KNIGHT NOTES
February 5, 2018
HAPPY MONDAY
Good morning--
I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Perhaps you watched the Superbowl, hung out with some family and friends, or spent some time outside. Whatever it may have been, I hope it was enjoyable.
I look forward to a great week. Your visibility in the hallway, high-quality instruction, and you attention to building relationships make a huge difference everyday. Keep up the good work. I greatly appreciate it, and I know that it will continue to be impacting.
--Andy
CELEBRATIONS
Happy National School Counselor's Week!
The team of Caitlind Walker and Grant Freitas placed 6th Nationally in the Best overall crystal category in the US crystal Growing Competition sponsored by University of Buffalo Department of Chemistry. The team of Riley Lawson, Sarah Zimmerman and Hannah Zimmerman got an honorable mention for their crystal. Their teacher is Donna Malkmus.
Congrats to the FHN Speech and Debate Team for being named to the prestigious 100 Club by the National Speech and Debate Association. This ranks FHN in the top 21% of schools nationwide.
Howell of Fame
We have so many awesome people at FHN. Please consider consider nominating someone deserving for the 2018 Howell of Fame! The Howell of Fame Award recognizes the excellence of character, performance, and effort of those who serve FHSD as employees, volunteers, and patrons. Learn more or submit a nomination online here: http://ow.ly/Jn7r30iaSzf
PROPOSITION L
Here is the latest social media posting from the FHSD Communications Department:
ACHIEVEMENT
Staffing Information:
The timeline is attached to this email. If you have questions please talk to Katie Greer or your Department Chair.
Thank you to guidance who has been working for the past week and will continue to work into next week meeting with all students to make sure they are registered for all of their classes for the 2018-2019 school year!
CLIMATE
Student Summit
We held the Student Summit on February 1st in the Auditorium. The purpose of the Summit was to get ideas to address safety concerns expressed on our Student Survey. The students were selected to be a representative of our student population. The students did a great job. They were honest, understood the complexities of communication and what we can and cannot share with them, and had some great ideas for moving ahead and improving Student Climate at FHN. We will be sharing more on their ideas with you very soon.
Faculty Meeting Check-in
On Wednesday, at the Faculty Meeting, you will be able to participate in our first Kahoot check-in since sharing our Climate Action Plan on January 3rd. Please participate in this survey. This process is a team effort, and your feedback is essential to helping us continue to improve. Thank you in advance.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Throughout the month the MAC Scholars, who are supervised by Mary Kerr Grant and Lisa Woodrum, will help lead a celebration of Black History Month. This is an opportunity to celebrate the history and contributions of black Americans.
The MAC Scholars will select quotes to be read during announcements. They will also host a celebration week where students and staff are encouraged to dress up. There will not be hats during this week. Here are the list of days:
CELEBRATION WEEK:
- Friday--2/9/17 – Wear black in honor of Black History Month.
- Monday--2/12-- Wear Purple to represent the world reknowned, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
- Tuesday--2/13--13-- Wear 90s Hip Hop / R& B clothes to represent the contributions of black musicians to music.
- Wednesday--2/14--Wear red to represent the stoplight which was invented by Garrett Morgan.
- Thursday--2/15-- Wear HBCU apparel/ College Day Apparel– Historically Black Colleges and Universities https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/hbcu
- Friday--2/16--PD No School
ATTENDANCE
Update:
FHN currently has 83.9% of students attending 90% of the time. Another Home Visit was conducted this week for a student with chronic absenteeism. The Attendance Committee also distributed Thank You treats to our awesome Attendance Allies. We still have a need for many more staff members to act as a mentor for students struggling with attendance. New supports are being constructed to help you with this process. Thanks for considering.
COMMITTEE ACTION STEPS:
-Distributed small tokens of our appreciation to current Attendance Allies -In the process of adding new supports and a better tool kit for Allies to use
BEHAVIOR
The Behavior Team met this past Wednesday.
Discussion Items:
Reviewed 1st Semester Discipline Data
Upcoming PD Opportunities--Lunch and Learn on 2/9
Action Steps:
The team will begin exploring an expectation matrix for areas of the building. A timeline for this will be developed soon.
Next meeting date: TBD
Lunch and Learn
There will be a Lunch and Learn this Friday, February, 9th in Area 2 of the Learning Commons. Student Mentors will be presenting on leading Community Building Circles in the classroom setting. This process can help build strong peer relationships within your class and with your students. If you are interested in attending, please click on the sign up link below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdUWBctgqzzKrGmRAv8fCk8Xmfo9w_Kfep3WmoCtRUqLA4dwA/viewform
TECHNOLOGY
This Thursday, the Learning Commons will be hosting several coding activities for the Week of Code. Students can come in during their lunches on Thursday to participate in a variety of activities.
TESTING SCHEDULE UPDATE
The EOC window is as follows:
Bio, Gov't, Alg 2: 4/16-24
Eng 2, Alg 1: 4/30-5/8
The ACT will be on 4/24, with ACT accommodations going from 4/24-5/1
STAFF COMMITMENTS
2017-2018 Staff Commitments to the Learning Environment
In order to improve the climate/environment at FHN, the staff commits to:
1. building positive relationships with students and staff members.
2. helping students to see the relationship between effort and success.
3. addressing any inappropriate behavior immediately to help set an expectation of appropriate hallway and classroom behavior.
4. giving clear and consistent expectations for device use and by enforcing them.
5. counting tardies consistently.