Soldier Hollow Charter School

From the Office: Just a reminder to please call (654-1347) or e-mail (jkohler7@gmail.com) the office when your student is ill or will not be in school for any reason.  Also, please keep in mind that our office space is getting smaller and all phones are in use for school business.  We try to keep our lines open for emergencies.  Please try and make all special arrangements with your students for the day prior to school beginning.  We do not have phones or an intercom system between the classrooms and the office.  It is difficult to get messages to your students during the school day.  We do not have runners between the office and the classrooms and if we have to leave to deliver a message we might miss an important or emergency call.  We do have the best interests of your students in mind.  If they are sick or have forgotten food or have other serious difficulties we are always here to help accommodate them.  If you have questions, please call or e-mail the office.  Thanks.

Monday, January 18th, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: No School

SHCS Winter Olympics, February 25th & 26th: Many volunteers needed for this school-wide event. This two-day event is amazing. We hope to see many of you there!

• Olympic kick-off, Thursday, Jan 21st, at 8:15 a.m. at lodge: Please drop off your student(s) at the lodge on this morning.  After all the students are presented with their team & their country, they will walk down to the school.
• Volunteers Needed! We will need many hands to help with the Olympics.  Assisting with teams each Wednesday morning (8:30-9:30), helping with county presentations (Thurs. 2/25th), and as many volunteers as we can get the day of the Olympics (Fri, 2/26th). If you are able to help with any part, please contact:  Megan Reed at m3gst3r@hotmail.com or 435-657-2085.
• Country Rotations: Students will begin meeting with their team on Wednesday, Jan 27th, and will continue to meet each Wednesday morning from 8:30-9:30 on Feb 3rd, Feb 10th and Feb 17th.
• Country Presentations, Thursday, Feb 25th.
• SHCS Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb 26th.

Rewards Program: Congratulations to Mrs. Drake and her class for winning the Campbell’s soup label contest, even though they have a very small class of only 14 students!  After bringing in a staggering 425 soup labels, they will be going tubing at Soldier Hollow.  Thank you to all of the parents in the school who helped your children participate.  We received 1,405 labels during this 3 week contest, which allowed us to receive a 500 point bonus from Campbell’s.  It’s so wonderful to have such great support for our school!

Here are the final scores:
Mrs. Drake – 425          Ms. MaryAnn – 75
Ms. Kaara – 260            Mrs. Christensen – 53
5th Grade – 199              7th/8th Grade – 37
4th Grade – 125              6th Grade – 29
Mrs. Harper – 83           Ms. Drozd – 28
Miss Brooke – 78          Mr. Drozd – 13

If you have any questions, please call or email me.  Thank you so much! J. Johnson at gljill1@msn.com

CLASSROOM BUILDINGS UPDATE – The End is in Sight!

It caused frugal Mr. Weber considerable angst to issue the six-figure down payment for our new classroom buildings. Said he: “It is a two-edged sword. The school has scrimped and saved to put away that money. But, on the other hand, we’ll be putting those funds to great use.”
After scrutinizing the school’s ability to pay for the buildings over the holidays, national officials with the building vendor – Williams Scotsman, Inc. – approved contracts earlier this week. Within an hour, board president Chris Willis had signed the contract and Mr. Weber showed up in Williams Scotsman’s Salt Lake office with a check.
The factory that will be constructing the buildings is eager to have this project underway and put some of their people back to work. Once construction starts – hopefully within the coming week – the factory expects to complete the buildings within about 6 weeks. We won’t be able to start leveling the site and hooking into the electrical and plumbing systems until after a big race the weekend of January 30.
Once the buildings are on site, we’re hoping the State building inspectors will allow us to use temporary metal stairs (like those on the existing portables) so classes can move in while the contractor finishes constructing the permanent composite wood decks and ramps that will surround the buildings.
We’re hoping to have a few events – like a groundbreaking ceremony – in the coming weeks to celebrate our progress and answer questions about the project.
If anyone is interested in seeing the plans, a full set of blueprints are now located in the front office.

