The MHS Community Update

Hello Everyone!

I hope that the changing weather is bringing you happiness, health, and a renewed sense of hope as we move towards a less restrictive way of life! Personally, I know that the longer days and (slightly) relaxed guidelines have done wonders for me!

As we continue to move at warp speed towards the end of the year, I would kindly remind students, faculty, and families about the importance of maintaining attention to detail and finishing strong. As a school community we've done an incredible job at keeping our students, faculty, families, and community safe and productive amidst the most difficult circumstances.

Please be sure to continue keeping the lines of communication open between faculty and administration to ensure that our students are receiving the recognition and praise that they so aptly deserve.

By popular demand, this memo has been stuffed with timelines, dates, expectations, and programmatic updates. Note that many of these events have "tentative" and "TBD" elements that are still being worked out. Active, ongoing conversations are occurring across a variety of planning committees at the moment with the hopes of solidifying these outstanding items as quickly as possible. Thank you in advance for your understanding and continued flexibility as we do everything we can to honor our students and families, most specifically, our outgoing Seniors.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend and please, don't hesitate to reach out if you are in need of anything.

Yours in partnership,

Jeff Heath, PhD

Principal

Middletown High School

• MPS 2020-2021 District Calendar
• MHS "Full-In" Daily Schedule
• PowerSchool, Student Information System Login
• MHS NEW School Profile
• MHS NEW Career & Technical Education website
• MHS End of Year Calendar (Tentative)

In the spirit of transparency and personal accountability, I plan on sharing monthly updates to each of these initiatives so that we all can share in the various successes and shortcomings that each of these categories will surely experience throughout the school year, So without further ado, here are my 5 primary focal points for the 2020-2021 school year and some related updates :

1) Monitor and creatively consider ways to increase reading, writing, and math proficiency across disciplines (UPDATE).

• Preliminary meetings and conversations have begun with MHS faculty, special education staff, guidance, administration, and students around how we might refine our Response to Intervention (RtI) intervention/support model in the building to be more accessible and successful for any student in need

2) Enhance the MHS brand across a variety of mediums including social media, building-based documents, the school website, social media, and traditional/non-traditional programming (UPDATE).

• Continuing to make a concentrated effort to post regularly across our district Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube social media platforms (see links below to follow).
• We continue to add to the NEW MHS website every week to help improve communication and streamline the sharing of important resources

3) Establish and begin wok on a 3-year, rotating Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment (CIA) Curriculum cycle to improve the continuity and outcomes associated with MHS instructional; practices (UPDATE).

• Beginning to prep for Common Course Syllabi work with faculty and staff to provide more curricular transparency and opportunities for interdisciplinary work

4) Assist Mr. Soares and Mr. Clancey in decreasing the number of "serious" disciplinary infractions in comparison to SY 2019-2020 (UPDATE).

• I am happy to report that we are continuing to see next to no "serious" disciplinary infractions thus far at MHS. This is due to a myriad of factors including a smaller student population in the building from day to day, vigilant efforts by Dean Clancey, Asst. Principal Soares, and our amazing support staff, and COVID-related social-emotional considerations.

5) Increase the number and diversity of enrichment opportunities for all students (UPDATE).

• No updates to report

To begin the year, the district is making a big push to increase our communications via social media. Please be sure to follow, retweet, like, and recommend our district social media accounts to anyone who is interested in following along with the countless successes of the Islander Community. #JointheWave

As we continue to inch closer to the end of the school year, many families have been asking for updated information relating to end of the year activities. Although all events are still being planned based on shifting, state-issued guidelines, I would like to provide everyone with the most up to date information regarding the timelines and specific details of these events.Please note that whenever feasible, we do plan on hosting as many "in-person" celebratory events as possible while providing live streaming options and video projection for our distance learners. Finally, please note that times may shift for each event but, for all intents and purposes, the dates can be expected to remain the same:

National Honor Society/Rhode Island Honor Society/World Language Honor Society Induction Ceremony

Grade level: All Junior and Senior students who have been accepted into one of these 3 prestigious organizations.

Date: Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Anticipated Start Time: 6pm

Venues being considered: Outdoors at MHS, Local Auditorium spaces

Preliminary Guest Policy: Limited guest capacity, current conversation is 1-2 guests per student attendee

Special Considerations: none

Class of 2021 Senior Prom

Grade level: Senior students and their 1 guest (MHS students only)

Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Anticipated Start Time: 6pm

Venue: Oceancliff

Preliminary Guest Policy: Limited guest capacity, 1 MHS guest per Senior will be allowed.

