Eagle Parent News
Academy of Computer Science and Engineering Weekly
10/26 - 11/2/24
Message from the Principal
Good Afternoon, CompSci Families,
Last week was a busy one with SAT/PSAT exams, field trips, sports events, a half day, and students preparing for the final week of the 1st Quarter. Our students put in a tremendous effort on the SAT/PSAT, and make-up testing will be held this Tuesday and Wednesday.
As we approach the end of the 1st Quarter, it’s crucial that students submit any remaining assignments on time and work with their teachers to address any areas needing improvement. We are also focusing on Habits of Work, which promote the skills and behaviors students need to excel.
Wishing you a restful weekend,
Mr. Carter
Upcoming Events for our Students
End of 1st Quarter - Thursday October 31st
Connecticut Free Application Day - Friday, November 1st
Daylight Savings - Clocks fall back 1 hour - Sunday November 3rd
FAFSA Informational Session Night - Senior Families - Monday, November 4th
Senior Families - FAFSA BETA Submission Window Nov 4 - 7th - See below for more information
No School - Tuesday November 5th - Please be sure to get out and Vote!
No School - Veteran's Day - Monday November 11th
Announcements
Parent Advisory Board Zoom - Tuesday 10/29
Parent Advisory Board is open to any and all parents/guardians of our students at CompSci High. We meet monthly for a 30 minute Zoom meeting. I this we cover updates, upcoming events, information on the happenings at school, issues that impact students and families, and the opportunity to ask questions. If you are interested in attending, a Zoom link will go out the afternoon of the meeting. Below is the link to the notes so you all families can see what was discussed or introduced.
1st Quarter End - Thursday October 31st
1st Quarter ends this Thursday, October 31st. All work still eligible to be turned in must be in to teachers by the deadlines set by each teacher.
SAT/PSAT Make Ups this Tuesday and Wednesday
Students that were unable to take the SAT/PSAT last week will have the opportunity to make them up this week.
-Tuesday, October 29th will be our SAT make up exam. Students will report to the Auditorium after breakfast.
-Wednesday, October 30th will be our PSAT (10th and 11th grade) make up exam. Students will report to the Auditorium after breakfast.
Attention Parents Trying to Access Powerschool
If you are still in need of accessing Powerschool, please do the following below to either find or recover your username and password:
1. Check your primary email from mid August for an email from "CREC PowerSchool"
- If you do not find that email please do step 2
2. Email powerschoolsupport@crec.org - state that you cannot log into your account and they will provide you with your username and password
PowerSchool Field Trip Permission Slip signing
CREC has moved to a digital Permission Slip for all Field Trips. In order to access the Permission Slips for your student do the following:
1. Log into your Powerschool
2. On the left side there is an option that says "Forms"
3. Once in the "Forms" tab, a section will be there for "Permission Slips"
4. If your student has a Field Trip they are eligible to attend, the trip will be listed there.
5. Click into the Field Trip and Esign the form.
If the permission slip is "Closed" it indicates the Permission Slip signing period has closed and students will no longer be eligible to attend the trip due to CREC Field Trip protocols.
Attention 11th and 12th grade Families - Military Opt Out
Every year all schools in CT must provide a list of 11th and 12th grade students to the various military recruitment officers. This information includes your students name, birthdate, primary address and parent contact information. In order to not have your student's information shared, the form below must be filled out.
Computer Science Update
Thank you to Dr. Sonia Mitchell for putting together a robust Computer Science Newsletter. Please take a few minutes to review the many Computer Science related items in the newsletter. https://secure.smore.com/n/7guzn
CompSci High is Proud to Announce the Opening of the Student Writing Center
The Writing Center is now OPEN and ready to help students with ANY writing assignment from ANY course. Students or parents can schedule a student for an appointment or they can walk in during our open hours. Please follow this link to schedule an appointment!”
Happenings in Hartford!
Resources for 24 - 25 School Year
AfterSchool Activities
Homework Club - Please read below for how to sign your student up
Homework Club is starting at Comp Sci High!
Who Should Attend:
- Any student that would benefit from working with staff members to complete work or require extra help.
When Does it Run:
- Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:15 – 4:30pm in the Library (with a snack provided).
Expectations:
- Students need to have work to complete - This is not a hangout club
- No Cell phones will not be allowed during HW Club.
- No Food Deliveries are allowed
- Both Hartford Late Bus and a Suburban Late busses are available.
- Please look at the list of stops here for more information https://docs.google.com/document/d/1llvZLHtkg921a0dfSb5tJif4vjIN5jnQenkQEkekLLo/edit?usp=sharing.
