Bellringer Newsletter

Good morning. EHHS students will be dismissed at 12:10 on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving Holiday. On behalf of everyone at EHHS, we wish all of our families a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. 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, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at everner@easthamptonct.org.

• November 22--Early Dismissal
• November 23--26--Thanksgiving Recess
• December 2--Breakfast with Santa
• December 1--3--EHHS Drama Holiday Production

• December 7--8th Grade Parent Evening-6:00
• December 22--Early Dismissal
• December 23--January 1--Holiday Vacation
• January 15--No School--MLK Day
• January 18, 19, 22, and 23---Mid-Year Exams

Mrs. Kristin Dean was honored this past week at the Bushnell in Hartford as the EHPS 2023-24 Teacher of the Year.

This past week, East Hampton High School was thrilled to host for the first time ever football practice under the lights. The team made up of student athletes from East Hampton, Coginchaug Regional HS and Hale-Ray is having a great season.

Congratulations to Jacquelyn Russell who recently signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Post University in the fall.

High School Partnership Program at CT State Middlesex

The High School Partnership Program (HSPP) provides an opportunity for junior and senior students with a GPA of 2.5 or higher to take one or two course at CT State at Middlesex free of charge. The Spring 2024 application is now available, and the deadline to apply is Friday, December 22nd. Classes start January 19th and students can take any course offered at Middlesex through HSPP, as long as they meet course prerequisites. Please note, if the course is on campus, students must have their own transportation. Additionally, students must pay for books associated with their chosen course.

Students who are interested must inform their school counselor and attend a mandatory information session with Middlesex on one of the following dates:

• December 8th (in-person at the Middlesex campus from 1-3pm)
• December 12th (virtually from 5-6pm)

Students who enrolled in HSPP during the 23-24 Fall session do not need to complete another application and should contact Middlesex recruiters directly (Monet Carter at mcarter@mxcc.edu or Israel Kabemba at ikabemba@mxcc.edu ) for assistance with course selection and registration.

Summer Opportunities:

• Champlain College's Pre-College Experience is the perfect opportunity for students to get a taste of college life and explore their passions. Whether a student is an artist at heart or a STEM enthusiast, they have a program tailored just for them. Registration is now open and interested students and families can find more information at Champlain College Pre-Summer Program
• Rice University Pre-College Program is a great experience for motivated high school students to learn from Rice University’s world-class professors and experts in today’s most sought-after industries. The application period for the online precollege summer program is now open.

  Students who are interested can find more information at Rice University Pre-College Program

• William & Mary's Pre-College Online Program Summer is a convenient way for motivated high school students to learn from William & Mary’s world-renowned professors and experts in today’s most sought-after industries. The application period for our online pre-college summer program is now open. Students who are interested in this program can find more information at William & Mary's Pre-College Online Program

The East Hampton Arts & Culture Commission is accepting applications from East Hampton High School Juniors and Seniors for two, $200 grants to support two East Hampton High School Capstone Projects.

The grants will help support student's proposed Capstone Project, a multifaceted assignment that serves as a culminating academic and intellectual experience for students. Capstone projects may take a wide variety of forms including a long-term investigative project that culminates in a final product, presentation, or performance.

Applicants for the EHACC Capstone Grant will be invited to present his/her Capstone Project idea to commission members during an agreed upon commission meeting. Deadline to apply is Feb. 1, 2024 to arts@easthamtponct.org or mail or drop off at the town manager's office at the East Hampton Town Hall, 1 Community Road, East Hampton, CT 06424

Www.artsforeasthamptonct.org for an application

Welcome to a new school year at EHHS! Please join us at the first EHHS PTO / Principal’s Advisory Meeting of the year to say hello and learn more about how you can help.

Wednesday, November 29th at 5:30pm in the EHHS library

We will discuss plans for the Election Day Bake Sale, November teacher conference dinner, graduation lawn signs and ideas for fundraisers. We are seeking committee co-chairs to work with a PTO Board member on both the Election Day Bake Sale and graduation lawn sign projects. Come learn the ropes as we plan these annual events!

The funds we raise as a PTO support senior scholarships, advisory activities, teacher / staff appreciation meals, field trips and teacher mini grants.

We look forward to seeing you!

EHHS PTO

ptoehhs@gmail.com

EHHS Project Graduation, what we do and who we are.

Thanks

Cyndi Buchan

Chair, EHHS Project Graduation

@EHHSProjectGraduation

www.EHHSprojectgraduation.com

Yearbooks are now available for purchase at www.jostens.com. Ordering your yearbook now ensures a copy is reserved for your child. Please visit the website to preorder!

Senior portraits are still happening through September and October. If you haven't been photographed yet, please call the company to make an appointment; we're running out of time!

Please don't hesitate to reach out to either company or to Mrs. Flannery cflannery@easthamptonct.org if you have any questions.

The EHHS LMC will be open after school until 4:00, Monday--Thursday beginning on Tuesday, September 5th. The LMC will be open for quiet study, reading time, or research opportunities. Please note, on early dissmisal days, the LMC will not be available.

The Profile of the Graduate Portfolio process has begun for the classes of 2025, 2026, and, 2027. 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