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October 1: Impact Aid
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October 16: PTA Meeting
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October 17: NEHS Induction
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October 23-24: No School-Fall Conferences
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October 25: OHSD Trunk or Treat
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October 28: Picture Retakes
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Every Friday let's swap screen time for story time and create a cozy new tradition to kick off each weekend: the Panther Prowl for Pages.
The goal is to dedicate 20 minutes to reading together as a family, making it the warm, comforting start to your downtime that everyone can look forward to before jumping into a busy weekend.
How to Make it a Family Celebration:
Set the Scene:
- Turn off all devices (phones, TVs, tablets).
- Dim the lights and grab flashlights, a cozy blanket, or snuggle up on the sofa.
- Set out special reading snacks—maybe popcorn or a simple dessert—to signal that this is a special event.
The 20-Minute Challenge: Commit to at least 20 minutes of shared reading time.
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Parent: A parent should read to the child. Use funny voices, change your pace, and stop occasionally to ask questions like, "What do you think happens next?" or "Why is that character feeling sad?"
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Child: Have your child read a book or magazine article aloud to the rest of the family. This is a powerful, low-pressure way to practice fluency and expression. They can even read a book that a younger sibling is enjoying!
Choose the Next Panther Prowl: At the end of the 20 minutes, let your child choose the book or article for next Friday. This gives them ownership over the activity and keeps them excited for the following week.
The Power of Reading Aloud:
Reading aloud is the single most important activity for building vocabulary, improving comprehension, and developing a love of language—and it's not just for little ones! By making it a fun, device-free Friday event, you’re sending a powerful message that reading is valuable family time, not just school work. It’s a wonderful way to connect and wind down before the weekend begins!
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Oak Harbor Public Schools and School PTAs are excited to host Spook Harbor Trunk or Treat on Saturday, October 25, from 4–6 p.m. at Oak Harbor High School’s student parking lot. This free, family-friendly event is open to the entire community and features decorated trunks, candy, and festive fun.
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As we gear up for our Trunk or Treat event, we need your help! A friendly Candy Monster will be waiting in the school entryway, ready to collect candy donations. If you'd like to contribute, simply drop your candy into the monster’s mouth during drop-off or pick-up.
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Every Friday is Spirit Wear Friday! Students are encouraged to show their school pride by wearing Spirit Wear or Red, Gold, and Black to be counted. Let's show our school spirit! 🎉
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For children, Halloween is an exciting time with house decorations, costumes, and candy overflowing from plastic jack-o-lantern buckets. Yet, for the one in 13 children with food allergies and their parents, Halloween trick-or-treating can bring out a serious and real fear.1 Just one bite of a candy containing or made alongside allergens may be all it takes to send a child with food allergies to the ER with anaphylaxis. For this reason, it’s understandable that parents of children with food allergies are extra vigilant when the pumpkins start appearing on neighbors’ front porches.
The Inclusivity Issue
Of course, one of the best ways to manage food allergies is to reduce exposure to allergens, which means no trick-or-treating and no Halloween candy for some kids. Yet, while this may protect a child with allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, soy, and more, it may also create an inclusivity issue for children. Hearing friends at school talk about their candy hauls, or seeing their friends go door-to-door on the 31st may cause some children with food allergies to feel left out and isolated. So how do you keep kids with food allergies safe on Halloween but also help keep them included?
The Teal Pumpkin Project
The Teal Pumpkin Project is an initiative to make trick-or-treating more inclusive for children living with food allergies and other food intolerances by encouraging neighborhoods and families to offer food allergy safe goodies on Halloween. Families can indicate if their houses are food-allergen-friendly by displaying teal pumpkins on their porch or in their windows. The pumpkin can be a real painted pumpkin or simply a printed-out graphic pasted on the door.
In fact, Allergy Insider has partnered with the Teal Pumpkin Project to bring awareness to food allergies and aid its mission to make Halloween fun and safe for all children.
To participate next year, register your individual house or neighborhood event as a safe place for kids with food allergies on FARE's Teal Pumpkin Project map so that parents who are using the map can feel more comfortable and less stressed letting their children go door-to-door collecting allergy friendly treats.
Also talk to friends and neighbors about being food allergy aware on Halloween so that every child can have a fun and inclusive holiday.
