Weekly News and Notes

So, there is much happening in the next few weeks as we prepare for the final stretch to graduation and exams. We will attempt to keep everything straight - and please be patient with some of the requests, as we attempt to prioritize with what needs to get done in time. After all, there are only so many hours in a day - and we are all in the final push of keeping seniors on track to graduation, underclassmen focused on the curriculum, preparing for AP, MCAS, and other big exams, not to mention the different after-school events and other initiatives pulling at us all!

Starting with...

The Evaluation Process

Many of our teachers who are professional status have been attending mini-workshops on the formative conferences, which will be taking place in the second half of May. As you gather data to support the standards and indicators, there will be many pieces of data that will support multiple standards - and that you will find from various places, from lesson plans and student work samples, to walk-throughs and class observations, to the workshops people attend and Atlas work being completed.

We are in this together! Please be thoughtful and thorough, but know that we are all going to work through the nuances of the evaluation, new as it may be, with one another. If you have questions in advance of the portfolio gathering process, or are wondering if a piece of evidence supports a desired standard, just ask!


Handbook Committee

Our Student Handbook revisions will be due to the Superintendent's office by May 30. Thus, we are proposing the following days for Handbook Committee to meet:

Thursday, May 9
Tuesday, May 14
Thursday, May 16 (if necessary)
Thursday, May 23 (if necessary)

There are some topics that will need to be included, as the Handbook is silent or inconsistent on them, and an agenda of which will be posted a couple of days prior. We ask only that you commit to all meetings for consistency's sake. If you are interested in committing, please let me know by next Friday, May 3.

Hiring Committees

This time of year also gets busy in terms of hiring committees; we know of at least a couple of positions that will soon be posted. The first two positions we will need assistance with will be the Humanities and STEM leader positions. Ideally, we would like a teacher from each department represented for each position, at a minimum, and we have already started identifying some students to serve on the committees.

In all likelihood, these interviews will take place the week of May 13 and 20, which I know coincides with senior exams, MCAS, and AP tests, but in the interest of time is appropriate. Also, we would like these people involved in the hiring of any new staff come late May/early June.

If you are interested in serving, please let me know by next Friday, May 3, so I can start putting some dates and times together. Thanks in advance for your support and interest!

Schedules for 2013-14

The course selections as input have been made live for the students to view. Any changes that need to be made based on their course selections must be done by the middle of next week. If there are any additional teacher recommendations that are needed, that too must be completed by May 1.

Our next steps will include looking at the course tallies to determine how many sections of each course will in fact run, which will determine the structure of the master schedule. We will also be finalizing the numbers of students who will be enrolling in honors classes for Grade 9, which will also have an impact.

We thank those of you who have helped out over the last few weeks with the proctoring, evaluating, and discussing of the honors tests, both for the rising middle schoolers and our current students, and we are confident that the best decisions will be made for everyone's schedules, students and teachers alike.

AP TESTS!

The AP tests are scheduled to start on May 6; be aware that students who are underclassmen may be in and out of class because of the tests. Seniors traditionally have been permitted to come in for the test and leave after.

Senior Exams: There is no change to past practice in terms of senior exams. There will be an exemption list in all of your mailboxes (provided that you have seniors) on Monday or Tuesday. This list will include ONLY those students in year-long classes; we trust that you can figure the second semester out without the power of MMS!


Upcoming Events:

May 3: Six Flags Field Trip, Journalism Field Trip
May 8: Spring Concert, 7:30
May 17: Busy Day! There are two assemblies sponsored by Peer Counselors on Body Image which several of our students and staff have been involved in planning. It is a half-day for students, and the  Junior/Senior Prom is that night.
May 24: Junior Class Field Trip is in the works with Mr. Collins

Links of the Week:

Click here! Check out the link to a jpeg of the very first SAT ever given - and pay attention to some of the questions. The 1920s were different times!

There is a video clip for students on 5 tips for writing better DBQ essays, also found on the weekly links.

Thanks for reading!