October 20, 2017

Good afternoon-

I hope you are all enjoying this amazing weather.

I just came in from the soccer field and it felt like a summer day instead of October 21.  While the girls didn't win it was a great way to end a week of homecoming sports.  I am looking forward to a great dance tonight after what has been a spirited week that showcased what Ashland High School is all about.  The fun the students had this week, at lunch, sporting events, and the pep rally demonstrated that we are a welcoming, supportive school community.   Thank you for being a part of that.  You model the core values and expectations every day.

The highlight of my week was the all-school presentations by Jamele Adams on Tuesday.  Tuesday night as I looked through the 437 selfies I received, I couldn't help think about what an amazing group of young adults we get to work with each and every day.  

While it was a little delayed it was the perfect week to announce the Students of the Term for Term 4 of the 2016-2017 school year:
Integrity - Mackenzie Sleeper
Achievement - Rubab Raja
Involvement - Ryan W. Kramer 
Respect - Gana Nikolyan 
Responsibility - Victoria Wheeler
Please congratulate them if you know them!
                          

Here's a few of the 437 pictures I received: 

Please consider joining us for community wide Courageous Conversation: Love, Inclusion, Trust on Tuesday, October 24 at 6:30pm starting in the auditorium.  Jamele will do a short presentation, which will be followed by a panel discussion.  We will then transition to the cafeteria for a World Cafe style, small group conversation regarding diversity and inclusion in Ashland, led by our Peer Leaders.  The evening will conclude with refreshments around 8:30pm.   I would love to have one or two faculty members join the panel discussion, let me know if you are planning to attend and would be willing to join myself, a few students, and parents in answering questions.

While I always feel this is a very safe community on Tuesday, several people who were here into the evening and did not have their cars locked found that their cars had been gone through and some items were taken (mostly loose change and phone cords).  Please make sure you do not leave any valuables in your car if you choose not to lock it.

2016-2017 MCAS Results will be arriving this week.  Our goal as a district is to have them out to families on October 27. 

National Honor Society induction is Thursday, October 26 at 6:30pm in the auditorium.

A reminder that the CIAC (Connecticut's version of the MIAA) will be here this week conducting a thorough evaluation of our athletic department.  Please welcome the visiting team to the building.  

Tickets are now on sale for the AHSTS production of Museum. The production runs Friday, November 3rd and Saturday, November 4th at 7PM, and Sunday, November 5th at 2PM. Patrons may buy tickets in advance online at ahsts.com. AHSTS offers discounted tickets purchased online. All seating is reserved. For more information or tickets, visit ahsts.com.

Term 1 ends November 6.  The grading window will open at 3pm that afternoon and will close on Thursday, November 9 at 3pm.  Report cards will be made available to students and families on Monday, November 13 after 3pm.

Have a fantastic week and thank you to all who helped to make Spirit Week so much fun!  A special thanks to Josh Wiczer for the amazing amount of work he puts into Student Council.

Ashland Raises Healthy & Happy Kids:

We Need to Talk About Kids and Smartphones

I read three articles last week that validated what I have been seeing in my own children, their friends, and teens in my work. I have included the links to the articles below and really encourage you to read them. Rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011.  Jean Twenge, is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of the book, iGen, which examines how today’s super-connected teens may be less happy and less prepared for adulthood than past generations. In a peer-reviewed study that will appear later this year in the journal Clinical Psychological Science, Twenge shows that, after 2010, teens who spent more time on new media were more likely to report mental health issues than those who spent time on non-screen activities.Using data collected between 2010 and 2015 from more than 500,000 adolescents nationwide, Twenge's study found kids who spent three hours or more a day on smartphones or other electronic devices were 34% more likely to suffer at least one suicide-related outcome—including feeling hopeless or seriously considering suicide—than kids who used devices two hours a day or less. Among kids who used electronic devices five or more hours a day, 48% had at least one suicide-related outcome. Let me repeat that, ALMOST HALF OF KIDS WHO USE ELECTRONIC DEVICES FIVE OR MORE HOURS PER DAY HAVE AT LEAST ONE SUICIDAL OUTCOME. You may be thinking, “Five hours is a lot, there is no way my child is on his/her phone for five hours per day”. Let’s break it down for a “typical” teenager...half hour on their phone before school at home or on the bus, maybe a half hour at lunch, they get home around 3:15 and go to bed between 9:00 and 10:00, or later. Yes, they are doing homework during some of that time after school but isn’t their phone right next to them?  Aren’t they answering texts and snapchats and looking at every notification that pops up while doing homework?  Add it up...more than five hours. And that is just the 180 days of school, what about weekends, and school breaks, and summers? Now read the statement in capitals above again...scary, huh?

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/

http://time.com/4974863/kids-smartphones-depression/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/magazine/why-are-more-american-teenagers-than-ever-suffering-from-severe-anxiety.html

If these facts and the articles I have included resonate with you and your family, please consider joining in a community-wide challenge to make one small change - Do not allow your children to have their phones in their rooms at night. If you think your child is only using their phone as their alarm or to listen to music, you might be wrong. I see snapchats and texts coming to my children’s phones after 10 or 11 o’clock on school nights from 11 and 12 year olds in Ashland. It is happening. Set up a place in your home where phones can be charged overnight and tell your children a specific time in the evening the phones must be there. A friend chose the kitchen counter but switched to her bedroom after she caught her daughter sneaking down to get her phone from the kitchen. It is too soon to determine if cell phone use is the cause of the increase in teen depression, anxiety and suicide but even the experts who think other factors also contribute to this increase agree that no child or teen should have their phone in their room at night, for physical and mental health reasons.  Try it for 2 or 3 weeks. See if you notice any changes. If phones are already banned from your children’s rooms at night, try another challenge: Do not allow them on their phones before school, or at the table and at restaurants, or have them “turn”  their phones in 30 minutes or an hour earlier than usual. See what they do in the evening if they are not on their phones right up until bedtime. Read? Study more? Hang out with you or their siblings? Or maybe even use the landline to call and chat with a friend (that one is doubtful!). I look forward to tackling this, what some experts are calling a public health issues, as a community.