1300 Silver Eagle Drive
Tarpon Springs, Florida 34688
Office: (727) 942-5419
Fax: (727) 942-5441

2/5/2023

Good Afternoon Eagle Families, 

This is Dan Schmittdiel, Principal at East Lake High School, with some important reminders for this upcoming week. First off, let’s celebrate some of the amazing things our students are accomplishing outside of the classroom. Our students competed and placed 4^th in the High School Ethics Bowl this past week, multiple students were recognized and performed at the All-County Orchestra Concert this past weekend, student artwork will be honored this week at the Scholastic Art Awards at Gibbs High School earning 23 separate awards (5 of which qualified for the national awards in NYC), and much more. Additionally, as we kick off the Spring Sports programs, several of our Winter Sports teams are competing this week in both district and regional tournaments – good luck to all of our student athletes! We’re beyond proud of all our students’ successes in and out of the classroom. Keep it going!

Updated Student Tardy Policy

Our new tardy policy will begin this Wednesday, February 8^th. You’ll receive a specific tardy policy callout prior to Wednesday with some continued reminders before rolling it out. As a reminder, we want to ensure that students are in the classroom to get the most of each class period, along with focusing on this important life skill that they’ll need in all aspects in the future. Some highlights of the changes:

• A) If your student is ever tardy to class, students will get a tardy pass from one of the different tardy stations throughout the school (front office, school store outside of Student Services, downstairs between building 2 and 3, and upstairs between the Media Center and building 3).
• B) Just like in the past, if your student is late to school for an excused reason (i.e. doctor’s appointment), please send them in with a pass and/or communicate with the front office so that we can get them a pass to class.
• C) Just like in the past, if students earn excessive tardies, we will follow our tardy consequence ladder. Students will receive five tardy warnings prior to being issued an after-school detention. 
• D) On Wednesday, student’s tardy counts will reset for the new policy.
• E) To ensure parents/guardians are aware, if your student does receive a tardy pass, you’ll receive notification via email each time.
• F) Before Wednesday, students will need to locate their FOOD SERVICES PIN in Focus if they don’t know it already. This is the unique ID that they’ve used throughout the years to purchase lunch. They will type this code into the keypad at the different tardy pass stations to get their pass to class.

Transportation Reminder

To all bus riders

This is a reminder to arrive at your morning bus stop at least 10 minutes before your scheduled pickup time. It is no secret there have been some struggles with transportation this year. When a driver is out sick or a route is not covered, stops are picked by drivers from other routes. Once the bus leaves your stop it cannot go back and cannot make an unauthorized stop as it is likely not in a safe location. All stops have been selected by and are monitored by the school district transportation department and drivers have been instructed not to make additional stops. You can also sign up for Bus Bulletin and be updated when there's a change to a morning or afternoon bus by clicking on Transportation under site shortcuts on the left side of the webpage.

Semester 2 Grades

Last week you received the first set of weekly progress reports from me. This will continue each Wednesday as an added layer of communication – as a reminder, it will be sent to your student’s primary parent/guardian email address. This will provide you with a grade breakdown week by week to get a snapshot as to how your student is performing within each of their classes. If you ever have any questions surrounding grades in those reports or from when you access grades yourself in Focus, please reach out to your student’s teacher for more information and context.

Electronic Devices

A reminder about the use of electronic devices: students are not permitted to use devices to take photos or record audio/video of other students or staff without the consent of that person. The use of phones and other devices are also not permitted in bathrooms and locker rooms.

No Student Food Orders

As we move into semester 2, this is a quick reminder that food orders from any food delivery service/restaurant is not allowed. Students are expected to either take advantage of school lunch or bring their own each day. Please make sure to continue to remind your student(s) of this expectation.

Staff Kudos

Do you want to celebrate a specific ELHS staff member and have been looking for a platform to give them kudos? Now's your chance! Our staff kudos survey will be available all year – take a minute to complete it to give an ELHS staff member a shout-out for all of the amazing things they do for our students each and every day. We will share the positive feedback with our staff! Please use the Microsoft Forms survey link in the email from this callout to provide the kudos:

• https://forms.office.com/r/USeQsGBnE0

Important dates for Seniors (Class of 2023) 

• 2023 Graduation: Tuesday, May 16^th, 2023 @ 5:30pm
• Friday 3/31: Grad Bash @ Universal Studios (seniors will be asked to leave class at 12:45pm) 
• Saturday 4/22: Prom @ Ruth Eckerd Hall 
• Thursday 4/27: Senior Breakfast @ Ruth Eckerd Hall AND Senior Assembly 
• A reminder to visit https://elhssenior.weebly.com to keep up with all things Senior Class!

Guidance Updates

Senior families, don’t forget to complete the FAFSA (federal scholarships, grants, loans) and the FFAA (Bright Futures and other state financial aid) both ASAP. Links to each of these can be found below – if you need more help working through the various opportunities, schedule an appointment with our College and Career Coordinator, Natasha Gallaty, at https://bit.ly/ELCCC-Booking.

• FAFSA: https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa
• FFAA: https://www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org/
• Pinellas County Schools Scholarship Opportunities: https://www.pcsb.org/Page/39425

Dress Code Reminders

The Pinellas County School Board has adopted a dress code for students in all district schools that all schools are making a concerted effort to adhere to. Here is a direct link to the dress code page from the student code of conduct for reference. https://tinyurl.com/2022-2023PCSBDressCode. Families may be contacted to provide a change of clothes if your student does not have something else with them which meets the Student Code of Conduct guidelines.

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Assistant Principal or Counselor. Have an amazing rest of your weekend, stay safe, and GO EAGLES!

Dan Schmittdiel, Principal 

East Lake High School

SchmittdielD@pcsb.org 

Our Vision 
100% student success

Our Mission 
The community of East Lake High School will develop productive and responsible students who are prepared for post-secondary education, the workforce and citizenship.