News

Over 3,000 parents/guardians and 3,200 students shared their feedback in our spring survey. Here are some themes and highlights.

This week we’re celebrating our school nurses! This year especially we want to shout from the rooftop: THANK YOU! School nurses serve our students in managing complex conditions, identifying mental health issues, leveling the field with regard to health disparities, and now, testing, tracking cases and vaccinating staff.

The enrollment team is offering an in-person event to support families with online enrollment and registration on Friday, May 21 at the Central Office.

National Teacher Appreciation Week is May 3-7 this year. After more than a year of pandemic teaching and learning, our families and staff appreciate teachers like never before. Read the Gold Star nominations for teachers and meet the nominees.

The past 14 months have been extremely challenging for educators across the country. In Highline, our teachers showed incredible innovation and perseverance as they transitioned to distance learning and then hybrid learning, finding new ways to engage students and families. 

The SmileMobile Dental Clinic will be at Evergreen High School and the Olympic Interim Site from May 11-13 and May 18-20. Appointments are available for babies, children, teens and pregnant/postpartum individuals who are uninsured or who are with Apple Health. Schedule an appointment by calling 888.286.9105.

State Superintendent Chris Reykdal announced this week that students will not take state standardized tests this spring. Instead, the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) and Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science will be scheduled in Fall 2021.

The fall testing schedule meets the federal requirement for state testing without committing valuable learning time this spring to test-taking. 

Thank you to all who participated in our focus groups on standards-based grading. More teachers across Highline are using a standards-based approach to grading assignments and giving feedback. We hope to pilot a new standards-based report card soon.

We're pinching ourselves—it feels like a dream to have all grades back on school grounds! Today, we welcomed back more students in grades 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. It is our biggest first day yet and our second-to-last first day for the 2021-22 school year. We welcome back the rest of our secondary in-person students on Thursday. Most middle and high school students attend in two groups, either Monday/Tuesday or Thursday/Friday. Some students who receive special education services attend four days a week. 

For spring break, April 12 through April 16, meal kits will be offered on Thursday, April 8 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. only. Pick up locations include Chinook and Glacier middle schools and Evergreen and Mount Rainier high schools.

We look forward to celebrating our graduates in-person this year. Please see the updated 2021 graduation schedule, which includes ceremonies at Highline Memorial Stadium and the Performing Arts Center. Each graduate will be allotted two guest tickets. Seating will be socially distanced and other safety protocols will be in place. All graduations will also be live-streamed.

Starting the week of April 19, students in grades 6-12 who have chosen hybrid learning will begin school in person.