Sunlake Weekly Update

Student Hours: 7:10 AM-1:44 PM

Email: kmerlin@pasco.k12.fl.us
Website: https://slhs.pasco.k12.fl.us/
Location: 3023 Sunlake Boulevard, Land O' Lakes, FL, USA
Phone: (813) 346-1000
Facebook: facebook.com/SLHSseahawk
Twitter: @SLHSseahawks

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year! I hope that everyone has had a wonderful summer and that you and your children are ready to have another amazing school year. I continue to be the very luckiest principal in the world as once again our incredible staff, students, families and communities have shown that our priority is learning as we earned a 2024 School Grade of A!!! Thank you for the role you play in this one important measure of success!

I will be sending home a Weekly Update every Sunday evening and you can access it through your parent email, parent portal, Sunlake High School Facebook and the Sunlake High School website. There is important information in every issue to be sure to scan the table of contents at the very least as this is the best way to stay connected.

This particular issue serves as our Sunlake Parent Handbook as it is full of policies and procedures. If there is ever a "most important" issue of the Weekly Update this is the one so please read thoroughly to avoid confusion or stress in the future! You may want to bookmark this issue for future reference.

Let's have another "A"mazing school year, Sunlake!

All of the policy updates below are as a result of State legislation and/or School Board policy. The staff and administration of Sunlake are tasked with enforcing all of these policies.

The District has implemented a new policy regarding the use of Wireless Communication Devices (WCDs). WCDs include cell phones, air pods/ear buds and headphones. Here is the exact language from the School Board.

Grades 9-12:

Students who bring WCDs to school must ensure that they remain on silent mode and completely out of view for the entire school day except for the student’s lunch period, or as expressly authorized by the classroom teacher for a specific instructional activity. Classroom teachers may also provide, and students may utilize, a cell phone storage area in their classroom. These expectations also apply to extra-curricular and co-curricular activities that occur before or after the school day.

The entire policy can be found in the 2024-2025 Student Code of Conduct (See Frequently Referred to Documents). Please review the attached 24-25 SLHS Wireless Communication Device Policy that specifies the consequences for violating this policy at Sunlake High School.

This policy is a SIGNIFICANT change from last year and will be strictly enforced by all staff members so please be sure your child understands the expectations.

Once again, the District has updated the student dress code to be more restrictive for the 2024-2025 school year and there are notable changes including:

• All shirts must extend to the waistband of pants/shorts/skirts/or other bottoms.
• Students may not have exposed undergarments, which would include any and all portions of a student’s underwear or bra.
• Students in violation of the dress code: • Will be required to change into appropriate clothing, contacting the parent/guardian as needed .

New legislation (House Bill 1473) requires that all exterior doors to our buildings must remain locked in addition to all classroom doors. Therefore, tardy students will be unable to enter classroom buildings without an adult escort. This includes students that are tardy for their first on campus period as well as students that are tardy to subsequent classes. All staff members are tasked with ensuring that locked door policies are tightly adhered to and will therefore be enforcing our tardy policies. Any student in the hallways or courtyards after the bell rings are to have a valid, signed hallway pass or be escorted by an adult. Please discuss this with your children and refer to the SLHS 24-25 Tardy Policy below. This will be a signficant change for some students!!

Students have 5 minutes to travel from one class to the next and they are expected to go directly from one class to the next, stopping only to get books from lockers or use the restroom. They are not to loiter in the commons areas, courtyards or hallways.

WHEN: Tuesday, August 6th 9:00 AM-11:30 AM (Come any time in this window)

WHERE: Sunlake Campus

WHO: Students and Parents

WHY: Pick up supply list- learn where to go on Day 1!!

WHAT TO BRING: Your schedule (see myPascoConnect)

WHAT TO DO: Walk your schedule and meet your teachers in their classrooms!

Enter campus from Student Parking Lot or Front Parking Lot and pick up a map if you need one!

