Leicester High School
February 13th, 2022
Dates to Remember
February 21-25 - School Vacation Week
March 18 - PD No school
April 7 - Evening with the Arts
April 15 - Good Friday-No school
April 18-22 - Spring Vacation
Announcements
Food Assistance
Food Assistance During School Vacation Week February 20, 2022
Leicester High School Commencement
Class of 2022
Members of the Class of 2022 and Families,
As we approach the end of the 2022 academic year, the class advisors and officers have been hard at work planning many events to celebrate the Class of 2022 and all of their accomplishments.
Graduation is planned for Monday, June 6th at 7:00 pm at Polar Park in Worcester. Please note the date and location change to allow for an outdoor venue. Most importantly, we need for you to order your cap and gowns as soon as possible if you have missed the February 4th deadline. Please use this link to be directed to the cap & gown ordering portal. We would like you to know that the ESSENTIAL PACKAGE is all that is required for graduates to purchase.
Additionally, the Class of 2022 has the opportunity to purchase their LHS Senior merchandise. We have set up an online store with a variety of t-shirt and sweatshirt options. The online portal will remain available until Friday, February 25th. We have put together a direction set to ensure all orders are placed without error! All senior gear will be delivered to and distributed at LHS at the end of March.
The Senior Prom will take place on Friday, May 20th, 2022 from 6:00 - 10:00 pm at the Hogan Center at the College of the Holy Cross. The prom committee has begun planning and we are looking forward to a magical evening.
In order to participate in these celebratory activities, students must be sure that they have completed 25 hours of community service as well as pay class dues totaling $100 (over the 4 years). Please check with one of the class advisors to see student status for both requirements.
The spring is a busy and exciting time for seniors and their families. To help everyone plan ahead we have attached a timeline of Important Dates for Seniors. Please keep in mind, all senior events including dates and times are subject to change. As we know more about each event, more specific information will be included. We encourage all seniors to check their class Google Classroom assignments and their student emails regularly to stay up to date with all announcements.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your class advisors.
Sincerely,
Ms. Rieder and Ms. Southwick
Attention Seniors
Class Dues
Attention Students
Yearbook
Dear Family and Friends of the Class of 2022:
Senior year is a special time for your friends and family. Students are their final classes at LHS, while simultaneously devoting a major portion of time to their future plans. Senior year may be a time of mixed emotions and serious pondering. Yet, it may also be a time of excitement, and for many of our students, senior year is the best year of all!
For the Class of 2022, a major highlight is receiving the Class Yearbook. It contains full-color pictures of members of the graduating class and provides a pictorial review of their years with us. It has been our experience that our graduating seniors treasure their yearbooks.
This year, there is a special section, “Family and Friends”, where parents, grandparents/family members may submit personal messages, demonstrating their pride and love for their students. Each message may contain a picture (baby, toddler, grammar school, etc.) and/or a drawing, along with your special message.
Imagine the surprise when your Senior finds your special message in the yearbook. And years after graduation, your special message will be permanently in print to look at it again and again.
Please feel free to create your own special message. To submit a personal message for your senior, please complete the attached form, and return it, with a check made out to Leicester High Yearbook, no later than February 12th. Please make checks payable to Town of Leicester or use the UNIPAY portal on the LHS WEBSITE.
Full Page - $170
Half Page - $100
Quarter Page - $45
Eighth Page - $25
Please use the QR codes and links below to be taken directly to order forms.
In The Classroom
Social Studies
In 1947, the Massachusetts Legislature enacted a program called Student Government Day. This is an informative program about state government that includes students participating in the role of elected or appointed officials to "observe "the processes of government."
The LHS History Department would like to congratulate this year's Student Government Day representative Lindsey Salek and alternate representative Jane Toohil! On April 1, 2022, the two students will virtually attend the proceedings with students from across the Commonwealth to experience the process of government.
Congratulations Lindsey and Jane!
Chemistry
This week, Mr.Scott Nickles, Director of Mass Insight Education and Research visited LHS to work with Chemistry students.
Students performed two Redox titrations to determine:
1. The mass percent of pure H2O2 in the commercial solution.
2. The mass of Iron present in the over-the-counter Iron Supplement.
This experiment was purposefully done to inculcate AP-level skills. During the experiment, students wrote balanced redox reactions, worked with different glasswares like burette, volumetric flask, pipette and performed many stoichiometric calculations. Students will be performing more titrations in the coming days.
Guidance Department Updates
Post-Secondary Planning for Juniors
Last week, school counselors met with ALL juniors to discuss the post-secondary planning process including all of the steps necessary students should be completing. Counselors discussed how to start researching colleges, community colleges, technical and vocational schools, or careers. They discussed SAT and ACT exams as well as lots of other steps to start working on so that students are best set up for when they begin applying to colleges next year.
