Highlands Middle School Weekly News

Friday, October 23rd- No School for Students

Friday, November 6th- Quarter 1 Ends

Winter 1 Sports Information

Registration is open for all Winter 1 sports. Any student entering 7th or 8th grade is eligible to participate. You should have received an email from FinalForms, and it will walk you through the steps.

Winter 1 sports include Boys Basketball, Girls Wrestling, and Dance. 

We will have a pre-season meeting at 2:45 on October 22nd; the meeting will be over by 3:15. The first day of practice for all sports will be October 26th. Practice will start immediately after school and conclude at 4:30 pm each day.

In order to practice, each player must have the following items completed: Parent FinalForms, Student FinalForms, a physical on file at the front office, and fees paid. Fees must be paid by 11/5.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Ramona Reitan at ramona.reitan@ksd.org or Pete Frentzen at pete.frentzen@ksd.org

Please get your students signed up as soon as possible.

We are noticing an increase in classroom tardies. Please talk to your student(s) about arriving to class on time.  This is a way that they can show RESPONSIBILITY which is part of our BIG 3.  Students who receive two or more tardies a day will be receiving lunch detention.  

Please help us remind Scotties to charge their computers each night. Access to class materials can become difficult when computers are not charged.  

The Patriot's Pen Essay competition is currently open for submissions. Students in grades 6-8 are eligible to compete for scholarship prizes by writing a 300-400 word essay with parent permission. The topic is "What a Veteran Taught Me About America." This is one of the ways the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW gives back to our communities).  Follow the QR code or Bitly link in the attached flyer and it will take you to the registration page on ScholarsApp. All submissions must be submitted by October 31, 2026 and need to be in English. Submissions are done through ScholarsApp. For those families that have a student in High School there is also an essay competition at that level called Voice of Democracy with the same topic but with slightly different requirements. Students and families interested in more information can reach out to Mr. Schrader or VFW Post #5785 in Kennewick, WA.  

Please talk to your student(s) about their classes and grades. It is important that students are staying on top of their homework and their class work.  Every moment counts and we want to help prepare our Scotties for high school and beyond. Please reach out to your student(s) teacher if you have any questions.

Here are a few questions to start the conversation with your student(s).

 

There are quite a few lost and found items.  Please check and see if your student(s) are missing any sweaters, jackets, or other clothing items.  Items will be donated at the end of the month. 

To help ensure a safe and smooth dismissal for all students, please keep these important cut-off times in mind:

Changes to after-school arrangements must be communicated to the office by 2:15 PM. After this time, we begin sending final dismissal messages to classrooms and cannot guarantee that changes will reach students before dismissal.

Students must be checked out before 2:20 PM. After 2:20 PM, families will need to wait until our regular 2:35 PM dismissal and meet their student outside.

Whenever possible, please notify the office in advance if your student will be leaving early and provide the expected pick-up time. This is especially helpful when students are at lunch, P.E., or another location outside their regular classroom.

These cut-off times help us keep students safe, reduce classroom interruptions, and ensure an organized dismissal for everyone. We understand that there are emergencies and we will work with families to get students to you when you need them.  

Thank you for your cooperation and partnership!

Thank you for your continued support with drop off and pick up.  

Please remember that the same guidelines are used after school as well. Thank you!