Tuesday, August 6th from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM

Sunlake Gym

Enter campus at the traffic light and proceed as far back through the student parking lot as possible to find the gym!

We will host all "New to Sunlake" students in Grades 10, 11 & 12 to teach them a little about Sunlake.

Also, if you are a parent of a 9th grader that couldn't make it to either of the August 1st Orientations you and your freshman should attend too!

We are here to help!

If you have any concern that is not able to be addressed by your child's teachers or your child's counselor, please reach out to the appropriate assistant principal. If your concern cannot be addressed by your child's assistant principal, please reach out to Ms. Merlin.

• 9th Grade- Class of 2028: Mrs. Brashear
• 10th Grade- Class of 2027: Mr. Capers
• 11th Grade- Class of 2026: Mrs. Broner
• 12th Grade- Class of 2024: Ms. Corr
• All Grades- Intervention/Prevention Counselor: Ms. Vaccaro*

*Ms. Vaccaro is on maternity leave for Semester 1 and all students will be assigned to their Grade Level Counselor until she returns.

Our counselors return to work tomorrow, August 5th and will be working diligently on meeting with and building schedules for our new students that are trying to get registered prior to the 1st day of school while also reviewing current schedules and schedule change requests at the same time. Please be patient and understanding that they may not be able accommodate meeting requests during the next two weeks....remember they are also working with one less counselor while Mrs. Vaccaro is on maternity leave.

**IMPORTANT NOTE- Due to class balancing, schedules are being tweaked this week so it's important that your child check their schedule prior to Meet the Teacher.**

Our official hours are 7:10 AM-1:44 PM.

The first bell rings at 7:05 and students are expected to be in their classrooms no later than 7:10 AM.

Our PURPOSE at Sunlake is learning! We will be using the additional time in each period to ensure that students' needs are met so that they can be on track. During this time students will be engaged in activities that they need...retaking missed quizzes, time to complete missing assignments, small group instruction, reteaching concepts that are difficult, researching topics to deepen knowledge, reading novels or whatever else is needed to achieve the expectation of a C or higher in each class.

4th period is already longer than other periods and our lunches occur during this time of day.

Student lunch periods are aligned to their 4th period teacher's lunch.

A lunch- Students go to lunch after 3rd period then go to 4th period.

B lunch- Students go to 4th period for 31 minutes then go to lunch. After lunch they return to 4th period for another 33 minutes of instruction.

C lunch- Students go to 4th period then go to lunch.

**Please note that your student's lunch schedule may change 2nd semester if they have a semester class during 4th period.**

Your child can leave after his or her last period on campus. If your child has s 5th period off-campus class and C lunch they can leave before or after lunch. However, if they students stay for lunch they must be in an supervised area and are not permitted in the hallways or the parking lot.

With greater than 2200 students entering campus between 6:40 AM and 7:05 AM our morning procedures have to be TIGHT so please read all procedures carefully to help ensure a safe and smooth start to each day!

• The student lot and student drop off areas are open very early for staff. Students supervision begins at 6:40 AM.
• The front gate between the Administration Building (100) and the Band Building (200) opens at 6:40 AM and only walkers, bike riders and students with valid front parking lot tags should enter at these gates.
• ALL buildings will remain closed to students until the 1st bell rings at 7:05 AM.
• Students with written passes from teachers can enter a building with permission from the monitoring staff prior to 7:05 AM.
• In the event of severe weather, students will be admitted to the buildings prior to 7:05 AM.
• ALL gates will close at 7:10 AM and tardy students that are dropped off after 7:10 AM, must enter through the front office. (Please see the note above regarding new laws and the impact on tardies)
• Tardy students that are drivers will check-in with the parking monitor and will be given a tardy pass outside so they do NOT need to report to the front office. Student drivers are subject to losing their parking pass for repeated tardies as outlined in the parking agreement.
• **The 1st 10 days of school we will keep gates open until the traffic is finished and tardies for 1st period are waived**

Check out the new teal column in the car drop off line! This is where you will stop if no one is in front of you!

