The first quarter is already over. I can't believe time has flown by so fast. Our fall Parent Teacher Conferences are already completed and report cards have been handed out. As a parent, this is a good time to keep a close watch on your child's grades. Even if they passed all their classes the first quarter, it only takes a couple weeks to get off track. It is always a good idea to monitor your child's progress. One great way to do this is to have PowerSchool e-mail you a grade check every week. If you see any trouble, you can get with your child's teacher and see what can be done right away. It can be hard to catch up at the end of the quarter.

To help with this, Homer High School staff will be looking at all failing grades every 3 weeks. We will check with both teachers and students and plan a way to help them improve their grades. If this is not effective, we will enroll them in a mandatory FOL study hall or tutoring class.

These are small changes but we hope they can provide some positive results.

Remember, my office is always open and I appreciate hearing your opinions or suggestions. My goal is to be responsive to what our parents and community want and need. Please give me a call or come in and chat.

Sincerely,

Douglas Waclawski

Principal

Nov 1 - Rotary Health Fair - HHS Commons

Nov 3 - First Cross-Country Ski Practice

Nov 3 - Big Booster Meeting - Staff Lounge - 6:00 pm

Nov 4 - Site Council Meeting - Library - 3:45 pm

Nov 7 - Blood Drive

Nov 8 - SAT Test

Nov 8 - Skills USA Dance and Spaghetti Feed - Commons - 7:00 pm

Nov 11 - Hockey vs SOHI - 7:30 pm

Nov 13 - Wrestling vs Bethel - Gym - 6:00 pm

Nov 17 - Athletic Eligibility Grade Check

Nov 20 - Hockey Tournament - 5:30 & 7:30 pm

Nov 21 - Hockey Tournament - 5:30 & 7:30 pm

Nov 22 - Hockey Tournament - 10:00 am & 12:30 pm

Nov 21 Softball Clinic - Gym - 4:00 pm

Nov 21 Neon Dance - Commons - 8:00 pm

Nov 26 - Early Release - Student Dismissed at 1:45 pm

Nov 27 - No School - Thanksgiving

Nov 28 - No School

Dec 1 - First Basketball Practice

COLLEGE FAIR RECAP

On October 21 interested HHS students had the opportunity to attend the College and Career Fair in Soldotna. They had the opportunity to speak with over forty college representatives, hear about programs and collect literature. Students came away very excited and some were able to follow up with Jay Smith of Linfield College when he visited HHS on the 24th. We took 64 students and look forward to even more students participating next year. As usual, HHS students were on their best behavior and impressed the reps with their questions and interest.

PSAT Testing

We had a good showing of sophomores and juniors who took the PSAT. Students felt they were well prepared and we look forward to hearing some good information from the feedback that will arrive in early December.

ONESTOP

Students and parents are urged to start checking regularly on the KPBSD feature called OneStop which is a site that has a section for scholarships that are offered in the district. Scholarships that are exclusively for HHS students will be listed as well as those available to the entire KPBSD population. To check it out go to the KPBSD Home page, click on Parents and Students, click on the icon for OneStop, and select the Scholarship and Enrichment option.

IMPORTANT NOVEMBER DATES FROM THE COUNSELING OFFICE

· It is still early, but seniors should be applying for colleges soon. This is a good month for college visits (students should print out a copy of their transcript to take along for admissions staffs or request one from the Counseling Office)

· SAT reasoning tests and subject tests are being given on Saturday, Nov 8

· Please help your seniors who are applying for early action and early decision remember that November is the month when these applications are due.

· On November 18, HHS will host the ASVAB. This is an excellent test for Junior and Senior students who are not sure they want to take the SAT but would like more information on their own skills and abilities. Required by all branches of the military. The test is free of charge.

· On November 4 at 11:00, a representative from Pacific Lutheran University will pay us a visit. Students are invited to hear about this great school where so many HHS students have been successful.

Each year Homer High School creates a school improvement plan and develops school goals. We want parents and the public to know what we are working on. To do this I will report on one of our goals and give you more details about what we are doing and why.

The goal I will be discussing here is increasing the number of freshmen who pass all their classes by 12%. Here are just a few of the action items we are implementing to meet this goal.

• Administration and counseling department review all students with failing grades every three weeks. Each child is assigned an adult who will follow up with that child.
• Students who have more than one failing grade will automatically be assigned a makeup FOL.
• Create remedial FOL's for students who lack skills in Math and Science.
• Create incentives for freshmen to pass all their classes.

Below are the remaining 2 goals:

1. Increase students who sign up and participate in FOL by 10%
2. 60% of all Homer High School seniors will qualify for the Alaska Performance Scholarship
   

Join us to once again help Alaska patients in need. Our upcoming blood drive is on 2014-11-07 at 08:30 AM to 03:30 PM.

The drive location is:

Homer High School

600 E. Fairview Ave
Homer, AK 99603

Click here to Schedule Appointment schedule an appointment to donate.

Please remember to eat well the morning of the drive, drink plenty of fluids and bring your photo I.D. Every time you donate, you earn points for the hero store. Once you create a profile in our Donor Connection portal, you can view your points and order merchandise.

Thank you for helping Alaska patients in need.