Skip to main content

Welcome back! 2021

Welcome back!

Whether you feel like this:                             Or like this:
               

I am looking forward to seeing all of you and heading into what will hopefully be an easier and more joyful school year. Last week we enjoyed time with students at the Student Leadership Summit, Peer Leader training, Class of 2024 Welcome/orientation, and New Student Orientation. Students are excited to be back but they are also nervous. They shared insightful thoughts on learning over the past 18 months and their hopes for moving forward as an educational system. 

We will spend our faculty meeting/professional development time over Thursday and Friday reconnecting with each other and discussing how we can continue to create learning opportunities that are focused on student strengths and equity.

Our Thursday and Friday morning meetings will be in the AHS auditorium. 
The Friday afternoon session is split into two hour long meetings. You will receive training on the interactive boards and meet as a department, each meeting will be an hour. 
The interactive board training will take place in the library. All equipment you need to operate the interactive board is in your room and has been checked by IT. If you believe you need additional cables please contact IT. The board can mirror your device without a cable. 
I will send a more specific agenda and group assignments for the Friday PD once the Superintendent's office finalizes plans for Thursday morning. 

Lunch will be provided on Friday from Marathon Deli. 

I have provided an updated copy of the x-block presentation shared with staff during the 2019-2020 school year. If you were on staff that year you will recall we were about to pilot the x-block when we closed down. We presented two schedules at the time, one with a 26 minute x-block and one with a 18 minute period. We will discuss the schedules and vote on which to implement on Thursday. (The 30 minute x-block shortens class periods to 63 minutes, therefore not meeting the 65 minute contractual prep period.) 

We will have class meetings on September 1
9:35am- Class of 2024
10:05am (or when sophomore meeting is over)- Class of 2022
11:15am- Class of 2023
11:45am (or when the junior meeting is over)- Class of 2025

For your planning purposes I have attached the schedule for September 2 schedule


Open positions for 2021-2022: 
Class of 2025
Jazz Band
Model UN
Music Director
Video Club 
Wind Ensemble

New clubs being proposed: (if students have already reached out to you to advise, let me know!)
LaunchX (entrepreneurial club)
Relay for Life

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

August 22, 2025

Good afternoon- Thanks to everyone who helped to make New Student Orientation a success last night. It was great to see so many students and staff in the building. I am looking forward to seeing you all on Monday. We start at 8AM in the auditorium. There will be some members of the Class of 2026 painting their parking spots on Monday afternoon. Please try to park in the faculty parking lot or in the back of the building if you usually park in the student section.  New staff, please join the staff  Google Classroom . All information sent to faculty/staff will be housed here. The  class code is a5ca6a4. The custodians have been working hard to make sure each classroom has the correct number of desks (minus study halls). There may be a few classrooms off a desk or two based on student moves at the end of this week. If anyone has furniture in their rooms that is not being used, please let me know. We are short some L-shaped desks, under-desk file cabinets, and bookcases....

May 12, 2025

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms & mother figures out there- Best of luck to the special athletes competing in the 5-Town Special Olympics today!  I apologize for the late notice, but we will do a class meeting with the juniors/prom attendees on Tuesday, May 13, and the seniors on Wednesday, May 14, during x-block. Please send your second block seniors to the auditorium, as we are not able to make announcements on 5/14.  Art Saves Ashland, which includes the student art show, as well as the Spring Choral Concert, are happening back to back on Thursday, May 15, starting at 4pm.  The concert is at 7pm in the auditorium. These events showcase the amazing talent of many of our students.  Here is the Early Release schedule for Friday, May 16. You can also find it linked on the school calendar. Departments will continue work on curriculum mapping for the afternoon.  Grand March will begin at 4:30pm in the gym if you are planning to stick around to see our p...

March 10, 2025

Good morning- I hope the adjustment to the clocks springing forward hasn't thrown you off too much. I love that it means more light in the afternoon/evening.  On Thursday, March 13 year 2/3 teachers from Milford and Nipmuc High Schools will be here for learning walks. I have shared a schedule with impacted teachers but it may change over the next few days. Thank you for your flexibility and willingness to welcome new educators.  I am sure you saw Jim's message that the School Committee will hear our proposal on Competency Determination for the Class of 2025 at their meeting on Wednesday, March 12. I hope to share an update at our faculty meeting on Thursday, March 13, after school in the library . The meeting will involve MCAS training. As you are aware, the state has moved to a new portal so it will be important information for everyone to hear. Training for staff that do not attend faculty meetings will be scheduled at another time. Following the training, we will be walking...