Notes from Dr. Irvin
Your Weekly WGHS eNews for February 28
Hello Parents and Guardians,
Each year, schools fret the public “ranking” that appears in media outlets that lays out a hierarchy of schools. This often acts to facilitate a more robust conversation on the quality of schooling but acts to limit and further impoverish the dialogue. Most quantification of high schools is based around standardized tests that are administered in one day as well as other easily measured but arguably less important metrics. These customary measurements of students and schools often travel with parents’ educational and income levels and distort the work being done in schools. The lament of one’s zip code being destiny is too often played out in our educational system with glaring disparities in resources and opportunity, further compounded by spare information.
The current measurements miss the point that the value of a school is multi-dimensional: school safety and climate, creating a more just and civic culture, student engagement, student wellness, or requirements of critical thinking around important questions. An ideal high school requires an articulated school culture that is safe and connected, where students and adults are known and work collaboratively around declared shared values. Deep, meaningful relationships that make academics, the arts, and athletics richer and in service to life-long impact, to protect well-being for the school experience. The Athenian Oath taken at age 18 called for citizens to make their city-state more beautiful, more safe, and more free for their children. I sense that is a good message for Webster Groves and more specifically, our high school.
Best,
Matt Irvin
A Peek at the Week Ahead
- February 28: Winter Choral Concert, 7 p.m., Auditorium
- March 4-8: All Write Festival
Extended School Year/Summer School Registration Begins on Friday
Friday, Mar 1, 2019, 07:30 AM
undefined
Semifinalists Chosen in the WGHS Jonathan Franzen Excellence in Student Writing contest!
The 2019 All Write festival runs next week from March 4th to March 8th. Congratulations to our twenty semifinalists in the WGHS Jonathan Franzen Excellence in Student Writing contest! Semifinalists will read their original pieces onstage several times throughout the festival, and our top awards will be presented during the 7th hour assembly on Friday, March 8th.
Kathleen Babel - " I Have A Will, A Will to Survive"
Elizabeth Carver - "The Next Visit"
Catherine Curtis - "My Wall"
Matthew Curtis - "Creating the Future of Space: Why We Should Fund NASA"
Jared Epps - "Practice"
Ada Foley - "Renaissance of a Leader "
Eleanor Gilstrap - "Virtue"
Sophia Gotto - "Waterloo"
Rawsthorne Grundy - "Snow"
Joi Johnson - "Homesick"
Trinity Madison - "Racial Alliance"
Ray McIntyre - "november"
Rosa Parks - "MAGA"
Rosalie Ryan - "A Love Letter to Webster"
Ethan Ryan - "A Common Application"
Finn Saupe - "Fear"
Nakailah Shields-Robinson - "But Because I Hurt"
Samuel Toskin - "Double"
Alison Whaley - "An Extraordinary Epidemic"
Katherine Wienke - "Non-rhetorical Questions"
Celebrations/Announcements
Congratulations to Charlie Teeter on receiving All-Metro St. Louis Track Club Honorable Mention (only 17 athletes honored in all of Missouri and Illinois metro area).
- The Women Legislators of Missouri will sponsor eight $500 scholarships for graduating young women in Missouri, one from each US Congressional District. Candidates must fill out an application and are required to submit a 500-word essay answering the question, “If you were a state legislator, what would you hope to accomplish and why?”. Those interested can download the scholarship application at https://myscholarshipcentral.org.
Volunteer Opportunity at Magic House
The Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation is looking for 20 student volunteers for an upcoming event at the Magic House. Volunteers will help kids with congenital heart defects have fun at the Magic House while their parents attend educational forums. These kids rarely, if ever, get to go to the Magic House because of their conditions so they are all super excited to have the whole place to themselves! Nurses will be there as well just in case. Want to volunteer? Complete the form at the link below! Questions? Contact Felisha at felisha@theohhf.com.
All-Write Festival Coming Soon!
The 2019 All Write festival lineup was announced this week, and this year is sure to be out of this world! Taking place March 4-8 with over 35 featured guests, professional writers of all varieties and genres, the fifth annual event will be an innovative, cross-curricular educational experience at Webster Groves High School. This year’s headliners are bestselling Young Adult novelists Kara Thomas, Robin Talley, and Chris Crutcher, educator and poet Tongo Eisen-Martin, slam poet Ashlee Haze, and music biographer Peter Ames Carlin. Throughout the festival, our visiting writers instill the art of writing, the value of reading, the power of words, the intellectual pursuit of ideas, and the humanity of shared experiences, thereby inspiring countless numbers of our students to write, to think, to learn, and to carry these skills and principles into the world. Read more about 2019 All Write lineup here and contact Katie Guymon, English teacher at WGHS, with any questions.
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