Family Handbook 2018-2019

Parent Involvement
PARENT VOLUNTEER EXPECTATIONS
OHDS strives to serve as a supportive community
for its children and families. Active parent
involvement helps build the school and helps make
the success of your child’s education possible. It
also provides an important “middot” model for the
students, in terms of taking care of one another
and of our environment.
Parents at OHDS have many opportunities to
volunteer their time and talents towards enriching
the school program. School events such as field
trips, special celebrations (Yom Haatzmaut, Purim
Carnival, etc.), teacher appreciation, spaghetti
lunches, and many other events throughout the
year are only possible with parent participation.
We also have wonderful opportunities for parents
to share their talents and skills with our students
by making classroom presentations.
Additionally, we welcome parent volunteers to
help with administrative projects. Each class also
has a need for a room parent, who is responsible
for coordinating class events.
At the beginning of each year, you will receive a list
of many of the volunteer opportunities available
throughout the year. This is designed to help
parents plan what kind of volunteering efforts they
can commit to for the year. We ask each family to
commit 10 hours of meaningful volunteer work.
Please contact our parent association with any
questions at pa@ohds.org.
SUPPORT PLAN INFORMATION SHARING
Open and honest sharing of information between
home and school sets the foundation for student
success in any school setting.
At OHDS we expect that parents will share
information and reports from any learning
assessments, medical or psychological evaluations,
diagnosis or support from outside providers
including, but not limited to:
• doctors
• educational psychologists
• neuro-psychologists
• occupational therapists
• public school evaluators
• psychiatrists
• speech and language pathologists
• social skills therapists
• therapists
POINTS OF CONTACT
A healthy partnership between home and school
is built on a foundation of regular and clear
communication. Parents should feel comfortable
reaching out at any point in the year to their child’s
teachers by email to share information, ask questions,
express concerns or to set up a time to speak.
Teachers may also reach out to parents as needed
to share sweet moments, ask questions or partner to
address challenges that arise. Additionally, parents
can expect regular “touch-points” throughout the
year, as follows:
Fall
• September: Back-to-School Night
• October: Parent Teacher Conferences (middle
school students attend)
• November: Check in by email for BK-5 and
by advisor phone call for middle school, with
progress update
Winter
• February: Parent Teacher Conferences with
portfolio presentations and progress summary
Points of Contact
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