Welcome to the 2021-22 school year at Pine Hills!

The following is an important back-to-school message from Principal Tia Corniel:

We would like to welcome both our new and returning Pine Hills Elementary families to the 2021-22 school year. We are diligently working to prepare for the arrival of all our student leaders on Thursday, Sept. 8. We are looking forward to a meaningful year of engaging learning - including our student leadership development through the Leader in Me 8 Habits of Highly Effective People, One School One Book, literacy night and many more experiences both in and out of the classroom.

The following information is provided to assist you in preparing for the opening of the school year. 

• Every day in school counts!  We have ambitious goals for our learning community and your child’s presence in school every day is crucial to his/her academic success.
• Please bring your child to school on time and pick up on time and plan appointments so that your child misses as little school as possible.  The core subjects (English language arts and math) are taught in the morning. If your child is late they will miss an essential part of their education.
• Please call the school by 7:45 a.m. if your child is going to be absent from school or tardy.  The telephone number is 518-475-6725.  This phone call does not take the place of a legal, written note upon your child’s return to school.  A written note must be received within five days or it will be counted as an illegal absence.  Your child(ren) will receive additional school procedures through the homework folders.  
• Doors will open for students at 8 a.m. Staff members are not available for student supervision prior to breakfast; therefore, parents/guardians should not drop their child off prior to our official start time. 
• The instructional school day begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m. Students who arrive after 8:10 a.m. will be counted as late.   
• In the first week of school you will receive many notices.  Please check your child’s backpack daily and make sure that you have provided updated contact information for your child. Whenever your phone number or address changes, please contact the Main Office at 475-6725, and immediately complete the necessary paperwork to ensure that all of your information is current and accurate. List the people who are permitted to pick up your child on the contact sheet. For your child’s safety, we will not dismiss a child to someone who is not on the contact sheet.  No exceptions will be made.  This contact sheet is included in this mailing and we ask that your child return it on the first day.

Bus Transportation
Kindergarten through Grade 5 students who live more than 1.5 miles from school are eligible for bus transportation through our district provider, First Student.  Special Education students are also eligible for bus transportation with the same provider. Call the district’s Transportation Department at 518-475-6170 or First Student at 518-445-6372 about busing concerns.  They will address any questions and the specifics of getting children to and from school (i.e. routes, times, etc).  Please understand that it takes a couple weeks, at the start of every new year, for the busses to run on a regular schedule. Students who ride the bus may arrive home 15-20 minutes later than their scheduled time so please be patient with this process.
 

September Events
Begin your year proactively by getting involved! Below are our September events dates.  We hope to see every family present.

• Thursday, Sept. 2: Orientation for kindergarten-grade 2 (8 a.m.-2:30 p.m.)
• Friday, Sept. 3: Orientation for grades 3-5 (8 a.m.-2:30 p.m.)
• Thursday, Sept. 30: Meet the Teacher Night/Ice Cream Social (6 p.m.)

I am excited for the start of a new school year and another year of “Learning, Leading and Changing the World.” Enjoy the rest of your summer and get ready for an exciting school year!