Sunday October 23rd, 2022

Volume 1, Issue 3

Happy Sunday, Patriots!

Lots going on at RHS this week. We have two weeks left in the first quarter of the 2022-2023 school year. Students should be working hard over the next two weeks to meet the goals they have set the past few weeks.

There are many opportunities to get involved this week - Vision of the Graduate Working Group Monday, School Improvement Council Wednesday, and Haunted Hallways Thursday! Here is what's in this week's memo:

• Looking Ahead
• Athletics Round-Up
• RHS Patriot Voice
• Spotlight on the RHS Life-skills and Post-Grad Program
• RISE-uP - A New Program at RHS
• Learning About Adolescent Vaping
• Message from the Yearbook Committee
• Vision of the Graduate Update
• Important Links
• Hiring Paraprofessionals

On a serious note, I wanted to use this space to begin a community conversation on adolescent vaping. We've learned from families that they want more opportunities to learn how to support their students - and few topics are more important than adolescent substance use and vaping. I've shared a NY Times article that anyone who engages with adolescents should read. We plan to work with our family liaison and community partners to design some events for the community to learn about adolescent vaping and what we can do about it, as a school and as a community. Anyone interested in being part of this work or helping to plan it should reach out to our family liaison Sandra Figueroa.

Have a great week!

-Chris

Christopher T. Bowen, Principal

cbowen@reverek12.org

• Fall Credit Recovery: Fall Credit Recovery begins this week. Students who have registered should check the google classroom for information about class locations. Please email Ms. Gerrior with questions - Carolyn Goodwin (Gerrior) <cgoodwin@reverek12.org>
  
• Yearbook Photos: Seniors should sign up outside B16 to get their yearbook photos taken this week - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday! Contact Jenn Cimino (text: 617-212-4444 or email: jenn@jenncimino.com) to schedule. Deadline is 11/1.
• School Improvement Council: Mr. Fellowes and Mr. Conway advise the School Improvement Council, which will meet this Wednesday 10/26 after school. The School Improvement Council Meets Monthly in person (Room 114) and on zoom from 3:00-4:00pm. The purpose of the group is to provide the community an opportunity to advise the RHS Building Leadership Team on items they want addressed. This week, the group will meet with the Leadership Team to provide input into the School Improvement Plan. If you are interested in attending, either come to Room 114 or email Mr. Fellowes for the zoom link <MFellowes@reverek12.org>!
• Upcoming College Trip: UMASS Lowell – October 26, 2022. Students who have already registered should submit your permission slip to Ms. Currie in the Learning Commons.
  
• Upcoming College Fair: Two weeks ago, the Guidance Department organized a college fair during advisory. Our next College Fair will be on Thursday 10/27. We will update everyone with the list of schools attending! Students should join the RHS Opportunities Google Classroom to get updates on these events.
• Upcoming College Visit: North Shore Community College - Nursing and Allied Health Pathway - Friday October 28th. Juniors and Seniors - Interested in a career in health care? Consider this field trip!
• Student Activities Fair: Mr. Walker has been working hard to organize a Student Activities Fair this week during advisory (Wednesday 10/26, Thursday 10/27 and Friday 10/28). Each advisory teacher will be assigned a day to bring their advisory to the Activities Fair. Students must check into their advisory first and attend with their advisor on the day they are assigned to attend.
• Haunted Hallways @ RHS: Come join the senior class for Haunted Hallways: The Nightmare Estate on Wednesday - October 26th from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. Doors open at 5:45 PM. Tickets are available for purchase for $5 at ALL lunches leading up to the event. You can also purchase a ticket at the door for $7. Concession stands will be located at the entrance and exit. All proceeds will support the senior class!
  
• Early Release Day: Wednesday 11/2 will be an Early Release Day for students, with dismissal at 12:00pm. Students will receive a grab-and-go lunch. All Faculty will participate in the second "Principal's Meeting" of the year for Professional Development.
• End of Quarter 1: Quarter one ends on Friday 11/4. Teachers grades will be due Wednesday 11/9 by 8pm. Report Cards will be sent home on Thursday 11/10 via e-mail. Families without emails will receive copies in the mail.
• Guardian-Teacher Conferences. Save the date!! Teacher conference night will be on Wednesday 11/16 from 5-7 at Revere High School. This event will be in-person this year. Report cards will have gone home on Thursday 11/10, so this night will give guardians the chance to meet one-on-one with their students' teacher. At this event, we are looking to get a group of teachers and guardians together to talk and help us understand how we can work together to improve home-school communication. If you are a teacher and/or a family member interested in being part of this group, please e-mail our family liaison Sandra Figueroa <sfigueroa@reverek12.org> to let her know. We will reach out with more information.

