August 17 , 2023
Dear Parents and Students:
It is time to start thinking about another great year at Hartford High School! We hope your summer has been a very relaxing and rewarding one. It has been very busy in the high school with all of the cleaning and summer projects. We are excited to have new staff members joining our team: Amberly Wendell for Art, Steve Tinker for Social Studies, Hailey Cunningham for Choir and Elly Valdes for English.
We have enclosed the 2023-2024 School Calendar. Current information and news events can be found on the school Facebook page. All new students, freshmen, and returning students are invited to attend our HS Open House on Wednesday, August 23rd from 3:00-5:00pm. The first day of school is Monday, August 28th. High School classes begin at 8:00 a.m.
Student schedules will be available at our open house. The schedule includes their locker # and combination. Classes are fairly well balanced and many classes are at capacity, so schedule changes will be restricted to resolving course conflicts, credit recovery due to past failed classes, and/or the completion of summer school course work. Due to teacher changes and a very tight schedule, some students may have classes that they may not have signed up for. This is simply due to the scheduling conflicts that occur every year. Resolving scheduling conflicts can be tedious and frustrating. We ask for your patience as the counseling staff seeks to resolve these issues as fast as possible. Please note that no changes will be made without the parent’s approval. Again, scheduling changes will be very limited due to many classes already being at the capacity allowed.
To make changes or corrections to your schedule, contact the counseling staff directly. They are available from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at 269-621-7114. You may also email our Guidance Secretary, Javier Avina at [email protected].
Students who are enrolled to attend classes at the Van Buren Technology Center will begin those classes on Tuesday, August 29th. So, for Monday Aug. 28th, Morning TC students should report to school by 10:45 a.m. for HHS classes and Afternoon TC students will be allowed to leave school for the day at 11:40 a.m. This is ONLY for the very first day of school.
Transportation to the Tech Center: Every day that the Tech Center is in session, our buses
will transport students to Lawrence for both the morning and afternoon sessions. The morning bus departs from behind the school promptly at 8:00 a.m. and the afternoon bus leaves at 12:05 p.m., also behind the school. As in the past for safety purposes, we will be providing this bus as a means to transport these students to and from Lawrence every day. However, students are allowed to drive to the Tech Center if they have filled out the appropriate paperwork and it’s on file in the main office.
Just a reminder that ALL students, even those that have turned 18 years of age, are still required to get parent permission before signing out of school. This is to help ensure the accountability and safety of all students.
The Student Handbook is now completely digital on the Powerschool Parent Portal. Please log into the portal to sign the handbook. Instructions to access the Parent Portal are included with this letter. The student handbook deals with all of our school policies. Please take the time to review these policies with your son or daughter, paying special attention to our Attendance Policy. Also, our attendance policy has some clarifying language about absences and also adds a provision for students with over 9 tardies in a class. This can be found on page 25 and 26 of the handbook. We want all students and parents to be aware of the policies and procedures for HHS. Because of this, students and parents must sign the handbook.
Once again, all students will be receiving free breakfast & lunch if the Education Benefits Form (formerly the Household Information Survey) is completed. Please follow all directions carefully and send the form back with your student on the first day of school. Some of our federal funding is based on the number of students that qualify, not on the number of students who utilize this service.
Just a reminder, there are medication procedures we must follow when administering any medication/medicine here at school. This is in compliance with the Department of Education guidelines. Please review this portion of our handbook as well. In a nutshell, the parent must pick up a Medication Form and have it completed by the physician that prescribed the medication. Parents must also complete the form with signature and return it to the office before medication can be given at school. These forms can be picked up in the office at any time throughout the year. All over-the-counter meds must have a completed form in the office as well, before any medicine is dispensed or taken.
On behalf of all the staff here at Hartford High School we are very excited to welcome our students back into our building. We are anticipating an enrollment of over 400 students here at HHS! If I can be of assistance to you in any way throughout the school year, please do not hesitate to call me at 621-7100, or email me at blackmern@hpsmi.org.
Sincerely,
Nick Blackmer
High School Principal