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September 8, 2019

Good evening-

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I was exhausted so I can't imagine how you all felt on Friday.  Thanks again for making it a great first week of school.  The positive energy and enthusiasm was amazing, such a great way to start. 

A few reminders and important information follows as we head into week 2:
The senior class will be meeting with Josten's at 10:30am tomorrow (Monday) morning for their cap & gown order.  We apologize we could not fit this in to the class meetings on Friday but it was just not possible.  

We are lucky to have three amazing nurses working with us this year.  Please use the email address AHS_nurses@ashland.k12.ma.us for your communication with them.  This will help facilitate communication efficiently. The same goes for the front office.  You can reach both Linda and Lindsay by emailing AHSmainoffice@ashland.k12.ma.us.  And always remember to call 0 if you need someone or something urgently!

Please make sure your parking sticker is displayed on the back of your rear-view mirror. We are working to make sure students are only parked in the student lot and will be running plates of those parked elsewhere, without a permit, after September 20.  If you park in the back of the school please be aware that buses park there to load students for athletic events at the end of the day and you may be blocked in.  

If a student is missing from your class for an extended period of time please notify the front office but also feel free to write the student up for skipping. The Deans may not be able to look for a student in the moment but will always follow up.  

Our first faculty meeting is Thursday, September 9 at 2:50pm (SHARP!). A rep from Eduspire will be training us on eHallpass.  

Thanks for your input to working groups for the coming year.  Following our September Faculty meeting I anticipate the bulk of our faculty meetings will be dedicated to meeting in these small groups.  It is highly likely that members of the X-block working group will be asked to meet more often if they are interested so that we have a plan ready for January!  Please review the group assignments attached here.  I did my best to get people into their first or second choice while also trying to balance the groups. 



Dear Staff, 

I have created a website, APS Educator SEL Website, specifically for all educators in Ashland to use as a resource for integrating social-emotional learning into the school day.  This year I will be promoting a competency of the month so that both teachers and families can learn more about CASEL's 5 SEL competencies and how they can be integrated into both the school and home settings. Families will be getting a link to my family newsletter with the first competency of Self-Awareness today in the weekly principal email and I have also created a Family SEL Website

I hope that you will find these resources helpful. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me to further discuss SEL at anytime. 

Thank you! 

Jen Cutler

Check out this PD opportunity in Milton and let me know if you are interested!
The Milton Public Schools is putting on an "Ed-Camp" style professional conference on September 27, 2019 at Milton High School.  Participants will be able to choose 4 hour-long sessions to attend throughout the day from a menu of 70+ options.  The link below contains some of the information.  We're inviting educators for around the commonwealth to join our 500+ MPS educators for a day focused on "raising the bar on teaching and learning".  Keynote Speaker Dr. Kenneth Wesson will kick off the day, and lunch and snacks provided throughout.  

(Have something great to share?  We are also still taking presenters!)  You can share with your staff to participate and/or if you are willing to relieve them to do a session, that would be fine too.

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