Weekly News and Notes

As we turn the calendar to May, we have some updates from UHS:

Class Participation

We are starting to see some declining interest from many students in completing assignments. For obvious reasons, we have concerns as a faculty, staff, and school. First, we are making the weekly assignments extremely manageable and flexible. Second, our faculty has made itself available to support students however possible. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, while we are planning to return to school for next year, we need to have a sense of where students are academically - so having large gaps could be very problematic as we plan to move forward.

We are awaiting guidance from the Commissioner's office on how to handle grading in this fourth quarter. In the meantime, any support we can get from home on having students complete assignments would be greatly appreciated, and any updates that could help understand why work is not being done will assist as we support students.

School Improvement Plan

At our School Council meeting this week, our School Improvement Plan for 2020-21 was approved unanimously. We look forward to sharing it with the community and School Committee at a future meeting, and we are confident that it not only helps us address some of the challenges we have because of this pandemic closure, but also moves us forward.

Locker Cleanout

We are working with the Board of Health on a plan to get students into the building to gather any belongings from lockers. Obviously, safety is tantamount.

Graduation Planning

We are formalizing some plans around graduation that we will be sharing in the coming week or so with the seniors and their families. Unfortunately, due to the current circumstances, the requirements regarding social distancing, and our inability to have a gathering of more than 10 people at a time, we are looking at a number of options, many of which are not mutually exclusive.
To those who have forwarded thoughts, ideas, and feedback, these are appreciated. Please know that we are, as a leadership team, in constant communication with our community leaders around what we may or may not be able to organize.

Have a great weekend!