Notes from Dr. Irvin
Your Weekly WGHS eNews for December 13
Hello Parents and Guardians,
I'd like to remind everyone about tonight's Parents' Club meeting in the library at 7 p.m. I will discuss our process for creating a Profile of a Graduate. Our goal for the night will be to create a shareable artifact that conveys intentional outcomes of what we believe a secondary school graduate should know and be able to do. This work will be shared with our Design Team to craft a vision of all of our stakeholders that reflects a shared aspiration that all students have an educational experience that prepares them to be effective lifelong learners and contributors in their communities. I hope you can join us tonight.
We are excited to announce that the Board of Education has approved a late-start schedule for WGHS, beginning with the 2019-20 school year. A late-start schedule allows time for instructional staff to collaborate in Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs.
Extra time allotted for instructional staff is the only time teachers of the same course can meet in PLCs to provide a guaranteed viable curricular experience for students, which includes:
Essential content and skills students need to know for a particular unit
Common assessments to determine if students have mastered those essential skills
Adjustment of instruction and design interventions to help students who need additional support, and they design enrichment opportunities for students who already have an understanding of certain concepts
In order to accommodate PLC time, we will have a late start on twenty-six (26) days out of the school year. School will start at 8:57 a.m., and two periods will be dropped from those scheduled dates. Instructional staff will meet with their PLCs from 7:30 - 8:30 a.m., and the building will be open to students at 8:00 a.m.
Because our school calendar includes more school days than DESE requires, we can accommodate PLC time without affecting the total number of days students attend. We will still have one built-in day for any school closing due to inclement weather.
Bus transportation will be modified to accommodate the new schedule. Parents who drop off their students before school should make arrangements to drop off between 8:00 a.m. - 8:55 a.m. We currently will not schedule any before-school activities/meetings on the late-start days to allow staff time to meet.
2019-20 PLC Days*
August 19, 26
September 9, 16, 23, 30
October 7, 14, 21, 28
November 11, 18
December 2, 9
January 13, 27
February 3, 10, 24
March 2, 9, 23, 30
April 6, 13, 27
*Dates are subject to change until the 2019-20 calendar is finalized.
We are excited to join other school districts in the area in this opportunity to provide intentional time for our instructional staff to collaborate, focus on learning for all, and ensure that students learn and succeed. If you have any questions, please contact us at 963-6400.
Best,
Matt Irvin
Final Exam Information
A comprehensive examination will be given at the end of 1st and 2nd semesters in all classes. The test will be ninety minutes in length. A comprehensive exam is understood to sample learning from the entire semester. This test will count between 10% and 20% of the final course grade with the exact percentage to be determined by each department. Exams are an important part of the student’s grade and educational experience. Every effort should be made to be sure student is at school for exams and vacations and other commitments are avoided at this time.
No exams will be given early. If a student must miss an exam, a parent must notify the appropriate assistant principal. The student will receive an Incomplete (I) and will need to make up the exam at the teacher’s convenience. For students who are athletes, a grade of Incomplete (I) may have a negative impact on their athletic eligibility.
Students will not take finals in Academic Lab, student assistant periods, Peer Tutoring, or Study Hall. A 90-minute final exam will occur in all other classes. On the first day of finals, everyone is expected to be in attendance, as it is a special schedule. On the exam half-days, students should not be in the building if they do not have an exam or are not studying in Academic Lab; otherwise, they will be assigned to a supervised study hall. Activity buses are for athletes only. Everyone else should promptly exit the building. Students are also prohibited from going to Hixson.
If your student elects to stay home during an Academic Lab exam, student assistant period, Peer Tutoring hour, or study hall, please contact your Assistant Principal’s office for attendance purposes.
In the event of school closure during finals week due to inclement weather, the final exam(s) will be rescheduled for the first day back after winter break, with a final exam schedule (7:55 - 11:05 a.m.) for that day. Bus transportation and athletics will be modified accordingly, and lunch will not be served.
Final Exam Study Sessions
The library will be open for final exam study sessions December 10-13 from 2:45 - 5:30 p.m. Instructional staff and student tutors will be available during this time (staff will be available after 3:30 p.m.).
Below is the final exam schedule for the 2018-19 school year*:
December 18: Special Schedule; 1st period exam (7:55 - 9:25 a.m.)
December 19-21
1st exam: 7:55 - 9:25 a.m.
2nd exam: 9:35 - 11:05 a.m.
December 19: Exam 2, 3
December 20: Exam 4, 5
December 21: Exam 6, 7
*In the event of a school closure, the final exams will be rescheduled for January 7.
A Peek at the Week Ahead
- December 18: Special Schedule; Exam 1
- December 19: Exam 2-3
- December 20: Exam 4-5
- December 21: Exam 6-7
- December 24-January 3: Winter Break
- January 4: No school/PD Day
Celebrations/Announcements
Congratulations to our Choir for a terrific holiday choir concert on Tuesday evening!
Assistant Superintendent Kristin Denbow has begun a blog on learning. This month's post focuses on literacy instruction. You can read it here: https://webstergroveslearningupdate.com/
All Write Festival Has New Theme and Logo
The 2019 All Write festival has lift off! We are excited to announce that this year’s theme is SPACE. Thank you to senior Sam Hayden for designing our new logo.
Follow us @allwritewghs on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!
CAPS Informational Session
The St. Louis Centers for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) will hold an informational session for parents and students considering enrolling in courses for the 2019-
2020 school year on Monday, December 17th. Click here for more information.
Other Important News
Procedures for Check-Out During the School Day
We often get questions about how to check out of school early for appointments. If students know in advance that they need to check out from school, they should bring a written, signed note from a parent stating the time at which they are to check out. Students should present their request to the assistant principal’s office before school. Parents may also call in to the Assistant Principal's office ahead of time and have students check out at the designated time. When leaving school during the day, students must check out through the assistant principal’s office. If students do not follow this procedure, their absence will be considered cutting class. In case of sickness, students check out through the school nurse. In case of emotional upset, students should see their counselors or an administrator to discuss whether or not to remain in school.
When students need to check out of school early:
- Call the Assistant Principal's office before the designated time and report the absence. You may also send a note with the student to be presented to the Assistant Principal's office before school.
- At the designated time, your student will receive a pass to check out if you called ahead. The student will check out in the Assistant Principal's office.
- You do not need to enter the building if you have called the absence in and communicated a pick-up location with your child. However, if you choose to pick up your child in the building, you must do so in the Assistant Principal's office. Upon entering the building, sign-in in the main office and proceed to the Assistant Principal's office.
All attendance procedures are outlined in detail in the Student Handbook. To report your child's absence, please call your child's assistant principal's office directly:
Dwight Kirksey--918.4139
Shiree Yeggins-Campbell--918.4132
Angela Thompson--918.4127
John E. Thomas--918.4131
Webster Groves High School
Email: erb.mickey@wgmail.org
Website: hs.webster.k12.mo.us
Location: 100 Selma Avenue, Webster Groves, MO, USA
Phone: (314) 963-6400
Facebook: facebook.com/WGAlumni
Twitter: @WebsterGrovesHS