- Parents/guardians only can sign up students for Homework Club starting at 8am Friday mornings through 8am Tuesday.
- Students cannot elect to stay without their parent signing them up.
- This allows us to provide enough time to staff members to prepare.
- If your student is interested in attending, please fill out this form https://forms.gle/7DWtastEU5XYxMSa7
- The form will ask you which days your student is interested in attending as well as how your student will be getting home.
Clubs and Afterschool Activities
We are looking to start clubs in then next few weeks. Students can look to join:
Esports - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday - See Mr. McGurk/Ms. Jas
Robotics - Monday, Tuesday and Thursday - See Ms. Windsor-Post
Homework Club - Tuesday and Thursdays - Club requires Parents to sign their student up each week. Info above..
Esports -Monday Free Play Schedule
Mondays - Free Play - See Schedule Below. Students are now required to sign up on the Google Form by Monday at Noon. Students can access the form in the Student Bookmarks on the Chromebook.
Open Play All - 11/4; 11/25; 12/9
Open Play - Girls Only - 10/28; 11/18; 12/2; 12/16
Sports
Sports this week
Thursday October 31
Cross Country - 2:00 PM CIAC State Open Championship
Friday November 1
Football Varsity 6:30 PM Away @Rockville
Saturday November 2
Football JV 10:30 AM Home vs. Rockville
Additional Dates will be added for the Boys Soccer and Girls Volleyball state tournament games
Class of 2025 - Our Seniors
CT Application Fee Free Day – 11/1/24
In support of CT’s Application Fee Free day, Comp Sci is holding an application station in the atrium! All of Connecticut’s public universities have free applications on November 1. Come to the atrium this day to complete your application or show us that you have already submitted to one of the 5 universities and you will receive treats and swag! Additionally, any student that completes their application on or before 11/1 will be entered into an hourly raffle! Schools participating in this event are UConn, Western CT State University, Central CT State University, Southern CT State University, and Eastern CT State University.
CREC Selected to Pilot new FAFSA program - FREE APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL STUDENT AID
CREC has been selected by the U.S. Department of Education to participate in the FAFSA Beta, the beta testing program for the 2025-26 FAFSA form. This means that our students will be able to fill out the FAFSA form during a testing window from November 4 through November 7. This is the real FAFSA and will be processed the same as the ones submitted after December 1. For more information about FAFSA Beta, go here.
To participate in the FAFSA Beta and fill out your 2025-26 FAFSA form early, you need to:
1. Create a StudentAid.gov account - More info below
2. Determine who your contributors will be. A contributor is someone who provides financial information on the form, usually a parent or a spouse. If you aren’t sure if you are a dependent or an independent student, go here. To learn which of your parents is your contributor (it’s usually only one), go here.
3. Ask your contributor(s) to create a StudentAid.gov account, if they don’t have one already.
4. Submit the contributor information form by the October 28th deadline: https://surveys.studentaid.gov/?89YNFs-hQbpcds1CrqAoac&fafsa_beta_orgs=Org46
It will ask for the email(s) associated with your and your contributor’s StudentAid.gov account(s). Note that this link is unique to CREC and should not be shared outside CREC. If it is widely used by people outside our community, CREC as a whole may be barred from participating in FAFSA Beta.
To submit your FAFSA form early, you must do so between November 4-7. You will need to invite any contributor(s) to fill out their section(s) of the form.
If you have any questions about the FAFSA Beta, please contact Richard Serrano at 860-990-0098 or riserrano@crec.org
FAFSA & FSA ID HOW TO INFORMATION
CREC is participating in FAFSA Beta from 11/4 until 11/7 this year! Mr. Serrano will be coming into senior workshops on 10/25 and 10/28 to help students complete their FSA ID and other supporting documents to prepare for the Beta window. In order to do this step, students will need to know their Social Security Number and bring their chrome books. Having your FSA ID completed will help speed up the FAFSA process. We will raffle off a prize to each senior workshop! FAFSA will open again on 12/1 for all students.
Parents/Guardians- you will also need an account to help your student complete their FAFSA. You can also create your FSA ID now!
FSA ID Video – 6 minute How-To video
Create your account – begin creating account here **You will need your social security number**
Schedule an appointment – Mr. Serrano will be at Comp Sci High each Wednesday for FAFSA assistance. Students and parents can request a meeting for Wednesdays or another time that works for you.
