Weekly News and Notes

This week's notes will be fairly short - with lots going on!

Graduation Update

Having met with the senior officers and advisors throughout the year, the decision has been made to plan for an outdoor graduation. Depending on weather conditions, we will attempt to make decisions on moving it (in or out) very early - hopefully with a couple of days' notice. Expect invitations in the next week or so, but it would be great to see many of you there!

Class Day will be on Friday, May 31. It will be held in the afternoon - like always. There had been some conflicting times out there, but it is in the afternoon.

MCAS Exams

With the proctor lists updated for the math and science MCAS exams, please let one of us know if you need any additional support with respect to specific accommodations or procedures. We will not be completing any formal training in advance. Please let us know if you have anything you are uncertain about! The Test Administrator Manuals will be here on Monday or Tuesday, which we will hopefully be able to get to you.

Handbook Committee

We have a handful of staff members who have indicated their interest in serving on the Handbook Committee, which will meet on May 9, 16, and 23. Please let me know if you're interested!

Selection Committees

If you are at all interested in serving on the committees that will be interviewing for the Instructional Leader positions, please let me know. We will establish a timeline next week for the interviews, and I would like to put both committees (Humanities and STEM) together at least once to establish some common ground rules and norms. Ideally, representatives from all departments will be there.

Senior Obligations

Senior obligation forms were posted to the High School Conference. Let the office know if you have any questions.

Adviser Survey

To those of you who are advisers to a class, club, activity, etc.: I have published a brief survey for you to complete. It will help with some strategic planning for working with all activities next year, as well as the budgeting process. It can be found here if you missed the link elsewhere.  I appreciate all your feedback!





Student Engagement

With all of the, well, paperwork and tediousness that comes with this part of the year, the best time(s) of my day comes when walking around the corridors and popping in, out, and by classes - even if the trip through the hall is to find a wandering soul. There have been so many great ideas and examples of student engagement, be it the Frankenstein trial, the "Presidential throwdown" in history, students climbing the ropes course, linoleum drawings (I know I'm not calling those by the technical term!), students generating statistical analysis from data they gathered themselves... everyone is certainly doing his or her part to keep our students in gear for these last few weeks of the year! There is awesome stuff happening around this building!

Don't miss the Spring Concert on May 8!

And finally... I will be out of the office on Tuesday and Wednesday, attending a NEASC conference with Joan Hallett, Aubrie Rojee, and Dianne Kaeli. Please, if you can, handle the minor discipline write-ups as you can with conversations with the students, and keep me and/or Dot posted on the major stuff. I'll be available electronically for those of you who have questions related to clubs, activities, anything academic, field trips, etc. Thanks for your patience!