Halilts Newsletter: April 13, 2026

Welcome back from break!

I hope your time away was restful and filled with meaningful moments together. March can feel like a marathon, coming after winter break, the MLK Jr. Day weekend, conferences, and mid-winter break—all clustered between December and February. The learning acceleration we see from the end of February through March is a great motivator!

Watching students learn new things, make connections, and use the language of academic content is truly a gift. Sometimes we are so close to it that we forget to be amazed by the day-to-day progress. However, when I visit classrooms and see and hear that growth, I experience so much joy and wonder! Our students are incredible, and it is a privilege to watch them grow and change each day.

As we return from break, we begin a season of assessments, celebrations, and another extended opportunity for learning. On May 7, we will celebrate with our 2nd Annual Orca Splash event. We are excited to gather as a community to tour classrooms, see what students have been doing in Specialists classes, enjoy math games together, and hear our kindergarten through third-grade students sing. Stay tuned for the finalized schedule, which we will share soon after break. While we would love to have everyone attend at the same time, our parking limitations require us to stagger start times again this year. Please mark your calendars now to keep that evening open!

During this final stretch of the school year, please remember that your Orcas benefit from good sleep, healthy lunches and snacks, and consistent routines so they can do their best each day. Arriving on time is essential for a strong start to the day and helps reduce the anxiety of entering the classroom after morning meetings and learning have begun. Consistent routines and good sleep make mornings smoother for everyone.

I look forward to enjoying the spring season with this wonderful community in the coming weeks. Have a great Orca week!

Rhonda

Come volunteer at the Halilts library!

Bring a book to read aloud and help students find a just right book. Any help shelving returned books is very appreciated!

Volunteers need to be approved by BISD. Sign up here to help!

Questions? Please email PTO Library Coordinator, Heather Tartar, at heathertartar@gmail.com.

If you know your student will not attend BISD in the fall, please let us know by contacting Sheila Jakubik at sjakubik@bisd303.org with your educational plan so that we may adjust our records accordingly.

 

Our Annual Back to school Check-in process (ABC) is now open and is available by logging in to your Family Access account. Look in the left menu and choose: ABC 26-27 to move through the steps to complete this process ASAP.

It should take about 15 minutes (or less!) to complete the process for each child in your household.

This data collection allows BISD to gather information regarding your students’ plans for the upcoming year. Having an accurate understanding of the number of expected students helps us determine staffing needs, class size and building capacity to better serve our students. In addition to this valuable information, it allows BISD to fulfill its annual notification requirements for public schools in Washington state.

The ABC 26-27 process must be completed for ALL students in the district whether they are brand new to the district or returning.

*NOTE: For students with more than one family, ONLY the Primary Family will have access to complete the ABC’s. Guardians of Non-Primary Families will have “read-only” access. If this is a hardship for your family, please contact the school office for guidance, or send an email to studentrecords@bisd303.org. All families have the ability to make changes to their specific demographic information at any time via Family Access>Student Info>Change Requests link (in the top right corner).