Mr. Serrano is here to help with FAFSA! See Below
Mr. Serrano will be coming into senior workshops on 10/25 and 10/28 to complete the FSA ID and Contributor Form with students. There will be a raffle for each senior workshop for students who have created their FSA ID and completed their Contributor Form. Social Security Number is required to complete the FSA ID and the Contributor Form must be completed by 10/28 in order to participate in FAFSA Beta. Students who do not participate in FAFSA Beta will be able to complete their FAFSA beginning on 12/1.
Link to schedule appointment with Rich- https://forms.gle/j9SH8XbEjvUzozfr7
College In-School Informational Sessions:
This week we are proud to welcome New Jersey Institution of Technology and Rhode Island College. If your student is interested in signing up to attend they can scan the QR Code on Guidance Office door or access their School Links in their Student Bookmarks on their Chromebooks.
CT State Free Tuition & Career Presentations – 11/21/24
Did you know you can go to CT State for free!? Students enrolled in 6 or more credits at any CT State campus might be eligible for free classes! To learn more, visit CT State Free Tuition. To help students learn more about what CT State has to offer, we will be hosting a CT State Career Presentation event on November 21 at Comp Sci. Representatives from different certificate programs at CT State will be in attendance to present about their programs and then meet with students in more of a fair setting to answer further questions. Below are the programs that have registered to come so far:
-Welding, Robotics, & Engineering
-Dental Hygiene
-Computer Networking, Cyber security, and Computer Science
-Advanced/Precision Manufacturing Technology
-Veterinary Technology
And hopefully more to come!
Class of 2026 - Our Juniors
Juniors headed to Broadway - November 6th
POur Juniors will be travelling to New York City's Broadway to see a play. This trip will leave at regular school time and will return after hours. Student permission slips will be on PowerSchool in the coming weeks. Please be on the lookout for that.
Class of 2027 - Our Sophomores
Class of 2028 - Our Freshman
Parent Resources
Parent PowerSchool Accounts - Important - Please Read
This school year, CREC Schools will continue to use PowerSchool’s Parent Portal, the one place for parents and guardians to stay connected to their child’s school with real-time access to attendance, grades, schedules, permission slips, and more!
How to Access PowerSchool’s Parent Portal
· New and returning families to CREC Schools received an email the week of August 13th from CREC PowerSchool <no-reply@rackspace.powerschool.com>, titled, “PowerSchool Account Change” including their Parent Portal account information and login instructions.
· Returning families with existing PowerSchool Parent Portal accounts who have new students new to CREC will have their students added to their accounts. They will receive an email from <no-reply@rackspace.powerschool.com> titled, “Your PowerSchool Parent account information has changed.”
· Please remember to check your SPAM/Junk folders if you do not see either email in your inbox.
For further Parent Portal information such as how to download the mobile app, add additional children to your account, and what to do if you forget your username or password, visit https://www.crecschools.org/for_families/family_resources/techtools.
Questions about your Parent Portal account? Email powerschoolsupport@crec.org.
Parent Advisory Board - Notes
Parent Advisory Board is open to any and all parents/guardians of our students at CompSci High. We meet monthly for a 30 minute Zoom meeting. I this we cover updates, upcoming events, information on the happenings at school, issues that impact students and families, and the opportunity to ask questions. If you are interested in attending, a Zoom link will go out the afternoon of the meeting. Below is the link to the notes so you all families can see what was discussed or introduced.
FACE Information - Family and Community Engagement
Important School Items
CREC Secondary Cell Phone Policy - 24 - 25
- check their phone in at the start of the period to the teacher's electronics holder and will get it back at the conclusion of the class period
- be allowed to view their cell phones during passing time between classes
- be allowed to view their cell phones during their lunch wave
Not Allowed at Any Point during the day:
-Students are not allowed to film, photograph, play music, or be on social media during school time.
-Students are not allowed to take or make phone calls, including Facetime, unless in a designated location assigned by a staff member.
-Students, during transition time or lunch, that choose to wear earbuds/headphones must be have volumes low enough that they can hear directions from staff members.
Attendance Reminder
- CompSci High would like to remind all families of the Attendance Policy. There are actually two Attendance Policies that all schools run - School Attendance and Meeting (class) Attendance.
School Day Attendance - Impact on state reporting for Truancy and course credit
- What is an "Excused School Day Absence"? An absence that the school has confirmed the student was not/will not be in due to something occurring outside of school through documentation.
- Per State of CT Policy - All families can "excuse" the first 9 school absences with a parent note, email, or phone call.