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Nonfood, Allergy-Friendly Halloween Treat Options
While there are candies that claim to be allergen free, the FDA requires that only “major food allergens” be called out and labeled on food packets by either appearing in parentheses following an allergen derived ingredient (e.g., whey (milk), flour (wheat), etc.) or immediately after the ingredients in a “contains” statement.2
The FDA defines the major food allergens as milk, eggs, fish, sesame, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybean.2 However, this means if you have a food allergy outside of these major food allergens,[1] it may not be as obviously labeled on food packets. ( Learn more about reading food labels.)
Perhaps the only way to be certain you are giving kids with food allergies allergy friendly treats on Halloween is to bypass “allergy free candy” altogether in favor of nonfood goodies.
- Glow sticks, bracelets, necklaces
- Pencils, pens, crayons, markers
- Bubbles
- Whistles, kazoos, noisemakers
- Bouncy balls
- Finger puppets
- Spider rings
- Vampire fangs
- Playing cards
- Stickers
- Stencils
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Dear Families,
We know that every school day matters. When students are present, they have more opportunities to learn, grow, and connect with their teachers and classmates. Strong attendance helps build consistent routines, strengthens academic progress, and sets students up for long-term success.
Even a few absences can add up and make it harder for students to keep up with their learning. Of course, we understand that illness and emergencies happen, but whenever possible, we ask for your partnership in ensuring that your child is at school on time each day, ready to learn.
Thank you for your ongoing support in making attendance a priority. Together, we can help all of our students thrive.
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The Character Strong Trait for the Month of October is: Responsibility
One way to define Responsibility is “taking action and understanding the impact of our choices.” Taking action can mean doing the right thing or completing the tasks you have been assigned. Understanding the impact of our choices means that our actions matter. Positive and responsible actions can help people and irresponsible actions can hurt others.- Character Strong Newsletter
October is Bullying Prevention Awareness Month
Bullying is defined as “Hurtful, Repeated behavior that involves an imbalance of power.”
OHI is asking students to “Stop, Support, Report” if they witness bullying behavior.
I Know, Mental Health Classroom Lessons
Counselors will be going into classes to Introduce the “ I Know” Campaign for Mental Health and Suicide Awareness starting in late October and early November, please see the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention letter for more information about the campaign and how you can support your student with Mental Health.
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Today our school sent out a Federal Impact Aid Program Survey Form in ParentSquare. It is important that you fill out this form as soon as you receive it, no later than Monday, October 6.
Impact Aid funds make up for lost tax revenue to local districts due to non-taxable federal property in their boundaries. The amount of Impact Aid we receive is determined by the actual number of our students with parents who live or work on NAS Whidbey Island or other federal property, including Native American lands and our schools on federal property: Crescent Harbor, HomeConnection, and Hand-in-Hand. To qualify for funding, we need a completed survey for every student attending our district. Our school relies on the Impact Aid funds to financially support programming that directly benefits our students such as special education, transportation, and instructional support.
This information is kept strictly confidential and is only used to determine the funding our district should receive. More information is available on our website. Please reach out if you have any questions.
Thank you for your participation in ensuring that Oak Harbor Public Schools secures the resources it needs to serve our students better. We couldn’t do this work without your support.
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Our Lost and Found is already filling up quickly this year! Please take a moment to remind your child to check the lost and found for any missing items — jackets, water bottles, lunchboxes, and more are piling up.
Unclaimed items will be donated or repurposed after a certain period, so we encourage students to stop by soon!
Thank you for your help!
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Weather Closures & Delays |
Weather Reminders
Weather on our island can be unpredictable in the fall and winter. When weather, road, or school conditions result in a schedule change, we inform families through phone call, text message, email, social media, and our district website.
Please review your Skyward information and make sure a cell phone number is listed in the second phone number line. Be sure to report any mistakes to your child's school.
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We’d like to share a few helpful reminders about our lunch program to ensure everything runs smoothly for all students:
- Students who bring lunch from home are welcome to purchase milk or visit the salad bar, but please note that these items are not free and will be charged accordingly.
- Students who purchase a school lunch may enjoy unlimited access to the salad bar as part of their meal.
- Each lunch entrée includes one milk. If your child would like an additional milk, there is a small charge of $0.40.
Thank you for your continued support in helping us provide healthy and balanced meals for all students!
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To make payments and monitor account balances online, please be sure to set up an e-Funds account. Lunch payments may also be made via our black lunch payment box in front of the attendance office window and must be labeled with your child’s name and lunch number. |
For any food service related questions, including balance, please contact Katrina Winfrey at kwinfrey@ohsd.net
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