Blackfoot High School Newsletter

October was a busy month at Blackfoot High School! FHLA was celebrated and was a fun week with lots of activities! Tomorrow is Halloween and is a dress up day, please see costume guidelines below. We also have a lot of fun events happening in November along with Thanksgiving break. The week before Thanksgiving break is the end of the first trimester and Finals week. The second trimester will start on Monday November 27th, we are looking forward to 2nd Tri. We hope you had a wonderful October, and have a fun November!

*Oct. 31st - Halloween, students may dress up following guidelines (see below)

*OCT 30th - Nov. 1st - Girls Basketball Tryouts after school in the Legacy Gym

*Nov. 2nd @ 6:45pm - Girls Basketball parents meeting in the Library

*Nov 6th - 10th - HOSA week

*Nov. 6th @ 6:00pm - Wrestling parents meeting in the Cafeteria

*Nov. 7th - Election Day

*Nov. 8th @ 6-8pm - Booster Club Stone Soup and Auction

*Nov. 9th @ 10:30am- Veterans Day, we will have a Veterans Day Assembly in the BPAC

*Nov. 10th - 11th - Boys Basketball Tryouts

*November 13 @ 7:00pm - Boys Basketball parents meeting in the Library

*Nov. 15th and 16th - Trimester Finals

*Nov. 16th - Trimester End

*Nov 20-23rd - Thanksgiving Break

*Nov 27th - School resumes, first day of 2nd Trimester

*Nov. 28th - Club Tuesday's

*Nov. 27-30th - ROY week

In an effort to enjoy and celebrate Halloween appropriately, respectfully, and in accordance with school rules, we ask that students use the following guidelines when selecting a costume:

1. Costumes should not hinder your ability to participate in your classes or present issues of safety in the classroom or hallways.

2. Costumes that depict violence, alcohol, or drugs are not permitted. Weapons (real or fake) are not allowed.

3. No masks or FULL face paint.

4. Costumes that could be offensive or perpetuate a stereotype of someone’s culture, gender, heritage, or religion are not permitted.

5. Costumes that are provocative, revealing, sexual in nature, or employ questionable props are not permitted.

The FHLA students planned and organized a variety of activities for National Hispanic Month. On

Monday: students were asked to wear bright colors or traditional dress to show pride in their culture.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday! students invited a local Taco Food Truck to come in sell tacos

Wednesday: students made and sold Orchata and duros

Thursday: Students set up lights and for a lunchtime dance in the old gym and handed out Mexican cookies.

Blackfoot High School and Independence High School students participated in the annual Hispanic Youth Leadership Summit. Seniors Mia Nichols, Oscar Vasquez, Alxys Martínez, Julieta Azcaray, Yamni Chandler, Jarisbel Martinez, Estefany Reyes, and Adalberto Alcaraz were awarded scholarships.

Students participated in STEM activities, college and financial aid preparedness, and networked at a career and college fair. The Aztec and Native American dancers presented their traditional dances to the students and the day culminated with the scholarship awards being presented.

Pictures Below:

The Idaho LAUNCH grant program aims to prepare Idaho’s students for Idaho’s workforce needs. Idaho LAUNCH provides grants for education and training programs.

The In-Demand Occupations can be found on the Idaho LAUNCH site or browse career cards here. Grants are offered on a first come first served basis and students must have their fafsa completed. Apply sooner than later for launch!

Need ideas on what career is right for you? Click here for Career Cluster, or here for Future Finder. Create an account to save your results.

The Next Steps Idaho Team has also created a great information page on how to use Scholarship Idaho. You can check it out here.

In order for your senior to apply for fafsa, both student and guardians need a fsa id created, allowing at least a week for verification purposes.

You can create a FSA ID at the Parent Teacher Conference.

Counseling office can answer questions and offer assistance.

Athletics were in full swing last month. We had our Boys Golf team take 2nd at districts as a team and 3 Boys qualify individually to go to State. Parker Christiansen, Sy Callister, and Kyle Steidley. They traveled to Moscow to compete in State and they came home with 5th place as a team and individually Sy Callister took 9th.

