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Weekly Newsletter
August 25, 2023
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Lower School news and updates |
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Picture Day is August 31! Mark your calendar. Order before Picture Day to receive free shipping to the school. Ordering online is easy. To place photo orders, be sure to enter the correct order code for your campus.
Lower and Upper Schools have different days for their pictures so be sure to note the correct date. Your scholar must be in school uniform according to uniform code for Picture Day.
Lower School Picture Day - August 31
(Order Code: 78893F)
Upper School Picture Day - September 1
(Order Code: 78891F)
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See a Day in the Life of Your Scholar | | |
Please join us for a curriculum overview followed by an opportunity to be a scholar for the evening! Your child’s teachers will present mini lessons from grade-level curriculum. This opportunity is a great way to get a taste of what happens in your scholar's classroom each day. | | | |
Signups End at Midnight on August 25 | | | |
Sign Your Scholar Up Now for Quarter 1 Intramurals |
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Quarter 1 intramurals are starting soon, and signups end tonight at midnight! Boys will be playing flag football, and girls will be playing basketball. Register your 4th or 5th grade scholar through the button below to secure a spot.
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Lunchroom Volunteers Needed | | | |
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Spend time with your Lower School scholar during their lunch period by signing up at the link below to become part of a great team of volunteers who help our Lower School scholars with lunch. The lunch volunteer period for kindergarten through 5th grade is 10:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. each school day. You can sign up for the entire two and a half hours or for a portion of that period. There is also a first shift available from 10:45 a.m.-11:45 a.m. to help only the kinder classes during their lunch. In addition, there is also a second shift available from 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. to help 1st-5th grades during their lunch periods. You can sign up for as many days and shifts as you are available.
If you are available the same day each week, we welcome you as part of the regular lunch crew, and you will receive a FREE lunch crew t-shirt! In addition, ALL persons signing up below will have their name entered into a monthly drawing for other free merchandise. You will receive one entry for EACH day you sign up.
NOTE: ALL volunteers need to redo their background checks prior to volunteering in any capacity at GHFH, even if you completed the background check process last school year. Information and links to complete each of these three steps can be found in the description section of the signup below under "HOW TO OBTAIN APPROVAL TO VOLUNTEER AT GREAT HEARTS FOREST HEIGHTS."
We look forward to you joining the lunch volunteer team!
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Why do we have five sections of kindergarten this year? This plan was put in motion last spring. The Lower School building was designed and constructed for 28 sections of scholars. Last year, we operated at 24. We are moving toward a model that operates at 26 sections.
Last year, we had two full classrooms that were not being used for instructional purposes. Consequently, the school district decided to expand to a fifth section of kindergarten this year and a fifth section of 1st grade in 2024-2025. At this point, the plan is to have five sections of those two grade levels and four sections of the other grade levels. District analysts study the scholar enrollment and attrition patterns over time and make recommendations on the offers we should extend in order to make this plan work.
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Fridays are a day for scholars to show a little school spirit at Forest Heights! Your scholar may wear a Forest Heights Spirit Shirt with regular uniform bottoms and shoes. In the event standard uniform is required on a Friday, we will communicate the change to you.
If your scholar would like to purchase the latest spirit gear, visit the Spirit Store.
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REMINDER: An amount of $1 per minute will be charged for each scholar not picked up by 4:10 p.m. on regular school-day dismissal. For 4th or 5th graders participating in House Intramurals, $1 per minute will be charged for each scholar not picked up by 5:10 p.m. | | | |
Fun With Friends and Family | | | |
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At Forest Heights, building community is a TOP priority. What better way to do so than by having fun with friends and family?
On October 21, block off 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to join us for our first-ever Falcon Family Topgolf Tournament. Enjoy game play, food, prizes, and a GREAT time of fellowship with some friendly competition! Parents, kids, teachers and staff can tee up together as we watch the memories unfold.
More details, including ticket information, will be released soon. You can play individually, build a team, or even sponsor tickets or bays for teachers and staff.
We are also gathering donations for items that can be used for prizes, raffles, or a Silent Auction. For more information, reach out to Holly Weese, Director of Community Engagement and Academy Giving. All proceeds from this event will go to Community Investment to benefit your Great Hearts Forest Heights scholar.
Tee up with us!
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Parent Service Organization | | | |
Presales for 2023-2024 PSO Spirit Shirts end on Sunday. Some extra sizes will be ordered, but the best way to guarantee your shirt size is to place a preorder. Shirts will be distributed to scholars in their classrooms when they arrive. | |
While visiting the virtual Spirit Store, check out the Proud Home of a Forest Heights Falcon yard signs! Signs cannot be delivered to a classroom, so pickup must be arranged with an adult. Be sure to include your scholar's full name and class section in the checkout comments. | | | |
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The Parent Service Organization at Great Hearts Forest Heights serves in partnership with our school to support Falcon families and staff via volunteerism, community engagement, and fundraising. The PSO is open to all parents at no cost and is the best way to get involved and make new friends.
Be sure to join the PSO's grade-level Facebook groups. Helpful PSO resources and FAQs are also available for new families.
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Room Parents and Volunteers Needed | Volunteers are needed across both campuses throughout the year. To get involved, fill out the Community Involvement Form to indicate your primary interests. |
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Background Check and Volunteer Training | | |
Fill out a quick background check, and complete Volunteer Training to ensure you are ready to go! All PSO volunteers must take this step before serving. Please retain your background check approval email for quicker check-in on campus. | | | |
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To begin or continue getting emailed newsletters from the PSO, you MUST SUBSCRIBE! Even if you received PSO newsletters last year, you must subscribe this year.
