Rolling Hills News

Parents and planners ask: When will the NEXT school year start?

We know that many families want to plan summer vacations that won't conflict with the start of school. Although the full 2019-20 school year calendar is not yet official, we have determined that students will start school during the week of August 19, 2019. The exact date within that week will be determined by Governing Board action at next month's meeting, on March 7th. 

As you plan ahead, please bear in mind that our schools also schedule middle school orientations and kindergarten "round ups" in the days preceding the start of school. 

Once the school calendar is official, we will post key dates on our online calendars, websites, and on campus bulletin boards.

Volunteer panelists needed to listen to students’ presentations.

Even if your child is not yet in 8th grade, volunteering as a panelist is a great way to get to know the process and help the students have this authentic public speaking experience.

The Eighth Grade Exhibition project is a promotion requirement for all 8^th grade students.  The pupils have researched topics, planned and completed a project related to their topics, and are ready to present their findings to panelists who will listen and evaluate their performance.  

It’s Easy!  We’ll show you what to do and even provide some refreshments!

If you are available any of the times listed below or have quesitons about being involved as a judge, please respond to Stephanie Day: sday [at] campbellusd.org (sday [at] campbellusd.org) or 408-364-4200, ext. 6244.

Yes, I would like to be a volunteer panelist:  

Name:                               Phone:                                  Email:       

California law requires that children have an oral health assessment as part of attending public school. Dental Society volunteers partner with our schools in promoting students' dental health.

Untreated dental problems can cause intense pain and adversely affect nutrition, growth, and ability to pay attention in class. This week, in observance of National Children's Dental Health Month, teams of volunteer dentists and their assistants are providing free dental screenings to more than 1,000 students in our schools. It is part of a nation-wide program that aims to identify dental problems early, educate children about good dental hygiene, and help to connect families to dental care if they need it.

Nurses at Campbell Union School District's schools will follow up with the families of children found to have serious dental issues. Those who do not have regular dentists will receive assistance in getting dental care through the Dental Society volunteers.

"We want to help catch dental problems early," says Dr. Zarkesh, President of the Santa Clara County Dental Society, pictured here providing a dental screening to a student. "And it's fun being with the kids."

The Dental Society coordinates the local event. This month, they will provide free oral assessments for more than 5,000 students county wide.

Principal’s Message 

Welcome to Northern California winters, where Mother Nature keeps us on our toes.  While the inclement weather added much rain to our gauges, it also led to puddles and leaks.  With the help of teachers and district groundskeepers, students had a number of dry areas to eat lunch and enjoy some downtime last week.  This week, with the brilliant sunshine, it is terrific seeing kids playing sports and card games outside again.

iReady 

As indicated in the previous Principal’s Message, our second iReady assessment window starts next week.  So that no curricular area is adversely affected, and to show our students that all teachers take ownership of learning, all periods will be decreased by several minutes as a schoolwide testing period is created.

Since it is our students who take the assessments, we will provide them the option of which assessment to take first, ELA or Math, and they may even toggle between subjects until completion.  The schedule will be adhered to on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  So that students have the opportunity to perform their very best, we encourage students to be present and on time.  The iReady schedule follows:

On a side note, with 1050 Chromebooks operating simultaneously, we hope that you can help us by providing your child with earbuds if at all possible on the testing days.  Of course we have a small supply of these in classrooms in the event students do not have their own.

PTA 

A Goodwill Donation truck will be at RHMS on January 27^th off the Pollard Loop between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm.  While Goodwill will collect items, a monetary donation will be made back to our RHMS PTA.  The dollar amount is based upon the cubic space the items total and will help offset the cost to support such activities as 6^th grade Science Camp, a 7^th grade Citizen Scientist field trip, and an 8^th grade promotion activity.  Please log onto https://www.ptarhms.org/ for more details about how to support the PTA as it works to support over 1,000 RHMS students.

Science Camp

Speaking of Science Camp, RHMS has sent two groups to Walden West this year.  While the weather was challenging last week, students were always under the watchful and supportive eyes of RHMS teachers and credentialed teachers from the Santa Clara County Office of Education.  We were in constant communication with the Walden West site, our teachers, and our district as the rains and winds increased.  With the support of our district, it was decided to send communication to all sixth grade families via email and phone messages.

So that communication of this nature arrives in a timely fashion regarding any situation, please make sure to update your phone numbers and email addresses with our office staff.  If for some reason we need to send immediate and mass communication to families, this is our district’s vehicle.

School Tours 

We were pleased to take approximately 150 parents and guardians on a tour of RHMS yesterday during CUSD’s Open Enrollment.  For those of you with younger children, please log onto the district website to ensure enrollment procedures are followed.  For those with children in 8^th grade, the Campbell Union High School District (CUHSD) will send counselors to our site on February 4^th to meet with everyone as they schedule our current students for high school classes.  Please contact CUHSD with any questions regarding intra and inter-district transfers, course descriptions, etc.

Cookies with the Counselors

In an effort to share information with parents about counseling themes this year and counseling classroom presentations, on February 7^th RHMS will host two informational sessions for families.  Please RSVP at the following websites so that our counselors may gauge the size of the audience and find an appropriate location.

http://tinyurl.com/Cookies-RHMS-Morning

http://tinyurl.com/Cookies-RHMS-Evening 

Parent Education 

On January 30^th from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm, Marshall Lane Elementary is hosting an evening for parents and guardians to participate in a discussion called Screen Time Battles: How to Avoid Them.  It is free to attend.  The speaker will discuss topics that include:

• Learn the pluses & minuses of electronics – Smartphones, Gaming, Texting, Apps, YouTube.
• What should you expect by age group – toddler, early elementary, middle and high school.
• How electronics can affect brain development at different stages.
• Get ideas on setting reasonable, age appropriate limits in your home without a fight.
• Learn what parental controls you can use and what to know as your kids get older.
• What to do when things get out of control.
• Sexual content – what should you know as a parent.

Construction

Final stages of construction at RHMS are in the works.  This includes the installation of lighting in the new parking lot adjacent to Pollard Road and grass seeding of a portion of our fields.  Fields are scheduled to be graded this Friday.  Once prepared and seeded, the spring rains will ensure that our fields will be in use when school starts in August.  Home soccer games will again be played at home, and our Physical Education Department will have access to all field space.  In the interim, we are looking at what we can temporarily do to the track’s infield so that it may be a safe and viable alternative.

In Closing 

Thank you for all you do in support of your children and our students.  It is gratifying to witness the individual and collective growth of students and staff thus far this year.  With another eighteen or so weeks of school, we are eager to continue our work at providing an engaging learning environment for all.