This past week, my daughter, who is in Kindergarten, had a play date with her best friend, who is moving to Florida with her family next week. As you might imagine, when it was time for her friend to leave, it was hard for my daughter to say good bye. I did my best to console her and let her know that she and her friend can still talk on Zoom and maybe even see each other once in awhile since her friend will still have family in our area. While this offered some reassurance, my daughter knew that it still wouldn't be the same, and she was going to miss her friend. This was her first time saying good bye to someone she cared about, and it was really difficult for her to handle. Now as an adult, I know that she will make many more friends in her life, and she will be able to move forward. However, this moment made me think about all the good byes I've had to say in my life, and I realized that, no matter how many times you experience it, saying good bye can be really tough.

For me, one of those times is high school graduation, and I have always described the end of the school year as bittersweet. Obviously everyone is excited about the upcoming summer break, but it also leaves me with a feeling of sadness as we will have to say good bye to a truly special group of young people. We are certainly proud of their many accomplishments and are excited to see all the amazing things they will do with their lives, but we are definitely a little sad that this will be the last time we get to have this group of incredible young people as our students. My only hope is they feel that we have prepared them well for the next phase in their lives. Congratulations to the Class of 2023! You truly are amazing! I would also like to wish all our students well next week as they take their final exams, and we look forward to the many more opportunities we have to make memories with our returning students. We'll see you in the fall!

The following changes have been made to the 2023-2024 Academic Calendar to help us better accommodate mandatory testing requirements:

• The Teacher Workday on Monday, October 9 has been moved to Friday, October 13
• The Teacher Workday on Friday, March 15 has been moved to Monday, March 11
• A High School Exam day has been added. High School exams will now begin on Thursday, May 23. Friday, May 31 is now an EOC Make-up day.

Once the College Board has announced the AP Exam Schedule for next year, we will update the 2023-2024 Academic Calendar on the school website.

Final Exam Schedule

5/22 - 1st & 2nd

5/23 - 3rd & 4th

5/24 - 5th & 6th

Exam 1 - 8:25 -9:55

Break - 9:55-10:10

Exam 2 - 10:15-11:45

End-Of-Course Exams - 8:25-11:45

5/25 - Biology & English II

5/26 - Math 1 & Math 3

This information can also be found in the Handbook linked here.

All students will be expected to take both semester exams and final exams with the

following exceptions: (1) Seniors may be exempt from seated, non-EOC final exams if

they have a 90% on a 10-point scale and no more than 6 absences. Seniors may not be

exempted from final projects given in lieu of a final exam. (2) Any student in an AP class

who takes the AP exam. Students must stay for the entire exam period, and early

check-outs are not permitted during exams.

For our final newsletter of the 2022-2023 school year, we are highlighting two students who exemplify our core values of Integrity, Responsibility, and Service.

First, we are recognizing Morgan Jo Deaton. One of Morgan Jo's teachers wrote:

"Morgan is an extremely high level student that represents the core values of Gray Stone Day in all of her endeavors."

Next, we have Brayden Vanhoy. One of Brayden's teachers wrote:

"Recently, Brayden spent time after school working on a project in my room. Brayden was very respectful, and he even came back several days later to sweep my room."

Great job, Morgan Jo and Brayden!

The Senior Banquet is a tradition at Gray Stone that honors our seniors for their hard work and dedication over the past four years. This event is for seniors and their parents only; no other outside guests are permitted due to size limitations. The cost to attend is $25 per guest, and there is no charge for seniors. To register and make payment, please click here.

Parents,

As we start planning for the upcoming school year we need to know your plans. Our assumption is that every student is returning next year unless we hear otherwise.

If you know that your child will not be returning to Gray Stone in the fall, please help us by filling out this form, (your last day enrolled will be 05/26/23). By doing so you are helping us get your child’s records to the right place and opening space for those waiting patiently in our application pool.

Thanks for your help and patience as we seek to finalize scheduling and registration for the 2023-24 school year.

If you have questions about next year's daily schedule, please click here. This link has been updated, and you should be able to submit.