Even if just 1/3 of our students arrived in the Student Drop Off this could mean as many as 700 vehicles! Everyone has the same goal...getting their children to school on time. Please be patient and kind to each other and to our staff. We have increased staff supervision in the drop-off line, but our success depends on the drivers. Please follow our established procedures as seen in the video at the link below. We have additional signage with times and we have additional personnel staged along the drop-off line to assist you. We typically have things running very smoothly after the first week, but we will see what this year brings!! Major points below:

• Never, ever enter at the traffic light to drop off a student- this is for pass holders only which are staff members and juniors and seniors with a valid 24-25 parking pass. If you make a mistake you will be directed to u-turn and, while we love all of you and all of our students, you may not drop your student off even just that once!
• The car line opens at 6:30 AM- Supervision start at 6:40 AM
• Please pull all the way up to the teal column! or as far forward as you can. When a car stops prematurely it slows down the ENTIRE line!
• The first bell rings at 7:05 AM and this is when students can enter the building. Students are tardy to class when the 7:10 AM bell rings.
• Sometimes the walk from the drop off area to a student's first class takes them ALL the way back to the front of the school and sometimes they have band equipment, sports equipment or large projects which makes a break in procedures very enticing. However, drop off in the front area is not allowed so fight the urge and follow our established procedures to help everyone!

Link to video- https://slhs.pasco.k12.fl.us/where-to-drop-off-students/

Parking in a school lot is a privilege. Have you ever wondered why we sell out so quickly? Ever wonder why we only allow juniors and seniors to park? Below is a Sunlake parking reality check:

Parking Spaces= 480

Juniors & Seniors= 1116

See it is all just simple math! We love our students and we wish we could provide a parking space to every single student that met criteria for parking, but we just don't have the space! This is why we have a wait list for spaces. We remove students from the waitlist each time a space becomes available.

The District School Board of Pasco County provides free transportation to and from school for students who live more than two miles away from school. Each student using that transportation must abide by the rules which are established to ensure the safety of all passengers. (See page 47 in Student Code of Conduct for details)

Routes and times are visible in myPascoConnect.

The Transportation Call Center will be open the following dates and times:

August 5th – 9th: 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

August 12th – 16th: 6:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Call 813-320-2562 or email open@k12-lets-talk.com

Use this link to find out more about Where's The Bus App that will track where your child's bus is. https://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/transportation/page/wheres-the-bus

Much of the process of learning takes place through guided instruction and discourse with instructors and peers. This learning cannot be replicated through make-up work or online work. Attendance is critically important to success!!

General Attendance: Students are expected to be on time and in school all day, every day unless they have an excused absence.

New this year- the school district will call families when a student is marked absent for the first time each day.

Examples:

1- Student is home sick and is marked absent by the 1st period teacher. Family will receive a call within 10 minutes reporting that the student has been marked absent.

2- Student attended 1st period, but did not show up to 2nd period and is marked absent by 2nd period teacher. Family will receive a call within 10 minutes after being marked absent.

Staff is just learning about this new procedure and we may not be able to answer specific questions yet, but it's always best to report an absence as soon as possible.

Vacations: These experiences may be excused if a request is received at least one week prior to the start of said vacation. Use the Sunlake website to report an Extended Absence as soon as you can. Vacations, weddings, graduations or any other event that is known ahead of time will not be excused if they are not reported at least two weeks in advance. In addition, if your child is at-risk or off-track for attendance or has below a C in any course, you will receive a phone call from me for a discussion regardless of whether the request was submitted two weeks in advance or not and this may be a reason for not excusing the absence.

Emergencies: No family wants to experience any type of emergency let alone one that will cause your child to miss school. If you find that you must suddenly travel or that your child suddenly will have an extended absence due to an emergency please complete the extended absence form providing detailed information so that our counselors can follow up with your child upon his or her return.

Reporting Absences: You should report absences as soon as possible, but no later than within 3 days. Use the Sunlake website, "Report An Absence" button for the fastest reporting. You may also send a written note in with your child upon their return.

