Principal's Update
School Closure Week of 4/27
Dear Students & Families,
Thank you to the families who completed the district survey about at home learning. It gave us valuable feedback to guide our work for the rest of the year.
I hope we are starting to figure this system out. It is not perfect and most of us would rather be doing school as we used to know it. But we are doing the best we can given the circumstances.
Go Hawks!
Sincerely,
Mr. Schoonover
Campus buildings are closed but food still provided
HHS is providing free pick up lunch and breakfast service from 10:00 am to noon, Monday through Friday, for all children (ages 0-18) until during the COVID closure. Pick up is in the bus turnaround.
Outside of food service, the campus remains closed.
Monday, Apr 27, 2020, 10:00 AM
Our School
Grading
Due to OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) requirements, we have a significant shift in how we are going to assign grades. If you'd like to see their full message, please follow this link https://youtu.be/Op2-wokFU6A
Please see Mr. Marshall's recent email for an overview of our policy.
The basics are:
Students can earn a letter grade of A, B, C, D and/or Incomplete
The student’s overall grade will not drop below where it was on March 13, but if students do not engage in at-home learning, they will receive an “Incomplete.” We do not expect many incompletes as we will work very hard to communicate with and support our students during the next two months. However, students who have an F grade or produce F work will receive an Incomplete and would be expected to demonstrate proficiency on course learning standards to earn a letter grade. In such instances, schools would reach out to students and families to create a student learning plan for grade recovery.
You may see grade fluctuations on Schoology all spring. We use grades to provide feedback on how a student is doing. While that may not be their final transcripted grade, it is how they are currently doing in that course. The learning and feedback on their learning is far more important than the final grade.
You can look on Skyward Family Access to see what the T4 grade is.
SENIORS - This includes you! If a Senior does not engage in learning, they will be given an incomplete and that could impact graduation.
Beyond
It’s Never Too Late to Apply for College, Job Training, or Financial Aid
This year’s high school seniors may be reconsidering their plans for next year. Luckily, it’s never too late to review all the options, make a decision, or choose a new path:
Check out your local community or technical college (link below). Community college students can train to enter into a job directly, complete the first two years of a bachelor's degree and then transfer, or pursue applied bachelor's degrees for specific career fields.
Consider apprenticeships (link below). Looking to step right into a good-paying job? In an apprenticeship, you can earn money while learning a trade.
Apply for financial aid (link below). It's never too late—you can still get money for fall 2020.
For more on these and other college and career planning resources, check out the Class of 2020 Action Plan (link below).
Schedule Reminder
Below is the schedule of when teachers will be assigning and collecting work. One big caveat is that AP students may receive work more frequently than listed in the schedule. AP tests are coming up quickly and they may need to work at a faster pace. For non-AP courses we expect 10-12 hours of school specific work per week. That is obviously less than normal school days. Teachers are identifying key standards and making sure students are ready to move on.
Messaging & Schoology
Also, Schoology may look different based on which devices you are using (iPad verse Chromebook verse desktop computer). It may take a little exploration if you are changing devices.
Senior Athletes
Seniors and Graduation
Most importantly, Seniors, your learning is not over. You must stay engaged in learning and earn a letter grade.
Our current plan is to release or live stream a virtual graduation ceremony on June 11th. This will be done in conjunction with Jostens and be our first chance to celebrate the class of 2020. Time and platform is still TBD. But we have several people working on creating a quality program together. Please be on the lookout for emails asking for photos and plans for your seniors. This is a separate event from the "Where are you going?" event described below.
We also still plan on doing an in person graduation when it is safe to do so. The date for that cannot be set until government officials allow that many people to be together.
To make both of these events happen we have some material we need to get dispersed. On May, 1st in the bus turn around at the HS we will be distributing Graduation Announcements and Senior Yard signs. It is important that we continue social distancing protocols. Therefore, we are going to follow this schedule:
Last names starting with A through H = 12:00 to 1:00pm
Last names starting with J through R = 1:00 to 2:00pm
Last names starting with S through Z = 2:00 to 3:00pm
Caps and Gowns cannot be delivered until later in May. Therefore, we will repeat this process to get caps and gowns out.
We are trying to do as much planning as possible for Graduation so we are ready when we can hold it. Therefore, Seniors, please check your school email to nominate one of your classmates to be the student speaker at Graduation. This should be someone who reflects your class positively and would be comfortable speaking to a large audience.
Seniors - Where are you going?
Seniors - we want to highlight your plans for next year with a "Where are you going?" video! Please send a picture of you to Molly Boldt at molly.boldt@students.hocksd.org, Kelton Duncan at kelton.duncan@students.hocksd.org or Brandi Webb at brandi.webb@students.hocksd.org ASAP!
The picture can highlight your plans in a variety of ways. Here are a few examples:
- Wear apparel from your college, trade/tech school, apprenticeship, military
- Hold a sign stating where you are going/what you are doing
- Dress up as your occupation
Of course, keep it school appropriate. Look for the published video on May 1 via school social media and the "Hockinsonseniors" Instagram.
Hockinson High School
Our Mission:
To empower all students to achieve their goals in high school and beyond.
Email: andrew.schoonover@hocksd.org
Website: https://hhs.hocksd.org/
Location: 16819 Northeast 159th Street, Brush Prairie, WA, USA
Phone: 360-448-6450
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HockinsonHS
Twitter: @HockPrincipal