Good afternoon and happy Superbowl weekend-
By now I am sure you are aware that grades are posted for Term 2 & mid-terms. I hope everyone is getting off to a great start with Term 3. It always takes us a couple of days to review GPA's and decile rank. Those will be opened later next week.
Each term the faculty and staff recognizes students who go above and beyond to demonstrate the AHS Core Values. Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to support the Core Value breakfast coming up this Friday. We host this breakfast to recognize all students who were nominated for Term 2.
The winners of the Term 2 Core Values awards are:
Last evening all 9th grade families received a letter through ConnectEd regarding the upcoming Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) screenings. Please review this letter for information on the upcoming screenings being conducted with the entire 9th grade and feel free to call our nursing staff or me with any questions.
SBIRT- Español
SBIRT- Português
Below are resources from Decisions at Every Turn to help you further understand the screening:
Decisions at Every Turn (DAET) SBIRT Parent Resource Guide (English)
DAET SBIRT Guía de recursos para padres (Espanol)
DAET SBIRT Guia de recursos para pais (Português)
DAET SBIRT Руководство для родительских ресурсов (русский)
Parent-teacher conferences:
Conferences are scheduled this year on Wednesday, February 28 from 6-8pm. Given that teachers
have limited time that evening, with approximately 12 open slots, we ask that parents who need to
discuss an academic concern or an override request schedule an appointment.
Teachers are always willing to schedule a meeting, in person or via phone, at any time if this evening
is not convenient for you.
As we start course registration for the 2018-2019 school year I encourage you to trust teacher
recommendations. However, if you and your child feel you would like to override a recommendation
you must schedule a time to discuss this with the teacher as the first step of the override procedure.
Student Course Selection:
Teachers spent the last two weeks making course recommendations for students in their classes.
Class meetings were held this week to review the student process for course approval and selection
of electives.
On Monday, February 5 the iStudent Course Recommendation window will open for students.
All students must go into iStudent to approve teacher recommendations and choose their electives. Our Unified Arts department has redesigned several of their courses and added some exciting new ones. Check them out here!
Directions for course selection are on the AHS website (linked here). Students must use their iStudent account to make their selections. We encourage students to prioritize their electives using the comment boxes next to each course number.
Course registration for students will remain open until Friday, February 16.
The iParent course approval window will be open on Monday, February 26 and will remain open for two weeks.
Please don't hesitate to reach out to your students guidance counselor or administrator with any questions!
Hats for a Cause! This year Ashland Public School Special Olympians will again participate in the Seventh Annual Five Town
Special Olympics Games Day held at Medway Middle School! Athletes from Millis, Medfield, Medway,
Holliston and Ashland will participate in a Soccer themed day of skill hosted this year by Medway.
This event, co-sponsored by Special Olympics of Massachusetts and the five towns participating, is free for
the student athletes and includes the opening ceremony, 8 skill stations, the medals for each participant,
and the closing ceremony associated with an Olympic event. Two years ago for those who were here, we
had a memorable day of parades, celebrities (including some Patriot Football Players and Cheerleaders)
and good sportsmanship as student athletes supported by student volunteers showed off their catching,
throwing, kicking and catching skills.
By now I am sure you are aware that grades are posted for Term 2 & mid-terms. I hope everyone is getting off to a great start with Term 3. It always takes us a couple of days to review GPA's and decile rank. Those will be opened later next week.
Each term the faculty and staff recognizes students who go above and beyond to demonstrate the AHS Core Values. Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to support the Core Value breakfast coming up this Friday. We host this breakfast to recognize all students who were nominated for Term 2.
The winners of the Term 2 Core Values awards are:
Respect - Noah Ben Maor
Responsibility - Kaitlin Merson
Integrity - Sam Schultz
Involvement - Halle Silver
Achievement - Sky Scott
Congratulations to them on this accomplishment!Last evening all 9th grade families received a letter through ConnectEd regarding the upcoming Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) screenings. Please review this letter for information on the upcoming screenings being conducted with the entire 9th grade and feel free to call our nursing staff or me with any questions.
SBIRT- Español
SBIRT- Português
Below are resources from Decisions at Every Turn to help you further understand the screening:
Decisions at Every Turn (DAET) SBIRT Parent Resource Guide (English)
DAET SBIRT Guía de recursos para padres (Espanol)
DAET SBIRT Guia de recursos para pais (Português)
DAET SBIRT Руководство для родительских ресурсов (русский)
Parent-teacher conferences:
Conferences are scheduled this year on Wednesday, February 28 from 6-8pm. Given that teachers
have limited time that evening, with approximately 12 open slots, we ask that parents who need to
discuss an academic concern or an override request schedule an appointment.
Teachers are always willing to schedule a meeting, in person or via phone, at any time if this evening
is not convenient for you.
