Weekly News and Notes

Greetings,

We have a few updates from UHS this week:

Cell Phones in the Building

While a ubiquitous part of society and certainly adolescent life, there is no question that cell phone use pervades every aspect of many of our students' experiences. In many cases, there are useful aspects to cell phones, but there are times when they become distractions. For example, we have had some situations of late where students have been unable to unplug during the school day, causing distraction and even distress during academic time, which compromises our teachers' ability to instruct and student ability to meet class expectations.

When we find cell phone use to be problematic, we direct teachers to refer students to the office. Our Student Handbook indicates that a second time the phone is brought to the office, the parent or guardian must come to pick it up, and we try to have a conversation about limiting its use. We also have students check their phones at the main office or with a counselor and retrieve at the end of the day. Parents can contact students through the main office. Some unfortunate by-products of distraction can lead students to spend time with counselors or other resources rather than being in class, which causes students to fall further behind, and which then exacerbates the problems further or adds to student challenges.

We have found that the inability of students to unplug is simply causing more stress than necessarily bargained for. If we reach out to keep phones home, please know that we are doing so in the students' and school's best interests. We appreciate your support toward those ends.

Vacation Week

The school office will be closed from December 22-January 2. Students who may need counselors to submit transcripts for early January deadlines should reach out to the appropriate person next week.

Week That Was

Here's our weekly Week That Was video:





Have a great weekend,

Michael Rubin, Principal