July 20, 2023
Dear Thunderbolt Families,
Welcome back to another exciting school year! It is my pleasure to greet each and every one of you and to proudly call you a “Thunderbolt.” I hope you had a great summer and are feeling rested, rejuvenated, and ready to take flight on your journey of knowledge, growth, and success.
The beginning of a new school year is always a special time. It brings with it the promise of new opportunities, new friendships, and countless possibilities. As I finish my 30th year in education, I still have such high energy to come to work due to the incredible school we are developing. Our staff, students, and parents of Mica Mountain High School are amazing people and are all contributing to our positive culture.
In this letter, I am including some important information to help you navigate the beginning of the school year. Communication is important to us, if you need anything this year, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Information in this letter:
Communication (Weekly Flash, Monthly Newsletter [Thunderbolt News], Email, PowerSchool, Schoology, Website)
Economics Information – a graduation requirement
Attendance Policy
Student Drop Off and Pick Up
Senior Short Schedules
School Safety Terminology
Donated School Supplies
MMHS Cell Policy (pending site council approval)
Open House-Thursday, July 27th, 2023 5:00 PM - 7:15 PM
Communication
At Mica Mountain, we work hard to communicate with our families. Of course, we are available for phone calls or in-person meetings, but general communication is done electronically. Below are some ways you will hear from us.
Weekly Flash – We will send this out every Sunday and it will contain schedules for the week, events, special dates coming up, etc.
Monthly Newsletter – Our monthly newsletter contains pertinent information from all departments and is known as “Thunderbolt News.” This helps students and parents stay informed on upcoming dates and information pertinent to our high school.
Email – We do most of our digital communications through email and this is a great first step to communicating with your student's teachers.
PowerSchool– Keep up with your child’s grades and attendance through PowerSchool. This is the online grade book for our teachers, therefore it does not contain specifics on the assignments themselves.
Schoology – Schoology is our Learning Management System. This is where students and parents can keep up with classwork, assignments, due dates, and what is expected. Click the link below for more information and directions to get on Schoology. Students will be able to see what is expected for the week in each class.
Economics Graduation Requirement
One of the Arizona state and Vail Governing Board requirements for high school graduation is a semester credit of economics. This course teaches basic economic concepts, including the roles of consumers and producers in the free market financial system, resource usage, global trade, personal finance, and the role of government in society.
We offer this course online at Mica Mountain High School through Schoology, which is an online class created by Vail School District teachers. We encourage students to take economics concurrently with their American Government class their senior year. By doing so, they will have daily support with the economics online course content from their American Government teacher. Additionally, during 6th period, we have a dedicated economics support period where students can receive in-person guidance focusing solely on their online economics class.
Students DO NOT need to take economics on their own time, nor do they have to take it over summer break. If students want to take economics earlier than their senior year, they should make an appointment with their school counselor.
Attendance Policy
Students who reach nine non-school-related absences in any one course per semester will lose credit in that class. Because we understand there may be extenuating circumstances to excessive absences, absence appeals for loss of credit can be made to counselors/administration. Please monitor your child’s absences and let us know if there are any situations we need to be aware of regarding attendance.
Senior Short Schedules
Many of our seniors have shortened schedules and leave campus by 1:00 p.m. This year, if any senior has a shortened schedule and maintains any failing grades, they will lose the privilege of an early schedule and will be required to stay on campus in study hall until their grades are all passing.
Student Drop Off and Pick Up
Student drop-off in the mornings normally goes very smoothly. Student drop-off is in the middle entrance by the marquee and loops around the parking lot. Please pull over to the right to drop off and drive through in the left lane. It is a one-way flow similar to airport drop-off.
Student pick-up after school is very congested. From 3:40-4:00 p.m. is the busiest time. We have created two parent pick up loops. One loop is in the student parking lot on the west end of campus and the other is around the middle parking lot similar to the morning drop-off. Valencia Road is under Pima County jurisdiction and our campus is under Tucson City jurisdiction. We understand that a traffic light would help with the traffic at our school dismissal time and Valencia Road traffic. We have requested a traffic light from the Pima County Transportation Department and any help parents can give with this request is appreciated. Their phone number is 520-724-6410. Click Here for pick-up parent loops.
Please note: The most east parking lot is not a Mica Mountain parking lot. The most east lot is for Vail Inclusive Pre-School parents. Please do not pick up or drop off in the east lot and in particular please do not occupy the 10-minute pick-up spots. Thank you for your cooperation.
Donated School Supplies
We have a couple of dozen stuffed backpacks with school supplies for those in need. Contact Stacey Hickey at hickeys@vailschooldistrict.org if you are interested.
School Safety Terminology and Practices
School safety is important to us and we strive to make our campus a safe learning environment for our students. Each morning, we check student ID’s at the front gate. It is imperative that students have their ID’s on them every day.
Shelter In Place
This is where we have NO movement throughout our campus but teaching and learning continue. Shelter in Place should not alarm students, staff, or parents. Shelter In Place is simply a process where administration and authorities are investigating a potential situation and we need to limit movement across the campus.
Lockdown
Students and staff are instructed to lockdown, barricade doors, and remain quiet. There is NO movement, no noise and no classroom instruction.
Evacuation
Students and staff simply evacuate all buildings and exit to the perimeter of our school campus.
We are always reflecting and searching to improve all aspects of our school. We continually collaborate with authorities and other outside agencies to ensure the safety of our students and staff. This process of reflection allows us to utilize practices that protect instructional time while also maintaining a safe educational environment.
Providing a safe learning environment for students and staff is our top priority. We intentionally practice all of the above situations throughout the school year in order to maintain a safe campus.
In addition, the Vail School District also maintains a Safe Schools Hotline that allows for anonymous reporting: 520-879-1111. If you or your student has any information related to an issue of safety for our campus, you may use this Hotline as a tool to share that with us.
Sincerely,
Nemer Hassey
Principal