Please refer to the 2024-2025 Student Code of Conduct, pp. 15-20, for specifics regarding attendance.

Please only sign your child out early if they have a medical appointment or there is a family emergency. Students are expected to be in class even if there is a guest teacher in for the day as we require our amazing teachers to leave directions for meaningful work.

1. Due to student safety concerns and large increases in traffic during dismissal time we do not dismiss students after 1:15 PM. If your child has an afternoon appointment that requires them to leave campus prior to 1:44 PM they need to be signed out before 1:15 PM. Entrance to the front parking lot will be locked from 1:15 PM - 2:00 PM.
2. Students MUST be signed out by parents if they are leaving prior to their last scheduled class on campus.
3. All students will report to guidance for their early dismissal pass...even if they are driving themselves home.
4. Parents that come to front office to sign out their student will exit the front office and then wait outside of the gate for their student.

Pasco County Schools will continue to participate in the Community Eligibility Provision during the 2024-2025 school year providing breakfast and lunch, regardless of eligibility category, at NO CHARGE for all students at all schools.

Students may not use meal delivery services to have food delivered to school during regular school hours. This policy has been put into effect for the disruption to classes, increased work load on our front office staff and potential safety risks involved with unknown persons on campus. If a student does order food during school hours it ill be held in the front office until dismissal.

Parents may drop off lunches, including fast food, just prior to or during a student's scheduled lunch period. However, due to the new safety rules with locked doors and our requirements for students to have a hallway pass this still creates additional work for our front office staff so please try to limit food drop-offs to to special occasions and forgotten lunches for students with special dietary restrictions.

**Remember that all students can get a lunch for free in the cafeteria and our Food & Nutrition Manager can accommodate most dietary restrictions**

If your child has a PE class on their schedule they must rent a PE locker. PE is a performance course and the only way for a teacher to accurately grade a student is by observing the student demonstrating a skill. Therefore, students in PE are required to "dress out", which means wearing a Sunlake PE shirt and bottoms and shoes that are appropriate for physical movement. All item must be secured in a locker. Please ensure that you have purchased a PE locker and Sunlake PE shirt if your child is in a PE class. If you are in need of financial assistance in order to meet these requirements please reach out to your child's assistant principal.

Please spread the word!!! Pasco County Schools conducted a parent survey last year and heard loud and clear that there are too many communication systems. Therefore, ALL communication this year will be moving to your Parent Portal. You can even add the myStudent app to your phone for easy acess. Communication from administration, teachers, coaches, and school-sponsored clubs will be coming right to your myStudent account. Click the link below to learn more about this exciting shift!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3vhr5elku4

While volunteering in high school takes on a different look, we still need you! Here are the specific places we can use assistance:

1- Student Center/Library

2- Coaching/Assisting

3- Ticket Takers for Sporting Events

4- Concession Stands for Sporting Events

5- Band/Chorus/Colorguard

6- Theatre

7-PTSA

Pasco County Schools has changed some volunteer requirements and some volunteer positions now require a Level 2 background screening which costs $41.25. You can read more about volunteering, the reasons for the change and apply to be a volunteer using the link below.

https://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/hreq/page/volunteer

**If you need financial assistance for the cost of the Level 2 background screening, please email Ms. Merlin at kmerlin@pasco.k12.fl.us.

Our main source of communication will always be through myStudent and the Parent Portal, but, if you're a social media junkie, we do have social media accounts you may want to follow!

There are links to our Facebook and Twitter links are at the top of this page.

Many Clubs and Student Groups have their own Instagram pages because of the heavy student involvement.

Please download the Early Warning System document below to better understand what it takes to stay "On-Track" in high school!

By working together we can help reach our mission:

100% Graduation and 100% Ready for the Next Level!

The District has launched new videos to help parents and students better understand the high school experience and expectations. Check out this great resource by using the link below.

https://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/oll_documents/navigating-high-school