November Spartan Podcast

 

November Highlights

 

Lewiston Tragedy

 

Dear Uxbridge High School Community,

I hope this message finds you and your loved ones safe and well. I am sure that many members of our community have seen the news from Lewiston, Maine, where a shocking mass shooting has left many families shattered in the wake of another senseless tragedy.

I write this because of our geographic proximity to Maine. Lewiston is only a few hours away from us here in Uxbridge, and already I have heard from colleagues in schools in our area who have family members in that area or who have been directly affected. We realize that there may be connections here in Uxbridge as well, and, should that be the case, we want our staff to be properly equipped with the knowledge to support students however possible. Similarly, we understand that events like these can bring about a variety of emotions, and we want to assure you that we are here to provide any assistance that may be needed during these trying times.

These times are complex. We have those in our community struggling with global conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. We have those in our community who have been touched by violence, both domestically and elsewhere. We have those in our community who have struggled with substance abuse and the opioid epidemic. We have those in our community who have faced racial prejudice and bigotry. We have those in our community struggling with the emotional health challenges that are pervasive in society.

The statement has long been, “if you see something, say something.” We amend and expand that statement slightly for our shared work here in Uxbridge - if you need something, say something. If you hear something, say something. And if you feel something is amiss, please let us know. We know that our school provides solace, support, and strength to many who need it most, so if there are concerns that could influence the student’s school experience, we remind you to reach out to school counselors, trusted adults, or administration so that we can partner with you. 

Our thoughts are with all those who have been impacted by the events in Lewiston, and we stand together, once again, in compassion and support of those who need it during these particularly challenging times.

Sincerely,

Michael D. Rubin

Principal, Uxbridge High School

An Atypical Weekly Update for an Atypical Week

Dear Uxbridge Community:

Over the past several years, I have painstakingly provided a weekly update to the school and community of Uxbridge High School. I tend to focus on school happenings, updates for families, important dates, deadlines, and highlights. Every now and then, the school has the challenge of sharing difficult news or updates that provide insight on some of our challenges. There have been messages about medical emergencies, substance use in our young people, reckless behavior, and community responses to bigotry and racism. There have been concerns raised about the online behavior of some of our young people and even some of our adults. We have focused on areas of school that are important to the students, families, and faculty, and I have never really written about myself.

In that vein, I hope everyone will indulge me for a two-pronged messaging this week, as I will eschew the typical messaging to share some very personal, very individual thoughts with our community, with whom I have been bound professionally for nearly a decade, which in some ways I consider home or at the very least have roots, and with which I have always aspired to have a degree of transparency.

First, thank you. Thank you to the colleagues, staff members, fellow administrators, parents, coaches, friends from around the Commonwealth and nation, community members, and other stakeholders who reached out to me personally in the aftermath of last week’s terror attack in Israel. Thank you to those who gave me some grace and patience this week to process my own fears and challenges, knowing that my family is in harm’s way overseas. Thank you to those who just took a moment to tell me they were praying for both the victims and for peace in the region. Thank you to those who may have known my roots to Israel, being the son of an Israeli mother and grandson of Holocaust survivors, with family still residing there and sheltering this week, and who could thus acknowledge how close to home the past week’s events have hit me personally. Thank you to those who did not know the details but made a presumption and just checked in. Thank you for the words of encouragement, the attempts at compassion and empathy, the simple drops in the office just to say, “how is everything,” even when the answer could not be, in any way, in any sense, anything but “struggling.”

Recognizing when someone is not at his or her best, offering compassion and a gentle ear, and attempting to reconcile another’s perspective is one of the most challenging life skills we teach at UHS. Just last Friday, at our professional development and curriculum workshop, our faculty had a robust discussion on the importance of resilience, tenacity, and toughness - how to instill that in our students when we ourselves do not always have the capacity to be “tough.” I hope that people recognize that toughness comes in many forms, that upholding professional responsibilities in the face of adversity is but one way to demonstrate that resilience or toughness, and that a commitment to that tenacity is a continued state of mind, not a momentary paroxysm.

A second point that I wish to raise is one I do with a great deal and abundance of caution and pause. There are those who use their platform as school leaders as an opportunity to shine a light on themselves or to proselytize their own views, be it politically or socially. I have tried to avoid this practice, and have resisted using the school's or my professional platform as a means for therapy. I write this acknowledging that this week's post is atypical.