Special Considerations: none

2021 Senior Post-Prom Drive-In

Grade level: Senior students and their 1 guest IMHS students only)

Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Anticipated Start Time: 10:30/11:00pm

Venue: Middletown YMCA parking lot

Preliminary Guest Policy: Limited guest capacity, 1 MHS guest per Senior will be allowed.

Special Considerations: Drive-in movie format where students will watch a movie from their cars; hosted by MHS PTG

LAST DAY OF SENIOR CLASSES - Thursday, JUNE 3, 2021

Senior Athletic Awards Ceremony (Previously Senior Athletic Banquet)

Grade level: Senior students and their 1 guest IMHS students only)

Date: Saturday, June 5, 2021 (Rain Date: Sunday, June 6, 2021)

Anticipated Start Time: TBD

Venue: Gaudet Middle School Athletic Field

Preliminary Guest Policy: TBD

Special Considerations: Awards ceremony followed by some type of voluntary, athletic event that is still being discussed

Senior Breakfast

Grade level: Senior students

Date: Monday, June 7, 2021

Anticipated Start Time: 9:00am

Venue: Atlantic Beach Resort

Guest Policy: No guests

Special Considerations: -

Chorus and Band Awards

Grade level: TBD

Date: Monday, June 7, 2021

Anticipated Start Time: TBD

Venue: TBD

Preliminary Guest Policy: 2-4 guests per student

Special Considerations: -

Senior Social and Bonfire

Grade level: Senior students only

Date: TBD

Anticipated Start Time: TBD

Venues being considered: Second Beach

Guest Policy: .no guests

Special Considerations: Bonfire, yard games, and food trucks following appropriate COVID protocols

Senior Awards and Scholarship Night

Grade level: Senior students and their 1 guest (MHS students only)

Date: Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Anticipated Start Time: 6pm

Venues being considered: Outdoors at MHS, Local Auditorium spaces

Preliminary Guest Policy: Limited guest capacity, 2-4 MHS guest per Senior will be allowed.

Special Considerations: -

Senior Picnic

Grade level: Senior students

Date: Thursday, June 10, 2021

Anticipated Start Time: 11am

Venue: Kempenaar's Clamback Club

Guest Policy: no guests

Special Considerations: -

Senior Car Parade

Grade level: Senior students

Date: TBD

Anticipated Start Time: TBD

Venue: Second Beach to Middletown High School

Guest Policy: Spectators are encouraged to be along the parade route as well as at the final destination (MHS)

Special Considerations: -

Senior School Walk-through

Grade level: Senior students

Date: TBD

Anticipated Start Time: TBD

Venue: MHS Halls, MPS elementary schools

Guest Policy: no guests

Special Considerations: -

Senior Night

Grade level: Senior students

Date: Friday, June 11, 2021

Anticipated Start Time: 6pm

Venue: MHS Cafetorium

Guest Policy: no guests

Special Considerations: -

Class of 2021 Graduation

Grade level: Senior students

Date: Saturday June 12, 2021 (Rain Date: Sunday, June 13)

Anticipated Start Time: Tentatively 12pm with the possibility of being moved back into the afternoon/dusk hours

Venue: Gaudet Middle School Athletic Field

Preliminary Guest Policy: 4-6 guests per student graduate

Special Considerations: Guests will be asked to sit in folding chairs on the turf along with graduates. Families will be allowed to sit in pods, but must remain 3-6 ft socially distanced from other pods. More information to come...

Class of 2022 Junior Prom

Grade level: Junior students and their 1 guest (MHS students only)

Date: TBD, currently working to schedule for the week of 6/14 - 6/18,

Anticipated Start Time: 6pm

Venue: Johnny's Restaurant

Preliminary Guest Policy: Limited guest capacity, 1 MHS guest per Junior will be allowed.

Special Considerations: none

LAST DAY OF CLASSES GR 9 -11 - Thursday, JUNE 24, 2021

Attention students and families grades 9 -11! Virtual High School enrollment for the 2021-2022 school year is now open! VHS allows students to take advanced, online courses that may not be offered through our traditional, academic program. VHS courses are a great way to strengthen your transcript and explore new content! Please note that these courses are rigorous in nature and require additional, self-moderated work time outside of the traditional, in-person classroom to complete. These courses are offered free of charge and are embedded in students' yearly schedules.

If you're interested in enrolling in one of our many VHS course offerings, please check out the following video: VHS Offerings for MHS Students

If you have any questions about our VHS programming or related coursework please email our Virtual High School Coordinator, Mr. Dave Fontaine, dfontaine@mpsri.net.

