providers to support their social, emotional, and behavioral health care needs. SBHC is proud to serve over 17,000 students throughout Connecticut.

During student drop-off in the moring and pick-up in the afternoon, please refrain from using the Bus Lane. At these times (7:00--7:25 and 2:00--2:25) cars are not allowed in the Bus Lane as vehicles block the busses and present a safety hazard to students. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in keeping our students safe.

Please review the EHHS Attendance Policy and Student Handbook as they contain important information.

Per the East Hampton Board of Education’s Attendance Policy and Connecticut statute, parents and guardians may only approve the first 9 absences of the school year with a parent note. Absences 10 and above can only be excused with further documentation and under specific circumstances.

In addition, if a student has four unexcused absences in one month or 10 unexcused absences in a year they are classified as truant. If a child misses 18 or more days in a school year – excused or unexcused absences – the student is classified as chronically absent.

Access to the East Hampton attendance policy is available HERE

It is also necessary for a student to be present at least half of the school day for the student to be recorded as present. When a student arrives after the mid-day point or leaves before it, the day cannot be counted for that student. Building principals will share the specific times in their communications with families.

A student is considered to be “in attendance” if present at his/her assigned school, or an activity.

sponsored by the school (e.g., field trip), for at least half of the regular school day.

At East Hampton High School, half of the regular school day arrives at 10:55 a.m. This means that if a student arrives after 10:55, even with a note, the student will be marked Tardy Absent. If a student dismisses prior to 10:55 and does not return to school, the student will be marked Early Dismissal Absent. Please contact the school with any questions regarding our attendance policies.

To increase the ease of reporting an absence and documenting parent approval of the absence for a student’s first 9 absences, the East Hampton Public Schools has created email addresses that parents can use to contact their student’s school and report an absence. Effectively immediately, the following email addresses can be used by parents to report and document their approval of an absence:

EHHS_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

If you have successfully emailed the school, you will receive an autoreply that notifies you that the absence communication has been received and recorded. This process is effective for your student’s first 9 absences. After your student has more than 9 absences, additional documentation or communication will be required to excuse the absence. Please use the email to continue to notify the school that your child will not attend. You may call your child’s school at any time to report an absence, as well.

Students, parents, and community members will have access to an anonymous tip line on the front page of the school district website to report self-concerns, mental health concerns of a friend, or concerns of violence. Please view the front page of the website at https://www.easthamptonps.org

We are excited to launch our new Bellringer Sideline Store! The store is available 24/7 and ships directly to you!!!

Please see the link below to grab your Bellringer gear

https://sideline.bsnsports.com/schools/connecticut/easthampton/east-hampton-high-school

Students who are being dismissed due to illness, MUST FIRST see the School Nurse. Additionally, we ask that parents familiarize themselves with our attendance policy which is in the EHHS Student Handbook. Some of the main policies/procedures that we are mut be followed are listed below:

• EARLY DISMISSALS: A written request (no phone calls) from a parent or guardian must be presented to the main office before school begins so student may obtain an early dismissal slip. Students will wait in the main office for their parent/guardian to call the office and we will send your child out to meet you after they sign-out.
• NURSE DISMISSALS: In case of illness during school, dismissal will be arranged through the school nurse, or in her absence, through the office. Students feeling ill should report directly to the nurse's office. Students should not be texting or calling home when not feeling well.

Please note that having a parent’s written request before the start of the day allows the students name to appear on the Daily Attendance sheet so their teachers will be aware that they may not be in class on that day. This also eliminates the office staff from calling in and disrupting a classroom to dismiss the student. We do realize that there may be occasions when you may need to unexpectedly pick your child up early. In those cases we will call the student down when the parent/guardian arrives to the school.

Students that are dismissed from school will not be allowed to return without appropriate documentation from their visit/provider. In the event that doucmentation is not available, a parent will be required to sign their student into the main office upon return.

