EXHALE...
Whew! What a week...
Last week's tragic event concluding with the loss of Ellie was very difficult and impacted us all with deep sadness and sympathy for Ellie's family. The family held a private memorial over the weekend and have asked that we celebrate her life through an act of kindness and bringing joy to one another. We will also be gathering food to bring to Ellie's family throughout this week.
Along with this deep sadness and pain of last week, I have found myself incredibly inspired by this amazing faculty and staff. The way the people involved with this tragedy, sprang into action in every possible way and came together to help and give care, was nothing short of extraordinary. The grace, care and kindness that followed by the outpouring of support and seeing our school come together and rally around each other deeply touched my heart and something I will never forget. I am grateful and honored to be in your company.
In my reflection of the school year and participation in the numerous awards and scholarship ceremonies, I am reminded that our students and our school have earned recognition for achievements in academics, athletics, community service and the arts. We continue to make significant progress on the continuum of the improvement cycle and I know that these recognitions, accomplishments and improvements are due to your devotion, commitment and positive contributions to our students and their success. Thank you for staying the course, your hard work and adding meaning and momentum to the focus on student learning. Happily, I believe we are meeting the challenges we face as educators in the year 2016, especially in the state of Arizona. I eagerly look forward to to our continued work and am confident that we will accomplish a great deal more. It is a privilege to know and work with you all.
Best wishes for a pleasant and safe summer. I look forward to seeing you all next fall.
Sincerely,
Stacie
301 Survey
Mary K Walton has asked that all certified FUSD employees take a brief survey regarding 301. Please click here to access the survey.
Safety Protocol Documents
Our CHS Safety Committee has been working on creating a "Safety" notebook for our substitute teachers. The committee has asked that you all take a look a few of the documents to be included in the notebook. I have added these safety documents to the blog under Frequently Used Forms, located on the right hand column of the blog. The committee is open to any thoughts, edits or additions you might have regarding the documents. Please see Jessie O'keefe with your suggestions, or feel free to add comments to the shared documents in the Panther Report.
Jon and Priscilla
Please join us as we bid farewell to two of the most dedicated, and best teachers of all time. We will gather to celebrate the many years of service of Jon Edwards and Priscilla Aydelott on Wednesday, May 25 at Kachina Restaurant at 4:00pm. Hope to see you all there!
Priscilla et all: Thought you might enjoy this poem about Teachers as Miracle Workers by Slam Poet, Taylor Mali Miracle Workers
Faculty Meeting
Faculty meeting ~ End of year school year information ~ Monday, May 23 2:45pm
2016 Commencement Ceremony
NAU J. Walkup Skydome 3:00PM. All faculty and staff are invited to join us for the ceremony on the field of the dome. Please let Becky know if you plan to attend.
Brighter Future
A small victory for Arizona Educators-Prop 123 passes. The top budget priority for prop 123 is supporting teachers with salary increases. The organization Expect More Arizona says "The coalition around education is stronger and more diverse than ever and we hope it continues to grow. " That's good news and deserves a congratulations to everyone who worked hard to support and promote the 123 campaign, the voters who voted yes and the educators who are so well deserving- Kind of a nice way to wrap up the school year!
Reminders
5/23 ~ Faculty Meeting 2:45pm in the Mini-Theater
5/24 ~ Graduation Worker Meeting 1:00pm in the Mini-Theater
5/25 ~ Retirement/End of Year Party 4:00pm Kachina
5/26 ~ Grad Practice 1:30pm at the Dome
5/27 ~ Commencement Ceremony
Good luck with finals this week, see you at the party on the 25th!
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Sunday, May 22, 2016
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Update ~ May 16-20, 2016
Celebrating Success
AZMerit................ ✔
Locker Clean Out.. ✔
Awards Ceremony...✔
Senior Service.........✔
Spring Bash.............✔
Prom........................✔
Amazing kids, Amazing Faculty = Amazing School. Thank you to everyone who organized the numerous events and to you all for your extra time and patience, flexibility and care to help make all the end of the school year events so successful. As we keep saying-it takes a village.
What's up this week?
Wrap up faculty meeting this Tuesday, May 17, 2:45pm in the Mini-Theater.