Christmas break: Begins after school on Friday, Dec 18th.

Portable Building Update: Finally! We experienced fabulous progress last week!

• CODE APPROVAL. The buildings have been approved by the State Fire Marshal and the State Division of Facilities and Construction Management. This will allow us to start construction, which will take 4-6 weeks once the factory starts.
• LOAN APPROVAL. We found a second lender, and now have enough financing to purchase all three buildings immediately.
• TIMING. Now that we’re into the winter ski season, we need to coordinate with Soldier Hollow the timing on when we’ll be able to install the buildings. We probably won’t be able to start digging to connect to the utilities until at least February 8, allowing the buildings to come on site the last week of February. This is the earliest possible date — and we still need to coordinate with Soldier Hollow about when they can allow us to dig up their race course finish line. The actual date may be later.

Jordanelle State Park Winter Program: Great winter activities for the entire family that are being offered by the State Park.  Join a Park Naturalist and snowshoe through the park while learning about things like animal tracking, birding, the moon’s phases, and wildlife technology.  There are also some moonlit snowshoe adventures that sound like a lot of fun for the family.

Skiing opportunity at Park City Resort: In an effort to get more Utah residents out on the slopes, Park City Mountain Resort is offering a great new program called StartNow! This is a great way to get your family out in the snow this winter for $25 (for equipment, lessons, and lift tickets) and can be used 5 times!   http://startnow.parkcitymountain.com/site/index.html

Rewards Program: Thank you for sending in your Campbell’s Labels For Education!  I’m so happy to say that every class brought some in – that’s so good for the school!  Please remember THE UPC CODES MUST BE INCLUDED OR CAMPBELL’S WILL NOT ACCEPT THE LABEL and it won’t be counted!  Every label will count as one item, regardless of its value.  On V-8 juice only – send in the cap, not the label.  For those of you who are so kindly raiding your food storage for these, you don’t have to send in the entire label – only the part with the upc code and the “labels for education” stamp.  I don’t want everyone eating mystery soup for the next year.  I especially want to thank Xander Valentiner (and his mom Julie) for bringing in 178 labels!  That’s amazing!  Of course, it put Mrs. Drake’s class in first place, but there is still a chance for all of the classes to win the tubing prize.  I also want to thank Jessica O’Hara (and her mom Lori) for bringing in 70 labels.

Since Christmas break will be starting early and most of the classrooms are being moved, I am extending the deadline for this contest until January 8th to make sure everyone has a chance to participate.

Campbell’s Labels for Education are on many items (including Campbell’s soup, beans, chili and tomato juice).  Please look for these on Swanson’s broth, Prego pasta sauce, Pepperidge Farm products (goldfish crackers, bread, croutons, stuffing, rolls, puff pastry, turnovers and cake), V8 Juice, Spaghetti-O’s and Franco-American Gravy.

See the bulletin board at the bottom of the stairs for current information, and to see the snowmen as they’re being built.  If you have any questions, please call or email me.  Thank you so much! — J. Johnson  at  gljill1@msn.com

Ski program: Little Vikings has begun, and skiing with the school will begin on Monday, Dec 14th.  Please make sure your children are dressed warm, and that they bring hats and gloves.  Also, please make sure that your skiing fees have been turned into the office.

Christmas Break: Begins after school on Friday, Dec 18th.  At the last board meeting, the board recognized Dec. 22nd as a compensatory day off for teachers (and students).  Seeing that would mean coming to school for just Monday the 21st of December, the board has declared that winter vacation will begin on Dec 18th.

Crossing Guards: Needed in the morning.  If you are available to help, even one day a week, please contact Cheryl Kightlinger at 435-714-9694.  DOUBLE HOURS for crossing guard duty!

Santa’s Secret Shop: It is open for 30 minutes before and after school and during lunch hour this week.  Please see your flyer for all the details, or pick one up at the office.

Lunch parents Needed the 6th-8th grades: We need a few volunteers to help with lunch supervision.  Please contact your student’s teacher if you are able to help.

