IHS Update

It's hard to believe that school starts in just over a week. Where did the summer go?

ACTION ITEMS: If you're strapped for time, I put a couple of important action items here at the beginning of the newsletter. Please read and sign off on the student-parent handbook using this google form.

After stakeholder surveys, feedback from staff, and several wordsmithing meetings with our School Council last school year, we have a new mission statement. It is copied below. Our next steps will be to add more specifics to a new "Vision of the Graduate" that will take into account of district's seven Successful Habits of Mind as we prioritize which skills, knowledge, and dispositions we want all of our graduates to acquire in order to be successful in our rapidly changing world.

Our mission is to empower all students to become confident individuals equipped with a passion for learning, practical life skills, and the ability to apply their knowledge with purpose.

We are committed to cultivating a community built on empathy, respect, and responsibility, where each student is encouraged to grow as an agent of positive change.

The high school has a policy in place that is designed to deter students from drinking alcohol and using drugs. Based on the MIAA "Chemical Health Rule," any student who is charged with possession or being under the influence of drugs or alcohol will be subject to consequences delineated beginning on page 9 of the Student-Parent Handbook. In a nutshell, if the police charge a student with possession or being under the influence, that students will serve a lengthy suspension from sports or other extracurricular activity. Coaches will remind our student-athletes of this policy in their first team meetings.

Our fall sports season got underway today with two sports: football (they are required by the MIAA to have a certain number of practices before playing a game) and golf (early sunsets alter in the season). Everyone else starts Monday except cheerleading which begins on Wednesday. You can find game schedules and results on the Arbiter Sports website here. The football team opens their season against Chelsea right here at Jack Welch Stadium on September 5th at 6 PM.

After the elimination of the MCAS as a graduation requirement, the MA Dept. of Education has revised the statewide policy on what minimum requirements are necessary for students to meet in order to earn a high school diploma. Instead of passing the MCAS, students will now need to pass courses in English 10, Geometry, Biology, and US History (starting next year) as well as either passing the final exam for each of those courses or completing a final capstone project for those classes. The "competency determination" appears to be an evolving target, but we will stay on top of the requirement for our students.

As a reminder, starting on day 1, students will not be permitted to have their cell phones on their person during the school day. If you elect to keep your student's phone home rather than send him or her to school with it, please complete this google form so that we have your response on file. Student's phones will be locked in storage in their first block classes for the duration of the school day. Students will return to their first block class before dismissal time to retrieve their phones. While we will do our best to prevent theft and breakage, the school is not responsible for student phones.

Regular and punctual attendance at school are critical factors in a student's success. To encourage positive work habits, we enforce an attendance policy that limits the number of class meetings students can miss before earning a failing grade. Any student who misses more than 4 classes during any quarter (in our schedule, classes meet only 26-28 times per quarter), will receive a failing grade (59%) for that course. This number reflects a change in policy- formerly, a student who missed more than three classes would fail for the quarter. A failing grade due to absences will revert to the original grade if the student attends 90% or more class meetings for that same class the next quarter. Please help us out by scheduling family vacations during the ample off time that already exists in the school calendar. Lastly, students who accumulate more than 5 tardies to school in a quarter will be assigned 30 minute detention after school for each subsequent tardy and may become ineligible for participation in extracurricular activities, including sports.

All students will be issued a Chromebook upon their return to school. A device usage agreement similar to this one will be included with each device to ensure that everyone is aware of the student’s responsibility to take care of his or her Chromebook. Many districts make students pay for insurance or even for the device itself, so we are fortunate to be able to offer the devices at no cost. We can continue to do that only if everyone does his or her part to properly care for and keep track of their device. As a corollary to our new cell phone ban, students are no longer allowed to bring their own laptops. Students are expected to have their school-issued Chromebook charged up and accessible during school. Because we have only a limited supply of loaner devices that we share with the middle school, chronic borrowers may have to serve a detention to encourage them to bring their Chromebooks to school.

• Curriculum Night is Thursday, September 11th from 6:30 to 8:00. Come in to hear more about what your student will be learning this year.

• Picture day is scheduled for Friday, September 12th. Geskus will be here taking photos of every student. The pictures will be used for Aspen/school IDs and will appear in the yearbook for grades 9-11 and any senior who does not submit their own portraits (more info on that in September). Packages will be available for purchase as well. A retake date will be scheduled for a later date.

• The '24-'25 academic calendar is posted on the district's website. Please refer to it when planning medical appointments, vacations, non-school sporting events, and end-of-school year activities. Plan for a few snow days- it presents a challenge when students' summer vacations happen during final exams. If we have 5 snow days, the last day of school would be June 23rd.
• Bookmark this district calendar of events for the school year to refer to it later. Last year we had a google doc with a list of dates, but rather than maintaining multiple documents, we will be keeping everything on the district calendar.
• Not really a date, but click here to see our bell schedule. Basically, every class meets three times a week.
• I realize it is a long time from now, but graduation is scheduled for June 7th at 10 AM: the first Sunday in June as has been the tradition. It's late this year.

• We look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday, August 27th. The first bell rings at 7:45!

I look forward to another great school year! I hope to see you soon.

-Jonathan Mitchell