Highland Highlights - Feb. 2026

I don't know about y'all, but I'm ready for some warm weather!

The second semester is well underway, and there have already been so many incredible things happening in our schools. Let's get right into the newsletter!

In this admin update, our Director of Food Services, Mrs. Britni Luster, talks about how #HighlandProud she is of the entire Food Services team and looks forward to National School Breakfast Week.

We recently passed the 100th day of school, and there were celebrations across the district. The Kindergarten classes at Warren made fun hats and necklaces and practiced counting to 100. In Johnston's first grade, the students did crafts and challenges based around the number 100, such as seeing how many sit-ups they could do in 100 seconds. The 2nd-grade classes thought about what life would be like when they are 100 years old. Some look forward to playing bingo and eating biscuits and gravy (who doesn't?), while others are afraid of getting wrinkles!

Our winter athletics have been on fire recently! Check out these accomplishments:

• Three Girls Wrestling members competed at IHSAA State, and senior Aleks B. became a 4x state champion and a recipient of the IHSAA Best Mental Attitude Award.
• Jordan S. became the All-Time Leading Scorer in HHS Girls Basketball history, scoring over 1,833 points.
• Girls Swimming and Diving broke multiple school records: 200 Medley Relay (Kaitlin S., Dylana P., Eva N., and Izzy P.), 200-meter Individual Medley (Eva N.), and Sophomore Diving (Morgan M.). Eva N. also broke her own team record in the 100-meter Breaststroke.

• February 13-16, 2026 - President's Day Weekend, No School
• February 17, 2026, 6:00 p.m. - School Board Meeting (at the Administration Building)
• March 2-6 - National School Breakfast Week

Here's an important reminder -

Communications:

If you know of anyone who'd want to receive this newsletter every month, perhaps grandparents, family friends, or people in the broader Highland community, encourage them to subscribe! You can click this link to view previous newsletters and subscribe, all in the same place.

Kindergarten Registration has started for Highland residents!

Phase 1, which is online registration, recently opened in RDS and is now available to complete.

Phase 2 begins the first week of March. After completing online registration, parents will need to bring their student and required documents to their neighborhood elementary school on one of the following dates:

• Johnston Elementary School - Tuesday, March 3, 2026
• Southridge Elementary School - Wednesday, March 4, 2026
• Merkley Elementary School - Thursday, March 5, 2026
• Warren Elementary School - Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Please click here for more information on the registration process, including the required documents mentioned above. Additionally, if you know anyone that may find this information useful, please share it with them!

A couple of months ago, one of the Good News stories was about Foodie Friday at Warren. On the last Friday of every month, Kindergarten and 5th Grade team up to enjoy some snacks and make some crafts. I was fortunate enough to visit them last week and take videos of the festivities! Check it out below.

Here's a roundup of some of our favorite social media posts from the last month, just in case you missed it!

Mrs. Abby Mako has been a teacher at Merkley Elementary School ever since her student teaching days! In this Staff Spotlight video, she talks about why she loves being part of the STOH community and what she hopes her students leave her classroom knowing.