Thursday, June 18, 2020

June 18, 2020- Last day of school!

What a crazy year it has been. The challenges have been immeasurable and we are so proud of how students rose to the challenge.

Due to the request for another drop off time we will hold one more time period for students.parents to return materials to AHS on Tuesday, June 23 from 3-7pm. 

This will be the last time period in the foreseeable future and we will not be able to take materials on an individual basis. Students should be dropping Chromebooks off today at Ashland Middle School (instructions below).

Transcripts and paper requests for report cards, etc. will be held until all materials are returned. 

AHS Textbook & Materials Return

Thank you for your assistance with helping us to retrieve materials to prepare for next year!

Report Cards will be slow to be shared this year. With the changes in how we are entering information it may take longer to share final report cards and transcripts. Please bear with us.

AHS Summer Work
* For those courses that are requiring summer work, the assignments are now posted on the AHS website in the School Counseling part of the website: Summer Assignments
AHS summer work is assigned by course, not grade.

Students who overrode a course and still need to test into the course should complete the summer work. New students and incoming 9th graders will take a math placement test in August.


Yearbook Update: Due to production shutdown during the spring, the delivery date of 2020 yearbooks is estimated to be at the end of July. We'll be in touch as soon as we know for sure when we'll be able to distribute to students/families. If you forgot to order a yearbook and are now interested in purchasing one, please email Sue Reap (sreap@ashland.k12.ma.us).


News from the Nutrition Department:
I am sad to say that things have changed, and we will only be able to provide meals from Ashland High School through June 30, 2020.  BUT the good news is there are many other locations you can access throughout the State, the closest being the Barberie School 100 Dudley Road in Framingham.  For other locations, please click here.  Just zoom in with the + sign at the bottom of the map to see the area that is most convenient for you.  Please note that they have different service days and times, as well as different meals (breakfast lunch and supper) being served.

Another piece of good news is that we WILL continue to have produce boxes to distribute on Wednesdays at 1:30 at the Ashland High School loading dock as we have been doing the past month.  This will continue until at least August 26th.

I hope to see you all through the end of June!  We have some great meals planned for our last days of service so be sure to come Monday June 22nd, Wednesday June 24th and Monday June 29th.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Peace,
Lisa Beaudin
Director of Nutrition Services
Ashland Public Schools

Friday, June 12, 2020

June 12, 2020


Good afternoon and happy Friday-

Please see the attached information regarding returning school property to AHS. We look forward to seeing everyone as you turn in your AHS property. We ask that all material, except for Chromebooks being used by 9-11th grade students, be returned on Monday, June 15. This includes textbooks, library books, athletic and music uniforms, instruments, parking passes, etc. 

Any materials that were not picked up from student lockers will be staged in the outdoor classroom next to the library. You can check for your student's personal property at this time as well.

Chromebook return:
The Ashland IT Department will be collecting the Distance Learning Chromebook loaners AND chargers on Thursday, June 18th, from
1-4PM at the Ashland Middle School.  It is very important that we get these systems back quickly so we can repair and update them for use again when school resumes after the summer break.  
If you have had any issues with the chromebook, please attach a note explaining the nature of the problem.

Dropoff Procedure:
1.  Enter the AMS driveway.
2.  Drive to the Rotary in front of the school.  There will be no need to leave your vehicle.
3.  A member of the IT staff will greet you at your vehicle to receive the chromebook AND charger.

We thank you for your cooperation in returning these devices in a timely manner.  Enjoy your summer!

Tonight WACA-TV will stream our Senior Scholarships & Awards. Thank you to Cory McGann, counseling liaison, WACA, and all of the donors for pulling this together. Congratulations to our Class of 2020 recipients!!!

We are also excited to share our Academic Awards for the 2019-2020 school year. Thank to the department liaisons and other faculty as well as Brian Cote, Dean, for pulling this together. We cannot be prouder of our students during this crazy time.

Despite the uncertainty of what 2020-2021 will look like our counselors are hard at work getting the schedule ready for next year. We are lucky to have Erin Lachapelle, Dean, who did an amazing amount of work behind the scenes to build the master schedule. It is important to note that classes that are a part of the master schedule can vary from year to year. This is based on enrollment. I have received some parent and student questions about how we choose which courses run. Courses are not running if we did not have sufficient students interested in taking them (typically this number is at least 15 students). We have many singleton upper level courses that are not running for the 2020-2021 school year  that have been questioned, such as AP World, Spanish, and French. It's important to note these classes are not running because students did not sign up for them, not for any other reason.

Important end of school year reminders from the Ashland Nurses:


PHYSICALS AND IMMUNIZATIONS: Massachusetts mandated health requirements include physical exams and up to date immunizations for grades K, 4, 7, 10, and incoming new students. For these grades, a physical exam must have been done after September 1, 2019.  Please forward any physical exam and immunization documentation to your school nurse.


MEDICATION ORDER:  All medication orders expire at the end of the school year.  If you are visiting your child’s healthcare provider over the summer, please consider requesting a new medication order for your child.  All medication, prescription or over-the-counter, requires a physician order.
  
Available online are the following : 
Medication administration information (including doctor’s order/parent consent form), Life threatening allergy policy, and chronic illness policy. 


Medications for the upcoming school year must be accompanied by a new physician's order, parent permission to administer, prescription bottle/package with the child's name on it.  


Have a safe, fun, and healthy summer!


The Ashland Nurses

News from Student Council:
The first Student Council meeting of the 2020-2021 school year will be held on Wednesday, June 17th at noon, through Zoom.  Attendance is required for all newly elected officers, but this is open to anyone, and we will discuss how to become an "Open Enrollment Member" of the Student Council.  If your child is interested in joining the meeting (as is not already on the Student Council mailing list), have them email Mr. Wiczer at jwiczer@ashland.k12.ma.us, and he will make sure they get the Zoom invitation.

Friday, June 5, 2020

June 5, 2020

Good afternoon and happy Friday-

It has been a challenging and bittersweet week as we celebrate our seniors, some individually and others virtually. We also watched the impact of the ongoing racial injustice in this country and the impact it had on our students.


As a district we have collaborated to provide you with a collection of resources that can be used to self-reflect and educate in the area of race and racism. There are many resources available and we intend to continue to add to this document. We have created a similar document for our educators so that we are also able to self-reflect, educate ourselves, and continue to integrate race awareness and anti-racism education in our instruction to all students in our district. This week's SEL newsletter, which can be found here is dedicated to providing you with a number of resources you can use to speak with your children about race and racism.

If you have additional resources that you would like to add to this document, please email them to Jen Cutler, jcutler@ashland.k12.ma.us


In honor of what would have been Class Day the Senior Slideshow is being streamed on the WACA education page at 11am, 6pm, and 9:30pm all weekend. We are so grateful to WACA for their support during this time and helping us connect with and celebrate our students.

The link here: Class of 2020 slideshow

We are looking forward to the Class of 2020 procession on Sunday, June 7 at 11am. The cars will leave from AHS and process past each school building in this order: Mindess, middle school, Warren, and Pittaway before circling the high school to finish. The map of the procession can be found here. The community is welcome to line the route and cheer for the students.


Any current 8-11th grader interested in trying out for boys soccer in the fall, please click below...

Have a wonderful weekend.