Tuesdays in the Theater at Steckel Elementary School is back! Steve Seyfried has returned with another eight-week after-school theater program.

Students meet online on Zoom 4:30-5:30 p.m. for theater games, improvisation and rehearsals. The program started Jan. 19 and will conclude March 9 with a performance video for family and friends to view.

This program is designed to help develop communication and imagination skills, as well as self-confidence in an environment of encouragement and respect.

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Report cards were issued on the parent portal Feb. 2.

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Whitehall High School students are reminded to return their loan agreements for Chromebooks. Be sure all papers are signed and returned to the main office as soon as possible.

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Whitehall-Coplay School District will be closed Feb. 12 and 15 for the Presidents Day holiday.

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WHS seniors, if you need your official transcript sent to a college, university or trade school, visit the counseling website and find the Forms area on the left column in maroon. Click on Transcript Release Form and fill out the information.

Once submitted, your counselor will review and approve it, after which your official transcript will be sent.

Notification will be sent via email by Mrs. Lewis in the counseling office when the official transcript has been sent.

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The state testing window has been announced for grades 3-8. The standardized testing window this school year is April 19-30. Please do not schedule any educational or family trips during this testing window. Makeup times for the PSSA tests will take place May 3-7. The school board policy has recently changed to seven allowable days per school year; this represents a decrease from the old policy, which had allowed 10 days.

Pennsylvania mandates all students participate in this test.

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Inclement weather may result in changes to the school day. Several ways to be alerted to school closings, delays and early dismissals due to weather conditions are as follows: If you have successfully updated your telephone contact number via the online student update site and parent portal, parents/guardians will receive an automated alert from WCSD. All information pertaining to school delays, early dismissals and school closings are sent to parents/guardians via the school’s SwiftK12 notification system. This is integrated with your existing PowerSchool parent portal.

When you log on to the parent portal, you will see a SwiftReach SwiftK12 link on the left navigation pane under Alerting (this is where you choose how you want to be notified). To guarantee messages are received, parents/guardians will need to make sure their contact information is up to date at all times. SwiftK12 allows the school to send messages using phone, email and SMS text messaging.

School delays, early dismissals and school closings may also be found on the WCSD website, whitehallcoplay.org. All information is also announced on radio stations and televised on local news channels: WAEB AM 790, WFMZ FM 100.7, WLEV AM 1400, WAEB FM 104 and WFMZ TV Channel 69.

Another source is the WFMZ Storm Center page at WFMZ Storm Center.

In the event of a two-hour delay, students may not be dropped off before 10:35 a.m. since school personnel also have a two-hour change in report times. In the event of an early dismissal, WCSD asks parents/guardians who pick up students to report to the school by the modified dismissal time. These policies are in effect for the safety of all students.

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Do you have any school news? This column is a compilation of upcoming school events in the WCSD. Teachers, administrators, parents, students, coaches, PTAs, club advisers and any other community members are invited to share their upcoming activities. Email me at jamb87@hotmail.com with “WCSD NEWS” in the subject line at least a week before an event.