UHS: Mid-summer update

Greetings, extended Spartan community!

We hope that everyone has enjoyed the summer so far. We have been trying to recharge over the past month, and we hope to provide some updates more periodically as we head toward the start of 2021-22. As a positive, we have completed nearly all of our hiring for the coming year, and we are excited about some of the changes that we are making as we look ahead to the coming year.

Spartan Summer Academy

We have about 40 students who will be participating in the Spartan Summer Academy in a couple of weeks. The program will run for two weeks, Monday-Thursday, during the weeks of August 16 and August 23, as we have opportunities for students to connect with each other and staff through some unique learning opportunities, such as printmaking, history deep dive, fitness center, portfolio development, Strat-o-Matic baseball, anatomy exploration, and pre-calculus boot camp, among other activities. We still have some openings, so if families are interested in participating, they should reach out to Mr. Silbor at hsilbor@uxbridge.k12.ma.us as soon as possible.

Summer School Deadlines

For students who are completing credit recovery classes in summer school, please be aware that deadlines come up quickly in August. Most courses end on August 19, and some programs end before that. A final grade must be submitted to school counselors to earn credit for courses taken this summer.

Assistant Principal Search

We are delighted to report that our first week accepting applications for our new assistant principal has yielded a solid pool. We hope to conduct first round interviews on August 11, as well as possibly August 12, depending on the number of candidates. If any parents or students are interested in participating in the process, and have time those days, please reach out Mr. Rubin directly.

Fall Sports Registration

Fall sports registration was opened on July 9; please be aware of the coming deadlines for football and fall cheer, which is August 16, and the other fall sports, which is August 18. Sports have start dates tentatively scheduled for the 20th and 23rd, and we need to process all physical exams, registrations, and other factors for eligibility.

Please be aware that academic eligibility will be changing for the 2021-22 school year and moving forward. Mr. Carbone will be explaining all of these details at our fall opening meetings.

Schedules for 2021-22

Schedules for 2021-22 will be public in the next couple of weeks, as we finalize some room assignments, as well as some teachers. We know that at the outset of the school year there were some changes, though our counselors were able to meet with almost all rising grade 10-12 students. We will be following up with our process for making changes should a change be needed. Please keep in mind that schedule changes are not always accommodated, and requests are only honored when there is a specific reason outlined, such as an incorrect level, a missing prerequisite, or an incorrect course altogether. We do not honor requests for specific teachers or to be with certain students.

New Staff

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be sharing announcements of our new staff via social media and our website. Please make sure you are following us on Twitter, either @UHS_Spartans for athletics or @UxbHSPrincipal.

COVID-19 Guidance

We have already had a couple of people reach out regarding the most recent DESE guidance regarding masks and procedures for the coming fall. Rest assured that we will be consulting as an administrative team, working with the Uxbridge Board of Health, and working together to communicate any updates from the Uxbridge Public Schools as needed. Right now, we beg your patience as we process some of the updates and attempt to reconcile them to what we need. We are fortunate that all of our students are of age to be vaccinated, and we hope that most individuals are taking whatever precautions they think are appropriate at this time, as the Delta variant starts to cause angst among many.

We will be in touch very soon with more information. Until then, we hope you continue to enjoy the summer, stay safe, and be well.

Michael Rubin, Principal