If your student needs to be absent or dismissed from school, please be sure to provide a reason via the phone call, email, or written note provided. The RI Department of Education requires that all student absences and dismissals have an attached "reason." While "undefined" is an option that we may select, RIDE often contacts us to get clarification on attendance records with the "undefined" designation. Providing a reason for absences and dismissals avoids this problem and allows us to more efficiently track the attendance patterns and general whereabouts of our students. Thanks in advance for your assistance!

Does Your Student Need StateWide Transportation for the First Day of School this Upcoming Fall? The Rhode Island Department of Education's Statewide office is under open enrollment and will be taking new transportation requests throughout the school year. Should your student require statewide transportation for the first day of school in the fall of 2021, the deadline for registering your request is July 31.

In preparation for the end of the year, our Senior "M"s have been painted and are ready for pick-up.

One "M" has been created for each member of the Senior class. Distance learning Seniors or family members may stop by MHS at any time to pick-up their M. Please see Mrs. Dowler at the main office front desk and she will provide you with your M. In-Person Seniors, the handing out of Ms began this past Friday as we exited the building. Please continue to keep an ear open during morning announcements as we will continue to distribute these awesome items throughout the next few weeks.

Thank you to all of our PTG members and hard working parents that donated their time to create, paint, and store the Ms for our graduating class! Your hard work and dedication to MHS is much appreciated!

Curious for ideas about how your Senior student might decorate their M? Check out this link!

After 2 weeks of "Full-In" Re-entry, our H block extra help sessions have been picking up steam. Beginning at 12:55 each day, various subject areas are available for additional support, remediation, and enrichment opportunities. For a refresher on which subjects meet on which days, please see page 2 of our "All In" Rotating Bell Schedule linked here.

If you would like more information, click on the brief video posted below. This video was originally created and shared with MHS faculty but I believe it offers some meaningful insight into H block and other re-entry considerations for community members as well.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly at jheath@mpsri.net.

Are you looking to update your contact information? How about looking to access your student's grades? Curious if your student has any recent disciplinary infractions or attendance hiccups? All of these items and more can be accessed via the parent portal of our student information system, PowerSchool. To create a PowerSchool account, please put in a request for a login name and password with our district technology department. The link to make this request can be found here. Click on "IT Help Desk" and follow the associated prompts to get your information.

5/10 - 5/14- Quarter 4 Interims

5/17- Teacher Professional Development Day- Distance Learning for ALL students

5/26- National Honor Society/Rhode Island Honor Society/World Language Honor Society Induction Ceremony (6pm; Location TBD)

5/31- Memorial Day; No School

6/2- Class of 2021 Senior Prom @ Oceancliff (6pm)

6/2- Senior Post-Prom Drive-In @ Middletown YMCA (10:30pm)

6/3- Last Day of Classes for Gr 12

6/5- Senior Athletic Awards at Gaudet Middle School

6/7- Senior Breakfast at Atlantic Beach Resort (9am)

6/7- Chorus and Band Awards

6/9- Senior Awards and Scholarship Night

6/10- Senior Picnic @ Kempenaar's (11am)

6/11-Senior Cap and Gown Distribution

6/11- Senior Night at MHS

6/12- MHS Graduation (Time TBD)

6/13- MHS Graduation (Rain Date)

6/14-6/18- Potential Dates for Junior Prom (TBD)

6/24- Last Day of School Grades 9 - 11

TBD- Senior Car Parade

TBD- Senior School Walk-through

TBD- Senior Bonfire @ Second Beach

Podcast: Revisionist History- Season 3 Episode7: (Gladwell, M.)

This month I've somewhat meshed my book recommendation with one of my most recent obsessions: podcasts. I'm currently listening to Malcom Gladwell's newest audiobook, The Bomber Mafia. Since the jury is still out on how his most recent work will pan out I figured that I would share one of my favorite episodes of his STELLAR podcast: Revisionist History. If you have time and enjoy podcasts I strongly recommend a listen!

Each day we move closer to sending our Seniors on their way! In excited anticipation for upcoming graduation ceremonies, check out Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford University commencement address... it's worth the watch!

Duration: 15m 04s

Education is Freedom. ~Paulo Freire

Email: jheath@mpsri.net
Website: https://wordpress.com/view/theinquisitiveislander.wordpress.com
Location: 130 Valley Rd, Middletown, RI, USA
Phone: (401) 846 - 7250
Twitter: @MHSPrincipal20