- After Nine (9) School Absences, an excused absence will only be put in the system if a:
Student illness as documented by an appropriately licensed medical professional;
Student observance of a religious holiday;
Death in student’s family or other circumstance outside the student’s family’s control;
Mandated court appearances;
Lack of transportation that is normally provided by a district other than the one the student attends;
Extraordinary educational opportunities pre-approved by CompSci administration
Disciplinary purposes (as decided by CREC and/or CompSci)
- Any School Absences that do not meet the above will be coded as Unexcused
Class (Meeting) Attendance - Impact on Credit being Awarded in each Class
- Types of Absences with Class Attendance:
- 1. Exempt Absences - do not count as absences in a class. These include:
- Religious Holidays - Parent communication is required
- Standardized Testing - Documentation is needed
- College Acceptance Orientation - Documentation is needed
- Death in the Family - Parent communication is required
- Appointments with Student Support Staff - School managed
- Long Term Illness (3+ Day) - Medical documentation is needed
- Mandated Court appearance - Official documentation is needed
- Field Trip - School managed
- Suspension(s) - School managed
- 2. Appealable Absences - class absences that can be appealed and removed if student/family complete the process. These include:
- College Visits: Parents/Guardians are asked to schedule all visits during school vacations or weekends.
- Student-initiated Appointments
- Short Term Illness: Up to two (2) consecutive school days verified by a note
- Non-emergency Medical Visits: Doctor and dental appointments should be scheduled for after-school hours.
- Family Vacations/Trips: Discretion should be used in planning such events. CREC Magnet Schools strongly discourages travel outside of school vacation periods. Students and parents/guardians should realize that if extended vacations contribute to excessive absence, an appeal for reinstatement of credit will not be possible.
- Visits to Nurse: Visits to the school nurse will count as Appealable absences if the student brings a pass from the teacher and the nurse deems the visit necessary.
- Early Dismissal: Proper documentation for early dismissal will include official documentation from the school nurse or documentation from the parent/guardian including the reason that early dismissal is necessary.
- 3. Unappealable Absences - Absences that cannot be appealed
- Class Cuts (in school and skipping class)
- Leaving School Grounds (suppose to be in school but have left school grounds)
CREC Secondary Dress Code
The Essential Rule regarding Dress Code:
All students must cover certain body parts at all times.
All students’ attire must fully cover genitals, buttocks, midsection, chest/breasts, & nipples with opaque fabric, cannot be seen through, at all times.
(a) Students must wear clothing including both a shirt with pants or skirt, or the equivalent (for example: dresses, leggings, or shorts) and shoes; no slides, slippers, or flip flops.
(b) Shirts and dresses must have fabric in the front and on the sides (under the arms).
(c) Clothing must cover undergarments (visible waistbands and straps are permitted).
(d) Fabric covering midsection, breasts/chest, genitals and buttocks must be opaque (unable to be seen through).
(e) No Slides, Slippers, or Open Toe footwear is allowed. All footwear must have a hard sole. Crocs are ok.
(f) Face must be visible at all times to staff. Hats or hoods but not both may be worn in the building. Any other headwear must allow the face to be visible to staff, and not interfere with the line of sight of any student or staff. Hoodies must allow the face to be visible to school staff. Ski masks and Sunglasses are not permitted.
(g) Clothing must be suitable for all scheduled classroom activities including physical
education, science labs, wood shop, and other activities where unique hazards exist. Specialized courses may require specialized attire, such as sports uniforms or safety gear.
(h) The dress code further clarifies prohibitions on attire or grooming “depicting or advocating violence, criminal activity, use of alcohol or drugs, pornography, or hate speech;” defines parent, student, and staff responsibilities; and addresses appropriate enforcement.
(i) No Blankets or pajama pants are permitted to be worn at school.
(j) Costumes of any kind are not permitted with the exception of school sanctioned days.
Academy of Computer Science and Engineering
Greg Carter - Principal
Desmond Caldwell - Assistant Principal
Jessica Sanborn - Assistant Principal
Latoya Malcolm - Dean of Students
Email: gcarter@crec.org
Website: https://acse.crecschools.org/
Location: 1617 King Street, Enfield, CT, USA
Phone: (860) 253 -0274
Mission: The Academy of Computer Science and Engineering High School is a community that promotes student-centered practices by challenging each student in and out of the classroom to be the writer of their own future.
Vision: The diverse learning community of students, staff, and families at the Academy of Computer Science and Engineering High School partner together to create a comprehensive magnet experience. Every member values ongoing feedback, improvement, and development. Our community strives to create a safe, joyful, inquiry-driven environment embracing collaboration, creativity, and innovation through equitable learning experiences. Students learn to master the habits of success that prepare them to be college and career ready as the writers of their own futures.