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September 25, 2023

Good morning-

I hope you stayed dry this weekend.  

Our RTI team is beginning their work this week and grades must be updated in iPass. It is a professional responsibility to have GRADES updated every two weeks in iPass. Please make sure you are staying on top of this. If you are concerned about a student's progress please document your communication with the parent and reach out to the counselor. 

IMPORTANT - If you have 9th grade students during X-block on Tuesday, September 26, please direct them to complete the survey regarding community service they received in an email from me this morning. The survey can be found here.

Remember that 10th and 11th grade students will attend Chris Herren at approximately 9:45am. Please wait for your class to be called down.


iDecide survey: The Annual School-Wide Survey is a brief (approx. 15-30 minutes) and confidential survey queries demographics, mental health, substance use, and school culture (Sample questions: https://redcap.link/idecidetest). Some benefits include:

        Shared data: Individualized reports, by year and over time, provided to each school to ensure data are of immediate value to each community

        Facilitated connection to school mental health staff: Some students find it hard to initiate asking for help. At the end of the survey, students will have the option to request a “warm handoff” to school mental health staff. We will let you know the ID numbers of students wanting additional support with the hopes of connecting students to trusted adults before emergent crisis.

        Clinical opportunities for students who may not be receiving services at school: If allowed by the school, students can have the option to provide contact information so that the MGH team directly outreach to offer services available through our center. If preferred, we can disable the contact information page.

It is available in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Persian, Russian, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Ukrainian, Gujarati, Filipino, Dari, Amharic, Bengali, Mandarin, Turkish, French, Vietnamese. 

Back to School Night: Here is the schedule for Back to School Night schedule next Tuesday, October 3. This is an evening for parents to meet you and hear about your curriculum and classroom expectations. I will remind parents during introductions that it is not a time to discuss individual student needs. Please make sure to share how  a student can seek support from you if need and how a parent can get in touch with you as part your presentation.

Attention club/class/etc. advisors and coaches: Please review MA law around hazing and complete the anti-hazing student group form with your club/activity/team as soon as possible. Forms should be turned into the front office by Friday, October 13.

Reminder that club, class officer, etc. meetings should be held before or after school. You are welcome to use x-block for occasional needs but regular meetings should be scheduled outside of the school day.

Over the next three months all club advisors should track the time and frequency of club meetings. number of participants, activities completed outside of club meetings, and anything else you feel is relevant. 

The AHS Site Council is seeking one new teacher representative. This is a great group of fellow teachers, parents and students who work collaboratively to discuss issues of relevance around our school community.


Our Edpuzzle account has just been renewed for the coming year. 
  • Teachers that are already registered on Edpuzzle have been automatically upgraded, so they are all ready to go!

  • Teachers that are new to Edpuzzle can get started using the school’s unique upgrade link to create their account: https://edpuzzle.com/schools/join/acbd64
Our self-paced training courses are another great way to learn the basics - I recommend the Level 1 badge for anyone new to Edpuzzle, and the Edpuzzle Coach certificate for your trainers.

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