Students should be emailing their counselor to set up an appointment to individualize the process for each student. If not, counselors will schedule those meetings in the upcoming months.
Scheduling for SY 2022/2023
During the week of Feb. 14-18, counselors will meet with students to input the courses they would like to take next year.
Based on those course requests, we will begin to build our master schedule and complete student schedules. This will occur throughout the remainder of the year.
Information regarding course descriptions, levels, and pathways can be found on the Leicester High School Program of Studies
MyCAP
The letter linked below contains important information about Individual Career and Academic Plans (MyCAPs). Every 9th through 12th-grade student at Leicester High School will have a MyCAP. Parents and families play an important role in helping children plan for and reach their postsecondary goals. Please click on the link for this information.
Meeting Updates
1/13/21 School Committee
If you were unable to attend or stream the November 9th School Committee Meeting, here are some highlights:
- Leicester High School presented STAR testing data that showed improvement from BOY to MOY assessments.
- The School Committee voted to have MASC assist in the superintendent search.
- The Superintendent reported that repairs to the high school sprinkler system were complete and an inspection of the repairs has been scheduled.
12/15 School Council
- Members discussed ways to mitigate student vaping. Vape signaling devices were discussed, but the Principal reported that these devices have been abandoned by local districts as they did little to curb the problem.
- Wait time for lavatories was raised as a concern. Students report that, due to student misuse of the facilities, wait times have been extended because of staff oversight. Myriad possible solutions were discussed.
- Parent/guardian members reported that they were pleased and thankful for the dedication and hard work of the faculty and staff.
- The Principal reported the beginning of a student-led anti-hate group that would work to develop activities and lessons to inform the student body and work to foster a sense of belonging for all Leicester High School students.
Athletics
Covid - 19
Covid Update Week 1/30/22 - 2/5/22
Covid-19 At Home Testing Program
In accordance with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the Department of Public Health (DPH), our district is updating our COVID-19 Testing Program, effective January 31, 2022. We are opting into an at-home testing program that will increase testing of our participating students and staff, regardless of vaccination status. The at-home testing option will begin the week of January 31, 2022. In addition to this new at-home antigen test option, we will continue with routine COVID safety checks and/or symptomatic testing during the week. As part of this shift in the program, we are discontinuing Test and Stay and contact tracing for in-school close contacts. This means that if you are a potential contact in school, you may continue to come to school and do not have to quarantine. This new at-home testing opportunity is voluntary and only those who opt-in will receive tests. In order to begin receiving tests the week of January 31st, you would have needed to opt-in by January 24th. Additional emails allowing for opting into the program will follow.
Overview: At-Home Rapid Testing Program
- About the Test: iHealth is a 15-minute at-home FDA-approved rapid antigen test
- Opt-In: To participate, you must opt-in by completing the [online form]. By opting in, you will agree to review the training materials for test administration, report positive test results, and administer the tests according to Leicester Public Schools and State guidelines.
- Weekly: Every two weeks you will receive an iHealth at-home rapid test kit. Each kit contains two individual tests. You will administer one test each week on Tuesday.
- Reporting Positive Test Results: If you test positive on an at-home antigen test, you will report the positive result using the [positive result notification link]. The district will keep the results confidential and will not make individual results public. In addition, it is strongly recommended that you inform your healthcare professional of the positive result.
- Easy, Free, and Flexible: This test is administered at home (not at school), reducing the burden on school staff and time to administer tests and increasing your flexibility to do testing in the home for free.
- Students that are absent, or unable to pick up their test on the day of distribution should contact the applicable school main office their next school day. Students should test the evening of the day they receive their test.
Busing
Schools are strongly encouraged to keep bus windows open whenever feasible to increase ventilation on buses. Increasing outside air will affect the temperatures on buses. Families and caregivers, please send students to school with plenty of warm layers in fall and winter, as bus temperatures could fluctuate throughout the day.
Quarantine Meals
If your child is quarantined at home, breakfast and/or lunch are available from the school at no cost to you. If you would like to take advantage of this option, please complete this Google Form the DAY BEFORE you would like a meal.
You must complete the above-linked form one day in advance in order to have breakfast/lunch prepared for your child.
Meals can be picked up between 10:00 and 10:30 at the main office on the date(s) you request.
The meal will consist of the main menu choice for that day - no substitutions. Click here for school menus.
Leicester High School 21-22 Bell Schedule
Mrs. Beth Johnson - Assistant Principal
Email: johnsonb@lpsma.net
Website: http://lhs.leicester.k12.ma.us/
Location: 174 Paxton Street, Leicester, MA, USA
Phone: 508-892-7030
Twitter: @LHSMrsJohnson
Mr. Ted Zawada - Principal
Email: zawadat@lpsma.net
Website: http://lhs.leicester.k12.ma.us/
Location: 174 Paxton Street, Leicester, MA, USA
Phone: 508-892-7030
Twitter: @LHSZAWADA