On behalf of the staff at Souhegan High School, welcome to the 2022-2023 school year! We are incredibly excited to have students back in the building. At SHS we take pride in our ability to provide educational opportunities that allow students to grow into the best versions of themselves. During the school year we expect that the building will be alive with the sound of students and staff learning, working, laughing and enjoying all kinds of educational and co-curricular activities.

At the heart of our mission is creating an educational environment that not only challenges our students intellectually but also cultivates and sustains positive relationships. With this focus on developing academic stamina, resilience towards navigating academic and social challenges will help students to be prepared for the many facets of life they will encounter. Creating appropriately challenging academic work and developing interpersonal skills must be present in our instructional and professional practices and is essential to realizing our purpose and potential.

As we transition from summer to the school year, we encourage you to think about the Souhegan Mission Statement and how as students and families we can work together to live the mission.

Souhegan High School aspires to be a community of learners born of respect, trust and courage. We consciously commit ourselves:

To support and engage an individual’s unique gifts, passions and intentions.

To develop and empower the mind, body and heart.

To challenge and expand the comfortable limits of thought, tolerance and performance.

To inspire and honor the active stewardship of family, nation and globe.

Our partnership with students and families as well as other community members and organizations is a key part of our success. Students benefit as families are involved in their education.

We look forward to the continued partnership and a great school year.

Sincerely,

Michael Berry

Principal

1. Schedule for First day

2. Schedule for first few weeks

3. Freshmen Information: On the first day of school, freshmen students should report to the Theatre after arriving at school. Staff will be available to help guide students through the building.

4. Laptop technology fee: Laptops will be distributed to 9th graders on Wednesday, August 31. Fees can be paid on MySchoolBucks or by bringing in cash or a check made out to “Souhegan Student Activities Fund”. Please bring proof of payment if paid on MySchoolBucks. You will not receive a laptop if the fee has not been paid.

Click here to read Steven Chamberlin's welcome letter!

Bus Routes

Click here for updated bus routes for the 2022-2023 school year.

Back to School Letters

See here for a copy of the Back to School and 9th Grade Parents letters that were sent to families last week!

Campus updates

To improve campus safety and security, the main entrance now has a secure double-buzzer entrance. As such, our Welcome Center has moved to Student Services and will, among other things, provide all visitors with lanyards to be worn while on campus. The lanyard easily lets staff know the visitor has been screened. All visitors not wearing a lanyard, or other prominently-shown identification (school ID badge, for example) will be asked to obtain a visitor’s lanyard.

Lunch may be eaten inside and outside. Avoid eating food in areas such as: classrooms, the gym (including upper balcony), the Theatre and the turf and stands.

Notes about off-campus privileges

Students must sign out/in using the new QR-code system. Scannable QR codes will be available at student entrances in both the main building and Annex. Students must make sure they are signed into their sau39 accounts to fill out the form. If you do not have a means to access the QR code, please sign out on the provided clipboard in Student Services. Please remember that off-campus is a privilege and not a right. Students are expected to present themselves in a manner consistent with the SHS mission and Souhegan Six. Failure to do so may result in loss of off-campus privilege for a period of time.

While utilizing off-campus, we are requesting that students not spend extended periods of time in their vehicles in the parking lot. This includes eating lunch. If you are in need of a quiet space to eat lunch the Learning Commons is available, and for other locations, please speak with your counselor.

Saber Spotlight is back!

For those new to SHS, Saber Spotlight is a time where we come together as a community during Advisory to acknowledge and celebrate events and happenings at Souhegan. To encourage communication and relationship building, Saber Spotlight times will combine grades 9 & 12 and grades 10 & 11, respectively. This year we will host two Spotlights a month and our goal is, once the year is underway, to have increased student input and participation.

Grading and Reporting

The communicated purpose of grades in SAU 39 is as follows:

• To provide information to students for self-evaluation, reflection and academic growth.
• To communicate information about students’ learning and achievement to parents to build partnerships in supporting student growth.
• To inform teachers of student progress towards and proficiency in competencies and standards and to inform instruction in a multi-tier system of support.
• To communicate information about student achievement and habits of work to colleges and employers.

Over the last five years, as a district and as a school, we have worked tirelessly to learn about and commit ourselves to competency-based education. Reporting on academic skills separate from behaviors, alignment of our curriculum to agreed-upon standards, and developing reassessment practices reflect important philosophical, research-based advancements. We spent last year implementing a new reporting software to see what issues it could resolve as well as hearing from all stakeholders and seeking out feedback. Although we were hopeful that the shift to PowerSchool would alleviate the bulk of the concerns, we now have enough data to know that it did not.

Last year, while PowerSchool allowed students and families to view individual standard scores in assignments more easily, we knew that additional improvements in late work, reassessment, reporting calculations and course score conversion were necessary in order for all stakeholders to 1) easily understand how a course score is calculated and 2) more accurately communicate learning. This summer, teachers and staff worked to ensure that grading and reporting more accurately and easily communicates the learning a student has demonstrated to everyone. Additionally, we considered how to use this revision opportunity to help students learn and demonstrate stronger self-directed learner skills through new late work and reassessment expectations. We reviewed feedback from all stakeholders and worked to actionize the recommendations while still embracing the core values of competency-based education and Souhegan High School. As the school year begins, we will be further communicating these updates to students as a whole school and within individual classrooms.

Linked here are the changes we are implementing this year, which have been divided into four main categories: Updated Practices & Expectations, Updated Reporting Calculations, Updated Course Score Conversion, and Ongoing Areas of Focus. We are confident that these changes will lead to stronger and clearer communication, increased accountability, and increased delivery of real-time support to students. Teachers will be communicating their course-specific expectations to students and parents once classes are underway. Additionally, we will hold various parent information sessions to discuss these updates more. Time will be devoted to this topic on Back to School Night, and we will be offering drop-in sessions for parents in September, with times both before school and in the evening. Specific dates and times will be announced shortly.