We are excited to welcome everyone back to school this Thursday, August 3rd. It will be a BLACK day at the campus. We will be hosting an Open House on Tuesday, August 2nd where students and families can visit teachers and walk their schedule before the first day. We will host a separate freshmen orientation for the Class of 2027 on Tuesday, August 1st at noon in the CHS Main Gym. After a brief orientation, we will have a time for just freshmen and their families to walk the campus until 2PM. We will invite 10th-12th graders to visit teachers on August 2nd from 3PM-6PM.

We hope that everyone has had a great summer and is excited for the new year ahead! It promises to be another great year where we will be focused on engaging our students and building positive relationships! I have included some important links below that will be helpful in the first days of school. We also have LOTS of important information related to beginning of year expectations.

I will be sending an email to students before Thursday to officially welcome them back with last minute reminders for the first day/week.

Campus Black & Gold Calendar

CHS Bell Schedule

CCS School Calendar

CHS continues to have high expectations for all of our students regarding student behavior and school wide expectations. We have shared the updated discipline consequences linked below based on our procedures related to our Focus Four areas: cell phone use, skipping, fighting, and e-cigarettes/vaping. Families should note the update to our school vaping policy and consequences.

CHS Focus Four Matrix

ARRIVAL REMINDERS- Students should not arrive on campus before 8AM unless being supervised by a teacher/coach for extra-curricular activity, office hours, etc.

• As students arrive on campus, they should report to the following holding areas as students are not permitted inside the main building until heading to homeroom at 8:45AM.

  • Bus riders- Cafeteria

  • Car riders- CHS Main Gym

  • Walkers- CHS Main Gym

  • Student drivers- CHS Main Gym

DISMISSAL REMINDERS- The dismissal bell will ring at 3:30PM this year.

• Car riders will report to the track-side exit to load into vehicles.

• Bus riders will report to the cafeteria until bus numbers are called to load at the back of CMS Gym.

• Student Drivers should exit and go directly to vehicles.

• Walkers should leave from the nearest exit and head home.

Students with completed Student Registration for the 2023-2024 school year who would like to park on Campus should take the following steps on their scheduled parking registration date:

1. Complete an Online Student Parking Application.

2. Complete an Online Drug Test Consent Form, signed by both Student and Guardian.

3. Pay $83 on CHS Jackets Nest school store online. This fee is non-refundable and will not be prorated throughout the school year.

4. Click HERE to upload required documents:

   1. Photo or copy of valid Class D or Class C Driver’s License

   2. Photo or copy of unexpired Auto Insurance Card

   3. Screenshot or photo of payment confirmation from school store payment

Students who park on campus should have a paid parking pass obtained through the school. We had issues last year with students illegally parking on campus (without a pass) and students parking in the wrong spaces. Students who arrive to school and have someone parked in their spot, should drive over to the front of CHS and park in an open spot. Upon entering, students should report the issue to admin so that follow up can occur.

• 1st Offense: Students who are illegally parked will get one warning from administration. Student and parent will be notified of the issue and subsequent consequences.

• 2nd Offense: Students who are illegally parked after a warning has already been issued with be subject to having their vehicle towed.

Mrs. Moore is excited to welcome students and families back to CHS this year as she will be everyone's first stop when they visit Campus. We wanted to send a few attendance office reminders (full details are located in the student handbook) to assist Mrs. Moore with her daily responsibilities.

When a student is absent- Parents should continue to send excuses when a student is absent- this can be a note or email to- chsattendance@calhounschools.org

Food/item drop off procedures- Any items being dropped off to a student should be done through the attendance office. Parents should not drive on campus and drop items off to student vehicles or to students around the cafeteria during lunch. Outside food is only allowed through the attendance office, in an unmarked bag, where student can stop by and pick up on their way to lunch. We will not interrupt class to call students to the office.

Visitors- All visitors at CHS should enter through the CHS attendance office to check in and get a pass. No visitors should be on campus without going through main office.

We appreciate everyone's cooperation on these safety items.