As we start course registration for the 2018-2019 school year I encourage you to trust teacher
recommendations. However, if you and your child feel you would like to override a recommendation
you must schedule a time to discuss this with the teacher as the first step of the override procedure.
Student Course Selection:
Teachers spent the last two weeks making course recommendations for students in their classes.
Class meetings were held this week to review the student process for course approval and selection
of electives.
On Monday, February 5 the iStudent Course Recommendation window will open for students.
All students must go into iStudent to approve teacher recommendations and choose their electives. Our Unified Arts department has redesigned several of their courses and added some exciting new ones. Check them out here!
Directions for course selection are on the AHS website (linked here). Students must use their iStudent account to make their selections. We encourage students to prioritize their electives using the comment boxes next to each course number.
Course registration for students will remain open until Friday, February 16.
The iParent course approval window will be open on Monday, February 26 and will remain open for two weeks.
Please don't hesitate to reach out to your students guidance counselor or administrator with any questions!
Hats for a Cause! This year Ashland Public School Special Olympians will again participate in the Seventh Annual Five Town
Special Olympics Games Day held at Medway Middle School! Athletes from Millis, Medfield, Medway,
Holliston and Ashland will participate in a Soccer themed day of skill hosted this year by Medway.
This event, co-sponsored by Special Olympics of Massachusetts and the five towns participating, is free for
the student athletes and includes the opening ceremony, 8 skill stations, the medals for each participant,
and the closing ceremony associated with an Olympic event. Two years ago for those who were here, we
had a memorable day of parades, celebrities (including some Patriot Football Players and Cheerleaders)
and good sportsmanship as student athletes supported by student volunteers showed off their catching,
throwing, kicking and catching skills.
Special Olympics rely on the volunteers and donations to offer these and other athletic events for students
with disabilities. We will be asking for student volunteers to help run this amazing event, and we are also
asking for donations to support the cost of running it. On February 9th we invite all students and staff to
donate $1.00 and in return wear the hat of your choice to school. Wearing a hat will signal your support of
Special Olympics and specifically our own student athletes who will be participating. All money will be given
directly to Special Olympics.
with disabilities. We will be asking for student volunteers to help run this amazing event, and we are also
asking for donations to support the cost of running it. On February 9th we invite all students and staff to
donate $1.00 and in return wear the hat of your choice to school. Wearing a hat will signal your support of
Special Olympics and specifically our own student athletes who will be participating. All money will be given
directly to Special Olympics.
Thank you!!!
A message from the nurse:
Please review the attached document for important information on Influenza (Flu) and Influenza (Flu) Vaccine from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. (Espanol, Português)
Please contact your school for any questions or concerns.
Ashland Raises Healthy & Happy Kids:
In her book iGen, Jean Twenge, PhD describes today’s kids as “less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy and completely unprepared for adulthood”. Each chapter of her book theorizes on the “why” of this, backed up by research comparing the current generation with past generations. Since every child currently in the Ashland schools is part of this generation, a few weeks of this column will cover each of Twenge’s chapters which she cleverly titles beginning with the letter “i”. These will be very general, broad overviews. I encourage you to read the book for more in-depth information.
Internet: Online Time-Oh, and Other Media Too Today’s high school seniors spend about six hours a day on screens (texting, internet,social media, gaming, video chat); 8th graders about five hours per day. Their phone screens are usually the last thing they see before they fall asleep and the first thing they see when they wake up. Ninety seven percent of 12th graders use social media at least sometimes. This is the new reality of teen social life: it’s conducted online. And phones are a constant presence in teen’s lives - while doing homework, trying to sleep, etc. - unless their phones are physically taken from them. One teen describes it: “The minute I start my homework I have to have my phone by me to see what my friends are texting, it’s like someone is constantly tapping you on the shoulder, and you have to look”. I can’t imagine homework is being done as well as it could be with this distraction.
One result of all this time teens spend on screens is a steep decline in reading books, magazines and newspapers. In the late 70’s about 65% of teens read for pleasure nearly every day. In 2015 that dropped to about 17% of teens reading daily for pleasure. For a generation raised to click on the next link or scroll to the next page within seconds, books just don’t hold their attention. Unfortunately, this could be contributing to lower SAT scores in writing and critical reading. iGen’ers’ academic skills lag behind their millenial predecessors’ by significant margins.
What can we, as parents, do?
- Do not let children/teens have their phones in their rooms at night.
- Take phones away from kids while they are studying and doing homework (or use an app that turns off apps at certain times of the day).
- Encourage your kids to read daily. Help them find reading material that interests them - books about things they like to do or people they admire, magazines, graphic novels, comic strip books (my kids LOL when reading the ‘Zits’ and ‘Foxtrot’ comic strip books).
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