Weekly News and Notes

Greetings,

A few updates from UHS this week:

Follow-up From Community Letter

Some folks have reached out asking what sort of steps we are taking at UHS to combat various forms of bigotry. Last week, this was a topic of conversation at our School Council meeting, and we also addressed some strategies at this week's faculty meeting. The challenge is not unlike a "chicken or egg" question - do we start with staff, or do we start with students. Our viewpoint is that we want to ensure that we are appropriately responsive, but also strategic in our approach, which means not simply having assemblies without giving the tools.

One step that will occur almost immediately, with the forthcoming redesign of our district and school websites, will be a tool for students or families to report incidents anonymously. All too often we are learning that, in the culture we live in, students hesitate to report for fear of being labeled.

Additionally, we have reached out to some resources both regionally and nationally to consider steps for working with students, including trainings that will occur in small groups.

Please know that we are not turning a blind eye to anything. Unfortunately, though our responses come swift, they also work in accordance with law, policy, and handbook, which means that the optics of consequences may not always be visible, and we always respect confidentiality. Your understanding toward those ends is appreciated.

Spring Sports

Though we have had a decent first week in terms of weather, game time changes, reschedules, postponements, and cancellations tend to happen frequently in the spring. Please make sure to subscribe to updates from our school athletic website.

Scholarships

Information regarding local scholarships for the Class of 2019 were sent home earlier this week. There is also information available in the counseling office.

Congratulations

Congratulations are in order for Mr. Chris Barry and Ms. Amber Hampton, our dynamic guidance team, for their award earned this week from the Blackstone Valley Education Foundation. The UHS team, which has completely reimagined guidance services as delivered in our school, was recognized for being consistently forward-thinking and innovative in their approaches to post-secondary planning and guidance programming for students not just at UHS, but serving as a model for schools across the Commonwealth.

Week That Was

Our weekly video is posted below:


Have a great weekend!