Norton High School News

Report Cards: We will be posting student report cards to the PowerSchool Portal on Monday, November 18th. This is a change from Friday, November 15th. We need the additional time because of the November 11th Veterans' Day Holiday and to make sure that the report cards are accurate and show the necessary data with the new system.

Career Day: Tomorrow, on Tuesday, October 28th our 10th Grade students will take a short break from their A-Block class to visit with representatives of many different careers. Students selected or had their career cluster selected for them. They will have a chance to visit six different representatives to hear about what a career might be like in different fields.

Honor Society Tapping: Congratulations to all of the students tapped for induction into Honor Societies on Thursday, October 24th. Students will be inducted into National Honor Society and other subject specific honor societies on Wednesday, November 13th.

Extra Help: Students who need to stay after for extra help may do so with teachers. The schedule of when teachers are available is linked here.

Site Council: Any parent interested in being part of Norton High School's Site Council please reach out to me at edolleman@norton.k12.ma.us. Site Council oversees the Program of Studies and the Student Handbook process every year as well as provides input on the preparation of the high school budget.

Career Day for 10th Grade Students - Tuesday, October 29th

Picture Retakes for all Underclassmen - Monday, November 4th

Open House for Grade 8 - TBD

Honor Society Induction - Wednesday, November 13th, 7 PM

ELA MCAS Retakes - Wednesday & Thursday, November 6th and 7th

Quarter 1 Marks Close - Friday, November 8th

Math MCAS Retakes - Tuesday & Wednesday, November 12th and 13th

Quarter 1 Report Cards - Monday, November 18th

Parent Conferences - Thursday, December 5th, 6-8 PM

A big thank you to David Cuddington and all of the students who got out for NHS Service Corps on Saturday, October 19th! The group got out, cleared trails and put up sign kiosks on Land Preservation Society property.

All the students have successfully registered for their AP exams. However, we still have a significant number of students that have not paid for the exams yet. The deadline for payment was October 3rd.

Please see the directions below on how to process the payment.

Students have to pay for each exam by going to the UNIPAY online payment system used by the Norton Public Schools.

To access the UNIPAY system, please follow the directions below.

1) Go to the Norton District School Website at this link - https://www.norton.k12.ma.us/3854_1

2) This takes you to the “quicklinks” page.

3) Scroll down to the “Online Fee Payments” link. Click on this.

4) This will take you to the UNIPAY website. Go to the Transactions column.

5) Scroll down to AP Exams. Click on the tab depending on how many students you are paying for.

6) You will have to enter the student name, grade and select each AP exam you are taking.

7) Once you have selected an exam, add it to your cart. Once you have added all the exams you wish to register for into the cart, you can proceed to the checkout.

8) You may pay with a debit card, credit card (MasterCard, American Express, Discover) or electronic check. If you opt to pay by credit card there is a service fee for the total transaction. To use the electronic check feature, you will need a blank check in front of you to obtain the routing and account numbers. There is a .25 cent fee for each electronic check transaction.

This year each AP exam costs $99.00. If you qualify for free and reduced lunch the cost will be $53.00 per exam.

Students requiring financial assistance should contact Mr. Vincent Cerce, vcerce@norton.k12.ma.us, in the Norton High School - Guidance department.

Upcoming: We are offering an opportunity for students to attend Shop Fridays. This is a program sponsored by the North Atlantic States Carpenters Training Fund that allows our students to spend three hours with one of the union instructors learning about the trade and what it would mean to be in the North Atlantic States Carpenters union.

We are always looking for ways to engage students in thinking about their future after Norton High School. Below you will see two of our exploratory field trips that have taken place this year. One is to the Advanced Manufacturing Mash-Up for students in our Innovation Pathway and the other is the Public Works that was open to anyone interested in potentially following a career in public works.

During the first week of classes, school administrators met with every class to discuss school expectations and urge students to get involved with a club, student government or community service. If you are interested, the presentation we used is linked here. Some of the expectations highlights are below:

Attendance:

A focus for this year is school attendance and tardiness. We will be emphasizing attendance over the course of the year. If your student needs to be absent be sure to call the main office at 508-285-0160 and select the #3 menu option.

