Cougar Connect: The First Day is Nearly Here

Wow!  What a week it has been at Clyde Hill!!! It has been delightful meeting so many students and families!  Starting with our New Family Tours on Monday evening followed by Kindergarten Camp on Tuesday morning and finishing with the Family Meet and Greet on Thursday afternoon, it has been a fabulous week of meeting and connecting with families and our Clyde Hill community!

With the first days of school just around the corner, this Clyde Hill "Cougar Connect" is focused on a few key school guidelines and information pieces that will hopefully help get the year off to a great start for all families!  

Reporting an Absence or Late Arrival

If you need to keep your student home because they are sick, please call the Clyde Hill attendance line at 425-456-5002 or email clydehillattendance@bsd405.org.  While teachers appreciate being notified if a student is staying home, contacting the main office at the phone number or email listed above is most helpful.

 

Picking Your Student Up Early

If you need to pick your student up early, please call the main office at 425-456-5002 or email clydehillattendance@bsd405.org and let us know what time you need to pick up your child(ren).  This will allow the school gather your child(ren) in advance particularly if this time falls during their recess, lunch, or specialist class.   

 

School Lunches

School lunch is an important part of the day as students refuel their bodies and brains to keep their learning going!  Below you will find the link to the menus on the Bellevue School District website.  Menus are posted monthly.  The menu for the month of September is now available:

https://www.bsd405.org/programs-and-services/nutrition-services/menus-and-nutritional-information

For families whose students will be eating school lunch and purchasing from an account, money can be added into that account in several ways.  First, cash or a check can always be brought into the main office at Clyde Hill.  We have a wooden box that sits on the front counter where payments can be left.  A yellow deposit slip that includes key information (your student's name and other identifying information) is attached to the payment before it is placed into the deposit box.  These deposits are then loaded into your student's lunch account.

For families wishing to make deposits online to their child(ren)'s accounts, you can use the following link to do this using a program known as PayPAMs.  This requires linking either a bank account or credit card to your child(ren)'s lunch account.

https://www.bsd405.org/programs-and-services/nutrition-services/pay-for-meals

 

If you would like to complete the application to receive free or reduced priced meals, the application is linked below.  This application does need to be completed each year. 

https://freeandreducedmeals.com/lfserver/Bellevue_Landing_Page_24-25

 

Staff at Clyde Hill are happy to assist you with any part of the lunch purchase process or completion of the application.

 

Cell Phones and Smart Watches

The expectation at Clyde Hill is that if a student is bringing a cell phone to school it is for after school purposes and remains in their backpack on silent throughout the school day.  A student should not be accessing their cell phone during the school day.  

For smart watches, watches should be used as watches and at most timers/stop watches, but they should not be used for games, texting, phone calls, social media, recording device, or any other apps beyond the basic function of telling time or being a stopwatch/timer.

The first time a student does not meet this expectation, they will be reminded of the expectation and asked to put the phone away or return the smart watch to its watch function.  Should this behavior happen again, the device will be brought to the office and the student's grown-up will be asked to pick it up.  In the unlikely event this behavior continues for a third time, the student will not be allowed to bring the device to school.  

Clyde Hill Elementary is not responsible for lost or stolen personal items that students choose to bring to school.

 

Toys from Home

Toys stay home. 

This includes but is not limited to:  trading cards of all kinds, crafts, matchbox type cars, legos, stuffed animals, slime, games, dice, and whatever the latest craze on social media highlights.  If a teacher has a classroom celebration that includes one of these items, that exception is permitted; however, that exception will be communicated to families.  We ask that families regularly check their child(ren)'s backpacks as it is amazing what ends up in backpacks.

 

For the topics of cell phones, smart watches, and toys, if any or all of these apply to your child(ren), please take a moment to talk with them about these expectations before the first day of school.  We want their focus at Clyde Hill to be on learning.  If students are texting on watches or focused on the Lego minifigures they tucked into their backpack and have now snuck into their desk, they will miss out on learning.  Please help us maximize their learning by keeping the great toys at home and setting a clear, common expectation around when phones and smart watches can be used.

 

Lastly, the weather forecast for next week looks beautiful!  The weather looks to be sunny and warm for much of the week - a perfect way to start the 2024-25 school year!

 

In partnership,

Amy MacDonald

Principal, Clyde Hill Elementary School

 

 

Bellevue School District does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts of America and other designated youth groups.

The following employees have been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination:

Civil Rights, Racial Discrimination, and Gender Expression or Identity Discrimination:Civil Rights/Nondiscrimination Compliance Coordinator Nancy Pham, 425-456-4040 or phamn@bsd405.org

Sex-based Discrimination, including Sexual Harassment:Title IX Coordinator: Jeff Lowell, 425-456-4010 or lowellj@bsd405.org

Disability Discrimination:Section 504/ADA Coordinator: Karen Dejong, 425-456-4277 or dejongk@bsd405.org

Mailing address for all three: 12111 NE 1st Street, Bellevue, WA 98005.