Highlander Charter School
March 2025
Important Dates:
- March 8th: Warren Open House
- March 18th: PVD School Improvement Team meeting in person
- March 20th: Board of Trustees Meeting
March 1, 2025
Dear Highlander Families,
As we welcome March, I find myself reflecting on the past year. Around this time last year, I began my journey as Superintendent of Highlander Charter School—a year filled with learning, growth, and perseverance. I remain incredibly grateful for the support of our families, staff, and students as we continue strengthening our school community together.
February was a month of celebration and reflection as we honored Black History Month. Our partnership with Outspoken brought joy and creativity to the lower school, where students participated in read-alouds, created a community poem centered on Black is Beautiful, and showcased their talents through dance, singing, skits, and storytelling. At the upper school, students engaged in a museum-style exhibition, deepening their understanding of Black history and culture.
Now, as we step into Women's History Month, we embrace the 2025 theme: Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations. We are committed to uplifting and celebrating the incredible women within and beyond our community.
RIDE Renewal: Ensuring Highlander’s Future
One of our major priorities this month is Highlander’s charter renewal with the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE). This is a critical process that ensures we continue serving students with excellence and innovation. We are committed to demonstrating our impact, celebrating our successes, and addressing areas for growth to secure our school’s future for years to come.
Innovative Support for High School Students
At the high school level, we are in the process of piloting the Beyond the Bell program to provide students with expanded opportunities for academic success. This initiative offers extended hours during the school day, allowing students to receive tutoring support, participate in credit recovery for failing classes, explore additional elective and club opportunities, and enroll in first-time acquisition courses, such as science—an area where we have faced staffing challenges.
Our goal is to ensure that every student has the resources and support needed to succeed, recognizing that will require us to rethink the school day. We are actively working to hire staff and identifying students who would benefit most from this program. More details will be shared soon, and we encourage families to stay engaged as we continue developing this important initiative.
Lower School Unionization Update
We are aware that families recently received a letter regarding the decision of our lower school teachers to unionize. While this communication did not come through official school channels, we want to reaffirm our commitment to transparency and respect throughout this process. We remain engaged in ongoing negotiations and are focused on reaching an agreement that supports both our educators and the long-term success of our students.
Thank you for your continued partnership in our work to make Highlander a place where all students thrive.
In community,
Simona Simpson-Thomas
Superintendent
Hello!
March is here, bringing the joy of Spring, my favorite season! Along with the blooming flowers, we also have March Madness, not just for basketball fans but for our school community as we work towards important milestones.
This month, we celebrate Women's History Month, which is a wonderful opportunity to recognize the contributions of women throughout history. We also have Survey Works and a strong Attendance Matters campaign happening. Additionally, it marks the beginning of our testing season, so it’s an important time for our students.
I appreciate your support in encouraging your child to stay focused and engaged during this busy month. If you have any questions or need more information, let’s talk!
Survey Works
Every year the Rhode Island Department of Education conducts this survey to gather important information including School Safety, School Belonging and more. This information is then shared with school administration to be used to create our School Improvement Plans. We are asking all families to take a few minutes and share their honest feedback. As an incentive, families that complete the survey can share a screenshot of the "submit screen" with me to be entered into a raffle. You can access the survey by going to: http://bit.ly/ridefamily Survey closes March 31st.
Read to Succeed
We are excited to invite families and students from grades 2nd - 7th grade to join us on March 11 at 5:00pm to Kick off this exciting program.
Read to Succeed is a FREE Summer Reading Program for Incoming 3rd - 8th graders (current 2nd-7th grade). Upon successful completion of the program students earn $1,000 on a College Bound Fund account.
At the kick off event families and students will have the opportunity to learn more about the program, preview and select the free books.
As an extra bonus we will have Pizza. Please RSVP by Thursday, March 6th. https://forms.gle/1bLiDtfarMRYaiTb9
#AttendanceMatters
Attendance is a key factor in predicting student success. It's crucial that students are in school every day they are healthy.
As a parent, I understand the many challenges we face regarding attendance. From those tempting, inexpensive tickets for family vacations during the school year to the occasional struggles our kids have getting up for school, it can be tough.
I encourage you to reach out if your child is facing any barriers to attending school. I believe that together we can create a plan that ensures every student is in school every day.
State Assessments Resources
State Assessments are those required by and reported to the Rhode Island Department of Education. The results of those assessments typically arrive in the fall of the following school year. The majority of the testing windows for these assessments are in the spring, between April and May of every year.
Rhode Island Department of Education Page: Resources for Families
This page answers the following questions:
What standardized assessments are given in Rhode Island’s public schools?
What types of questions will my child be asked on the statewide assessments?
How long are the statewide assessments and when do they happen during the school year?
What can you and your child do to prepare for statewide assessments?
Where can you go to learn more about Rhode Island’s Statewide Assessment Program and how to understand your student’s results?
What are Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) and why are they important?
Community and Family Resources
Make sure to check the Community Resources Section and the new Immigration Resources for Families Section on our school website.
As always please reach out if you need help.
With love,
Ms. Tatiana
Have a shoutout for a staff, a student or group of students? Please use the following link to share: https://forms.gle/mKG7d5aU2iLoq7Yx5
Shout Out
Congratulations to...
Billie Senecal
Lisabeth Torres
Oliver Kuyon
Recipient of RISLA Knowledge for College Scholarships!!! He will receive $2000 to use toward the institution he attends in the fall.
Connect with us
Providence: 401-277-2600
Warren: 401-247-3585
Class Dojo : https://www.classdojo.com/
Mrs. Simpson-Thomas: ssthomas@hc.school
Mrs. Roseberry (ES): jpicciotti@hc.school
Mr. Pabst (Warren): wpabst@hc.school
Mrs. Goulart (Warren): agoulart@hc.school
Email: info@hc.school
Website: highlandercharter.org
Phone: 401-277-2600
Twitter: @highlanderChart