Bathrooms:

We are continuing the bathroom supervision that we implemented last year with the help of our electronic hall pass system. The information about the duty sent at the end of last year is linked here.

Cell Phone Expectations for 2024-2025:

The teachers of Norton High School will be enacting common expectations for cell phones this year. All students will be expected to place their cell phone in a holder in every class. Students will have access to phones during passing time, LLB and at lunch. You can read more about the expectation here.

Important Pick Up and Drop Off Reminder: Please DO NOT park along the driveway nearest the multi-purpose field. Parking there constricts traffic flow for any cars or busses entering the parking lot and makes it more congested to leave the parking lot at the end of the day. Please see the slide from the Pick-Up and Drop Off information below.

Late Bus: The Late Bus is now running for after school activities. Students must stay after for a valid reason and have a pass from a teacher or administrator to stay after school.

Pickup and drop off information is linked here.

Bus Information is available on the district site.

As many of you are probably aware we have transitioned to PowerSchool over the summer.

Students may access the community portal that is linked here. Information on parent/guardian accounts was sent to families last week. The Parent Square post with information on parent/guardian accounts is linked here.

As we do every year, students with their drivers’ licenses are eligible to park on campus. The parking contract can be found here and it is also on the NHS Student Website under “General Information” and then “Forms.” Starting Tuesday, August 27th, students can come to the main office and pick up their parking pass after completing the parking contract and paying the $25.00 fee. Please allow at least 1-2 days between the signing of the parking contract and receiving your parking pass from the main office. Keep in mind, in order to receive a parking pass, students should be up to date with their class dues and all school debts.

This section is dedicated to news from the Student Support Center that has important resources for students and families. It will be updated regularly. A full accounting of Fall events was sent out by Vinny Cerce and linked here.

Past Events:

9/18 SENIOR COLLEGE NIGHT for students and families: Due to positive feedback from families about the accessibility of our zoom webinars, we are going to hold this event virtually. It will be recorded and posted to the website for those that are not able to attend the live event. This presentation will cover some of the same material reviewed in their Senior Seminars, but will also touch upon other important information regarding the search, application and acceptance process.

Recorded Presentation

10/8 Financial Aid for 11th and 12th Grade Students and Families

This year the federal government has made a large number of changes to the financial aid process. This hour-long presentation is designed to provide junior and senior students and families with an overview of the financial aid process and all of the changes that are in the works for this year and beyond. It will cover how to apply for merit scholarships, government grants, government loans and private loans. Presenter Donald Kerr, Manager Student Lending, AAA

Recorded Presentation

MEFA Webinars: The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority offers webinars and podcasts through their website. Please go to the website via the link below.

https://www.mefa.org/events

In addition to the Guidance Events above, there will be additional information regarding Seniors linked here.

Senior Portraits: Prestige Portraits will be at NHS on October 29th and 30th from 2-8pm for senior portraits. Appointment cards with an 8 digit reservation code were mailed to senior families. Use the registration code to book a time slot at https://prestigeportraits.com/

Yearbook Pictures: Please see the information linked here regarding uploading Senior Portraits for the yearbook. The deadline to upload a picture is December 15th.

Senior Privilege: Some Seniors have Senior Privilege in their schedule to begin this fall. There is more information about Senior Privilege linked here. Those students need to return a hard copy of the permission form linked here in order to be able to leave campus.

Please help the NHS Parent Advisory Board as we support the students and staff of Norton High School. We meet the first Monday of the month in the faculty dining room located in the cafeteria from 7-8pm.

Meetings dates for the rest of 2024 are as follows:

Monday, November 4th

Monday, December 2nd

Do you have a student in the Class of 2025? If the answer is yes please complete this form so you do not miss out on initiatives for the graduates - such as our Senior Yard Signs! https://forms.gle/9XUswZKLCW6NLvcX6

Reach out any time with questions at nortonhighpab@gmail.com and or visit out website https://sites.google.com/view/nhspab/home look for a mailing on our primary fundraiser!

Email: edolleman@norton.k12.ma.us
Location: 66 West Main Street, Norton, MA, USA
Phone: 508-285-0160
Twitter: @MrDolleman_NHS