High School Happenings
September 3, 2020
Please click HERE for video from Dr. Sorgini
· News & Information:
· Getting Ready for the First Day: The teachers, administrators and staff of Methacton High School are excited to welcome our students to the start of the 2020-2021 school year on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. As you prepare for students to engage in the virtual learning environment, parents and guardians are encouraged to assist students in establishing a work-space in your home that will be conducive to participating in both synchronous (teachers and students gathered together in the virtual environment in real-time through applications such as Zoom) and asynchronous (students engaged in assigned learning activities such as independent practice and other related assignments while not in real-time communication with the teacher) learning activities. This may include utilizing headphones to allow students to focus directly on instruction. Advance planning will help students successfully participate in virtual learning right from the start on 9/8/2020. Listed below is additional information about the start of the school year including specific information about how to read student schedules and expectations in the virtual learning environment. Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful 2020-2021 school year!
· PowerSchool Portal:
o PowerSchool is the district's student information system. PowerSchool is designed to provide families with "single source" access to all of your student's education information. This program provides families with access to PowerSchool’s parent portal and a parent portal app to follow your student’s success in school from your mobile device. The parent portal will allow you to view your child’s class schedule and earned grades on assignments throughout the school year. It is also the system by which parents view report cards at the conclusion of each marking period.
o Visit the District website at https://www.methacton.org/powerschool for information on creating your parent portal account if you have not already done so.
· Student Schedules
o Student schedules for the 2020-2021 school year became visible in the PowerSchool parent portal on September 1.
o Please instruct your child to log into their district email account and PowerSchool account prior to the first day of school on 9/8/2020. Students will receive an email from each of their scheduled teachers with the zoom link to attend the synchronous class on the first day of school and an invitation to join the google classroom for each class.
o The High School instructional day is comprised of seven, separate instructional periods and a thirty minute lunch period. There are six minutes built into the schedule between each instructional period to allow for the change of classes to occur. In the virtual environment, this will also allow for a brief break between classes.
o The High School schedule can be complicated to read. Some elements of the schedule that will help parents and students fully understand their schedules are as follows:
- The instructional day begins promptly at 7:35 AM each morning with the start of first period. Most students have a first period class assigned in their schedules. Instructional periods generally last forty-seven (47) minutes.
- First period is an extended period, lasting until 8:35. Instruction for first period will conclude each day at 8:22 AM. The time-period from 8:22 to 8:35 AM is generally reserved for the Warrior News program. In the virtual environment, the Warrior News will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Additional information about the Warrior News program will be sent directly to students.
- Periods one, two and three are the same times for all students. Student schedules diverge after third period. This is based on which of the four assigned lunch periods a student has in their schedule.
- The bell schedule document attached below highlights how to read your child’s schedule. At the bottom of the document, please see the four different schedules a student can have, based upon the four lunch periods. Please view your child’s schedule in the PowerSchool portal to identify her or his assigned lunch and then review the attached document to see exact times of the scheduled periods.
· The Instructional Day
o Student Expectations
-Students are expected to attend every assigned period, every day. Students should check their Methacton email account for links to the respective Zoom rooms associated with each of their academic classes and for invitations to the google classroom for each course. It is expected that there will be a synchronous component (teacher and students gathered in the virtual environment via zoom in real-time) of every instructional period, every scheduled school day.
- Parents must contact either the attendance office phone line or send an email when a student will be absent. Please refer to the MSD self-check health guidelines. Information for reporting absences can be found at the following link: https://www.methacton.org/Page/524. Also, please contact the Attendance Office if you lose power at your home and your child cannot participate in the instruction.
- Students should contact their teacher by email in advance if they have an anticipated legitimate school-based absence e.g. driver ed on-the-road lesson, Counselor appointment, college representative appointment, etc.
- Attendance
· Teachers will be taking attendance by instructional period every period of the day. This information will appear in PowerSchool.
· There will be a designated “Attendance Assignment” for each instructional period. Teachers will identify this assignment to the students at the start of each class period. The assignment could take a variety of forms, depending upon the nature of the instruction during the lesson. Examples include google form exit slips, worksheets, class participation presentations, quizzes, tests, projects, etc. The Attendance Assignment is some tangible student-work product that must be completed each period.
· In order for a student be considered present, the student must be marked present during participation in the synchronous instruction and also complete the Attendance Assignment each period.
- Behavioral Expectations and Code of Conduct
· Students are expected to demonstrate proper respectful and mature behavior toward both the teacher and fellow students during their participation in the virtual environment. Failure to do so will result in corrective disciplinary action by either the teacher or a building administrator.
