HRHS Faculty Newsletter
September 23-27
This Week's Calendar
Day 2
Tuesday 9/24:
Day 1
2:30: HREA Annual Fall Meeting
3:45: Girls XC Meet @ HRHS
4:00: Boys XC Meet @ HRHS
6:00: Gymnastics Meet @ HRHS
6:00: Girls Varsity Soccer Game @ HRHS
Wednesday 9/25:
Day 7
4:00: Boys JV Soccer Game @ HRHS
Thursday 9/26:
Day 6
4:00: Golf Match @ Beaver Brook
5:30-8:00: Open House
Friday 9/27:
Day 5
Half Day for Students
Departments 11:30-2:30
For Your Information and Action
For staff coming from the Williamsburg/Northampton area: On Monday September 23 and Tuesday September 24, 6:30am-5pm, the City will be paving Chesterfield Road. Chesterfield Road and Montague Road will be closed to thru traffic. Only residents and emergency vehicles will have access. Police officers will be present and emergency services have been notified. There will be traffic restrictions and detours in place to facilitate this process.
Providing Accommodations for IEPs/504s: Regular education teachers need to be providing the accommodations and modifications for their classes to special education students (i.e. study guides, enlarged readings, skeleton notes, etc.). That is not for the para or special education teacher to facilitate. Please see the faculty handbook for a more specific and detailed explanation under the Special Education section.
Gym Access: If you need to get into the gym and you are locked out, please do not knock on the doors as it is disruptive to the classes in those hallways. There are door bells on each of the gym doors now--Gary just replaced the batteries yesterday so they are all up and running. Please use the doorbells and encourage students to use them, too, if they are trying to get in.
Educator Goals: Educator Evaluation Goals are due on October 1 to your evaluator. Please submit a signed hard copy to your evaluator’s mailbox. A copy of the signed form will be return to you if approved. If not approved, then you will receive feedback to adjust your goals for approval. Goals should follow the DESE guidelines for being SMART.
Observations: All teachers will have a minimum of three observations this year (non-PTS will have at least four). Each observation will be at least five minutes long. All non-PTS teachers will have a formative evaluation mid-year and a summative evaluation at the end of the year. PTS teachers on two-year plans will either have a formative or summative at the end of the year depending on which year of the cycle they are in.
Staff/Student Email Addresses: Some staff emails are different than the typical "first initial-last name combo," and many students and staff have similar/identical names. Please double check that you have the right email address selected when sending emails.
Staff Introductions: Get ready for staff introductions! Program Leaders picked dates at our meeting and here they are:
- Science: October 29
- Business & Foreign Language: November 5
- Math: November 8
- English: December 6
- Student Support & Guidance: January 28
- Special Education: February 25
- Paras: March 10
- History: March 20
- Visual & Performing Arts: April 14
- Wellness/PE: May 12
Hand Sanitizer: If you need more hand sanitizer, don’t throw away your bottle. We will refill it.
Collaboration Time: The AP teachers had a successful collaboration viewing and experimenting with the new College Board portal. If you feel like collaboration time would benefit you and others on a specific topic, please propose it to administration. We will do our best to accommodate!
Field Trip Chaperones: Parents are not allowed to chaperone field trips. Staff members should be covering field trips and nurses should be attending for medical purposes. Parents are not trained educators, do not have the important medical/educational plan information that should only be privy to staff, nor have they completed the mandated trainings that all staff must do. Thank you.
Student Internet Access at Home: Students and families report that internet in Goshen is very unreliable if even present. Please be aware of this when assigning homework and assignments where students need to view videos or access other internet sources. Having an alternative option for students (ie. a script of the video transcript or ability to submit via hard copy) for students who need it would be helpful.
Para Clarification: Inquiry based learning is a new method of instruction in some classes, particularly in math. Students are struggling through challenges or tasks posed to them. Please do not simply give students answers. Look to the teacher for guidance as to best support students with this new instructional model.
Parent Portal Talking Points
Why is the parent portal only open two days a week?
