Bulldog Bulletin

• Message from the Principal
• Important Dates
• Back to School Night
• Meet the Coaches Night
• Rank One Assistance
• BHS Fall Sports Interest Form
• Updated Cell Phone Policy
• Back to School Event at Dick's Sporting Goods
• Third Annual Common App Launch Party
• Wellness Center
• BHS Baseball 5th Annual Golf Outing
• D.E.E.P. at BHS
• Schoology Access for Parents
• Volunteering at BHS

Welcome back Brandywine High School students and families!

The Brandywine High School staff is ecstatic to welcome you back to school for what is going to be our best year ever! We are optimistic about the growth our school community has shown over the past four years and know that this upcoming school year will bring unbridled success. Although the summer allowed for some needed down time, our staff remained focused and busy planning for the upcoming school year. Meeting to discuss how to push our students academically and support their social/emotional growth and well being. Our focus each school year is to ensure our Brandywine students have enriching experiences that prepare each student to be college and/or career ready.

All of our efforts will align with the school’s mission to “prepare students for the future by fostering critical thinking, inspiring a love of learning, and building a connected, respectful community, where every student belongs” so that we can achieve the vision to “empower every student to think critically, embrace new opportunities, and become empathetic, impactful leaders in their communities and beyond.” Our instructional focus will be continuing the work on literacy across all content areas. This approach will help close the gap with our students who demonstrated a need to improve in this area. Additionally, research shows focusing on literacy helps high achieving students grow as well. We will achieve this through an intense focus on vocabulary and instructional strategies to help students become stronger analytical readers. We are motivated by how the prospect of a full scale and collective effort across all content areas can potentially have on our students' learning outcomes.

Brandywine students will be expected to follow our behavioral principles:

Be Successful

Have Respect

Stay Safe

We hope that you will join us in August for several events.

Rank One Assistance and Meet the Coaches Night - Tuesday, August 4

Rank One is the mandatory program ALL student-athletes will need to upload sports physicals and important documentation for their athletic eligibility. We will have staff on site to help parents navigate this new program. Using this program is mandatory for students who will not be able to try out for a sports team unless they have an account and updated sports physical uploaded using the Rank One program. Assistance will be provided from 3:00pm-5:00pm.

We will also host our Meet The Fall Coaches event at 6:00pm. This is a great way to interact with coaches, learn more about practices and schedules, and learn what athletic opportunities are available for all BHS students. All students are welcome and prospective athletes are encouraged to attend.

Welcome Back To School Night – Tuesday, August 25, 4:00pm-7pm

Brandywine High School and our Parent-Teacher Organization are excited to host our annual welcome back event on the evening of Tuesday, August 25 from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. We will have printed copies of student schedules available, access to tour the building, tables with information on sports and clubs, BHS Bulldog apparel for sale, Chromebooks for incoming 9th graders, and food trucks will be on site offering dinner for sale.

Fall Sports - Fall sports begin in August with football practices beginning on August 10 and all other Fall sports starting on August 17. Please go to https://www.bulldogssports.com/, come out to our Meet the Coaches Night, or email your coach for more information.

Football: Isaiah Mays isaiah.mays@bsd.k12.de.us

Cheerleading: Elise Herkimer elise.herkimer@bsd.k12.de.us

Cross Country: Michelle Flanagan michelleluceyflanagan@gmail.com and Caitlyn Vagnoni caitlyn.vagnoni@bsd.k12.de.us

Field Hockey: Tania Milionis tania.milionis@bsd.k12.de.us

Boys Soccer: Eddie Gibbons edmond.gibbons@bsd.k12.de.us

Girls Volleyball: Kristina Forgie kristina.forgie@bsd.k12.de.us

Marching Band: Jessica Sawall jessica.sawall@bsd.k12.de.us

The first day of school for 9th and 12th graders only is on Wednesday, August 26. All students report to school on Thursday, August 27. The first days of school will have a special schedule with a number of activities planned to help all of our students transition back to school. Students will be given their class schedules and go through the class rotation on the first day of school. Students will meet with Dr. Seemans and the administrative team to cover our Student Code of Conduct and establish clear expectations for the school year. Our district’s transportation department will be sending out bussing information over the next couple of weeks.

