We have several updates - including a couple of important ones - from UHS this week.
COVID-19 Updates
The Commissioner and Governor both made announcements this week, some related to school, and others related to some public venues. From the school perspective, our superintendent, Dr. Tiano, has scheduled a town hall for next Monday. A Zoom link will be shared on Monday as well, where he will share our progress on bringing students back to school more regularly. Please know that we continue to have certain guidelines being governed by agreement with the Teachers Association.
In terms of venues that are hosting weddings and other social gatherings, we have not yet explored how this will impact our planned events like prom. Right now, we have multiple plans in the works to allow us to have some sort of event, but we are not certain, as of yet, if that event will take place at a third-party or if we will host something ourselves. We are weighing many factors, including costs to families, opportunities to bring our entire senior class together, and challenges with meals, deadlines, and other details. Again, we appreciate your patience.
MCAS
We will be publishing the MCAS testing dates for students in grades 8, 9, 10, and 11 in the coming weeks. For students who are in grades 10 and 11, the test in English and mathematics will be required, and even students who are fully remote will need to come to school for testing. For students in grade 9, the physics test will also be required.
The grade 8 test in English, mathematics, and science will also be administered. We will be working to organize all of these test dates well in advance of the April and May testing windows.
Athletic Spectators
In terms of the "fall-2" season, we are excited to have a six-game football schedule, a plan for winter track, and a competition cheer season on the cusp of starting. Given the challenges that we had with getting the athletic seasons earlier this year off the ground, and the ongoing difficulties with managing athletics in the pandemic, we are thrilled to have these opportunities. We had a successful winter, though it was hard to not see fans in the stands in the typical fashion. Our numbers in winter track are admittedly low, so there may not be a formal "competition" schedule, but we plan on having something to bring student-athletes together.
For the fall-two season, we are going to have spectators at home games and competitions that take place outdoors. However, given the disparity around the leagues and pods around capacity, distancing requirements, and field orientations, plus the guidelines provided by the EEA and MIAA with respect to outdoor spectators and events, we are not certain if fans for road games will be approved. Mr. Carbone will be sharing our spectator procedures early next week, which enables us to meet the current capacity guidelines and have been supported by the Board of Health.
Be on the lookout for our guidelines for home games.
Course Selection Night
For parents of students who are currently in grades 8-11, we will be hosting a course selection night on Thursday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m. We will share some details about the course selection process for next year, including some details around elective classes and programs, as well as be available to answer questions.
A link will be shared next week. In the meantime, all course selection documents can be found here.
Grade 7 Planning
We are excited to begin the process of planning with our Class of 2026, the current seventh graders. This will begin in late March with our first orientation town hall. In addition, though we will not have the traditional open houses and orientations that we host in the spring, we are planning on having several opportunities for students and families to come to UHS, visit the building, tour, and get acquainted with the campus. We are tentatively planning on meeting on Monday, March 22 with a virtual town hall, but more details will be shared in a week or two once times are finalized.
We are also working on having some joint lessons between our grade 8 team with the 7th graders at Whitin, as well as developing a more robust summer orientation that will bring the class back together in August. We want to be sensitive to class time and to respect the courses that are already finding class time compromised this year, but there is absolutely significant value in getting our 7th graders connected with UHS very soon.
For families, parents, or students for whom there may be some more specific questions, feel free to reach out.
Our February 26 Spartan Podcast is linked below:
