Dear Phoenix Families,

As September comes to a close, we’re excited to welcome the season of fall and reflect on a strong start to the school year. It’s been a joy getting to know our new students and reconnecting with our returning Phoenixes. This month, we tackled our iReady diagnostics, began exploring the theme of resilience, and dove into AVID strategies during advisory. Each of these pieces helps us continue building a school culture where students feel supported and challenged to grow.

We are now in week 6 of 9 in our first quarter, which makes this a great time to keep a close watch on student progress in Schoology. Parents, you can help us help your students by ensuring they attend intervention time on Fridays from 8:00 to 11:30 a.m when they are failing or falling behind in classes. This time is set aside for targeted support, catch-up work, and strengthening skills that set students up for success.

Looking ahead, we’re excited to see families at Parent-Teacher Conferences on Thursday, October 9, from 4–7 PM. To make the evening more convenient, dinner will be served. We hope you’ll join us to celebrate progress and partner together in setting up a successful year.

~Griz

Thank you to everyone who has utilized the time on our Intervention Fridays. We apologize if the messaging system has been a bit much. Here is the context of our process:

If your student is telling you a different story, please feel free to respond to Griz's message, or reach out to the teacher in question.

So, what constitutes an "invitation" to Friday Intervention? The students whose grade in a class has fallen below 70% are typically the ones invited. Teachers have been asked to prioritize their list if it gets too long to maintain realistic numbers to be able to provide one on one help to each student.

There are two main natural consequences for not showing up. Your student may end up failing their class due to falling too far behind. This is the number one thing we are trying to avoid by implementing Intervention Fridays. The second consequence could be a failed attendance appeal. One of the biggest pieces of evidence a student can provide during their appeal is the effort to negate the absences by attending Friday Intervention (especially if they've been "invited").

Only 2!

10/17

10/24

Students not "invited" are still welcome to come to school between 8:00 and 11:30 to have a quiet place to work or get extra help from teachers, even if they are not failing. We discourage students from showing up just to "hang out" because it can be distracting to other students and our teachers, who are trying to get work done! We do ask that all students exit the building by 11:30. Our staff is typically busy with meetings in the afternoon, and there is no guarantee of supervision for students at that time.

*Please note, 10/3 is not an intervention day because it is a day off for the whole Kuna School District. 10/10 is also not an intervention day as the school is closed for professional development for our teachers.

We’re excited to host Parent-Teacher Conferences on Thursday, October 9, from 4–7 PM! Teachers will be available throughout the evening for individual conferences, and to make it as convenient as possible, we’ll be serving a complimentary dinner for all IPHS families. Come grab a meal, connect with our staff, and be part of the IPHS community—we can’t wait to see you there!

Hello, IPHS families! September was a great month for us as we started settling into routine. Though there have been some bumps along the way, I’m proud of our students for their continued growth and resilience as we adapt to new changes. 

Katherine Acevedo, our social work intern, will be starting an Anxiety Group in October. If your student is struggling with anxiety and would be interested in participating in a group focused on connecting with others who also experience anxiety and learning coping skills to manage it, please let me or Katherine know. In addition, she will be starting to check in on new students and plans to have a caseload to check in on regularly. If your student would benefit from some additional 1:1 check-ins here at school, let either one of us know!

Some things that are coming up soon to look forward to:

As always, please let me know if you or your student are in need of anything. 

Kyra Brown, klbrown@kunaschools.org

Katherine Acevedo, kacevedosalazar@kunaschools.org

Beginning tomorrow, 9/30, students will no longer bring backpacks or bags into classrooms. Instead, all bags should be placed in the designated cubbies in the Commons before class. Students may use passing periods to retrieve any class-specific items, but remember that IPHS provides all necessary supplies. This new policy helps us keep classrooms safe, organized, and focused on learning.

10/3- No Friday Intervention- No School ALL KSD

10/9- Parent Teacher Conferences 4-7pm

10/10- No Friday Intervention- Teacher In-Service

10/17- Friday Intervention 8:30 to 11:00

10/24- Last day of Quarter 1, Grades Due

10/27- First day of Quarter 2, New Classes

10/31- Regular School Day