Boys Soccer had a great season with an undefeated regular season record in our conference. They took 1st in the District championship. They were seeded 7th at State and took out the number 2 seed in the first round. We fell short on the next two games putting us in 5th. We also came away with the State Sportsmanship award. Enrique Nevarez was named All Conference Co-player of the year, Javian Ballesteros & Hugo Garcia were named All Conference 1st team, and Alonso Garcia, Gage Robbins, Aaron Torres were named All Conference 2nd team.

Volleyball had a good season and battled their way through the District Championships but came up short at the State play-in game.

Cross Country was able to qualify 4 runners for State. Klaira Barrow, Emily Despain, Adam Whyte, and Tanner Despain. The Girls Varsity Cross Country team also had a combined GPA of 3.99. What an amazing accomplishment!

Great Job to all of our Athletes, we are so proud of you!

Coming up we have Girls Basketball tryouts October 31 and November 1. They will have a parent meeting November 2 @ 6:45pm in the Library. Boys Basketball tryouts will be November 10 & 11 with a parent meeting November 13 @ 7:00 pm in the Library. Wrestling will have a parent meeting November 6th @ 6:00 pm in the Cafeteria. If your student will be playing any of these sports please come to the parent meetings so you can hear the important information the coaches have for you and fill out paperwork for them. We will have all forms available and a notary to notarize the drug forms. Cheer and Dance will also start their competition season.

For game schedules go to our website blackfoothigh.org We would love to see you in the stands supporting our student athletes!

Just wanted to remind everyone that we have a new app to purchase tickets for our games! It is called IDAFAN! In fact all of the High Country Conference Schools are using IDAFAN. So if you go to the away games you can purchase tickets for those games on the app as well. After you purchase the tickets it will show up on your phone. When you get to the game they just scan your phone to redeem the tickets. We are hoping this will help speed up the process to get you into the games faster. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask at the gates. Thank you to ICCU for helping us get this running!

FAQ FOR PARENTS & GUARDIANS ON IMPACT AID PARENT-PUPIL SURVEYS

Have you been asked to complete an Impact Aid Parent-Pupil Survey form, but aren’t

sure why? Do you wonder how the information you provide will be used? See below for

some of the most frequently asked questions about the Impact Aid Parent-Pupil Survey.

1. What is Impact Aid?

Impact Aid is a Federal education program that reimburses school districts for the lost revenue and additional costs associated with the presence of nontaxable Federal property, including

military installations; Indian Trust or Treaty lands; Federal low-rent housing facilities; and national

laboratories, Federal dams, national parks and other Federal buildings or lands. School districts

containing such property are known as “federally impacted school districts.”

2. Why is Impact Aid important?

Most public school districts are funded in large part by local revenue, primarily local property

taxes on homes and businesses and other local fees. Funding is limited for federally impacted

school districts because Federal property – and the housing, businesses and other facilities

located on that property – are tax-exempt. This means the Federal government’s land does not

contribute to the costs of running a school district, including the cost of educating students

associated with the land. Impact Aid is “Uncle Sam” paying his taxes – if it did not exist, local

taxpayers would be burdened to make up the difference or students would have to go without the

resources and opportunities the funding provides.

3. How do school districts use Impact Aid funds?

Impact Aid, like revenue generated by taxes, can be used for any general fund purpose, such

as instructional materials, teacher salaries, transportation, technology, social-emotional supports

or facilities. All decisions on how Impact Aid funds are spent are made by school district leaders

and locally elected school boards. This flexibility and local control ensures funds are targeted

wherever the needs are greatest.

4. Does my school district receive all the Impact Aid funding it is due?

No. Impact Aid funding is voted on each year by Congress. Because of limited Federal

funding and competing interests, the program has not been fully funded since 1969. It currently

receives 60 percent of full funding, limiting the educational supports and services public schools

can provide to all students.

