District News

Holland Public Schools Administrators and members of the Holland Education Association have finalized the Academic Calendar for the 2023-2024 school year. Highlights of the calendar include:

• Open House | August 21
• First Day of School | August 23
• Holiday Break | December 23-January 7
• Mid-Winter Break | February 23-26
• Spring Break | April 3-7
• Tulip Time Parade - Half Day | May 9
• Last Day of School | June 4

Also included in the calendar are Early Release Days on most Wednesdays during the school year. On these days, students will be released from school 60 minutes early in order to allow teachers a better opportunity for collaborative professional development.

We'll focus on getting students ready for school in the fall (Tk and K), providing support with reading and math (grades 1-5), and keeping students on track for graduation (grades 6-11).

• June 19-August 3 (No School July 3-7)
• Monday-Thursday | 8am-12:30pm
• Free Breakfast & Lunch for students
• Transportation available for eligible families

Have a child enrolled in Kindergarten this fall?  Register today for Kindergarten Readiness Camp!

• July 10-August 3
• At West Elementary 
• FREE for all families enrolled with Kindergarten student enrolled for the fall of 2023

Caleb Duzan (5th Grade at Jefferson) wins district-wide Rock Paper Scissor tournament.

Today, we bring you Libby Lefebre's address to the Class of 2023 during commencement on Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Congratulations to the Top Ten of the Class of 2023 with Valedictorian James Baer and Salutatorian Eva Whiteman.

• Trent Burgess
• Gwendolyn Cinzori 
• Mallory Grant
• Libby LeFebre
• Adrian Perez
• Jack Vos
• Avery Walkotten
• Meredith Walters
• Anya Wolters

As we prepare for the start of the next school year, it's time register your student for 2023-24. This is something we ask ALL HPS families to do EVERY year. 

Completing the registration lets us know your student(s) will be returning next year!  It also lets you:

• Review and update household contact information
• Review and update student health information
• Request transportation 2022-2023 school year (Deadline to request bussing is August 10)

Without this information, your student can not be added to a class list for next year OR have a class schedule created for them.

It doesn't take long to update this information in your Parent Portal account - but it is so important that you do it very soon!

In March 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) temporarily waived certain Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) requirements and conditions due to the Public Health Emergency (PHE) Declaration. The easing of these rules helped prevent people with Medicaid and CHIP from losing their health coverage during the pandemic. The PHE will end 5/11/23 and families will need to go through Medicaid redetermination to retain the benefit.

This week we talk with Ashley Ruiz, a recent grad from Holland Early College.

On May 15, members of the Board of Education recognized nine retirees from Holland Public Schools for their nearly 250 years of service.

May 15, 2023, 6:00 pm, Board Training Room at the HPS Administration Building.

HLA Instructional Assistant Oralia Mascorro honored for her impact on students for nearly a half-century.

Giselle Torres knew exactly what to do when she heard a cry for help.

#HPSProud of  our HHS and HMS Choirs for their performances at MSVMA State Choral Festival!

• The HHS Festival Choir earned a Division 1 Excellent rating!
• HMS Choirs also made history - as this was the first time they qualified for and performed at State Festival. Middle school choirs do not receive a rating. 

There's a brand new scoreboard at Holland High School's Baseball and Softball Diamonds. It's dedicated to the memory of 1993 Grad Chad Wolff.  This week, we talk with Chad's brother, Derek about the community effort that made the new scoreboard a reality.

The Holland/Zeeland Promise, an academic scholarship for students with high financial need, proven academic success, and motivation to achieve the goal of a college or technical degree, recently welcomed 5 hardworking HHS students to its 2023 cohort!

• Jennifer Gomez-Pedraza 
• Natalie Goulooze 
• Mohammadfadi Kalahji 
• Ashley Ruiz 
• Giselle Torres 

Purchase a raffle ticket to give a special little person in your life the chance of a lifetime! 

Ride in the famous Big Red Dutch Wooden Shoe ahead of the Holland High School Marching Band as they TipToe Through The Tulips during the Tulip Time KinderParade and VolksParade.  

Holland Public Schools is looking for community input to help determine a winner of the district’s 1st Annual District-wide Power H IMPACT Award. Six finalists, one staff member from each building, were selected from among the hundreds of nominations from students, staff and families. The following finalists have already received a $1,000 cash prize and are eligible to receive an additional cash prize as the winner of the district-wide IMPACT Award:

• Corene D’Addona, Speech & Language Pathologist at West Elementary
• Oralia Mascorro, Instruction Assistant at Holland Language Academy
• Tesha Post, Social Worker at Holland Heights Elementary
• Karen Legg, Counselor at Holland Middle School
• Nick Snarski, Center Room Coordinator at Jefferson Elementary
• Jeff Kordich, Teacher at Holland High School/Holland Early College

April 27-30 at the HHS Perfoming Arts Center!

Keegan Welsh and Gabe Manwell went to MSBOA District 10 Solo and Ensemble on April 15. Both earned Division 1 Ratings! #HPSProud

Congratulations to the 10 winners of the District Art Awards.

• Yena Cho | HTS Grade 2
• Josue Olvera-Aguilera |  HLA Grade 3
• Marisol Bazan | JEF Grade 4
• Kooper Schipper | WST Grade 5
• Arcelia Garza | HMS Grade 6
• Griffin Embil | HMS Grade 7
• Amaya Hallacy | HMS Grade 8
• Greta Christensen | HHS Grade 9
• Jorge Arriola-Velez | HHS Grade 11
• Alyssa Burlingame | HHS Grade 12

Artwork created by these students will be on display in the District Admin Building until next May.