KNIGHT NOTES
MARCH 12, 2018
HAPPY MONDAY!
Well, time has sprung forward, but the weather certainly has not. Sunday definitely looked like winter. With that being stated, I am sure you are just as ready as I am for warmer weather, but are less than fired up about losing an hour of sleep. Nonetheless, we will move forward, powered by the great things that of been happening at FHN (There have been tons!) and the promise of a relaxing spring break.
Staff, as we enter spring and progress into 4th quarter,
please continue to:
- fill your class time (instruction, activities, discussions, class meetings, etc), for this keeps students engaged.
- build relationships with students.
- be visible in the hallway in the morning, during passing periods, and after school.
- talk to students about behavioral expectations.
Let us remember that spring is often a time when students can get a little stir crazy. However, if we continue to do the things that we are currently doing, it will help to minimize any behavioral issues.
I appreciate all you do. Have an awesome week!
Thanks,
Andy
CELEBRATIONS
- Caitlind Walker and Riley Lawson qualified for the national speech and debate competition. Congratulations. That is an amazing accomplishment.
- FHSD is proud to announce that FHHS, FHC, and FHN have all been named Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Distinguished Schools. Way to go!!!
- Congratulations to Lori Moore and her family on the birth of Maci Rylie Moore! She arrived on February 6th, at 7:52 pm, weighing 7 lbs 2 oz.
- Congratulations to all 83 Sophmores and Juniors who were inducted into the National Honors Society. Great job, Knights!
PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES
Good afternoon!
On March 14th, we will have our second Spring Parent Teacher Conferences from 4:00 to 7:30 p.m. All teachers will be in the gym. Counselors will be in the guidance office. Thank you to Donna Malkmus and Angie Mason for having some of their NHS students volunteer during the evening to assist parents. This is a time for you to meet parents and share valuable information regarding their student’s work in your classes.
This e-mail is quite lengthy, but I needed to share some important information regarding conferences. Below is a list of topics which I will further explain.
1. Times for Conferences and Food
2. Attendance Procedures for Staff
3. Increasing Parent Attendance
4. Sign in information and Attendance for Parents
5. Teacher Packet
6. Guidance
1. TIMES FOR CONFERENCES AND FOOD:
· The PTO will be providing sandwiches, chips and desserts for all staff before conferences beginning at 2:30 in the commons.
· Teachers need to be in the gym by 3:45
· Conferences will be held from 4:00 – 7:30 P.M.
2. ATTENDANCE PROCEDURES FOR STAFF:
We look forward to everyone being at Parent/Teacher Conferences, but if you are unable to attend you will need to notify your supervising principal in writing. It will be necessary for you to make arrangements to place a sign in your conference area informing parents of the time(s) you will not be available and requesting parents to leave information regarding how you can contact them. Parents have informed us that notifying your students ahead of time of what night you cannot be present is helpful.
3. INCREASING PARENT ATTENDANCE:
As we did first semester, we would like to continue our efforts to increase our attendance at conferences. If you could please take a few minutes, we would like each teacher to extend an e-mail invitation to at least 5 parents to remind them of Parent/Teacher Conferences.
An example of this type of e-mail is listed below. Please feel free to use this e-mail or develop your own.
Example:
Hello, my name is Steve Moorman, and I am Cara McHaffie’s Communication Arts Teacher. Next week on Wednesday, March 14, we will be holding our second Spring Parent/Teacher Conferences in the large gym from 4:00-7:30 p.m. This is a great opportunity to meet your student’s teachers and learn valuable information about their education. I look forward to meeting you next week!
Sincerely,
Steve Moorman
4. SIGN-IN INFORMATION AND ATTENDANCE FOR PARENTS:
We will be using parent sign in sheets at conferences. This information will be placed in your mailbox by Friday, March 9. There will be extra copies in the large gym if you should need them.
Yellow Form: Please have parents sign-in on Wednesday evening with this form
Blue Form: This sheet will need to be filled out and returned to Cara McHaffie or Mr. Moorman to assess how many parents we had in attendance. Please, ONLY TURN IN THE BLUE SHEET.
5. TEACHER PACKET:
Your Parent/Teacher Conference Teacher Packet will be placed in your mailbox by Friday, March 9th. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me or stop by the main office.
The following items will be Included in your packet:
· Yellow Form – sign-in sheet
· Blue Form—total attendance
· Gym set up – location of all teacher stations
6. Guidance
FHN will have college financial aid experts in the Counseling Office from 5-7pm during Parent Teacher Conferences on March 14 to help families of senior students understand their financial aid award letters from colleges and to discuss some general options for financing the remaining financial gap leftover. Staff can encourage parents to drop in anytime between 5:00-7:00pm to get questions answered or for advice, parents can also bring award letters with you if you need help deciphering them
WALKOUT MEETING
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
Approval of #PropLearn will provide FHSD with the resources to offer new programming and innovative courses. FHSD would be able to offer more technical, online, and school-to-career pathway courses. These new offerings will help our students be more college and career ready.
CLIMATE
Students for FHN met on Thursday of last week. They have many projects in the works and are pretty excited. They are especially excited about the Lunch and Learn that was mentioned at the faculty meeting last week. Please plan on attending on April 5th so they have a big crowd to present to.
When you get a chance, check out the #WhatsYour17 bulletin board in the hall between the Main Lobby and LC. The “17” is in honor of the 17 students recently lost in Florida. This week, help the MAC Scholars spread kindness by giving out 17 compliments. There will be a new “17 challenge” in the coming weeks, so keep checking the board and encourage your students to participate. If you are on twitter, you can search the hash tag to see what other schools are doing around the country.
ATTENDANCE
FHN currently has 83.7% of students attending 90% of the time. This past week (3/8) the Attendance Committee met and here are the notes from that meeting:
Discussion Items:
- Illness has really affected attendance this year. Can teachers get something to disinfect their own desks, chairs, etc.? Could the Attendance Committee purchase some stuff to give to teachers?
- Update on Site Visit #2 Feedback
- Update on Tool Kit for Attendance Allies.
- Can we get T-shirts for Attendance Allies?
Action Items:
- We need more reward ideas/events for attendance. This could boost climate as well. We need the giveaways to be more visible to get more students excited about it. Should encourage teachers to do attendance giveaways in their own classrooms. Talk to DCs about rewards in their own Depts for attendance.
- Attendance Ally check-ins need to be more systematic and at specific increments.
- Attendance Comm members speak at Back-to-School meetings to recruit Allies.
BEHAVIOR
The Behavior Team met last Tuesday after school. We reviewed the latest behavior data and discussed the possibility of an expectation matrix for FHN.
TECHNOLOGY
HOMEROOM
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdRzHlAwY3r5AS9IVWHeu74FUQB-Uw2f-5L-mJt1gY7XlKD-g/viewform
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.