HAWKINS HAPPENINGS

Chris McAuliffe - Principal

Address: 8900 Lee Road, Brighton, MI 48116

Website: https://www.brightonk12.com/Domain/52

First Bell: 9:01 AM

Second Bell: 9:05 AM

Dismissal Time: Begins at 3:55 PM (Final Bell 3:58)

9/23 - Color Run

9/26 - PICTURE DAY

10/9 - PTO Meeting 9:30 am

10/13 - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

10/24 - PICTURE RETAKES

Lunch/Recess Schedule

JK/K - 11:10 - 11:55

1st - 11:40 - 12:25

2nd - 12:10 - 12:55

3rd - 12:40 - 1:25

4th - 1:10 - 1:55

Happy Friday, Hawkins Families!

We had a little bit of everything this week, and I could not be more proud of how our students and staff responded and engaged.

This week, we launched our Running Club, led by Molly Jourden and Lisa Piegdon. The students loved it, and as a staff, we’re excited to see it give our students another wonderful opportunity. Molly and Lisa are still fine-tuning things, but I can already see this becoming a tradition we’ll be proud of for years to come. A huge thank-you goes out to Amber Nuss, Nick Nuss, Krista Chain, Tara Newlon, Kacey Halliday, Teresa Porter, and Stacey Farneth for volunteering their time to support this effort. If I missed anyone, please let me know—you deserve to be recognized. While thanking parents, I also want to recognize Mike Traicoff, who volunteers in our parking lot every day. His support makes a big difference in keeping our lot running smoothly and ensuring student safety. As you may know from my email, we had a fire alarm yesterday due to a faulty blower motor. I was incredibly proud of how our students and staff handled the situation, as well as the quick and professional response from our police and fire departments. Practice truly pays off!

Looking ahead, we are excited to begin Huddles in October. Huddles bring students together across grade levels with staff members they may not know, for lessons centered around our D.O.G.S. principles. This is always a favorite with our students! To make it successful, we would love a few parent volunteers to help us with name tags—either at school or from home. If you are interested, please reach out.

Next week is Pink Week, when we’ll be supporting the BHS Coins/Cash for a Cure project. Donation buckets will be placed in each classroom, with proceeds going directly to the BHS Leadership Team. If you’ve got a jar of spare change at home, this is a wonderful cause to contribute to. On Friday, we encourage everyone to wear pink to show support. Also coming up is our Color Run! This event funds most of what our PTO is able to provide for our students, so please make sure to register and donate. If we reach our goal, the PTO has arranged for a policeman and a fireman to be turned into a giant “Sundae”—something our kids will love!

Finally, please note that our next PTO meeting will be held on October 9th at 9:30am. During this meeting, you’ll have the opportunity to review bylaws and vote on the budget. We hope to see you there.

I’m looking forward to a weekend of family time, hopefully mowing the lawn and getting one last chance to enjoy the water. I hope each of you has a wonderful weekend.

It’s truly an honor to be your principal!

Mr. McAuliffe

The STEAM lab appreciates donations of toilet paper and paper towel tubes. It's one of students' favorite building materials. Thank you for inspiring our young engineers!

Ms. Tchoryk

The first week of Hawkins Running Club was so much fun. We had a total of 332 runners with 292 miles fully completed and so many other partial miles.

1st grade: 67 runners with 44 completed miles

2nd grade: 87 runners with 65 completed miles

3rd grade: 86 runners with 78 completed miles

4th grade: 92 runners with 105 completed miles

CONGRATULATIONS to all the runners!

Shout out to all the volunteers who made this possible: Lisa Piegdon, Krista Chain, Teresa Porter, Tara Newlon, Amber Nuss, Nick Nuss, Kacey Halliday, Stacey Farneth, Jessica Johnson, Chelsea Baughman-Campbell, Kristina Goebel, Angela Kinney and Julie Lasett.

No Running Club on Tuesday September 23. We want the kids to have all their energy for Color Run and to give the PTO board members space to set up.

If you are able and willing we are looking for donations to cover the cost of toe tokens, special rewards for completed 5Ks, drinking cups and other supplies. Please contact Molly Jourden at mollyjourden@yahoo.com or 248-767-6903 to donate.

Click the Color Run link to find out how you can help Hawkins PTO reach its fundraising goal!

Hawkins Color Run

Hawkins Picture Day is Friday, September 26th. Jostens Pix will be handling our student photos as well as our Hawkins Yearbook. Jostens gives Hawkins families the opportunity to;

• Preview your child's pictures before you buy
• Buy only the photos you want
• Personalize your photos
• Photos are shipped directly to your house
• High-res digital downloads
• If you have more than one child, you can order everything together and pay only once.

A few days after Picture Day, visit Jostens' website at https://shop.jostenspix.com/login and use the Event Code FE219525 to view your child's photos. Creating an account is free, easy, and gives you access to their photos year after year. Register your free account using the email address you have on file with your school and photos will automatically display in the gallery!

Dear Parents,

We’d like to share some important information about Free & Reduced-Price Meal eligibility.