Over the past few days, I have seen some political groups blaming victims. Some people have taken the "by whatever means possible" stance in support of Palestinian freedoms. Others stay silent on the brutal terror attacks and massacre inflicted on innocent civilians. I have found myself addicted to the news cycle from different countries, which is giving my multiple language skills a workout, perhaps the only benefit to this past week. My Jewish friends, family, and peers, even at the synagogue and congregation of which I am a member, are frightened by this rhetoric. We have a student group, Mending Spartan Minds, that speaks to normalizing the stigma of mental health awareness. In a word or two, we are not okay, and I think it takes some strength and courage to acknowledge and respect when people are not okay. It also takes support to move past that discomfort.

To be clear: I have no interest in seeing innocent civilians perish because of the actions of terrorists. I know this conflict is more complex than a blog post can begin to explain. I always advocate for peace and understanding, for respecting different perspectives, for attempting to understand others. I do so knowing that the American people have a range of beliefs, and it is hardly the school’s or my responsibility to indoctrinate young men and women to a single hegemony but to guide students in a way that help them make decisions that best suit their individual minds and values while understanding different perspectives and how to discern truth from fiction.

Some people have referred to this as Israeli 9/11. I have started to think of it as a 21st century Kristallnacht, around which the world should coalesce and galvanize against terror, realizing that the mantra of "never again" shared by Jews after the Holocaust is very nearly and quite possibly, "right now." That in and of itself is scary, but is something we can use to motivate us to action or understanding. In short, we must collectively reject acts of pure evil, without negotiation, without exception, and without consideration of how they can be justifiable. 

Thus, the question for our community is how to bring the point back to the local. We have a collective responsibility to combat all forms of violence and hatred. We must understand that there are those in our community who are struggling to reconcile their personal experiences and values with what is happening abroad. We must realize that students and families alike will see news and information conveyed through traditional and social media sources that can and will affect them. We will see images of destruction and hatred, and we will no doubt have concerns about our safety in the face of potential domestic challenges. We will wonder how or if these actions could spill over to our domestic lives.

We remind our community that we have no space for violence or hatred. We acknowledge that the actions being felt personally by a few and certainly those in the Middle East can have reverberations in our classrooms. We must continue to speak up against injustice, offer supports and resources for families, and commit to making the world a better place for all who inhabit the earth. Indeed, we must strike hatred for others from our midst, be it abroad or domestic. We ask our community to embrace those affected by the recent trends and events in the news, renounce the normalization of anti-semitism, promote awareness and empathy, and, most of all, stand together with communities who hurt. Indeed, it is all that may get some of us through these challenging times.

Finally, a saying that people may see popping up in the news this week is the Hebrew phrase, “Ahm Yisrael Chai,” which literally translates to “The People of Israel Live.” The lyrics of a song composed in 1965, the words are often used as a phrase of solidarity. I share it in the hope that others may use it in unity with those fighting against terror.

Again, I offer my deep appreciation for this community’s support, feedback, and camaraderie. 

Sincerely yours,

Michael Rubin, Principal

Uxbridge High School

 

Schedule Change Requests, 2023-24

Schedules for 2023-24 are posted and active in the iParent and iStudent portal. There will still be some shifts to room assignments and even some teachers before the year starts. Should there be any schedule changes requested, counselors will address them when they return at the end of August. 

This form will help initiate any schedule changes needed for the start of the 2023-24 school year. Please remember that all students should follow the schedule they will be provided on the first day of school until they have met with a school counselor. Please note: we do not honor requests for specific teachers or schedule changes based on personality. If that is the reason for the request, we will share the concern with the teacher, so that s/he may be aware of any potential issues or conflict.  Please submit this form for each course in which a change is being requested. This must be completed by August 15, 2023. As almost all students met with counselors before the end of the school year, there should not be many changes required.

If there are any other questions, please reach out directly.

