With first quarter completed, it is time to look back at HMS to see what we’ve accomplished. Let’s not discount that new safety protocols dominated the HMS landscape with teachers and students to start the school year. Masks, social distancing, table dividers, water bottle fillers were part of the new student experience at school. Ensuring the safety of our students has been priority number one, but also, generating momentum with student academic growth is a continual critical goal as well. We started the year with an August IReady Benchmark Assessment, and students work each day during SOAR time to recover some of those reading and math skills that may have been lost over the spring and summer months. Our next benchmark assessment will be in December and we look forward to see what progress students made throughout the fall months.
Teachers are teaching both in person and virtually and strike a balance on how to navigate instruction within both formats. First quarter grades and parent teacher conferences taught us that in many cases, virtual students struggle more than in person students. The district initially gave a potential return for students at semester, but we made a subsequent decision to allow students back at quarter. HMS established a deadline for students intent to return, and twenty four HMS students returned to the classroom on October 26th. In order to set those students up for success, Amy Fennewald, our new intervention coach, and counselors Dan Conner and Kerri Hanneken orientated those students once they returned. Students received valuable information about safety procedures, organizational tips, and were counseled on goal setting and self-planning. Also, Mrs. Fennewald has continued to work with many of the returning students to get caught up on work. The team at HMS wants students to be successful and I’m very proud of how staff has worked with them during this very unpredictable school year.
