HRHS Faculty Newsletter
September 9-13
This Week's Calendar
Day 5
Wear Your College Shirt with Jeans!
Tuesday 9/10:
Day 4
2:30-3:30: Faculty Meeting (Open House)
3:45: Girls and Boys Cross Country Meet @ HRHS
4pm: Girls JV Soccer Game @ HRHS
6pm: Girls Varsity Soccer Game @ HRHS
Wednesday 9/11:
Day 3
Thursday 9/12:
Day 2
Friday 9/13:
Day 1
3pm: Golf @ Beaver Brook
7pm: Football Game @ White Brook
Saturday 9/14:
10am: Girls Soccer Game @ HRHS
For Your Information and Action
Para PowerSchool Training: Paras should plan to stay for a meeting with Tara Winters after school on Tuesday to be trained in Power School.
School Supplies & Backpack Donation: If you know of any students who need school supplies and/or a backpack, please see an administrator. We received a donation from the State Police with backpacks full of great supplies for students.
College Shirts: On Monday, wear your college shirt with jeans!
College Signs for Doors: Let Sue Bresnahan know if you need a new sign for your door.
Room Numbers:
- Please update the room number on the "window blocker" on your classroom door.
- If your room number is incorrect on either the window sign or on the door frame, please let Gary know.
Turn It In: Please make sure assignments are due by 10pm on Turnitin.com.
Mandated Trainings: Please sign off on mandated trainings at Alesia's desk.
Email Lists: In trying to write out instructions to make an email list on a spreadsheet, we realize that you don’t have full access to everything you need. Because of that, Jen will make your email lists for you in a spreadsheet, but you must bring her a treat for being so kind. (She would not be happy if she knew we were writing this. But seriously. She deserves the treat.)
Van Transportation: Our budget included a new van driver and a new van this year. We picked up some additional routes internally, saving us money because we do not need to contract with van pool for some of the routes. However, new vans are backordered until January because of some requirements from the DMV. So we need to use the activities van to complete these routes until we get the new van, probably in January. Therefore, the activities van will not be available for field trips or other transport until our new van arrives. Sorry.
September 27 Half Day: The September 27 half day PD will be in departments. Paras will be with Cyndy doing CPR training.
Staff Sign In/Out: After receiving feedback from our fire chief, all staff need to sign in and sign out when they are coming in late, leaving early, or leaving and coming back. Part time and/or shared service providers also need to do the same.
Extra-Curricular Advising: If you are interested in being an advisor for a club this year, please be sure to complete the Extra-Curricular Advisor Application.
Open House: Click here for the open house schedule. 90% of our faculty meeting will be dedicated to giving you time to work on your activity fair table. (The first 10% will be talking about the new fire drill chart).
STETHO-SCOOP! Healthy tips from your favorite school nurses: You have made it through the first week of school! Some of you are noticing that the drastic change in schedule is affecting your energy level, especially after lunch. You may have an after-school meeting, are coaching a sport, or are transporting your own children to and from activities and feel that late afternoon slump… sound familiar? Check out the article from Sleep.org for some quick tips and snack ideas to keep you focused and healthy in the afternoons to come! https://www.sleep.org/articles/snacks-that-keep-you-awake/
Welcome Back! Natalie Levreault will be re-joining our staff for the remainder of this school year to fill the health teacher position. The position will be posted again at the end of the year.
College Representative Visits for Juniors and Seniors: Throughout the fall, we will have approximately 50 college admissions representatives visit our school. These visits are a valuable way for our juniors and seniors to learn about the college search/application process and the variety of offerings at colleges. They also provide students with the opportunity to make a personal connection to admissions offices which in turn gives them a better shot for acceptance.
Juniors and seniors must sign up for the visits ahead of time and they must have permission from teachers to miss a class for a visit. Students are responsible for any work they miss. In most situations, students will not miss the entire class period.
During homeroom, students will receive passes for the visits. Students must get the pass signed before coming to the guidance office for a visit. If the student cannot miss your class due to a test or other activity, they should let Ms. Jablonski know and she can have the representative leave extra materials for the student.
Senior Newsletter: Click here for the senior newsletter.
Senior Workshops: Amy Scully will begin meeting with groups of students to prepare them for the college application process. The workshops start next week.
Four-Year College Workshops: All students who plan to apply to a four-year college will be signed up for one of four workshops. Students will be scheduled into workshops during their study hall whenever possible. Here are the days/time of the workshops:
Tuesday 9/10 - Periods 5 and 7
Wed 9/11 - Periods 6 and 1
Common Application Workshops: These workshops are voluntary and students will be required to sign up for a workshop if they want to attend. Friday Sept. 20th - periods 6 and 7
Grade Book & Parent Portal
Considerations for grade book now that the portal is limited:
Not a directive, but a very strong suggestion: Move high impact assignments (essays, projects) to be due at the beginning of the quarter instead of the very end. That way, if a student doesn’t do well, they have the opportunity to recover through other work instead of seeing a steady grade all quarter long and have it drastically change when that final big impact grade goes in.
If you already do a homework calendar, please continue to do so. If you don’t, think about if there is a way to share this information with families in an easy way.
Consider doing a blast email to families a couple times a quarter if there is a big project coming up or assigned or past due. Include questions families can ask their child about their learning, but also just to put the assignments on their radar.
If families email with questions or concerns, it may be good to copy their grades from the portal to include in the body of the email as a record.
I know that some people do not put in a “zero” right away to give students an opportunity to turn assignments in late, but this often results in a sudden and drastic drop in their overall grade at the end of the quarter. If you allow students to turn in their work late, put the “zero” in your gradebook until they turn it in so that the drop in their grade doesn’t seem so surprising.