Norton High School News

College Fair: Juniors and Seniors will be attending the College Fair this Thursday morning. We will have approximately 60 colleges, universities and the military at Norton High School on Thursday morning. Students were encouraged to look at the list of attendees and read a Princeton Review article today in Lancer Learning Block in order to prepare for the College Fair.

Academic Warnings: Teachers should have updated their gradebooks in Power School on Friday, October 4th to give a very clear picture of student progress. Please check your student's progress through the portal.

Extra Help: We are approaching the mid-point of the first quarter. All students' Power School portals should be up to date with their grades as of Friday. 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.

College Fair - Thursday, October 10th

PSAT for 11th Grade Students - Wednesday, October 23rd

Early Release Day - Friday, October 25th

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 - Friday, November 15th

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

For Parents/Guardians of 9th and 10th Grade Students,

This follows up a notification sent by Parent Square last week. Norton High School is participating in a study with Massachusetts General Hospital and the organization iDECIDE to examine how high schools identify and provide interventions for students who may use substances. The study will relate to the Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) program as set out by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Below you will find letters that explain the study.

Arabic - عربي

Chinese - 中国人

English

French - Français

Haitian Creole - Kreyòl ayisyen

Portuguese - Português

Spanish - Español

Turkish - Türkçe

Vietnamese - Tiếng Việt

We will be conducting the follow up survey on Monday, October 21st during Lancer Learning Block. If you’d like to opt your child out of the survey, each letter has a link to an opt out form. That link is also here. Please opt out before October 13th.

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.

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.

UPCOMING Events:

Senior Survey and Ongoing Support - Please ask your senior to click this link to complete the Senior Post Grad Survey. We also encourage students to complete their "brag sheets" and even do a resume to give to the Guidance Counselors and teachers they are asking for recommendations. Brag sheets are on the website under the Guidance Department or located in the Guidance office. This is also a good time to remind you that seniors need a minimum of 40 hours of community service to graduate and that those community services activities should be listed on the brag sheet and resume. We will do our very best to see students as soon as possible however meetings will be scheduled based on deadline priority. If you need assistance getting into your Naviance account, please contact the Guidance Administrative Assistant, Daniel Marchant at dmarchant@norton.k12.ma.us

9/27-10/11 - Senior College Assembly and senior meetings - On 9/27 there will be an assembly for all of the seniors. The purpose of these presentations is to review what was covered in spring during the Junior Seminar and to ensure that students are successfully logging on to Naviance and connecting that to the "Common Application". In addition, the presentations will include information about application timelines, requesting teacher recommendations, using Naviance to compare colleges and other important information regarding the application and acceptance process. The counselors will follow up with seniors in LLBs and will have individual meetings to ensure students understand the process and timelines.

10/3 - AP Registration and Payment Due Date - Students will need to register for their AP exams and payments are due by 10/3/2024. An email has been sent to students and families about the process, but the link below has all of the information as well.

AP Registration Instructions 2024-25

10/7 -10/10: SEASONAL/PART- TIME JOB FAIR – Businesses will be invited to school to meet and speak with students interested in obtaining a part-time or seasonal job during lunch blocks

10/8 - 6:00 PM - Financial Aid for 11th and 12th Grade Students and Families - via ZOOM

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

• When: Oct 8, 2024 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
• Topic: Financial Aid for 11th and 12th Grade Students and Families - Virtual Presentation
• Please click the link below to join the webinar:
• https://zoom.us/j/99594148998?pwd=aQIdGuNSEHsChIuPQrVqz85WnH_Alg.aHz5KCqM7w6_KYV_
• Passcode: 526622

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

10/10 - College Fair - Juniors and Seniors will be invited down to the gym to meet with College Fair representatives from a variety of colleges, universities and branches of the military. We are still receiving confirmation, but have over 50 at this point.

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

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, October 7th

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