Hoquiam School District No. 28

Dear Hoquiam Families, We were deeply saddened to hear the news of the school shooting this last Tuesday at a Texas elementary school. Our thoughts are with the members of that community. We know this tragedy is felt in every community across our country. The safety of our students is always the top priority in the Hoquiam School District. We take seriously our responsibility to ensure the safety of your child every day. I would like to take this opportunity to remind all our families that we have a plan in place at each of our schools to handle emergency situations. We work with local law enforcement to prepare for these types of emergencies and regularly practice our safety procedures with students and staff through discussions and emergency exercises. While no amount of planning can guarantee that a tragedy such as this will not occur, we are doing everything we know to keep students and staff safe while at school. I want to share with you some tips from the National Association of School Psychologists for helping your children cope with news such as this. What Parents Can Do: 1. Focus on your children over the week following the tragedy. Tell them you love them and everything will be okay. Try to help them understand what has happened, keeping in mind their developmental level. 2. Make time to talk with your children. Remember if you do not talk to your children about this incident someone else will. Take some time and determine what you wish to say. Keep your explanations developmentally appropriate. 3. Stay close to your children. Your physical presence will reassure them and give you the opportunity to monitor their reaction. Many children will want actual physical contact. Give plenty of hugs. Let them sit close to you, and make sure to take extra time at bedtime to cuddle and to reassure them that they are loved and safe. 4. Limit your child’s television viewing of these events. If they must watch, watch with them for a brief time; then turn the set off. Don’t sit mesmerized rewatching the same events over and over again. 5. Maintain a “normal” routine. To the extent possible stick to your family’s normal routine for dinner, homework, chores, bedtime, etc., but don’t be inflexible. Children may have a hard time concentrating on schoolwork or falling asleep at night. 6. Spend extra time reading or playing quiet games with your children before bed. These activities are calming, foster a sense of closeness and security, and reinforce a sense of normalcy. Spend more time tucking them in. Let them sleep with a light on if they ask for it. 7. Safeguard your children’s physical health. Stress can take a physical toll on children as well as adults. Make sure your children get appropriate sleep, exercise, and nutrition. As parents, we are troubled by events like what occurred in Texas. However, days like today also provide us with the opportunity to be leaders as we help our children to understand, also reminding them that, as the adults in their lives, we do everything we can to keep them safe. As we learn more details about Tuesday’s events, we will discuss and debrief with administrators and staff accordingly. Sincerely, Mike Villarreal Ed. D., Superintendent

Join us for Family Game Night on Tuesday, June 7th from 4:00-6:30 at the Middle School Athletic Field!

Congratulations to our Hoquiam Middle School students of the month. Each month 8th a grade teachers select 2 students to be recognized by the Rotary Club of Hoquiam. Congratulations for the month of April go to Hannah S. And Joey B. The students are pictured here with Rotary Club of Hoquiam President Jack Durney.

Welcome back from Spring Break!!! We are excited to be heading down the home stretch for this school year. In the coming weeks students will begin state testing and finishing assignments and projects for the end of the school year. As a reminder if you or child experiences symptoms of COVID-19 please stay home. COVID-19 testing in school helps keep students in class and doing the things they enjoy. After being out for the last week HSD wants to remind you we offer regular COVID-19 testing at the middle school each morning starting at 7:30am. Testing is available for students, staff and families that need it. Our goal is to keep our schools healthy and safe and finish the year strong. If you have any questions regarding COVID-19 please contact Nurse Rhianna or Jason Ihde.

Congratulations to Hoquiam Middle School 8th graders Maria and Cruz for being named the Rotary of Hoquiam Clubs Students of the month for March of 2022. These students were recognized for the dedication and hard work in school as well as their actions in service to others.

Good evening Hoquiam School District families. This alert is being sent regarding all students and staff at Central Elementary school. Central Elementary school be closed Wednesday, March 9, 2022. This closure is due a house fire that took place this evening less than half a block from Central. Smoke from the fire was directly in line with the building and infiltrated the building through the air handling equipment. The school will be closed to allow for ventilation of the building. School will resume on Thursday at Central. All other district schools and programs remain open.

Reminder that Monday February 28th is a half day early release for all Hoquiam School District students for district staff professional development.

Alert: Premier Medical Group Covid Testing. Parents/Staff may have received a text message of covid test results claiming the test is for today. This data was being updated from previous testing and was communicated again by mistake. PMG apologizes for the confusing message and is working to correct this. If you or child did not test with PMG today then disregard the message from today. If you have any questions please contact Jason Ihde or Rhianna Culican, RN for more information.