PSO newsletters contain information on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, Lost and Found updates, Spirit Wear information, and more. Please complete the form to opt in. Fill out a different form for each person who wants to subscribe, including grandparents. PSO newsletters are sent out every two to three weeks.
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Dear Falcon Families,
With the triple-digit temperatures, it is very important for you and your scholars to stay well-hydrated. Please make sure your scholar has a water bottle to refill throughout the day. Additionally encourage them to eat breakfast so they have a good start to their day.
Also, we now have two school nurses servicing the Upper campus: Nurse Montgomery and Nurse Dahl. Please feel free to reach out to any of our nurses if you ever have questions or concerns.
In good health,
Nurse Hildebrand, Lower Campus Nurse
darlene.hildebrand@greatheartstxschools.org
Nurse Dahl, Upper Campus Nurse
melissa.dahn@greatheartstxschools.org
Nurse Montgomery, Upper Campus Nurse
morgan.montgomery@greatheartstxschools.org
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Texas Education and Legislative Updates | | | |
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The Virtue of Citizenship: Learn how to advocate for our classical public charter schools through Parent Advocacy Leadership, sponsored by the Texas Public Charter School Association. You will learn how to perform advocacy actions like this video created by a Great Hearts Arlington PAL alum. Apply between September 11-22 to join the next cohort of charter parent advocacy champions! The fall cohort will meet virtually on the second Wednesday of each month between October and December.
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- Charter schools across Texas achieved huge wins for scholars during the 2023 legislative session that ended in May. The major victory was the passage of House Bill 1707, a bill that stops cities from discriminating against public charter schools in zoning and permitting. This is expected to put millions of dollars back into the classroom where they belonged, rather than caught up in unnecessary red tape. This was a hard-fought win for charters and the Texas Public Charter School Association. TPCSA worked on this bill for four sessions over the span of eight years.
- What else? TPCSA helped put the brakes on bad laws. They worked with key lawmakers and staff to ensure that none of the 19 anti-charter bills filed by opponents received a committee hearing, much less that they passed.
- What’s next? The Legislature adjourned in May without passing a school finance package. A special legislative session will likely be called this fall – probably in October – to tackle increases to the state’s rate of per-pupil funding, teacher pay, and more. TPCSA is also working on a bill for the special session to address charters’ unequal facilities funding.
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Stay up to date on critical charter school bills and action alerts from the Texas Public Charter School Association. TPCSA is the statewide organization representing Texas charter schools to state leaders, lawmakers, and state agencies. All parents can stay informed by subscribing to TPCSA’s emails and alerts. To receive TPCSA emails and alerts, please click this link.
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Great Hearts Forest Heights' meal provider is SLA Management. SLA works hard to offer your student healthy and delicious meal options for lunch and breakfast each school day. For more information about them, please visit the SLA Management website.
SLA has created menus for the 2023-2024 school year. Breakfast is $2, and lunch is $4. For reduced-price students, breakfast is 30 cents, and lunch is 40 cents. A la carte items will also be available for purchase by all students.
Breakfast service runs from 7:15-7:45 a.m. Please make sure your scholar arrives with enough time if you choose for them to eat breakfast on campus. Lunch will be served by grade, and lunchtimes will be provided by your scholar's teacher.
To access more information about our 2023-2024 meal program, go to the meal portion of the Great Hearts website.
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Great Hearts has recently partnered with LINQ Connect to provide a mobile app for families to add money to meal accounts, add district menus, and set spending limits. Through the app, you can:
- Set reminders and be alerted when your scholar’s account is running low.
- Check your scholar’s purchase history to see the purchases they make.
- Apply for free or reduced meals directly from your device.
- Set up AutoPay, and eliminate the worry of your scholar losing lunch money.
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Communications Housekeeping | | |
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Providing accurate and current email and text opt-in information to Great Hearts is important so we know how best to communicate with you. You can opt in to text messages for updates affecting our campus and the entire district. Follow the directions to opt in by clicking the button below.
From the campus level, should you need to make any updates now or in the future, please contact our registrars directly:
Megan Moreno, Lower School
Nicole Anderson, Upper School
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Know Someone Who Did Not Receive Our Communication? | | |
If you speak to someone who is not receiving our emails, first direct them to check their spam or junk folder. If they are still unable to locate communications from us, please tell them to contact the registrar for their campus to have their information updated. | | | |
Will You Partner With Us? | | |
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Community Investment is our annual fundraising campaign that equips Great Hearts Forest Heights to offer the great-hearted education you have chosen for your scholar. As a charter school, we receive approximately $1,500 less in funding per student per year than a traditional public school. While we do more with less, we could use your help to provide the rich, liberal arts, classical curriculum that attracted you to our school.
We ask that each family thoughtfully consider being a part of our giving community with a donation that is meaningful to them. Each gift made benefits your child by providing the teachers, staff, curriculum, and facilities needed to deliver a Great Hearts education tuition-free. It is also an opportunity to partner with other parents, grandparents, and loved ones who already give to our campus.
You can make a one-time donation or set up a monthly commitment by clicking on the button below. You may also give by cash or check.
Please reach out to Holly Weese, Director of Community Engagement and Academy Giving, if you have questions about Community Investment or if you need assistance in arranging a gift.
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