Cougar Connect: March 2025 Spring Forward!

For our families who are new to Clyde Hill, welcome to our school community!  We are so glad you have joined the Clyde Hill Elementary School!  Our school newsletter, the Cougar Connect, is published at the beginning of each month and contains information from both Clyde Hill Elementary as well as updates from the Bellevue School District central office.  On the weeks in between the monthly newsletters, shorter messages will be sent on Fridays as brief email messages.   

As the title of this Cougar Connect noted, it is time to "Spring Forward."  This weekend it is time to move clocks forward to Daylight Savings Time.  This means that before going to bed on Saturday night, clocks need to be ahead one hour.  What this means is that for the next several weeks it will be darker again in the morning, so please watch for our students who are walking and biking to school.  This also means that it will be lighter into the evening with sunset happening after 7 pm.  On the first night or two of Daylight Savings Time, some students find it very difficult to get to sleep as their internal clock says it is an hour earlier.  If your student is struggling to adjust to the time change, please let your child's teacher know.

Principal Coffees:  Upcoming Dates

At our first principal coffee we reviewed the proposed spending reduction plan for the Bellevue School District and discussed how this plan would directly impact Clyde Hill Elementary.  Thank you to those who attended on such short notice!  On a follow-up to the topic of the spending plan reductions, public comment was heard at a special school board meeting held on Thursday, March 6th.  This weekend, Dr. Kelly Aramaki and the cabinet will be making any final revisions to the plan before they present it to the school board on Monday, March 10th at 2 PM.  This meeting can be viewed online.  The school board will review the plan and vote on it on Thursday, March 13th.  

For Principal Coffees, several attendees noted that the Bellevue PTA Council also meets on the first Monday of each month, so I am going to move the Clyde Hill Principal Coffees to the second Monday of each month to avoid creating a conflict.  Additionally, for the month of April, this would be the first day back from Spring Break, so April's Principal Coffee is going to be moved back one week to April 21st.  We will be focusing on getting everyone back into class that morning!  Here are the dates for the upcoming Principal Coffees at Clyde Hill:

• Monday, April 21st
• Monday, May 12th
• Monday, June 9th

If there is a topic you would love to have discussed at one of these coffees, please let me know!  Send an email to macdonalda@bsd405.org

 

Battle of the Books

 The Battle of the Books is a reading competition that Clyde Hill 4th and 5th grade students have the opportunity to participate in that involves reading high quality chapter books and then answering questions about these books in a quiz show type format as teams of students.  Originally titled Global Reading Challenge, this program was first sponsored by the King County Librarians prior to the COVID pandemic; however, when the King County Libraries were not continuing this program, a handful of Bellevue School District elementary librarians agreed to continue the program selecting the books for the program and generating the questions that would be used at the school level to determine which team of students would be declared the school winner, and writing another set of questions to use in the competition where the elementary schools competed against one another.  This final competition occurred this past Wednesday, March 5th, and I am pleased to share that our Clyde Hill team finished 3rd at this competition!  We are so proud of the students who represented Clyde Hill, and we are equally proud of all of the students who participated in each of the teams of 4th and 5th grade students who participated in the The Battle of the Books program at Clyde Hill!

 

Excellence at Clyde Hill

The month of March began with an opportunity to highlight the excellence of both our students and teachers when a team of literacy leaders from across the Bellevue School District visited our school on Tuesday, March 4th to see our new literacy program in action.  These leaders visited classrooms seeing lessons in foundational reading skills, reading comprehension, and writing.  They heard from a panel of 4th adn 5th grade students who shared about the research projects they created in their second literacy unit, and they learned about a literacy program that three Clyde Hill teachers are piloting at kindergarten, 3rd, and 5th grade.  Throughout the day these literacy leaders shared how impressed they were with students' thinking, their engagement in their learning, and our teachers' implementation and innovation in using the curriculum.  I cannot begin to express how proud I am of the students and staff of Clyde Hill!

 

Anxious Generation - Book Club Coming Soon!

We are just a couple weeks away from our Anxious Generation book study!  There is still plenty of time to join.  Even if you have not been able to read the entire book, please come!  Even if you have only been able to watch one of the author's videos on the topic, please come!  If the topic is important to you, please join.  

A link to the Sign Up so we know how many people to plan for is:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050545AFAD2DAB9-54066055-theanxious

• Interview with Anxious Generation author Jonathan Haidt on the CBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE0dwWp_88s   (approximately 16 minutes in length)
• Policy Exchange Talk for the Anxious Generation author Jonathan Haidt:  https://www.youtube.com/live/7jX7FdLiFMk (approximately 1 hour in length)

 

PTA Science Fair

The 2025 Clyde Hill Science Fair is happening on March 28th!  Please see the flyer below for more information and registration.  We would love to see as many students as possible participating!

If you are interested in volunteering to help support the science fair or would like to help students who are working on projects at school on Wednesdays during their recess time, please use the link below to sign up.  

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C44AEAE29A3F9C43-54848467-science

 

BSD Enrollment for the 2025-2026 School Year Now Open – Tell a Friend! 

Bellevue School District new student enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year is now open! All new students in preschool through grade 12 interested in attending a Bellevue School District school are invited to begin the enrollment process.

Do you know a friend, neighbor or community member living in Bellevue with a student who does not currently attend a Bellevue School District school? Invite them to join the district named the best in Washington! Families interested in transferring into the Bellevue School District are welcome to learn more.

 

Superintendent’s Blog: Honoring Bellevue’s Diversity and Preserving Civil Rights in Our Beloved Community

Superintendent Aramaki shares a message with the BSD community acknowledging recent celebrations and commemorations in our community, including Lunar New Year, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Black History Month, and Ramadan. He goes on to share that amidst the celebrations, there have also been many in our community who have experienced fear and uncertainty. In response to the executive orders coming from the federal government, many students, families, and staff — particularly our immigrant community, our LGBTQIA+ community, our families with children with IEPs and 504s, and our communities of color — have worried about their education, safety, and belonging.

As a district, we are doing our best to navigate the flurry of K-12 education-related executive orders and communications from the US Department of Education. In his most recent video communication (listen in English, Spanish, Chinese and Russian), Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, addresses how the state’s school districts, including the Bellevue School District, are to respond to the executive orders. Dr. Aramaki encourages students, staff, and families to watch his video to get a better understanding of the implications of the recent executive orders. A few of the key points from Superintendent Reykdal that apply to the Bellevue School District are: 

·       The Civil Rights of Undocumented Youth (Procedure 4310.1P)  

·       The Civil Rights of LGBTQIA+ Youth (Policy 3211 and Procedure 3211P)

·       Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Policy 0130 and Procedure 0130P)  

·       Focus on Funding Public Education

Dr. Aramaki goes on to share a personal story of how his family was impacted by Executive Order 9066, which in 1942 authorized the forced relocation of Japanese Americans along the west coast to internment camps. He expresses that even during this dark time in history, there was still hope. And in this instance, it was attributed, in part, to the courage and care of a former teacher in Bellevue’s beloved community. Read the full Superintendent blog for more of this story and to learn about the recent federal actions and guidance from the state.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter and your involvement in supporting the learning and growth of our students at Clyde Hill Elementary!  

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.