 

Midsummer Update, 2023

Weekly News and Notes, June 22

Spartan Podcast, June 2023

Weekly News and Notes, June 9

 

Class of 2023 Video

 

Commencement Address, June 2023

 A few folks had asked me to post the text of my 2023 graduation speech. I'm doing so here:

When I am asked to speak, I typically do just that - I speak. Truth be told, I am sometimes known for speaking when I should not be the one speaking or speaking too long when I should. It’s why I landed myself in an assistant principal’s office every so often, and why my outstanding academic grades in elementary school were often littered with a “B” in conduct. But speeches are kind of funny, with someone talking at you - so forgive me for a moment, as I ask you to indulge me with some interaction.

Students: close your eyes, and picture with me the spring of 2018. Five years ago, you were in the 7th grade. You were in the auditorium at the high school, having come up from the McCloskey Middle School to visit UHS. Look into your younger self, five years of experiences about to unfold, a trend about to be set, and a day that, at the time, most of your families were nervous about what it would be like for you coming up here. That path was about to be carved - not only for you - but with high stakes for a school district and a town, especially some parents, with their principal telling them that it was going to be alright. I can now share with everyone that with this incredible group of young men and women about to graduate, our first five-year group here, that things have been better than just all right.

As you remember the path that you took through high school, there were probably twists and turns that some of us know about. There are defeats, literal and figurative, at the hands of opponents near, far, and within. Visits to the assistant principal’s office. A relationship or friendship gone sour. A failed test. Hybrid learning and Zoom classes. Sitting six feet away from everyone, and grabbing lunch to head home on a bus. A canceled season. Rehearsals for a show that closed before it opened. A knee injury or four or six. Illnesses that came and went and came back again. Moments of embarrassment and disappointment. Maybe even a brush with real loss of someone very close to you, or supporting a friend through tragedy. 

But there were victories too: championships, records, perfect scores, college acceptances, new businesses, successful jobs, tournament wins, visits from state and national leaders, Student Council golds, Science Olympiad victories, and ovations from audiences. State spokespeople for nationally recognized programs. Outstanding sportsmanship awards. Unified Sports, Commended School, Industry Challenge champions - all things that you, together, made happen, all the while engaging in classroom debates, handshakes, high fives, fist bumps, and just being you. On a personal, professional level, in the past three years, I was named Principal of the Year in 2020 and have had the opportunity of ushering in more than 60 schools to learn about what you have helped us build at UHS. These successes are our norm because they are your norm. None of that happens without you.

As you open your eyes, having had a minute to reflect on your individual twists and turns, it reminds me a little bit of a reference to the movie “The Sandlot.” I got to thinking a little bit about The Sandlot a bit these past couple of years, as I have had an opportunity to reconnect with some friends with whom I played as a kid - not unlike the Sandlot. In the movie, Smalls learns to play baseball for the first time, remembering his introduction to those guys. And as graduation marks a moment in time - and, really, an only moment in time, as you only graduate from high school once, it is a good time to reflect on those many firsts that have occurred - the first love, the first car, the first accident, the first base hit, the first goal, the first day of school, the first time you came to UHS, the first “best friend,” maybe a first recital or concert, a first bow to an applauding audience. For many of us, we can pinpoint the firsts, since they are moments in time that are etched forever, often times photographed or videoed, much like when Smalls remembered walking out to the field the first time, the first time Benny hit the “guts” out of the baseball, the biggest “pickle,” throwing up on the speed ride, or the first time Squints kissed Wendy. We invariably remember the firsts, and they all hold a special place in our hearts.

The problem with firsts, is that it invariably brings out the lasts. We can remember the firsts because there is usually someone there to remind us that it is happening as a first. The last, however, often comes and goes without us knowing it. Try as I might, one day, my group of buddies and I rode our bikes to our Sandlot, played a game of baseball, and had no idea that it was our last time together. I have a photograph that I treasure from my last fraternity formal, with 12 of us singing together on the dance floor, knowing that it was our last formal, but not knowing that it could be the last time all 12 of us would be in the same place at the same time. A couple guys in that picture have drifted away, and one has, sadly, already passed away. There is no way that we can all be together in one place, at the same time, in that same way, ever again. That will happen to you, that you will wake up some day and not realize that it was the last time you and some of your friends were together, doing whatever it was that you loved doing, for a last time. Think about it. There have already been days that you went home not knowing that that moment was the last time you and that group of friends were together. 