Your child’s support team is as follows:

Counseling:

Students with Last Names A-K: Mr. Kreig Joseph kreig.joseph@bsd.k12.de.us

Students with Last Names L-Z: Ms. Renee Kershaw renee.kershaw@bsd.k12.de.us

Counseling Department Chair: Ms. Lisa Street lisa.street@bsd.k12.de.us

College and Career Counselor: Ms. Susan Hullman susan.hullman@bsd.k12.de.us

Administrative:

9th Grade: Dr. Eryn Smith eryn.smith@bsd.k12.de.us & Mr. Mike Richardson michael.richardson@bsd.k12.de.us

10th Grade: Mr. John Norton john.norton@bsd.k12.de.us

11th Grade: Mrs. Jahsha Tabron jahsha.tabron@bsd.k12.de.us

12th Grade: Mr. Robert Holt robert.holt@bsd.k12.de.us

I hope that everyone enjoys the last several weeks of summer. We are very excited for what the 2026-2027 school year holds for our Brandywine Bulldogs. BHS truly is the place to be! Should you need anything, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

All The Best,

Dr. Sterling H. Seemans

Principal

sterling.seemans@bsd.k12.de.us

26-27 BSD Calendar

• 7/30: Chat and Connect with Dr. Seemans at BHS 6:30pm
• 8/4: Rank One Assistance 3pm-5pm. Meeting the Coaches Night 6pm
• 8/10: High School Football Practice Begins
• 8/17: Fall Sports Practice Begins
• 8/19: Teachers and Staff Return to the Building
• 8/25: Back to School Night 4pm-7pm
• 8/26: First Day of School for 9th and 12th Graders ONLY
• 8/27: All Students Report to School
• 9/4: Schools Closed. Offices Open
• 9/7: Schools and Offices Closed (Labor Day)
• 9/15: Schools Closed. Offices Open (PD Day for Staff and State Primary Election)
• 9/21: Schools Closed/ Offices Open (Yom Kippur)
• 9/24: Marking Period 1 Interim Ends
• 10/23: Schools Closed. Offices Open (Parent/Teacher Conferences)
• 10/30: Marking Period 1 Ends

🎉 Brandywine High School Welcome Back Event 2026 🎉

Join us as we kick off another exciting school year at Brandywine High School!

Whether you're a returning Bulldog or joining us for the first time, this event is the perfect opportunity for students and families to get connected, get informed, and get ready for an amazing year ahead.

📅 Tuesday, August 25, 2026

⏰ 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM

📍 Brandywine High School

During the event, you can:

✅ Pick up student schedules

✅ Meet coaches, club advisors, and student organizations

✅ Explore athletic and extracurricular opportunities

✅ Tour the building and locate classrooms

✅ Attend parent information presentations

✅ Meet Brandywine staff members

✅ Connect with the Brandywine High School PTO

✅ Enjoy a variety of local food trucks

✅ And much more!

This event is designed to help students and families feel confident, connected, and prepared for the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

We can't wait to welcome our Bulldog community back to #ThePlaceToBe!

Hosted by the Brandywine High School PTO 💙🐾

Any student interested in trying out or participating in a Fall sport is encouraged to complete the following form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScmkgNV76h2EffJKITAhSN9nnDLe3uwM3AQ7vB9Zop08z2GtA/viewform

If you have any questions, please reach out to our Athletic Director Mr. Darren Schulke at Darren.Schulke@bsd.k12.de.us

Fall schedules will be available for viewing on Friday, August 21 on our Infinite Campus platform. Printed versions will be available at our Back to School Night event on August 25. More information will come out about how to request possible changes with our counseling department over the next two weeks.

Brandywine High School's Updated Cell Phone Policy

As we prepare for the 2026-2027 school year, Brandywine High School is implementing our updated cell phone expectations to create an environment where students can stay engaged, minimize distractions, and maximize learning.

Our goal isn't to punish students—it's to help them succeed by ensuring classrooms remain focused on instruction while still allowing students to access their phones during appropriate times.

📱 Students may access their phones:

✅ Before & After School

✅ During Class Transitions

✅ During Lunch

🚫 During Instructional Time:

• Phones must be turned off or silenced.

• Phones may be stored in a teacher-designated location.

