September 4, 2023
September 11, 2023
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
We continue to renew, revisit, and establish habits and routines. During Advisory this week, all of our students will revisit our safety procedures, protocols, and expectations.
As we share with our students, 1700 people come to our school every day. All of us have a job. That job is to engage in, promote, or support student learning. We all play a role in the safety and security of our campus. I cannot say it enough. We need to have a school community where everyone who is concerned about someone, says something. If you see anyone or anything that does not seem ok, say something.
Shared in this newsletter is a longer update regarding our safety drills and protocols.
Make it it a great day, make it a better tomorrow, and Go Sabers,
Mr. Vuolo
SAFETY DRILLS
September 11, 2023
Dear Families,
As we work to provide a safe learning environment for our students and staff, we are preparing regular safety drills to continue to develop higher levels of building security. The school safety drills include the following as indicated in our District Crisis Response Guidelines and the Wisconsin State Statutes: fire, security, severe weather/tornado and medical. Our goal is to continue to help all students, staff, and families be and feel safe in our school.
The second week of school, September 11-15, we will be conducting a lockdown drill. During the lockdown drill, an announcement will be made and students will remain in their classrooms with their doors shut and locked. The week of September 18-22, we will practice another evacuation, specifically an Evacuation/Safe Haven drill. During the Evacuation drill, students will evacuate the building and then travel to another location to practice our procedures should there be a circumstance where we could not immediately return to the building.
Our teachers will share pertinent procedures and expectations with their students prior to this drill. It is also suggested that you have discussions with your children on the importance of the safety procedures we have in place.
New for the 23-24 school year and beyond, we will be conducting one safety drill each month. Please see the schedule below for the type of drill that will be conducted. In addition, these drills will all be announced to our staff. Our goal is to create a culture of safety where announcements and alarms that are safety related without being known in advance trigger us to respond as if there were a true emergency. The only drills that will remain unannounced are the emergency medical drills that primarily involve staff and “holds.” We put the building on “hold” to ensure we can respond to a given situation and all students and staff are in classrooms conducting business as usual until the hold is lifted.
AP EXAM ORDERING IS UNDERWAY - ACTION NEEDED BY SEPTEMBER 27, PAYMENT NEEDED BY OCTOBER 12
The AP exam ordering process is slightly different this school year and involves two important steps. All AP students should have received the two-page electronic handout found here in their AP courses. Please read this document carefully for details, including the exam schedule on the second page. All AP Students should also join the FHS AP Students Google Classroom with the code given to them from teachers or found on the handout. A brief informational video can also be found here regarding the My AP site and exam ordering procedures.
Note that there are 2 required steps to ordering before a student's exam order can be processed:
STEP 1. Students must login to their My AP account (myap.collegeboard.org), join the appropriate course section with the join code given to them by their AP teacher(s), and MUST opt-in to ordering each exam, if they wish to do so, in My AP for each class by September 27.
STEP 2. Exam fees will then be added to the student's online FHS student fee account on RevTrak/PowerSchool by October 2 (same system used to pay school fees) and must be paid online (preferable) or in FHS/Student Services Office by October 12.
This year, each AP exam costs $101 (AP Seminar and AP Research are $149). Fee waivers are available for students who receive free/reduced lunch - see details on handout and in video. Students who may need accommodations on AP exams per an IEP or 504 Plan should see Mrs. Oost in Student Services this fall. Please see Mrs. Oost or Mrs. Bednar in Student Services if you have questions at any time. We wish you the best in your AP classes this year!
PSAT/NMSQT TESTS
Pre-SAT / National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test
Franklin HIgh School sopohomores and juniors will have the opportunity to take the PSAT/NMSQT test on Tuesday, October 17th beginning at 7:15am at Franklin High School. The cost for this optional test is $18. Space is limited and will be filled on a first come first serve basis. This year’s test is digital/online (only format offered from PSAT).
Deadline to sign up for the PSAT is September 20th!
What is the PSAT (Pre-SAT) / NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test)?
An on line test that:
Assesses academic skill levels and college and career readiness
Prepares students for college admissions testing
Provides access to college planning resources
Allows Juniors to enter the National Merit Scholarship Program
Connects students with colleges and universities
Offers suggestions for improvement of academic skills on college admissions tests
Students may sign up for this optional test by filling out the form that will be sent to their FHS email on September 12th. Registration will not be considered complete until the form is filled out and the $18 fee is turned in to the Student Services office. The required fee can be cash or check made payable to Franklin High School and turned in no later than September 20th. .
Please check out the PSAT/NMSQT website or contact your child’s school counselor for additional information about the test.
BLUE SHIRT DAYS
The first Wednesday of each month is Blue Shirt Day. Our blue shirts say "Be Kind" and serves as a reminder to show kindness and respect to all.
WE'RE HIRING SPECIAL EDUCATION ASSISTANTS
Join the Saber Pride! FHS has immediate openings for part-time special education assistants. If you are interested in working at FHS, please see and share the following link: tinyurl.com/franklinEA #BetterCommunity #SaberPride
9th-12th STUDENT POWERSCHOOL PASSWORD CHANGES
As shared with families , as of August 15th, PowerSchool will be prompting 9th-12th grade students to change their passwords to a new password the next time they log in with their existing "Sabers####" password. After setting a new password, if a student doesn’t remember it in the future, the student should contact the school office for assistance.