While all students currently receive meals at no cost through the Michigan School Meals Program, qualifying for Free or Reduced-Price Meals can provide additional benefits for your child and family—including reduced fees for school activities, athletics, and testing.

In past years, most students’ eligibility was determined through a process called Direct Certification. This automatically qualifies students without the need for families to apply. However, this year Direct Certification has not identified as many eligible students as in the past.

If your child has qualified for Free or Reduced-Price Meals in previous years but you have not received a notification this year, you may need to complete a short application. Also, if you feel that you may now qualify, you should fill out this application as well (Link to Qualification Standards). The good news—it’s quick and simple to do!

• Paper applications are available in all schools.

• Applications can also be printed from the district website.

• An online Application is available on Parent Connect

If you are unsure of your eligibility status or have any questions, please call the Food Service Office at 810-299-4175 and we’ll be happy to help.

Thank you for taking a few minutes to ensure your child receives all the benefits they are entitled to.

Sincerely,

The Brighton Area Schools Student Nutrition Department

*if the hyperlink to the qualification standards does not work, the following is the direct link: https://www.michigan.gov/mde/news-and-information/press-releases/2024/09/17/income-guidelines-for-free-and-reduced-price-meals-announced

All parent volunteers must undergo a background check in order to volunteer at Hawkins. If you have not done so yet and are planning on volunteering at Hawkins on field day, click on the link below to access Brighton Area Schools Background Check Form.

Parents, please remember to be checking your students head for head lice. After a long summer of sleep overs and interaction with friends, family and sporting events, it is that time of year again to be diligent about checking for lice and eggs . While they are not harmful they most certainly are a nuisance and difficult to get rid of. Should you need any more information here is a link for your reference: https://www.cdc.gov/lice/about/head-lice.html

A quick reminder about the board policy regarding medication: All medication including over-the-counter medication (i.e. Tylenol, Motrin, TUMS, cough drops, etc.) must have a MEDICAL AUTHORIZATION FORM. This form requires both the parent's and the medical provider's signature. Without both signatures, we cannot give medication to your student. Also, the school cannot provide this medication. You must supply this medication for your student. The clinic does not have extra. This comes from board policy found here: https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Organization/2615

Please make sure your child has an extra set of clothes in their backpack and/or locker in case of accidents or emergencies (i.e. bathroom accidents, playground mishaps, lunchroom spills, ripped or torn clothes, etc.). We do not have extra clothes to lend out. An extra set here at school saves parents an extra trip to Hawkins during the school day. We appreciate your help!!!

Parent Connect a web-based application that allow parents/guardians to view information for your child's current school year. Logging into Parent Connect will enable you to see your child's placement (date to be determined), report card, and lunch account. In addition, parents/guardians can add or change emergency contacts. Please click on the link for more information.

Parent Connect FAQ

Parent Connect

Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school - and themselves. School success goes hand in hand with good attendance. Missing 10 percent of the marking period can make it harder to learn to read. Students can fall behind if they miss just a day or two days every few weeks. Good attendance will help children do well in high school, college and at work. Providing a physician's note for absences does not effect absenteeism and is not counted towards the number of days your child is absent. If you feel your child has anxiety about attending school or struggles to stay at school for a full day, Hawkins has resources to help.

If your child is going to be absent, please call the Hawkins attendance Line (810-299-3900 then press 2). Please state your child's name, teacher, date of absence and reason for the absence (type of illness, doctor appointment, vacation etc). If your child has been diagnosed with a specific ailment (COVID, strep throat, pink eye, influenza, chicken pox) please state that in the voicemail message. If your child has not been diagnosed with a specific ailment but is having specific symptoms please let us know the symptoms your child is experiencing. Hawkins appreciates your help!

A new feature in Parent Connect will allow you to enter your student’s absence. Simply log into parent connect and click on the link Report Absence. The Report Absence link will open a screen for you to complete. If you have more than one student check the name of the student for whom an absence is being submitted. Add the applicable dates. If you check the All Day flag attendance will be submitted for the am and pm periods. If you do not check the All Day flag times must be entered and attendance will be submitted for whichever periods meet during the time range (based on period schedule).

If you need to change a contact phone number or email address you can do so through Parent. Connect at Parent Connect

If you do not know your Parent Connect login information, please follow the instructions on the Brighton Area Schools website.

PLEASE NOTE: Address changes CANNOT be completed through Parent Connect. Address changes must be completed by filling out a change of address form along with 3 copies of proof of residency. Details are listed on the change of address form which is available by clicking on the link below. Since in person drop off is not an option at this time, forms can be scanned and emailed to samanij@brightonk12.com

Parents, do you have a 4th-8th grader who might be interested in participating in Brighton a Cappella Camp? The camp meets Tuesday, September 30th and Wednesday October 1st, between 4:30pm and 6:00pm at Brighton High School. There will be a culminating performance at the beginning of Scranton Idol at the BCPA on Thursday, October 2nd at 7:00pm. Please see the linked form for more information, and feel free to reach out to Sarah Hamilton at hamiltons@brightonk12.com or Phil Johnson at johnsop@brightonk12.com if you have any questions!