Today, believe it or not, is one of those days. Today is one of those days that we know, going into it, that it will be a last, despite being called “commencement,” which technically means “a beginning.” Today is the last time that this first-class first class of students who spent five years with us at UHS will all be together on this field. When we reconcile that with the first time, we can certainly think of the many times you went around the bases, the hits, the misses, the giant beasts that needed to be outrun, not unlike the Sandlot. You may walk away from here and be together again as small groups, but unlike most lasts - and very much like that first day in the auditorium five years ago - you know that today is the last time we - or you - will all be together. That in and of itself is bittersweet.

However, you do leave here with the knowledge that regardless of what twist or turn this school or town takes - and, in your time here, we have learned that to be many different things and altogether unexpected - that you are forever and indelibly a first. You are forever and indelibly unique and special. As a first for us, you will always be special, like that first car, that first date, that first victory. And you are, Class of 2023, like the penultimate scenes of the Sandlot, just a little bit magical, capable of doing anything to which you set your minds - be it a first or last, or somewhere in between. As in the Sandlot, as the final scene fades, the different players went, as you shall, their separate ways, forever tied together with the memory of the first and last game, the glue of the relationship. In that spirit, we hope the memory of UHS becomes the tie that binds, that you have good fortune on all your firsts, the patience and levity to savor the lasts, and the hope that we have prepared you well to take your collective greatness to individual wins in the future. Thank you for building us and being for us a story of firsts that lasts forever. 

Weekly News and Notes, June 2

Weekly News and Notes, May 26

Weekly News and Notes, May 19

Weekly Update, May 5

Weekly News and Notes, April 28

Weekly News and Notes, April 14

Weekly News and Notes, April 6

Weekly News and Notes, March 31

Weekly News and Notes, March 24

Weekly News and Notes, March 17

Weekly News and Notes, March 10

Weekly News and Notes, March 3

Weekly News and Notes, February 17

Weekly News and Notes, February 10

Weekly News and Notes, February 3

Weekly News and Notes, January 27

Weekly News and Notes, January 20

Weekly News and Notes, January 13

Weekly News and Notes, January 6

 

K9 Search

 January 2023

Dear UHS Parents and Extended Community:

As you know, the welfare of our Uxbridge High School students, faculty and staff is one of our top priorities. In cooperation with the Uxbridge Police Department, school committee, and the broader Uxbridge community, we seek to ensure a safe place for teaching and learning.

Today, our school leadership conducted a check of the high school with assistance from the Uxbridge Police Department and a number of local police K-9 units. As part of this drill, each hallway was checked as we kept the school in a shelter-in-place lockdown. Students and staff members were in classrooms with the doors closed while a team of trained dogs, escorted by police officers and school administrators, swept the parking lots, main hallways, common areas, and random classrooms for prohibited substances. 

Many people, including parents, students, and community members, have shared their concerns about drug and alcohol use among young people. We also received feedback as part of last year's security audit that recommended additional steps in terms of safety drills that help maintain our security and well-being, including those related to narcotics and drugs. We emphasize these challenges in our work with school counselors, health and wellness curricula, and academic instruction, and we take every step possible to safeguard our school community from having this presence on campus. In short, we know that there are many great things happening at UHS every day because of a creative, diverse, and talented student body, and we know that steps like this will help keep all of them safer because of the collaboration between our school district and local law enforcement.

We want to emphasize that this is not the result of specific information or to suggest the presence of any illegal items, including narcotics or weapons, on campus. Rather, this is a precautionary measure, an effort taken to demonstrate how serious our district administration and public safety partners are about keeping our school safe.  Additionally, this exercise is valuable for the school, the K-9 units, and local police departments. Finally, we remind students and parents alike that possession of weapons or drugs on school grounds is a violation of the Student-Parent Handbook, which may also carry with it criminal consequences. As such, when students are found to be in possession of either narcotics or weapons, the situations are handled to the fullest extent of the Handbook and Massachusetts General Laws. 

We hope this initiative encourages our students to resist activity with illegal drugs and to make positive life-decisions. We hope this motivates some conversation about good and bad choices and the serious consequences of using or bringing drugs to school. If your student is struggling with drugs of any type, please know that resources are available, and please contact our school counseling department for us to confidentially work with you, should that assistance be needed.

Thank you for your continued understanding and support.

Sincerely yours,

Michael D. Rubin, Principal

Uxbridge High School