February 26, 2021

Good afternoon-

The iParent recommendation window is now open for parents to approve teacher recommendations for core courses as well as student choices for electives.

The Parent's Quick Start Guide for Student Course Recommendations. 

Any parent wishing to override the teacher recommendation must follow the process outlined here: 

AHS Override Process-grades 9-11

The window will remain open until Friday, March 5 at 3pm. Please reach out to your student's teacher or counselor with any questions about recommendations.

Attendance:

Attendance at school is required unless your student is staying home for quarantine reasons or another reason approved by administration. Students can not choose to live stream their classes long term. Please reach out if you have questions.

AHSTS Presents

Five Radio Plays from the Vintage Radio Show

SUSPENSE!

Tales of Fear and Trembling

Performances will be video/audio-on-demand, available starting Friday, March 5, 2021 and ending on Sunday, March 14, 2021.

For more information, visit www.ahsts.com. To purchase tickets visit: https://www.showtix4u.com/events/ahsts. Tickets are $10.

Patrons who purchase access have 48 hours to watch/listen to the content from the first time they start watching, up to 11:45 PM Sunday, March 14th.  After this time patrons can no longer view or listen to the content.

AHSTS is proud to support the MetroWest Humane Society with half the proceeds from this production, including any donations made while purchasing tickets.

For more information on MetroWest Humane Society, see below or visit: https://metrowesthumanesociety.org/index.html

Student Council News!

The Student Council is planning a "virtual spring pep rally" and we need your help to participate in some of the rally activities!

If you are interested in participating, please go to: https://forms.gle/ZvqwCCAYvNfmzkZA6  to learn about the activities and to sign-up for an opportunity to participate!

Sign-ups will close on Friday, March 5th.  Any questions?  Contact the Student Council at STUCO.ashland@ashland.k12.ma.us

News from the Class of 2024

The class of 2024 will be running a cookie dough fundraiser beginning on Monday March 1 and ending on March 15.  The fundraiser is completely virtual.  Each freshman will be given a link to the online store to share with family and friends.  All proceeds will go towards decreasing the individual ticket price to both prom and senior week.  These are expensive events!  Senior week tickets can range from $78 to $125 depending on how committed each class is to fundraising.  Due to the cancellation and refund of the 8th grade Washington DC trip, the class of 2024 entered high school with an account below zero!  We have a lot of money to raise for everyone to have an awesome prom and senior week.  Please throw your support behind this fundraiser!  Ask your freshman for the link to the online store starting Monday March 1.  And who doesn't love cookie dough?

February 12, 2021

Good afternoon

Happy February vacation! I know the COVID fatigue has been real for many of our students. The addition of increased live streaming expectations as well as internet connectivity issues has made the past couple of weeks a challenge. I am proud of our students and staff for continuing to be flexible and creative. Despite the technology challenges I continue to see students engaged and learning. I hope this week brings a much needed break for the screen.

AHS teachers have done a variety of activities and lessons to celebrate Black History Month, which we think of as a continuation of our ongoing equity work this year. We believe that learning about and celebrating the accomplishments of people of color should be woven into our curriculum throughout the year but teachers have done some more focused work this month. Our CARES (Clockers Against Racism & for Equity & Social Justice) team has been working on a slide presentation, Black Joy & Excellence, that we look forward to sharing with the AHS community at the end of the month. We are excited for the team to bring artwork and posters to the halls of AHS to help educate students about a variety of important people of color. 

In the classroom, English and reading classes have read and discussed works from black writers and articles on important people of color. Music classes are creating biographies of important black pianists. Some history classes have added exploration of lesser known black historical figures to their study of more well know 19th century history. Spanish students explored the accomplishments of famous Afrolatinos. In computer classes students have explored the dearth of black leadership in big tech and the impact of those who have had success. Our SADD club was excited to connect with AREA (Ashland Residents for Equity and Action). There is always so much more we can be doing but we are excited about the lessons and activities that have been happening so far this year and month.  

Due to the remote day earlier this week Picture retakes for A cohort is now February 23!

Students are reminded to log in ASAP to their iStudent account to approve their teacher recommendations and choose their electives for 2021-2022. The iParent portal to for course recommendations will open on Monday, February 22.

Travel Policies

A reminder that families who are planning to travel to high risk states as deemed by the State of Massachusetts are required to fill out the APS Travel Form. I have included the links for each building below.  

Ashland High School

Travel Policy

Important Town of Ashland Information on COVID-19

Town COVID-19 Website
Town COVID-19 Hotline 508-532-7900

Please read my AHS Family SEL Newsletter with a focus on the amazing counseling department we are so lucky to have at Ashland High School. 

The video replays of the February 8th POWER series webinar Surviving to Thriving: Supporting your Family's Stress, Sadness, and Loss through Mindfulness featuring Linda Price are now available.

In both sessions, Linda begins by discussing ambiguous loss, anticipatory anxiety, and the brain's role in stress & the stress response. Understanding these concepts is important to our own adult health, as well as the health of our children & teens. She then walks us through a series of simple body, visualization, art-based, and breathing strategies that we can use to reduce stress and anxiety through mindfulness. Both webinars cover the same material, with the evening session having a slightly longer focus on breathing strategies. We welcome you to share with others who may be interested.

Morning webinar: https://event.webinarjam.com/go/replay/230/09285cx7tmmc31c2
Evening webinar: https://event.webinarjam.com/go/replay/231/q7m5rs3zux0frzak

 

February 5, 2021

Good afternoon-

Class meetings were held this Wednesday to discuss the course recommendation process. The Google Slides from the meeting can be found here: 2021 Course Selection 101

Please encourage your student to review the slides. They must go to iStudent prior to Friday, February 12 to approve teacher recommendations and choose their electives. 

Report cards will be available on Tuesday, February 9 after 3pm.

Picture retake day for Cohort A is on Tuesday, February 9. Any student who would like a retake or did not get their picture taken in November should plan to get their picture taken, at minimum for ID purposes.

Please enjoy the January edition of our student newspaper, The Union Street Journal

Have a wonderful weekend.