Please note that ALL students are responsible for their assigned chromebook during the school year. Each student is assigned a device/charger to use for the year that they can take back and forth from school to home. Students are responsible for their chromebook, charger, and chromebook carrying case. Students will be placed on the unclear list for any damaged/missing items during the school year. Students and parents acknowledge and sign-off on our student device policy the FY24 acknowledgement form that is being sent home via homeroom on the first day of school for all families.

Pricing for items is below~

• Lost Chromebook- $250

• Damaged Charging Port- $140

• Damaged Screen- $40

• Keyboard- $60

• Lost Charger- $25

• Damaged/Lost Case- $15

• Missing keys- $8 each

The items below are highlights from the dress code which can be found in its entirety in the student handbook. Students will be asked to change clothes this year if they are not in dress code. Clothing items will be provided through our school's Stinger Closet.

• Shorts, skirts, and dresses must be fingertip length.

• Shirts must cover the shoulders, chest, midriff (belly), back, and any undergarments. Shirts should not be see-through.

• Caps, hats, and hoods, etc. may not be worn on campus unless a student has administrative permission or it is a designated dress up day.

• Leggings, yoga pants, and similar athletic clothing should not be see-through and shirts worn with these types of pants should not expose the midriff (belly) area.

• Any tears/rips in pants or jeans should meet the shorts/skirt length criteria and not be above fingertip length.

• Visible body piercings are limited to the ears and a single stud nose piercing.

• Clothing should not promote/contain- profanity, drugs/alcohol, etc.

• Anything that has the potential to cause distractions or disruptions to the learning environment is not allowed, including clothing that promotes a political party and/or candidate, political or social philosophy, and/or cause or crusade as shared in Board Policy KJ.

At times, administration may designate Spirit Days, at which time students will be permitted to wear school-affiliated uniforms to school (such as cheerleading).

Administration is at liberty to exercise discretion regarding the appropriateness of anything this list may not include.

The CHS Student Handbook is linked here and on the CCS website. All families are expected to review the handbook and reference for questions throughout the school year. Each student will also be given a FY24 student acknowledgement form in homeroom during the first week of school that has a place for students and parents to initial/sign-off on various items- acceptable technology use, student code of conduct, attendance policy, etc.

Each student and parent should review all items listed and initial/sign-off and return the hard copy form to the student's homeroom teacher by Monday, August 7th.

2023-2024 Calhoun Athletic Handbook - This year's athletic handbook can be found on the athletic website.

Student/Parent Handbook Sign-off- The last two pages of the athletic handbook include the athletic code of conduct for students and parents. We are asking all students and parents to sign-off on the athletic code of conduct using the Google Form linked below (one for parents and one for students) so that we can streamline collecting forms from each athlete and family.

Student athletes and families will need to review the handbook and sign off on all pre-participation documents using Rank One- https://www.rankone.com/content/Parent/Parent

LifeTouch will be on site this month (August 22-24) for our Class of 2023 senior portraits. We are excited to kick off the year recognizing our next group of seniors! Families should be on the lookout for their LIfeTouch postcard that includes their appointment date/time. Students should check in and report to the PLC during their assigned time.

As we start a new school year, we want to share important links with our families related to family engagement. Linked below, are updated copies of our School Improvement Plan and Parent/Student/School Compacts. CHS will continue to keep open communication with our families and work to find ways to connect our families to what we are doing throughout the year.

Families can contact our school's Family Engagement Coordinator, Marie Funes, for any needs during the year- funesm@calhounschools.org / 706-602-6809

• CHS Parent/Student Compact / En Espanol

• CHS School Improvement Plan

Monday, July 31st

• CCS Pre-planning 8AM-4PM

Tuesday, August 1st

• CCS Open House 10AM-6PM

Wednesday, August 2nd

• CCS Pre-planning 8AM-4PM

Thursday, August 3rd

• FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL- BLACK Day

• HS (V) Softball @ Coahulla Creek- 5:30PM

Friday, August 4th

• HS (V) Football v. Northwest Whitfield- 7:30PM