Rewards Program: We are beginning a new game this week!  Every time a class brings in 10 Campbell’s Labels for Education they will receive a “piece” to build a snowman.  The class with the most labels will get to go tubing at Soldier Hollow as a class in January.  Make sure your child’s name is on the labels.  THE UPC CODES MUST BE INCLUDED OR CAMPBELL’S WILL NOT ACCEPT THE LABEL!  Every label will count as one item, regardless of its value.  This game will continue through December 18th. Campbell’s Labels for Education are on many items (including Campbell’s soup, beans, chili and tomato juice).  Please look for these on Swanson’s broth, Prego pasta sauce, Pepperidge Farm products (goldfish crackers, bread, croutons, stuffing, rolls, puff pastry, turnovers and cake), V8 Juice, Spaghetti-O’s and Franco-American Gravy.

This is the perfect opportunity to include your family in supporting our school.  Grandmothers often use these products, and they love to help!  We collect all reward items all year long.  See the bulletin board at the bottom of the stairs for current information, and to see the snowmen as they’re being built.  If you have any questions, please call or email me.  Thank you so much! J. Johnson at gljill1@msn.com

Ski program: Please make sure your money for the ski program is turned into the office as soon as possible.  The cost per child is $100 (that includes ski instructors, trail passes, and equipment.  That cost also includes the Little Vikings after school ski program for children that are interested in participating.)

From the Board: PUBLIC MEETING – Classroom Buildings
Tuesday, December 8   at 5:00 pm
Wasatch County Public Library (Senior Center)
465 East 1200 South in Heber

We encourage all parents and interested community members to attend. The school is applying for a loan from the USDA’s Rural Development program. USDA requires that we hold a meeting to inform the community about the project, respond to questions, and hear any public comment about the project. Please come if possible!

• Building Update: At the last parent meeting, we reported that the buildings were near approval from DFCM (Utah Division of Construction and Facilities Management). We did receive approval from the State Fire Marshal, but found out on Tuesday – after a week of anxious waiting – that DFCM still has some additional requirements. In the past, our architects have met with DFCM directly to walk them through the corrections we’ve made on the plans. In this case, after getting State Fire Marshal approval, the architects dropped off the plans with DFCM. Some of the comments they made were items that were in the plans already. Others were things DFCM had asked to be removed, but now wanted back in the plans. Some requirements were probably omissions by our designers. Everything at this point is relatively minor – and we’ll be resubmitting this week and hoping for approval once again.
• Loans: We do have one loan approval for $400,000 – less than half of the total project cost. Using this loan and much of the school’s reserves, we could purchase two of the three buildings we need. The board would be much more comfortable with the loan amount and terms available through USDA.  We believe there is a reasonably good chance this loan could be approved.

Crossing Guards: Needed in the morning.  If you are available to help, even one day a week, please contact Cheryl Kightlinger.

Santa’s Secret Shop: The children have all been given a flyer regarding this new event — Holiday shopping for inexpensive gifts at out school.  The Shop will be open before and after school and during lunch hour, Dec 7th – 11th.  Please see your flyer for all the details, or pick one up at the office.

Fall break, Oct 15-16: Have a great four-day weekend.

Fall Gala Tickets: are available for purchase -$30- after school each day in the parking lot.  (Cash or check only in the parking area, if you are paying with a credit card you will need to go into the office.)

Halloween trunk-or-treat, October 30th, 11:00ish, Amphitheatre: Kids will attend their regular classes in the morning.  Parents can park their cars near the amphitheatre for trunk-or-treating. Candy is delicious, but we also love different things.  Last year we saw pencils, erasers, stickers, hot cider and all sorts of great ideas.

After School Art Classes, Faceplant, taught by  Mrs. McDonald: She will be offering after school art classes at their design studio in Heber. The class sizes will be small so sign-up early. If you want to find out more, there will be an open house on Thursday, October 15th from 4-5:30. Please stop by for a tour and snacks. Classes start October 19th!!