Parents, if you forget your PowerSchool password, please use the "Forgot password” at the bottom of the sign in screen.
GOLD PASS - TICKETS FOR ALL HOME ATHLETIC EVENTS 2023-2024
Skip the line and save on tickets! Purchase your Gold Pass today and use the keychain card to get into all home athletics events during the 2023-2024 school year (except WIAA playoff events). Stop and purchase your keychain card in the main office, weekdays from 8am-3pm. Student Gold Passes are $40. Adult Gold Passes are $55. Family Gold Passes (includes 4 passes) are $120. Cash, card, or apple pay accepted in the office.
FHS NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY
Sophomores with a 3.5 unweighted cumulative grade point will be invited to apply for membership in the Franklin High School National Honor Society at the end of the first semester. Interested students must submit their resume, 2 teacher evaluations, 1 community member evaluation, and document 20 hours of community service (forms will be provided).
*It is encouraged to begin documenting your service hours as soon as possible.
Juniors interested in the National Honor Society must satisfy the same criteria and should contact Mr. Decker directly for application materials.
More information (including the Community Service Verification Form), guidelines for service hours, and answers to frequently asked questions can be found on the Franklin High School website under Activities & Athletics.
MAKE UP PHOTO DAY
Student photo make up days are scheduled for October 18th and 19th during school lunch hours. If you haven't gotten your photo taken, we will need you to participate on the 18th and 19th to get a student ID.
FHS HOSTS SABER MARCHING BAND INVITE 9/16/23
Franklin High School is once again proud to host the SABER MARCHING BAND INVITE 2023 on Saturday, September 16th at Sullivan Stadium! Gates open at 3:30pm and the event begins at 4:45pm with a performance of the National Anthem by the Forest Park Middle School bands. You can view the schedule, parking information and all other details here. There are 11 bands scheduled to perform at the event including the Franklin High School band!. Bands will be judged in the areas of music performance, visual performance, music general effect, visual general effect, percussion, and colorguard. Individual class placement awards will be given to all participating bands. Concessions will be open and FHS will be selling student shout-outs and 50/50 raffle tickets at a booth by the home stands. Come spend Saturday night under the lights and enjoy local high school bands performing!
FALL CHILDREN’S CONSIGNMENT SALE REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR SAT 9/16
Looking to clean out those kids' closets and earn a little cash? Register today to be a seller at our semi-annual children's consignment sale at Forest Park Middle School. This past Spring we had a record amount of sellers and buyers and are expecting similar turnouts this Fall. For more information on SELLING or VOLUNTEERING for this event, check out our website.
IMPROVED ATTENDANCE COMMUNICATION 2023-24
As we enter the 2023-24 school year, we want to remind you of the attendance planning we have been working on and will continue to work on into this school year. This year, we worked across the district to better streamline our attendance codes. Our goal is to increase our communication with families around attendance. Recently, we created a district level task force to explore our current practices for communication and partnered with our office staff to make reporting of absences more consistent across all of our buildings while still following Board policy and state law.
One area that is important for parents/guardians to recognize is that it is the district’s responsibility (per state law) to notify parents when their child exceeds 10 days of excused absence. Commonly, these letters/notices from the district are perceived negatively or that a child or family may be “in trouble”, but please know that is not the case! We recognize that health needs, travel, emergencies, and other obligations will contribute to a family’s need to excuse their child from school on occasion. The notice from school that your child has exceeded 10 days of excused absence is a measure we follow to make sure families are informed of these absences. In most cases, this is a start of an ongoing partnership and conversation around making sure children are in school, every day, whenever possible. We know that regular attendance is a predictor of success for children during their school career.
This year, after 10 days of excused absence for any reason, parents/guardians can expect to receive a notification that your child has been out of school for 10 days. This notice will contain details about what will happen if excessive absences continue. We will share more details about what this looks like as we approach the start of the school year and what the family’s responsibility is in terms of a child’s attendance in school. We will continue to also notify families when a student has been unexcused for all or part of 5 days, as this is considered “Habitual Truancy.” Look for more information as we return to school.
HELPFUL LINKS FOR STUDENTS
Below are links to some helpful student resources!
Community Academic & Career Planning Opportunities
Community Resources for Families
COUNSELOR'S CORNER
College Rep visits are beginning on 9/25. Please be sure to follow this link for more information!
FHS INFORMATION LINKS & TIPS!
CATCH UP ON DISTRICT NEWS
Please be sure to read the newest District Newsletter. You can access all the issues here.
SCHOOL INFORMATION
All past FHS Newsletters are stored on our website here
Email: susan.alton@franklin.k12.wi.us
Website: https://www.franklin.k12.wi.us/franklin-high-school
Location: 8222 S 51st St, Franklin, WI 53132, USA
Phone: 414-423-4640
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FranklinHighSchoolSabers
Twitter: @franklinsabers