1. Dropping off on items--the table to drop off items for students has been moved inside the first set of doors. Parents will be able to drop items of for students, but will no longer be admitted to the main lobby.
2. Appointments--for security reasons, parents and visitors who are requesting to meet with a teacher or administration should call in advance to ensure that the requested party is available to meet rather than show up unannounced.
3. Effective immediately, there is an anonymous tip line to enhance a safe environment in our schools. Students, parents, and community members have access to the front page of the website to report self-concerns, mental health concerns of a friend, or concerns of violence. https://www.easthamptonps.org/

The East Hampton Board of Education is committed to a safe and secure learning environment that honors and celebrates the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. The Board of Education in partnership with the school community will not tolerate any threat of violence in the schools or any hate speech that targets any race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. Each student is held to the highest standards of responsible decision making within a culture that is expected to foster compassion, caring, and empathy.

As a reminder to members of our school community, Board Policy #5145.122 allows the schools to work with the East Hampton Police Department to protect the health and safety of students and staff by conducting sweeps of school property by trained sniffing dogs. Please review the policy and procedures below. Our goal is to ensure that the East Hampton Schools are free of illegal substances. Annually, we provide notice of this policy to our school community. Should a sweep be conducted, parents and the Board of Education will be notified upon completion.

Use of Dogs to Sweep School Property

The Board permits the administration to invite law enforcement agencies to sweep school property with dogs trained for the purpose of detecting the presence of illegal substances, when necessary to protect the health and safety of students, employees or property or to detect the presence of illegal substances or contraband, including alcohol and/or drugs. The use of trained canine sniffing dogs and their associated law enforcement personnel is for the purpose of “alerting” on property only, and is subject to the following:

1. Parents and students shall be notified of this policy through its inclusion in the student/ parent handbook and the Superintendent and Principal or their designees, shall explain the policies and procedures followed in sweeps and searches to students and staff on an annual basis. Once notification has been given to parents and students through the handbook and assembly respectively, the school district will have met its obligation to advertise the sweep and search policy and associated procedure. Additional notices need not be given and actual times or dates of planned sweeps need not be released in advance.

2. The Superintendent or designee shall authorize the sweep. Immediately prior to the sweep, an announcement will be made for students and staff to ‘stay put’ in their classrooms while the sweep is taking place. Representatives from school administration shall accompany dogs and handlers while on school premises.

3. The Board shall be informed by the Superintendent of Schools that a sweep has taken place.

4. Parents shall be informed through the school’s mass communication system by the Superintendent of Schools that a sweep has taken place.

5. All school property which students have access to during the day, such as lockers, classrooms, parking areas and storage areas may be swept.

6. Individuals shall not be subjected to a search by dogs.

a. Dogs shall not be used in rooms occupied by persons except for demonstration purposes. The handler and representative from school administration will always be present with the dogs

b. When used for demonstration purposes, the dog may not sniff any student and/or staff.

7. Only the dog’s official handler will determine what constitutes an alert by the dog. If the dog alerts on a particular item or place, that locker or vehicle will be identified for later search. Upon completion of the sweep, the school administration will then search the identified property in the presence of a witness.

8. Searches that disclose evidence of misconduct shall result in disciplinary consequences in accordance with Board policy and may also result in referral to law enforcement agencies.

Legal Reference: Connecticut General Statutes

Policy adopted: March 15, 2016

10-221 Boards of education to prescribe rules.

New Jersey v T.L.O., 53 U.S.L.W. 4083 (1985)

54-33n Search of school lockers and property

The school community of East Hampton is committed to the mission of honoring and celebrating the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. We strive to guide our students to conscious, deliberate, individual and collective actions that cultivate the respect of all races, religions, and social backgrounds. Our school community endeavors to produce graduates who are equipped with a greater understanding of the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The East Hampton Board of Education, in compliance with federal and state law, affirms its policy of equal educational opportunity for all students and equal employment opportunity for all persons. It is the policy of the District to promote nondiscrimination and an environment free of harassment regardless of an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, ancestry, disability (including but not limited to, intellectual disability, past or present history of mental disorder, physical disability, or learning disability), genetic information, marital status, or age or because of the race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, ancestry, disability, genetic information, marital status, or age of any persons with whom the individual associates. The District shall provide to all students without discrimination, course offerings, counseling, assistance, employment, athletics, and extracurricular activities. The District shall provide equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The District shall make reasonable accommodations for identified physical and mental impairments that constitute disabilities, consistent with federal and state statutes and regulations.

Email: everner@easthamptonct.org
Website: www.easthamptonps.org
Location: 15 North Maple Street, East Hampton, CT, USA
Phone: 860-365-4030
Twitter: @EH_CTPrincipal