You are invited to the grand reopening of Lincoln Elementary! Come take a tour and watch the ribbon cutting! Thursday, February 17th at 3:30 P.M. see the link below for more info: https://www.hoquiam.net/article/650871

This week celebrate National School Counseling Week by highlighting and saying thanks to some of the best. Our school counselors do an amazing job supporting our students and the social and emotional needs and they a big part of the team supporting students academic needs as well. The last two years have been a challenge for all of our students, but it has been particularly challenging for some of our younger students. Now more than ever we are seeing a lot of social and emotional needs in our elementary students. This year the district created a couple new opportunities for elementary counselors and we are happy to have Ms. Bloomdahl join our team at Lincoln Elementary. We appreciate the work she is doing there to make ALL the Lincoln Lions feel like they belong. Thank you Ms. Bloomdahl!!

This week celebrate National School Counseling Week by highlighting and saying thanks to some of the best. Our school counselors do an amazing job supporting our students and the social and emotional needs and they a big part of the team supporting students academic needs as well. Hoquiam Middle School's Ms. Andrews has a real passion for working with students in the middle. For many, middle school was one of the times in our lives that were awkward and maybe even challenging. Much of the work for Ms. Andrews is coaching and supporting preteens as they navigate through these sometimes awkward years. We really do appreciate you, Ms. Andrews!!

This week celebrate National School Counseling Week by highlighting and saying thanks to some of the best. Our school counselors do an amazing job supporting our students and the social and emotional needs and they a big part of the team supporting students academic needs as well. Hoquiam High School has two alumni that have chosen to take their journey to being a counselor and came back to serve students in the school and district that they graduated. We appreciate Mrs. Winkelman and Mrs. Helland at HHS!

Update to the School Year Calendar for 2021-22 As many of you know, the 2021-22 school year has been impacted by closures due to snow and flooding. It can be predicted that we may need to close for additional days due to weather conditions. Please see the updated school calendar which reflects the following changes to student days: -- February 22 is now a student learning day. Students will go to campus for learning. -- March 11 (inclement weather day) will be a student learning day. Students will go to campus for learning. -- The last day of school is still scheduled for students on June 15. *Please know that further updates will be required if there are further district closures. You can access the updated district calendar here at this link https://5il.co/14xqz

Hoquiam School District is announcing changes for Thursday January 27, 2022. Due to transportation staffing shortages Hoquiam School District’s preschool program at Emerson Elementary will be cancelled for the day. There will be no Preschool on January 27th. At this time the transportation staffing appears to return to working levels on Monday. Kindergarten and 1st grade at Emerson are not affected by this cancellation.

UPDATE: Based on daily attendance data and Covid positivity rates, the district has decided to open up the high school home games to spectators under certain guidelines. For our home contests the remainder of this week, January 23-28th, our spectator policy will increase to: 5 adults per player for both the home and away team Regular admission prices will be in place Masks must be worn by spectators at all time inside the building Food and/or drink is allowed in the lobby or outside Please sit in family pods and space out from other families As always, our NFHS camera will run for all teams at our home contests. We will stream Facebook Live if we can find a person to video. Anyone interested in doing the Live Stream please contact aduvall@hoquiam.net as soon as possible. We anticipate shifting back to unlimited spectators on January 31st unless our Covid positive rates increase.

Hoquiam School District is announcing changes again for Wednesday January 26, 2022. Due to transportation staffing shortages Hoquiam School District’s preschool program at Emerson Elementary will be cancelled for the day. There will be no Preschool on January 26th. Kindergarten and 1st grade at Emerson are not affected by this cancellation.

Hoquiam School District is announcing changes for Tuesday January 25, 2022. Due to transportation staffing shortages Hoquiam School District’s preschool program at Emerson Elementary will be cancelled for the day. There will be no Preschool on January 25th. Kindergarten and 1st grade at Emerson are not affected by this cancellation.

Important changes regarding athletics effective immediately. Please see a message from the superintendent on our website www.hoquiam.net or find a link on our FB page.

Remote Learning Information for HMS - 1/21/22 - 1/31/22 Middle School students and families can access the complete remote learning schedule and links to their teachers remote classes by following this link https://www.hoquiam.net/o/hms/page/hms-remote-learning In person learning/support will still be provided on a limited bases to predetermined groups of students such as students with disabilities, 504, EL, etc. you can contact the building principal or your child's case manager for further information. Door-to-door transportation will continue for those students to get in person support during remote learning.

Hoquiam Middle School will transition to remote learning beginning 1/21/20 and return to in person learning on 1/31/22. Please see the attached link to the letter from the Superintendent (https://5il.co/14j5d). Middle School students and families can access important information regarding remote learning on our district website www.hoquiam.net