5. Why is Impact Aid part of the school district’s general fund and not used

specifically for my student?

When community residents pay taxes, that money is not directed to their student but to the

entire school district. Impact Aid takes the place of revenue that a community would otherwise

generate through property, income and sales taxes. Therefore, it goes into a school district’s

general fund and is used to support all students in the district, just like other local tax revenue.

6. Why do I need to fill out a Parent-Pupil Survey form?

For a school district to receive Impact Aid Basic Support funding, the Federal government

requires it to collect specific information from parents and guardians after the start of the school

year. The amount of Impact Aid that a school district receives is determined by a formula that

includes the number of federally connected students (those who have a parent or guardian on

active duty in the military; live on Indian lands, in Federal low-income housing or other federally

owned property; or live with a parent or guardian who works on Federal property) in the district,

among other factors. The more such students in the district, the more the district will receive.

7. What information does the school district need to collect from parents/guardians?

Required information includes enrollment information (such as name, birthdate and school)

and residence and parent employment information (including, but not limited to, student address

if on Federal property; name and address of the Federal property on which a parent is employed;

and name, rank and branch of service of a parent who is a member of the uniformed services on

active duty).

The form must be signed and dated by the parent/guardian providing the information. All required

information must be provided, or the student will not be counted as federally connected (which

means less money for the school district).

8. Why do I have to complete these forms every year? Didn’t the school district

collect this information when my child enrolled?

Since enrollment changes and students move from year to year, the U.S. Department of

Education requires school districts to count students annually. Each school district selects a

“count date” for Impact Aid. Only students enrolled in the district on this date – which must be

after the third day of school – can be counted for Impact Aid. This way, any student who enrolled

during the summer but subsequently moved is not counted.

All required information for eligible students must be verified by parents/guardians on or after the

count date – the school district is not allowed to verify that information, even if it already has it.

9. Can I submit this information electronically?

The U.S. Department of Education is currently piloting a program to allow completion of the

Parent-Pupil Survey electronically. However, so far only a few school districts have been approved

to participate, so most parents and guardians must complete paper forms.

10. What if I don’t want to (or can’t) release my residence or employment location

information?

Because Impact Aid payments are tied to federally owned land, only students who are connected

to that land are counted for the program. Parent residence and/or employment location proves

the connection. If a federally connected student is not counted, the district will receive less

Impact Aid funding.

11. How is this information shared and protected?

Information collected on the Parent-Pupil Survey form is used only for purposes of submitting

the Impact Aid application. It is subject to a district’s student privacy policy, as well as Federal

and state laws protecting the privacy of students and families. If the Federal Impact Aid program

needs to review a survey form, the document is shared through a secure electronic exchange

system that protects the document and destroys it following the review.

12. What can I do to support Impact Aid and ensure my school district gets the funding

it deserves?

Be sure to complete all Impact Aid survey forms in their entirety. If you hear other parents

questioning why they need to fill out the forms, let them know how important Impact Aid funding

is to ensuring students have access to the opportunities they need to maximize their potential.

To learn more about Impact Aid and how to advocate for the program, visit the NAFIS

website at www.nafisdc.org.

The Idaho LAUNCH grant program aims to prepare Idaho’s students for Idaho’s workforce needs. Idaho LAUNCH provides grants for education and training programs.

The In-Demand Occupations can be found on the Idaho LAUNCH site or browse career cards here. Grants are offered on a first come first served basis and students must have their fafsa completed. Apply sooner than later for launch!

Need ideas on what career is right for you? Click here for Career Cluster, or here for Future Finder. Create an account to save your results.

The Next Steps Idaho Team has also created a great information page on how to use Scholarship Idaho. You can check it out here.

Launch information will be available at the Parent teacher Conference on Oct. 16.

In order for your senior to apply for fafsa, both student and guardians need a fsa id created, allowing at least a week for verification purposes.

You can create a FSA ID at the Parent Teacher Conference.

Counseling office can answer questions and offer assistance.