• Come support fellow RHS Patriots this week at Upcoming Athletic Events
• Follow RHS Athletic Director Frank Shea on Twitter @ADReverePats to stay up-to-date on wins from the week
• Athletic Eligibility for Winter Sports is based on students' Quarter 1 Grades on the Report Card. Quarter 1 Grades close on Friday 11/4, but Academic Eligibility for Athletics take effect the day report cards are sent home. This date will be Thursday 11/10. Students must pass (D- or higher) at least three classes to remain eligible to compete. Students who fail exactly two classes may be eligible if they participate in an academic intervention program for student athletes. Students who fail 3 or 4 classes are completely ineligible to play effective Thursday 11/10. Please reach out to your coach or assistant principal with questions.
• RHS Cheer hosted a youth event where participants went to practice on Wednesday and the game on Friday. Shout out to the Football and Cheer Seniors!
  

We are excited to announce to the RHS Community that we are creating a new program at RHS called RISE-uP, which stands for the Restorative Intervention and Student Engagement Program. RISE-uP is designed as a social-justice oriented, culturally responsive and anti-racist space to engage students who need support re-entering the RHS community. The program will serve a wide range of students from those returning to school from hospitalization, those struggling to engage with or having conflict with peers/teachers, those suspended from school and those requiring more intensive interdisciplinary work to engage in grade-level curriculum. We will share more about the program in the coming months, but here are some highlights:

• ELA teacher Ms. Sarah Chaves, pictured to the right, will transition into the role of RHS Restorative Practices Interventionist. She will work with administrators, counselors, students and teachers to coordinate a restorative approach to conflict resolution, while mentoring a group of peer-mediators called "RISE-uP Fellows."
• We will identify several juniors and seniors interested in taking a course called RISE-uP Seminar. Similar to the Writing Center and STEM Center, RISE-uP Fellows who take the course will be trained to work as peer-mentors and peer-mediators to support their peers through conflict.
• We will use our Revere Schools Partnership with the Suffolk University Center for Restorative Justice to provide training on Restorative Practices
• Here are some examples of the work RISE-uP Fellows and Ms. Chaves may do to engage their students
  
• Structured Peer Mediation and Restorative Circles
• Planned Harm Circles
• Social-Emotional Re-Entry Planning from Extended Absences
• Academic Tutoring to Support Re-Entry from Extended Absences
• Coordination with STEM Center and Writing Center Fellows and Interventionists to provide targeted support
• Designated Re-Engagement Zone for students who need a structured and supportive break from their day before returning to class.

The RHS Life Skills & Post-Graduate Programs teach students with disabilities an all encompassing curriculum of social, academic, vocational, and life skills with the goal of helping students lead as independent a life as possible when they exit school. Upon completing their 4 high school years in the Life Skills program, students receive a certificate of attendance before moving on to the Post-Graduate program at RHS where they continue to deeper their learning until age 22. You may see our students performing vocational tasks around the building and we are always looking for more vocational opportunities as well as expanding chances for meaningful inclusion. Mr. Mackey, Mr. Phillips, and Ms. Rocaberte teach in the Life skills program. Ms. Murphy-Cormier teaches in the Post Grad Program. Both programs are supported by a wonderful team of paraprofessionals.

Take a look at some pictures from Friday's Unified Basketball game at the RHS Field House against Medford. The turnout was great and it was an awesome game!

Adolescent vaping is a public health crisis across the United States, and Revere is no different. I encourage everyone interested in how pervasive this issue is to read the NY Times Article I've linked below. As a school community, we need to approach this as a community issue that requires partnership between the high school, our families, our students and our community partners.

One of our school priorities is to do a better job connecting our families with resources they can use to better support their students. We are looking to get a group of interested parents/guardians to work with our family liaison and our community partners to plan an event where families can learn more about vaping. If you are interested in helping with this work, please email our family liaison Sandra Figueroa <sfigueroa@reverek12.org> to let her know. In the meantime, we wanted to share some resources with families.

