End of School Year Blog

June 25, 2009
Dear Parents,

Well, here goes!! It’s been a whirlwind year, full of changes and pleasant surprises. Unlike David Letterman, my list is not in priority order. I believe it is important to reflect on what has occurred this year at HFS and then begin planning for next year. Again, I want to thank everyone for being so supportive and understanding this year. I am eagerly looking forward to next year already. Please remember the Science Field Trips during July and the MARS challenge program. Have a healthy, safe and family-oriented vacation.

God Bless,

Gene

FACILITY UPGRADES

· Elevator lift installed
· Linoleum flooring and baseboard molding for 1st floor classrooms
· Safety lighting installed in computer room
· Rewired fire alarm system on entire bottom floor of school
· Installed new fire alarm between K and Pre-K rooms
· Removed rust and repainted overhang by gym entrance
· Installed rubberized roof on overhang by gym entrance
· Addressed all Code Enforcement issues from 2007 inspection, including new galvanized piping in art room, new toilets, sinks and faucets in both restrooms by gym entrance, and four new emergency lights
· New drop ceiling by gym entrance and restrooms (to be completed by the end of June)
· Gym and stage walls painted
· New playground for our young students (ground was broken this week)

ACADEMIC UPGRADES

· Extended 5th and 6th grade day by 30 minutes in the morning
· Added Exploratory Spanish in grades K-4 one class a week
· Increased Spanish in grades 5 and 6 from twice a week to three times
· New Science Initiative (2/2/09) - Eric Diefenbacher team teaching science classes in grades K-4, including field trips.
· $13,000 worth of new science equipment, lab tables, and storage unit (Today, Tomorrow, and Always Fund)
· New Saxon math textbooks for grades K-6
· Saxon Smartboard lessons on CD for grades 3-6
· Saxon textbook on CD for student use at home for grades 4-6
· New Amsco Integrated Algebra textbooks for grades 7-8
· New Religion workbooks for grades K-8
· New Glencoe Health textbooks and activity books for grades 5-8
· New teacher resource textbooks for our computer program for grades K-8
· Fourteen new laptops for teachers to use for attendance, grading and
communicating with students/parents
· New PDS system for taking and tracking attendance, grading and preparing reports, and new computerized report cards
· New web-pages for each of our staff members to communicate with their students and parents
· New firewall for our internet system
· Wireless internet
· Smartboards in all our classrooms from K-8 grades
· Six more new Dell computers for our lab (Dowdall Fund & private donation)
· Three new classroom computers (Dowdall Fund)
· Have new Spanish teacher also teach music
· Library upgrade – furniture rearranged, two new computer stations added, reading nook for young readers
· Instituted a new Early Childhood program that will be year-round beginning in September, 2009. Purchased new learning materials and hired a former graduate of HFS for the Early Childhood program
· New ELA program for elementary grades, including new reading, writing and assessment programs to begin September, 2009
· A server was donated to our school. It will be installed this summer
· Extending length of day for all students for the 2009/10 school year:
Elementary: 8:05 am – 2:25 pm
Grades 5-7: 8:00 am – 3:00 pm
· New summer science family field trips planned for four Friday’s in July
· Summer MARS Program to encourage all our students to read and do math over the summer


EXPLORING

· Curtains for the auditorium/gym
· Purchasing more classroom computers for student use
· Upgrading student restrooms on the main floor
· Installing new drop ceiling in the main entrance way
· Instituting energy saving projects this summer, including light sensors in certain areas of the building, upgrade hot water heater system to a more energy efficient system and installing more fluorescent lighting