Homer High-Lights
Volume 3, Issue 5, December 2014
Message from the Principal
It is already December! This means the Basketball and Cross-Country Ski season are getting into the swing of things. Hockey, Wrestling and DDF are still competing. It also means that the Nutcracker, Winter Concert and first semester final exams are just around the corner.
There is a lot going on that can distract your child from keeping good grades. As a parent or guardian, make sure your child stays focused for the final 3 weeks of the semester. We only award credit based on semester grades, so make sure they finish strong.
To help you with this we have made a couple of changes. Every 3 weeks we will send out robo calls to all parents of students who have a failing grade. This doesn't give you all the details, but it does give you a heads up that you should check on your child's grades. During the 5th week of each quarter, teachers will be calling the parents of all their students with a failing grade. They will be able to give you more details on what your child needs to do to raise their grade. These are small changes but we hope they can provide some positive results.
Remember, my office is always open and I appreciate hearing your opinions or suggestions. My goal is to be responsive to what our parents and community want and need. Please give me a call or come in and chat.
Sincerely,
Douglas Waclawski
Principal
Dates To Remember
Dec 1 - First Basketball practice
Dec 2 - Site Council Meeting - 3:45 pm in our Library
Dec 5 - Cross-Country Ski Invite - 1:00 pm at Olsen Mountain
Dec 6 - Cross-Country Ski Invite - 10:00 am at Olsen Mountain
Dec 9 - Hockey vs Kenai - 7:30 pm
Dec 15 - Winter Concert - 7:00 pm in our Theater
Dec 17 - Finals (Periods 2, 4, & 6)
Dec 18 - Finals (Periods 1, 3 & 5)
Dec 19 - NO SCHOOL
Dec 19 - Teacher Work Day
Dec 30 - Basketball vs Kenai - 3:00, 4:30, 6:00 & 7:30 pm in HHS Gym
Jan 6 - Site Council Meeting - 3:45 in our Library
Christmas Vacation Dec 19 - Jan 4
Homer High School is on Facebook
We want to be able to give you instant up-to-date information about what is going on at school. This can include emergencies, sports scores and dates and times of events. To stay tuned to what is going on at Homer High, "like" us on Facebook. The address is www.facebook.com/homerhs.
Hockey is in Full Swing!
Homer Volleyball Wins Regions!
Lady Mariners at State!
Counselor Corner
New Courses
Here’s a course description of each of the two new classes that are being offered 2nd semester:
- Drafting (CAD) – This blended course (delivered video conference but with local HHS support) teaches students the basics of residential architecture using Auto CAD, the industry standard software.
- World Issues and Relations – This student-led, project-based course will focus on historical and contemporary social issues and satisfies a semester of social studies for the Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS).
APS
Parents and students need to be sure to check the list of acceptable classes for the APS. Not all of the classes offered at HHS will count for the scholarship (for instance, Personal Finance doesn't count as a math credit for the APS). All the acceptable courses are listed on the APS checklist form on PowerSchool. If you or your student have any questions about a course's acceptability, check with the counseling office. Additionally, any student taking a college class in the hope that it will count for APS credit needs to check this list:
the APS website is a good recourse: http://acpe.alaska.gov/
There are a lot of rules and conditions associated with the APS. It’s important to be in compliance in order to qualify. Remember it is a scholarship—you have to earn it.
FAFSA
This year, HHS will be joining with the college to present the latest FAFSA information. This is important information for all parents of students applying to college as well as those already attending. FAFSA is the clearinghouse for all federal aid to colleges so anyone applying for any kind of financial help must submit a FAFSA. Applications cannot be submitted before January 1, 2015 and most families need to wait for tax information at the end of January. We will be publishing more information and prospective dates for the FAFSA event in the near future.
Second Semester Schedules
Most students will have a second semester that is similar to the one they had first semester. It is important to remember that there will only be a one week window for changing schedules. Students who want to request changes should come to the Counseling Office ASAP to ensure those changes are considered. After that time, only teacher generated changes will be considered.
New School Calendar of Events
Jane Rohr has Been Nominated for a Spirit of Youth Award.
School Goals
Each year Homer High School creates a school improvement plan and develops school goals. We want parents and the public to know what we are working on. To do this I will report on one of our goals and give you more details about what we are doing and why.
The goal I will be discussing this month is increasing students who participate in FOL by 10%. Here are just a few of the action items we are implementing to meet this goal.
- Identify an FOL Coordinator to help manage this program
- Develop a Freshman Academy
- Create content-specific classes for struggling students
- Develop a master schedule for FOL offerings, theme days, etc.
- Create an FOL intervention for both reluctant learners and struggling students
This is not an exhaustive list, but meant to give you an idea of what we are trying to do to help improve our school. Through the first quarter we were able to improve attendance and participation rate in FOL by over 15%. With a better system for signing up, an FOL director and a system to sign up struggling learners I am sure we will continue to meet this goal for the entire year.
Below are the other 2 school goals:
- Increase freshmen who pass all of their classes by 12%.
- 60% of all Homer High School seniors will qualify for the Alaska Performance Scholarship
Thank You Lynden for New Upper Field Scoreboard!
Homer Volleyball Wins Regions and Places 5th at State!
Several Homer athletes earned individual honers. McKinzie Needham earned 2nd Team All-Conference while Jane Rohr and Larson Fellows earned 1st Team All-Conference Honors.
Congratulations on a great season!
MOM Award Winners
• Samantha Draves nominated by Mrs. Spence
• Libby Fabich nominated by Ms. Temple
• Sierra Deloach nominated by Ms. Webb
• Logan Carter nominated by Mr. Todd
• Woape Huffman nominated by Mrs. Stockburger
• Brittney Harshfield nominated by Mr. Pitzman
• Iustina Kuznetsov (not pictured) nominated by Ms. Childers
Homer High School
Website: http://homerhighschool.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/wpmu/
Location: 600 E Fairview Ave, Homer, AK
Phone: 907-235-4600
Facebook: www.facebook.com/homerhs