Heights Happenings

Dear Students and Families,

Welcome to a brand-new school year at Eastern Heights Elementary! I hope you all had a restful, joyful summer and are as excited as we are to begin another wonderful year of learning, growth, and fun.

As we step into the 2025–2026 school year, our focus remains on creating a safe, inclusive, and engaging environment where every child feels valued and supported. Our dedicated teachers and staff have been working hard to prepare classrooms, lessons, and activities that will inspire curiosity and build confidence.

You will find the following reminders below as we kick off the year:

First Days of School
School Hours
Open House Dates & Times
Supply Lists
Campus Traffic/Safety Reminders
PTO Information

We encourage families to stay connected throughout the year through our newsletters, school website, and parent communication platforms. See below for links to connect to Class Dojo and Facebook. Working together, we can make this a memorable and successful year for all.

Let’s make 2025–2026 a year to shine!

Warmly,

Mrs. Brenda Wittman

Principal

Welcome back to a brand-new school year! At Eastern Heights Elementary, we are excited to continue our commitment to creating a safe, respectful, and positive learning environment through our PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) program.

PBIS helps us teach and reinforce clear expectations for behavior across all areas of the school—classrooms, hallways, playgrounds, and more. This year, we’ll continue recognizing students who show kindness, responsibility, and respect through our PBIS incentives and celebrations.

You will hear our students talk about their 3-Be’s which encompass our school rules and expectations. These rules help our students learn to:

Be Respectful
Be Responsible
Be Ready to Learn

Families are key partners in this work! We look forward to your students being able to come home to talk to you about these 3-Bes and to celebrate their accomplishments as they learn.

Looking forward to a great school year!

Warmly,

Cori Adams

Assistant Principal

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

August 2025

11th & 12th ~ Kindergarten Screening

14th ~ Kindergarten Open House 5:30 - 6:30

18th ~ Staggered Start ~ Last names A-G

19th ~ Staggered Start ~ Last names H-O

20th ~ Staggered Start ~ Last names P-Z

21st ~ First Day for All Students

21st ~ 1st - 4th Grade Open House 5:30 - 6:30

September 2025

1st ~ Labor Day ~ No School

4th ~ PTO Meeting 6 - 7pm (Music Room)

17th ~ Picture Day

26th ~ Fall Conferences

Check out the Connecting for Kids Summer Newsletter below.

Connecting for Kids Summer Newsletter

Complete an updated information form for each student using the link found HERE.
School Supply List can be found HERE.
School starts at 9:10 and ends at 3:10; our doors open at 8:55.
Ensure that your child is on time and ready to start their school day successfully each morning!
All students are escorted inside the building by school staff and we are always make sure that students get to where they are going to start their day.
If your child is going to be late or absent, call the main office at 284-8011 to let us know.
Join Class Dojo to stay in the know with all the latest going on at school HERE.
Sign up for text alerts from Elyria City Schools HERE.

Join Our Building Class Dojo

Follow Eastern Heights Elementary on Facebook

We are happy to welcome the following new staff members to our Eastern Heights staff. Please say hi to them when you see them on campus ~ we're so excited they're part of our team!

Dan Gundert

Mr. Gundert brings a wealth of experience and a passion for teaching to the classroom. He has spent the past 18 years in education in various roles with most of his experience being in the third grade classroom. He earned his degree in education from Baldwin Wallace University, where he also played college basketball and has a lot of pride in being a Yellow Jacket. In addition to teaching, he has coached Varsity Basketball for the past 19 years, with the last three being at Elyria High School.

Mr. Gundert is married to Emily, a 2nd grade teacher in Strongsville, and they have two Beautiful children—Adelyn (8) and Mason (5). He is a die hard Cleveland and Ohio State Buckeyes fan and can be heard cheering them on loudly and proudly.

Stephanie Kater

Hello! My name is Stephanie Kater and I am so excited to be the new first grade teacher at Eastern Heights! I’ve been teaching in the Elyria City Schools for 10 years and am also a proud Elyria graduate.

Outside of school, I love spending time with my husband and our two wonderful children—Owen, who is 6, and baby Gracie, who is just 3 months old. My favorite part of teaching is getting to know each student and building meaningful relationships that help them grow. I also enjoy bringing creativity into the classroom through fun and engaging crafts and activities. I’m looking forward to a fantastic year of learning and growing together!

Chloe Parsons

Hello! My name is Chloe Parsons and I am in my second year of my journey of becoming an elementary teacher! I am 19 years old and have the biggest heart for teaching. I love seeing the smile on children’s faces when they finally understand something that you helped them understand! I look forward to meeting everyone and working with everyone!

Sarah Roberts

My name is Sarah Roberts, and I am so excited to be joining the Kindergarten team at Eastern Heights Elementary! I have taught for 8 years, with experience teaching 1st and 3rd grades. I received my bachelors degree from Baldwin Wallace University, and my Masters degree from the University of Denver. I moved back to the area this summer after living in Denver for the past 11 years, and I am happy to be back home in Ohio. I live with my husband, almost 7 year old son, and our dog Lucy. We love spending time outdoors, and I love reading and doing creative projects like painting and puzzles. I am looking forward to becoming a part of the Eastern Heights community and having a wonderful year in kindergarten!

2025-2026 School Supply Lists

Campus traffic rules are in place to keep all students and staff safe during arrival and dismissal times. We appreciate you honoring these rules to keep everyone safe!

Drive slowly and stay alert while on campus; refrain from cell phone use while driving on campus
Drive slowly and follow all building staff directions while driving on campus
Use crosswalks when walking your children to & from the building
Cars must not stop in a crosswalk; while cars are waiting to move, crosswalks must be free for people to cross
Cars should enter campus for drop off and pick up at the Prospect/Cornell entrance and follow the ring road around campus. Using this entrance allows the smoothest flow of traffic.
There is no parking in the pickup lane during drop off or dismissal; this helps the flow of traffic move smoothly
Cars should make only 1 lane of traffic on the campus (inside lane closest to the building); do not pull out and pass cars that are in the pick-up lane
Cars should refrain from entering the bus lane on the north side of the building; this lane is used for all ECS busses as well as all daycare and after school program vans.
Drop-off & pickup your student using the spaces between the 2 orange cones directly in front of the building

Thank you for helping us make drop-off & pickup safety the #1 priority!

With safety as a top priority of the Eastern Heights Campus staff, we want you to be aware that you may see us outside practicing a drill as we start the school year. Please remember to drive slowly and/or stop to allow the drill to proceed safely. And, be sure to have your student dress appropriately for the weather and know that we practice these drills with all our students to keep everyone safe!