· The MSD Code of Conduct remains in effect in the virtual environment. https://www.methacton.org/cms/lib/PA50000637/Centricity/Domain/4/Code%20of%20Conduct%202020%20-%20Board%20Approved%207-28-2020.pdf
· Students are to be engaged in the lesson by both synchronous and asynchronous participation.
· Students are not to photograph or record synchronous instruction.
o Google Classroom
- Students will receive invitations to join each teacher’s Google classroom through an email to their respective Methacton email accounts. Teachers will also send to student emails a zoom link associated with each class for which a student is scheduled. Students need to check their email accounts prior to the first day of school on 9/8 and be prepared to enter the zoom link for each class during the instructional day.
- Parents will also receive an email to their email address in the PowerSchool system that will invite them to receive either weekly or daily Google updates about their child’s participation in the various google classrooms. These are called “guardian summaries.”
- A Methacton School District Parent Center has been created on the district website with helpful information pertaining to the use of Google classroom. An archived tutorial video is available with specific directions about how students join Google classrooms and how parents can receive Google classroom summaries. For more information, please visit this link: https://sites.google.com/methacton.org/msdparentcenter/home
· Materials Distribution
o Materials distribution for specific courses took place in the Main Gym from 1:00 to 4:00 PM on 9/2 and 9/3. Information about this process was communicated via email on 8/26.
o A specific list of courses for which materials are available can be found attached.
o Contact Karen O’Neil at koneil@methacton.org if you were unable to pick-up materials on the assigned dates to schedule a date and time to do so.
· Curricular Assistance
o Students are encouraged to request assistance from their respective academic area teacher as needed. In addition to the assigned class meeting period each day, teachers may be available to provide additional assistance from 2:30 to 3:00 PM each day when required meetings are not scheduled. Students should communicate this need and request directly with teachers.
o A list of available teachers in four core academic areas (English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies), by instructional period, can be found attached at the bottom of this document. These teachers are available by email during the identified periods of the day and can provide generalized assistance for students encountering any instructional needs.
· Back to School Night
o Parents and Guardians are cordially invited to attend Methacton High School’s annual “Back-to-School” night to be held on Wednesday, September 16. This will be a virtual event with specific zoom invitations sent by each classroom teacher to parent email accounts through Google classroom.
o Back-to-School Night will present you with an opportunity to walk through your child’s schedule. In each virtual class, you will meet the teacher and hear an overview of the curriculum and expectations of each course of study from the teacher teaching it. For those of you with students attending North Montco Technical Career Center (NMTCC), there will be a recorded video provided by NMTCC which will be posted to the high school website.
o Class periods during this event are short in duration, “Back-to-School” is designed to provide the overview version of the class. If you have individual questions for a teacher, please schedule a separate meeting time or contact the teacher by email.
o The schedule for the evening will follow an “A” Day schedule. Please review your child’s “A” Day schedule through the PowerSchool portal in advance of Back to School Night.
o Specific class meeting times can be found in the schedule attached below.
· Class of 2021 Information from the Counseling Department
o Each year the Counseling Department provides our Seniors with an unofficial copy of their high school transcript. There are two reasons for this; the first is for students to be able to see their cumulative record. The second is to assist our seniors with completing college applications that allow applicants to “self-report” their grades. In lieu of handing these out in person this year, all seniors will receive a copy of their unofficial transcript through their Methacton student email account between September 16 and September 18. If you have any questions regarding this process, please reach out to your child’s individual Counselor.
· Methacton High School Home and School Association
o Please see the information sheet attached below regarding communications, meetings, etc.
· Methacton Education Foundation is offering First Day of School Signs again this year!
Download and print yours at home today: www.methactonfoundation.org/firstday Share on Social Media with the hashtag #MethactonFirstDay .Good Luck this year!
The next Happenings email and video will be distributed on Thursday, September 17, 2020.
Methacton Pride! Warrior Pride!
Methacton High School
High School Happenings September 3, 2020
MHS Administration
Dr. Jason Sorgini, Principal jsorgini@methacton.org
Dr. Karey Kochenour Administrator of Grade 9 A-Go and Grade 12 kkochenour@methacton.org
Mr. Dan Bontempo Administrator of Grade 9 Gp-O and Grade 11 dbontempo@methacton.org
Mr. John Smink, Administrator of Grade 9 P-Z & Grade 10 jsmink@methacton.org
Dr. Paul Spiewak, Director of Athletics and Activities pspiewak@methacton.org
Dr. Jamie Gravinese, Supervisor of HS Special Education jgravinese@methacton.org
Email: rasher@methacton.org
Website: www.methacton.org
Location: 1005 Kriebel Mill Road, Eagleville, PA, USA
Phone: 610-489-5000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MethactonSchoolDistrict/
Twitter: @Methacton