• Phones may not be accessed during class unless directed by staff.

Progressive Consequences:

📌 1st Offense: Phone taken for the day & parent/guardian contacted.

📌 2nd Offense: Phone taken for the day & parent conference.

📌 3rd Offense: Student will receive a cell phone pouch and be required to secure their phone each morning for a minimum of one marking period.

Thank you to our students and families for partnering with us as we work to create classrooms where everyone can learn, participate, and thrive.

Focused on Learning. Respectful of Instruction. Ready for Success.

It’s Back!

Third Annual BHS Common App Launch Party!

Who: Any student in class of 2027 planning to apply to college for after graduation

What: Should Attend BHS as we officially roll out the opening of the common application. All students in attendance should bring their own device.

When: Monday August 3rd, 2026 from 10am-2pm

Where: BHS C3

Why: because why wait to complete your application when you can get it done before school begins!

• Students should sign up in SCOIR so I can have transcripts and GPA’s prepared for those planning to attend. RSVPing is NOT required, although helpful for me to have things waiting
• Food and drinks will be available

Our baseball team will be hosting their 5th annual golf tournament at Deerfield Golf Club on Monday, September 21. Players can sign up as an individual or foursome. The team is also looking for hole sponsors. All proceeds go directly to the Brandywine High School baseball team. Please email Coach Julian (Michael.Julian@bsd.k12.de.us) with a any questions.

Brandywine high is the home of D.E.E.P. @ BHS. The dance elective education program can only be found at Brandywine high. It allows our students the opportunity to study and train in dance for credit. Current courses include: Exploration of Dance for the student who is unsure of which genre of dance to study. Exploration of dance takes a semester long look at ballet, modern, jazz and hip hop.

Ballet/Modern/Lyrical I, II, III & IV progresses through all three styles. Each level challenges the student to take a deeper look into his or her own artistic perspective as they are given additional projects and assignments to foster artistic growth.

Jazz/HipHop/Tap/Funk I, II, III, IV is grounded in these American born dance artforms. Each level challenges the returning student to discover his or her own artistic perspective as they too complete additional assignments to foster artistic growth.

The benefits of participating in performing arts are numerous and quite robust. Creativity, collaboration and communication skills are developed. Confidence is built. Additionally, dance students can anticipate gains in coordination, flexibility, strength and stamina.

While it is important to be mindful of meeting all of your requirements for graduation, D.E.E.P. @ BHS fulfills your elective credits and more. Check and see if you can fit a dance course into your schedule today.

📘 Getting Started with Schoology (for Parents)

These guides explain how to log in, view assignments, and track upcoming work:

• Schoology Parent Guide (PDF)
Step-by-step instructions for setting up a parent account and viewing assignments
https://uc.powerschool-docs.com/en/schoology/latest/parents

• How Parents Can Use Schoology (Video)
A short overview showing what parents can see and how to navigate the platform
https://www.powerschool.com/video/how-parents-can-use-schoology/

📬 Staying Informed & Organized

These tools help parents stay aware of assignments and deadlines:

• Schoology Parent Communication Tools
Learn how to turn on email notifications and weekly summaries for assignments and due dates
https://www.fcps.edu/schoology/parents/communication-tools

🗣️ Supports for Students with Communication or Processing Challenges

These resources highlight tools that can make written directions easier to understand:

• Text-to-Speech & Immersive Reader Tools (Video)
Shows how students can have instructions read aloud, which can help with comprehension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB1CVfUftSc

• Schoology Accessibility Features
Information about accessibility options teachers may use to make content clearer and more student-friendly
https://uc.powerschool-docs.com/en/schoology/latest/accessibility-checker

🧠 Supporting Executive Functioning at Home

These strategies can be used alongside Schoology to help students stay organized and reduce frustration:

• Visual schedules or checklists for daily schoolwork
• Breaking assignments into smaller steps
• Using timers or reminders to support task initiation and completion

Families may also find these assistive technology resources helpful:
https://www.fcps.edu/academics/curriculum/special-education/services-and-programs/assistive-technology-services

Brandywine High School relies on the generosity of time from our great families within the community. We welcome those who want to help be apart of our village and have a plethora of opportunities for volunteers to engage with our students and staff to better the middle school experience of our youth.

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