It's not too late to catch some end of the year student performances:
5/16 ~ Our CHS award winning, Superior with Distinction Orchestra performance 6:30pm , Main Auditorium
5/17 ~ CHS Dance Showcase 7:00pm, Mini-Theater
5/19 ~ Scholarship Presentation Ceremony
5/19 ~ Choir Concert 6:30pm, Main Auditorium
Also
On Wednesday, May 18, the School Structures Solutions Committee will be meeting. The team has decided to focus attention on four areas; CHS Electronic Device Policy, Dress Code and Enforcement, First Two Days Back with students and ways to add an academic focus to our PBIS Structures. If you have thoughts or ideas regarding any of these topics that you would like the team to consider. please e-mail me, so we can include your ideas in our discussion on Wednesday.
Thank you!
End of Year and Retirement Party
Wednesday, May 25 4:00pm (Location TBA)
Press on everyone, have a great week!
Please acknowledge you have read this post by clicking here
AZMerit................ ✔
Locker Clean Out.. ✔
Awards Ceremony...✔
Senior Service.........✔
Spring Bash.............✔
Prom........................✔
Amazing kids, Amazing Faculty = Amazing School. Thank you to everyone who organized the numerous events and to you all for your extra time and patience, flexibility and care to help make all the end of the school year events so successful. As we keep saying-it takes a village.
What's up this week?
Wrap up faculty meeting this Tuesday, May 17, 2:45pm in the Mini-Theater.
It's not too late to catch some end of the year student performances:
5/16 ~ Our CHS award winning, Superior with Distinction Orchestra performance 6:30pm , Main Auditorium
5/17 ~ CHS Dance Showcase 7:00pm, Mini-Theater
5/19 ~ Scholarship Presentation Ceremony
5/19 ~ Choir Concert 6:30pm, Main Auditorium
Also
On Wednesday, May 18, the School Structures Solutions Committee will be meeting. The team has decided to focus attention on four areas; CHS Electronic Device Policy, Dress Code and Enforcement, First Two Days Back with students and ways to add an academic focus to our PBIS Structures. If you have thoughts or ideas regarding any of these topics that you would like the team to consider. please e-mail me, so we can include your ideas in our discussion on Wednesday.
Thank you!
End of Year and Retirement Party
Wednesday, May 25 4:00pm (Location TBA)
Press on everyone, have a great week!
Please acknowledge you have read this post by clicking here
Monday, May 9, 2016
Update ~ May 10-13, 2016
Celebrating Success
Sometimes it's the little things...
One CHS Teacher shared: One of the successes I wanted to share was when I reluctantly returned a phone message from a parent. To my surprise the parent wanted to tell me that this year has been rough on her son at home; the parents separated and they had other personal struggles. But, school and particularly this teacher's class had been a bright spot for her son. She just wanted the teacher to know how grateful she was that her son learned a lot and really enjoyed being in this teacher's class. Thanks for sharing Jonathan Edwards Jr. :)
Another teacher dropped a note off on my desk: "We have so many great students in this school, and that is what keeps making it fun and all worth it for me. When you are having one of those days, and you need to take five minutes and renew your spirit, go find any one of these kids, pull them out and just say hi. This year's 'all-star list' will make your day." The list included 9 students and a brief description of why they are so extraordinary.
Thanks for Sharing Paul Pavlich
And one more for this week, shared by Craig Howdeshell
Panther Strong!
A note from Assistant Superintendent Mary K Walton regarding Grading and Reporting
For the past nine months secondary teachers and administrators have been researching and reflecting upon grading practices with FUSD. Feedback was gathered regarding the three categories: Performance 20%, Measurement 60% and Practice 20% and it was discovered that the system was not meeting the diverse needs of content areas as well as creating a lack of understanding of what belonged in each category. In response to these findings we have taken a small transitional step toward a better representation of student academic progress reporting. For the 2016-17 School Year the categories in GradeBook will now be represented as:
80% = Measurement
20% = Practice
This change will provide the opportunity to gauge the appropriateness of this transitional step. Our continued grading conversations next year will include percentages and suitability of categories.
Thank you for your input and we welcome your continued feedback ~ Mary K. Walton
CHS Student Award Recognition
Thursday, May 12 is our annual Awards Recognition Ceremony. This year the ceremony will be held at Cromer Stadium during combined lunch. We will make an announcement to dismiss award recipients at 10:45am on Thursday. These students have received an invitation by mail and will also have a pass indicating they are award recipients. It is likely the ceremony will go a little into 7th hour, so they will be a few minutes late. Click here for the list of award recipients and please join us in congratulating these outstanding CHS students.