We found that students and families were focusing more on an assignment’s grade and impact on the overall grade rather than the learning of the assignment. Students were distracted in class if they received a notification that grades were updated, and families were questioning teachers before having a conversation with their child. To support the goal of focusing on learning, we are consistently opening the parent and student portal on a weekly basis, but are intentionally limiting access. The time between will allow time for students to reflect on their learning and for conversations between students, teachers, and families.
Why aren’t they open on two separate days? In other words, why are the days back to back?
The portal is open for 48 hours starting on Monday morning and closing on Wednesday morning. By keeping it open for the 48 hours straight, students, families and staff can get in the routine of checking the portal during this extended time and setting goals for the week. This could be something that changes in the future, but we will be collecting data this year to see if this shift is necessary.
There is no data or research to show that limiting the parent portal will decrease anxiety or re-focus on learning.
There is also no data or research that shows that having 24/7 access decreases anxiety and increases a focus on learning. This decision was made by the educational leaders of this school based on observations and consideration of research-based theories.
Teachers never update grades, so now I will have EVEN LESS access to see how my child is doing.
Staff at Hampshire have committed to updating grades regularly, with the understanding that bigger assignments may take a little longer to assess thoroughly. It is a professional expectation that grades are updated in the portal within two weeks. Staff have also been directed to put in 0s for missing assignments so the grade in the portal reflects the student’s current grade given what has turned in.
Why don’t parents just have access and not students so students can focus on learning and adults can stay abreast of students’ grades?
School administration has determined that the focus on student learning should be for students, with their families. Therefore, access is limited to both families and students on the non-access days. Parents are always welcome to contact teachers or counselors via email with questions at any time throughout the week. They can expect a response within two school days.
Staff Shout-Outs
- Shout out to Mike Braidman who opened up his classroom and put it on the pineapple chart this week! Mike did an engaging lesson asking students to connect The Catcher in the Rye to PTSD. Nice job!
Responsibility and Perseverance:
- Shout out to Madison McCarthy. She provides detailed, timely, and helpful updates regarding students/classes. She is doing fabulous work!
Collaboration and Engagement:
- The student artists are pleased to see the mural in the cafeteria thanks to Gary, Sully, and Chris who installed it!
- Thank you to Jesse Porter-Henry, Geoff Casey, Erin Mahon-Moore, Billy Broaddus, and Leslie Giordano for chaperoning the trip to the Boston Climate Strike with 35 students today! (See photos below!)
- Shout out to everyone who has awesome college doors! Admin will be around Monday to score them!
- Shout out to Grayson Dewitt and his advisory for coming up with a competition with their "partner advisory!"
- Thank you Todd Bryant for opening your classroom by posting a lesson on the pineapple chart!
Respect and Compassion:
- The whole life skills team has been amazing during some really tough times these first few weeks of school. They have shown an incredible respect, love, perseverance, and courage, despite some intense challenges. Thank you Christy Parent, Dayna Doolittle, Beth Illingsworth, Alison Labrecque, Reilly Griffin, and Ala Strycharz for all that you do.
Student Shout-Outs!
Congratulations to the following National Merit Scholar Commended Students:
Mitchel Belden
Emma Civello
Jessica Fish
Aine McDonald
Abigail Meunier
Student Shout-Outs:
- Charlie Black (grade 10) always has kindness to share with everyone. Thanks Charlie!
- Shout out to three 9th graders, Penelope Black, Nora Hamel, and Alex Henry, who went out of their way to include a new student in their group in class.
- Kala Garrido has done an impressive amount of work helping to organize the Climate Strike in Boston. She has played an instrumental role in organizing the actual event in Boston as well as taking the lead in arranging for HRHS students to attend.
- Haley Nimmons is such a wonderful teaching assistant in the life skills program. She has taken on a significant role in there and is always patient, kind, and supporting with all students.
Liam Reynolds, Katelyn Bean, and Miranda Ramos-Mendez came to our New Student lunch group and shared their experiences being new to HRHS. They also gave positive advice on how to connect with other students!