Scarlet News and Notes
May 10, 2019
Assuring Learning Excellence and Readiness for a Changing World
17 More Days!
Yikes! Where did the time go? I know you are all working hard and this time of year is just a flurry of activity, excitement, and stress. Take care of yourself and each other. Before you know it, we will be at graduation!
Speaking of graduation, please consider joining us June 5 at 8:00pm in Bresnan Arena to celebrate the Class of 2019. Our commencement ceremony is a collective celebration of the students graduating and all of the educators who have influenced their lives in the past 13 years. I love how we have our staff seated on the floor, gathering around our students one last time. I know how tired everyone is at the end of the year, the ceremony is late, and it is just a busy time of year, but if you can make the time to join us, I'm confident you will be glad you were there.
AP Tests
Good luck to all of our AP students!
Hiring Updates
We have completed our interviews for our assistant principal position and I am hopeful that we will be making an announcement next Monday. Thank you to all of you who took the time to complete the survey. I used that information to create a profile for our next AP, which our team used when evaluating the candidates.
A special thank you to our staff members who served on the interview team. Your feedback was instrumental in determining the right fit for our school.
We will be screening our AD applicants this Tuesday, interviews will be May 20th, and final interviews will be May 22 or 23rd.
We will be interviewing English teachers for our Fellow position on Tuesday. Stay tuned to hear about your new staff members!
Rooms for Next Year
Your department rep will go over the plan with you. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Scheduling for Next Year
Staff Meetings
This week is the last small group meeting for our Life Journey groups.
Assignment:
Choose one video (each are about 15 minutes) to watch, and share your reflections with your group.
Resource 3: Ted Talk by David R. Williams: How Race Makes us Sick
Resource 4: TED Talk by Nina Jablonski: Skin Color is an Illusion
Given this learning, what do you think? If race is fluid, changes with geographic location, isn't markedly biological, why is it such a big deal? What has made it a big deal in your life?
Schedule for our 4th quarter staff meetings:
Meet with your department - create common re-take practices and weighted grade books
3:15 - 3:35 - May 22
Life Journey Small Group meeting
3:15 - 3:35 - May 15
*These dates are set aside for your small group meetings, although you are not required to meet at this time. Your group may decide to meet at a different time if it works better for the group.
Ramadan and Eid
Message from Mike Elston:
As you are likely aware, Ramadan has begun and will continue through the end of the school year. During this time, many of our students will be fasting and participating in prayer during the school day. We have designated two rooms, room 120 (Hagberg), and room 114 (Sipe) to accommodate student prayer. In general, students will likely be choosing to pray around 1:13 in the afternoon. Students generally take about 10-15 minutes to pray. Students who choose to pray in the two rooms we have designated will need to finish their prayer by approximately 1:25. There is the possibility that some students may choose to pray individually at a slightly different time, which they are welcome to do. These students will just need to work out the details on their own and with any teachers whose class they are using/missing. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will be happy to help. Thanks for all you do everyday to ensure our students feel welcomed and valued here at West.
Message from Brian Hansen:
We have several students that will be celebrating Eid which marks the end of Ramadan. Eid falls during our finals this year and we wanted to give students celebrating Eid a chance to take their finals early. There will be a staff member (Anna Wirth) in the media center on Thursday, May 30, and Friday, May 31 to support you and students in taking their finals early and will proctor the exams on those dates.
If you have any students in your classes that will be celebrating Eid, and might want to take advantage of this option, please have them connect with either Brian or Mike.
Celebrating Superintendent Allen
Educare
Kevin's grant titled "Miller 220 Multi Process Welders for East and West High Schools" has been approved for the amount of $11,528.80.
Caleb's grant titled "Construction Pathway Expansion" has been approved for the amount of $16,614.50.
Kevin and Caleb will be honored at the Educare Benefit on May 17th. Tickets are available online on the Educare website.
The Week at a Glance
Monday
AP Bio Test - 8:00 am
BLT Meeting 3:15pm
Events: Softball - 5:00pm West
Girls' Lacrosse - 7:15pm DMMS
Tuesday
AP Calc Test - 8:00am
AP US History - 12:00pm
AP Human Geo - 12:00pm
Events: Baseball- 5:00pm Franklin Rogers
Girls' Lacrosse - 5:45pm DMMS
Wednesday
Pay Day Doughnuts
AP English Language Test - 8:00am
AP Macro Economics - 12:00pm
Staff Meeting 3:15pm - Small Group - your choice of time/location
Events: Softball - 4:30pm West
Thursday
New Teacher meeting - 7:45am Conference Room
AP Stats Test - 12:00pm
Events: Boys' Lacrosse - 4:30pm Kennedy
Softball - 5:00pm West
Friday
AP Micro Economics test - 8:00am
Happy Mother's Day!
Coming Soon...
May 6 - AP exams begin
May 17 - Educare Benefit
May 21 - Awards Assembly
May 21 - Family Connection meeting 7:00pm cafeteria
May 29 - Open House for Brian Fell 3:30 - 5:00
May 31 - Parade of Graduates
June 5 - Graduation