At RHS we partner with colleagues at North Suffolk Mental Health to connect families and students to a substance use cessation program called I-Decide. iDECIDE was developed by the Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in collaboration with the Office of Youth and Young Adult Services at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Institute for Health Recovery (IHR).

This week, students in Ms. Rivera's Health Class studied the impact of vaping on lungs. Take a look at the experiment students were working on in the picture above!

Senior Pictures - Jenn Cimino will be at RHS this week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for Senior Yearbook Pictures! Sign up outside room B-16. If you don't schedule to get your photo taken it won't be in the year book! Email Ms. O'Hara with Questions Lianne Mimmo <lmimmo@reverek12.org>.

The yearbook staff invites students, guardians and faculty to submit photos for the yearbook. If you’ve got great photos of school and community events or you and your friends just having fun, we’d like to see them! Our photographers can’t be everywhere. Help us get as many photos as possible to create a terrific book everyone will want to have.

Here is the ling: https://images.jostens.com/0KXO-NQMcUndqb5tTWyh64g

• Click on “Select My Images.”
• Browse to select the photo(s) you wish to upload.
• Enter information about the photo and provide contact information in case the staff needs additional information.
• Click “Upload Chosen Images.”

We are very excited to begin planning the program of the new Revere High School. As you might know, we have a "Vision of the Graduate" working group, made up of students, families, administrators and leaders. This group is working hard to listen to RHS students to hear what they want school to be, and make sure our future planning is moving in the right direction. Our next "Vision of the Graduate" Working Group Meeting will take place on Monday 10/24 from 4:30-6:30 on zoom. If you are interested in joining, please e-mail Ms. Goldman bgoldman@rpsk12.org.

This week the group will explore the themes I shared last week (see below). Then, we will then compare these themes to some of the planning work that has been going on over the past few years. We wanted to share (or re-share) these documents for anyone interested in learning about the future of Revere High School

• New RHS Educational Visioning Team's "Future Ready Learning Goals" (Portuguese & Spanish)
• Revere High School Logic Model RHS Logic Model (Portuguese & Spanish)
• RHS Core Competencies (Portuguese & Spanish)

Here is a reminder of what our students are saying they they want to engage in during their time at RHS.

• College & Career Readiness: Including knowledge of different Trades and Unions

• Adult Independence: Including Life/Adult Skills

• Financial Literacy and Independence: Budgeting, Loans, Taxes and Bills

• Health: Mental Health & Wellness Awareness

• Skills & Knowledge to Have an Impact on the Community/World, Social Skills and Communication Skills

• Emotional Intelligence to Handle Uncertainty

• Understanding of Immigration Process and Citizenship

• Preparation for Excellence in Art, Music and Theater

• Opportunities for Self-Directed Learning

• Leadership Skills, Critical Thinking Skills, Confidence, Self Advocacy Skills, Perseverance & Resilience, Multilingualism and Skills to Engage Across Difference

• Develop Appropriate Work-Life Balance: discipline, time-management, hobbies & passions

• Bullying, Harassment and Bias Reporting: You can use this link to make a report of bullying, harassment or bias.
• RHS Student Activities 2022-2023: You can use this link to explore student activities and when they meet.

Are you or someone you know looking for a part-time role in the educational setting? Please spread the word! Revere High School is seeking part-time paraprofessionals to work in a variety of settings working with unique populations including students with special needs. Experience working with students with special needs, challenging behaviors, and/or early reading instruction preferred. These positions are 5 days per week, 3 hours and 55 minutes per day (19.5 hours per week). There are morning and mid-day/afternoon shifts available. Interested candidates can email interest to Caitlin Reilly, Deputy Principal, at creilly@reverek12.org or apply online at: https://tinyurl.com/RPSparaSEP

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is administered to Revere Students every other year. At the time of the survey last year, only 40% of our students were aware that was a Massachusetts General Hospital School Based Health Center right in Revere High School! For those of you who don't know what services are provide at the MGH Clinic, take a look below.

Examples of Primary Health Care Services

• Physicals
• Immunizations
• Comprehensive health assessments for school, sports, and employment
• Referrals to other specialty providers
• Care coordination for students with special health care needs
• Treatment of acute injuries
• Lab tests and screening
• Oral health evaluations
• Nutrition counseling
• Health insurance enrollments
• Health education
• Prescriptions for medications

Examples of Behavioral Health Services

• Assessments such as depression screening
• Individual and group counseling
• Substance use screening, brief interventions and referral to treatments