Parent Resources

Calls From/To Harbor Heights

If you see a Peninsula School District or Harbor Heights phone number on your caller ID, we encourage you to check your messages before calling our office. The call could be an automated message, a call from any staff member in the building or from your student. If you call our office with the expectation that we will know who called you, we will do our best to assist you but we likely won’t know where the call originated or what it was about. Make sure your child knows to leave you a message if they ever call you so you aren’t left wondering who called you and why.

Class Placement Procedure

Harbor Heights staff members intentionally gather information from parents, teachers, specialists, and para-educators, in order to form balanced classes that will provide a nurturing, challenging environment for our students.

For students attending Harbor Heights a number of factors will be considered when forming classes for the following year. Some of the factors include:

• Overall class size
• Ratio of boys and girls
• Academic strengths and challenges
• Social and emotional needs
• Students with special needs
• Parent Input
• Program options available

For students entering kindergarten at Harbor Heights we will use the above criteria, but we will also have our future students participate in a kindergarten screening. The purpose of the screening is to assist us with placement, and to gather information about what our students know as they enter school.

 

Attendance at School

Your child’s academic growth will be greater if he/she attends school regularly. At Harbor Heights skills and lessons are taught and reviewed daily. Regular attendance is important to your child’s academic success. Our mission can be attained when students regularly attend school.

  Learn more about attendance at Harbor Heights

 

Parking Lot Safety

Bus

If at all possible, put your child on the bus! It increases their chances of being on time to school, improves parking lot congestion and safety, and is better for the environment.

Cars

If you do need to drop your child off, please pull forward as much as possible near the drop off area (by the gym), stop, drop, and keep rolling! Do not get out of your car to open doors, etc. Turn right out of the parking lot. 

 

A.M. Arrival Procedures:

School opens at 8:50, please do not let your child out until staff directs them out. Students may exit the car on their own. There will be staff to assist those who need help opening doors. Doors close at 8:58 to ensure your child gets to class on time. If arriving after 8:58, please take student to the front of the school, parents sign the clipboard located outside and buzz the office. Staff will buzz the student in, student comes to the office to grab a yellow tardy slip before heading to class.

P.M. Dismissal Procedures:

Students are released at 3:25, please display your name card in a visible location. If you do not have a name card, please inform the staff member when they arrive to your car of who you need to pick up. If the student is being picked up by other than the parent / guardian, please send a note with the student the day of, informing the pickup instructions and the name of the person who will be picking up.

Transportation Changes

For any change in transportation, please send a note the day of the change with your student's name, teacher, instructions for the day, your name, and your phone number. Notes to the office are the preferred method. If you forget to send a note with your student, you may call the office at extension x1800 before 2:00. Please do not send transportation changes via email or via ParentSquare.

 

Parking Lot Procedures

Some important things to remember for safety reasons when driving through our parking lot:

• When possible, please have your child ride the school bus.
• Always drive slowly and cautiously, watching out for pedestrians.
• Follow the clearly marked arrows. There is only one direction to follow when coming in to the parking lot.
• Please do not park in the red and yellow No Parking Zones. The yellow zone is the drop off and pick up area only.
• It will not be necessary to come into the building to pick up your student(s) at the end of the school day. You will drive through the parking lot to the yellow loading zone. The students will be kept safely behind the fence by the outdoor covered play area. When staff makes contact with the driver we will send your student to the car. Once quickly buckled in, please move forward so that we can keep the line moving.
• Please do not try to go around the car in front of you. Wait your turn in line.
• Follow the arrows to exit the parking lot.

Our hope is that these changes will allow us to have a smooth flow of traffic and a safe parking lot for all. We will have several staff members helping direct traffic for the first few weeks of school.

School Zone Safety

At Goodman Middle School and Harbor Heights Elementary we are concerned for the safety of our students, staff and families when arriving and leaving school grounds. We would like your assistance in making our schools safer for all students. In particular, since several students walk to school, please watch for them in our crosswalks, along the road and in our parking lot.

We would also appreciate your help in following posted speed limits when approaching and leaving school grounds, and remembering to come to a complete stop at marked stop signs. Please do not talk on cell phones.

We appreciate your help in making Goodman Middle School and Harbor Heights Elementary safer places for our students. We will continue to look into safety measures to keep our students and families safe.

What If I Have A Concern?

If you have a concern regarding your child(ren), the following steps might be helpful:

1. Classroom Concerns:

   Please contact your child’s teacher via ParentSquare or email.

2. Health Concerns:

   Please contact the school nurse, Sharon Skeen by calling extension x1823 or our health tech Jeannine McCurrie at x1824.

3. Emotional/Social Health Concerns:

   The school counselor, Mrs. Elizabeth Genschaw, are available to help families find appropriate resources for children. Our counselor is also available for children needing extra support at school. Mrs. Genschow can be reached via email to: genschawe@psd401.net or phone x1831. 

4. School Related Concerns:

   Please feel free to contact the office at 253 530-1800 or and they will forward you to either the principal, the dean of students, or the counselor. They can help work through school issues/situations that happen inside or outside the classroom.

Remember, situations and/or concerns cannot be addressed if you do not make someone aware of them!

Student-Parent Handbook

The Student-Parent Handbook provides a comprehensive compilation of policies and procedures at Harbor Heights.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZOPMKrb2uyNBswqM7cC163jhK0mZLSnHYh9uijKmzWU/edit

 

How To Get Involved

Harbor Heights VPO - Volunteer Parent Organization

Our VPO is an active group of parents and teachers providing support for our students. For information on how to join and all things VPO, please email at harborheightsvpo@gmail.com.

For the VPO readerboard, you may email VPO at hhreaderboard@gmail.com.