Weekly News & Notes
Updates from UHS: December 17, 2021
Latest TikTok Issue
Social media, when used properly, serves many great purposes. It enables our school to share information, highlight accomplishments, and reach a broad audience. Information that needs to be disseminated quickly can be at the touch of a screen in one's pocket, and sources like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter give us resources to integrate into our practices and opportunities to share many great things happening in our school and community. On the flip side, social media gives anyone with a keyboard or touchscreen an audience and a sense of informational entitlement, the risk of sharing bad information, and a chance to heighten hysteria. In short, we spend too much time seeing our work at the school made more complex by the rumor mill, which used to end at cafeteria tables and now cycles in the cyber-sphere for days and weeks on end.
We attempt to be transparent and proactive with communication from Uxbridge High School. As the principal, being the chief information officer at times means providing timely information, while other times managing that cannot be distributed. In an era where many of us are accustomed to having information at a moment's notice, where we are frustrated by what we feel is a lack of transparency, and where news can sometimes be considered "fake" or "alternative facts," we hope that people acknowledge that the information we provide will always be done with the best of intentions and highest degree of accuracy within our right to release.
At the same time, monitoring social media, text, and other communication use is something for which we enlist parental support. Gone are the days of eavesdropping outside the door during a phone call, as students can text, "DM," or Snapchat each other within seconds - often thousands of times a day. Please keep in mind that sometimes these accounts are our best avenue for supporting students and families, as they provide insight to challenges, struggles, and other needs.
Again, we are pleased that today started well, and that our students are in amazingly competent and well-intentioned hands. We look forward to our continued partnership and your ongoing support despite these sometimes unforeseen and often difficult circumstances!
A Few Updates
2. Boys and Girls basketball both started the season 2-0 with wins over BMR and Quaboag. All of the games have been exciting, and we have been managing the realities of competition and practice with the difficulties of mask-wearing. Fan support at all the games has been awesome.
Likewise, our track teams opened the winter with a 3-0 mark for both boys and girls!
3. We are excited to welcome students from grades 4-7 to our fabrication lab next Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Mr. Smutok and students from our engineering pathway will be introducing our programs, hardware, and technology to our younger students in Uxbridge. We hope to host these periodically throughout the year, as we continue to grow exposure and opportunities for transition to UHS.
4. Be on the lookout for a new podcast episode before the holiday break.
MASKING GUIDELINES REMINDER
Unilock
Field
Trip
School Bus Reminder!
Students are required to be masked at all times while riding school buses.
Also, if a parent ever has a situation where the bus not arrive with 10 minutes of the normal pickup time, please contact the central office at 508-278-8648 to report the problem.
Uxbridge High School
Email: mrubin@uxbridge.k12.ma.us
Website: www.uxbridgeschools.com
Location: 300 Quaker Highway, Uxbridge, MA, USA
Phone: (508)278-8633
Twitter: @UxbHSPrincipal