Wind up, Wind Down
This week begins the end of year process for students.
X The TXT
Thursday, May 12 CHS will be hosting the X the TXT campaign presentation in the main auditorium during Pathways. Noah Stalvey will share the dangers and ramifications of distracted driving. The presentation will begin at 1:30pm. Please contact Amanda Stalvey if you are interested in attending with your 7th period Pathway class.
Clutter
Please remember to check the "Clutter" category in webmail on occasion. Evidently, for some mysterious reason, some important e-mails are being diverted to Clutter.
Have a wonderful week and press on!
Please acknowledge you read this post by clicking here
Sometimes it's the little things...
One CHS Teacher shared: One of the successes I wanted to share was when I reluctantly returned a phone message from a parent. To my surprise the parent wanted to tell me that this year has been rough on her son at home; the parents separated and they had other personal struggles. But, school and particularly this teacher's class had been a bright spot for her son. She just wanted the teacher to know how grateful she was that her son learned a lot and really enjoyed being in this teacher's class. Thanks for sharing Jonathan Edwards Jr. :)
Another teacher dropped a note off on my desk: "We have so many great students in this school, and that is what keeps making it fun and all worth it for me. When you are having one of those days, and you need to take five minutes and renew your spirit, go find any one of these kids, pull them out and just say hi. This year's 'all-star list' will make your day." The list included 9 students and a brief description of why they are so extraordinary.
Thanks for Sharing Paul Pavlich
And one more for this week, shared by Craig Howdeshell
Panther Strong!
A note from Assistant Superintendent Mary K Walton regarding Grading and Reporting
For the past nine months secondary teachers and administrators have been researching and reflecting upon grading practices with FUSD. Feedback was gathered regarding the three categories: Performance 20%, Measurement 60% and Practice 20% and it was discovered that the system was not meeting the diverse needs of content areas as well as creating a lack of understanding of what belonged in each category. In response to these findings we have taken a small transitional step toward a better representation of student academic progress reporting. For the 2016-17 School Year the categories in GradeBook will now be represented as:
80% = Measurement
20% = Practice
This change will provide the opportunity to gauge the appropriateness of this transitional step. Our continued grading conversations next year will include percentages and suitability of categories.
Thank you for your input and we welcome your continued feedback ~ Mary K. Walton
CHS Student Award Recognition
Thursday, May 12 is our annual Awards Recognition Ceremony. This year the ceremony will be held at Cromer Stadium during combined lunch. We will make an announcement to dismiss award recipients at 10:45am on Thursday. These students have received an invitation by mail and will also have a pass indicating they are award recipients. It is likely the ceremony will go a little into 7th hour, so they will be a few minutes late. Click here for the list of award recipients and please join us in congratulating these outstanding CHS students.
Wind up, Wind Down
This week begins the end of year process for students.
- Locker Clean Out ~ Thursday, May 12 during 3rd period, students will clean out their lockers. At 9:00am, we will make an announcement asking all students to go to their locker. At 9:20am students will return to 3rd period. They will give their open lock and green sign out form to the 3rd period teacher and a designated student will deliver the locks and forms to Carrie in the bookstore.
- Awards Ceremony & Pizza Lunch ~ Thursday, May 12, 11:05am
- Casa Challenge ~ Friday, May 13 at 8:00am is the annual Citizens Against Substance Abuse Challenge. All Juniors and seniors will go to the main auditorium for this presentation. If you are a teacher of juniors or seniors during first period, please accompany your students to the main auditorium (The presentation should last 1 hour).
- Senior Service Day ~ Friday, May 13 is also our annual Senior Service Project day. All seniors will go to the cafeteria at 9:30am.
- Spring Bash & BBQ ~ All school event on Friday, May 13 at 1:05pm on the practice field. (please refer to schedule sent from Gaby Garcia on 5/5
- Prom ~ Saturday, May 14 at 8:00pm at Findley Volkswagon
X The TXT
Thursday, May 12 CHS will be hosting the X the TXT campaign presentation in the main auditorium during Pathways. Noah Stalvey will share the dangers and ramifications of distracted driving. The presentation will begin at 1:30pm. Please contact Amanda Stalvey if you are interested in attending with your 7th period Pathway class.
Clutter
Please remember to check the "Clutter" category in webmail on occasion. Evidently, for some mysterious reason, some important e-mails are being diverted to Clutter.
Have a wonderful week and press on!
Please acknowledge you read this post by clicking here
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