Parent Information
July 27, 2006
The ability for students and/or parents to prepay for lunches or put money on breakfast and lunch accounts can be made daily from 7:30-8:00 in the Snack Bar of the Cafetorium. Please take care of charges, the limit is $10.00.
Immunization Requirements for Attendance
The Parent Institute
Education's #1 source for family involvement
information.
Discipline
Help
A discipline model for handling over 100
misbehaviors.
Social Networking
MySpace.com and other similar sites are designed to allow people to share their personal information, including pictures, names and addresses, schools they attend, cell and home phone numbers, and pretty much any information they can think of. The minimum age requirement of MySpace.com is 13 years old; however the safeguards they use to verify age are not foolproof. The content contained within MySpace.com is not monitored nor are contacts that your child may make. Below is an excerpt taken from MySpace.com:
NetSmartz - A helpful site for parents.
“…However, there are problems with minors lying about their age and posting profiles; there are problems with some adult members using the site to harass members or solicit illegal activities; there are problems with sexually explicit images posted as well—all of which violate MySpace’s Acceptable Use Policies”.
http://www.myspace.com/misc/WiredSafety_ORG.html
We advise you to find out if your child has a profile on MySpace.com or any other social-network website. MySpace.com allows you to search using an e-mail address or even narrowing it down by school. To protect your student, use of MySpace.com in the Highland Park School District is prohibited and filtered. However, we will take every measure we can to prevent additional access to such sites while at school.
Beginning Monday, November 6, 2006, consequences of accessing any social network (MySpace.com) while at school will be as follows:
1st offense- Removal of laptop for 6 weeks.
2nd offense- Removal of laptop for semester.
3rd offense- Laptop will be taken from student for remainder of year.
In addition, the student will spend 1 day in ISS for any of these offenses.
As in many schools, we have found that some students use technology to communicate with peers in inappropriate and hurtful ways. Consequently reactions and emotions spill over into the students’ school work and their relationships with classmates. Our Staff will deeply appreciate any efforts that you make to monitor your child’s use of the internet and phones/cell phones while at home, so that we can help all students concentrate on their academic work while in school rather than be focused on interactions outside of school.
Thank you for your assistance with this matter.
Highland Park Independent School District
|
Kudos to Our Parents and Students! |
Our current Attendance for the year is as follows:
District Wide- 96.8%,
High school-96.3%
Middle school-97.0%
Elementary-96.8%
How to help your child succeed in school
and in life.
Why Get Involved?
Research reveals many benefits when parents are involved in their
child's education, including:
- Higher grades and test scores;
- Better attitudes and behavior;
- Better school attendance;
- More homework completed;
- Less chance of placement in special education;
- Greater likelihood of graduating from high school; and
- Better chance of enrolling in post secondary education.
Showing an interest in your child's education, setting high
expectations for achievement and letting your child know you
believe in his or her abilities sets a positive context for growth
and achievement.
How Do I Get
Involved?
Make school important
You can reinforce the importance of school if you:
- Speak positively about your child's teachers and counselors.
- Talk to your child about the benefits of education.
- Make sure your child gets to school on time.
- Attend open houses and parent-teacher conferences.
- Answer notes and calls from your child's teacher.
Encourage reading and writing
You can help your child perform better at school if you:
- Keep books, magazines and newspapers in your home.
- Take your child to the library.
- Discuss what your child reads.
- Read with your child.
- Encourage your child to write notes to grandparents and other relatives.
- Suggest that your child keep a journal.
What Can I Do at
Home?
Home environment
You can foster school success at home if you:
- Make sure your child arrives at school well-rested.
- Make sure your child has a good breakfast before school.
- Set a regular time and ensure a quiet place for your child to do homework.
- Ask your child what he or she has learned in school each day.
- Limit his or her television, computer and video game time.
- Praise and encourage your child.
- Celebrate your child's successes.
Teachable moments
You can turn ordinary time together into teachable moments if
you:
- Use car time to talk to your child (about what you see from the car, about his or her day, about your day).
- Plan to eat at least one meal each day as a family and use this time for positive family discussions.
- Let your child help prepare the meal, and talk about each step.
- Look for things to do together as a family.
What Can I Do at
School?
You can strengthen the connection with school if you:
- Attend open houses and back-to-school nights.
- Attend school programs.
- Read the school newsletter.
- Join the parent-teacher association.
- Take part in after-school events.
- Get to know your child's teachers.
- Support your child in school activities.
- Spend time at the school as a volunteer or visitor. By doing so
you can find out:
- How your child is doing with class work;
- How your child interacts with other children; and
- Whether the teacher is having any discipline problems.
If you can't spend time at school because of work and other
commitments, you can still connect from home. For example, you
could:
- Offer to call other parents to notify them of school events.
- Help edit the school newsletter.
What About the Teenage
Years?
Teens are developing a sense of self and independence, but parents
still have a strong influence in these years. You can provide
positive support if you:
- Keep the lines of communication open.
- Set fair and consistent rules with your teenager's input.
- Support his or her future and continue to show that education is important.
- Set a good example through your own involvement in school and community.
- Continue to make time for family activities.
