Dear Parents and Guardians,
We’ve had beautiful summer weather and I hope that everyone has enjoyed vacation time with their families. We have many exciting things going on at the high school this year as we continuously work towards building a warm, positive and academically fulfilling environment for your child.
Our staff has been working very hard on preparing for our first days of school. The first day of school for ALL students is Tuesday, September 5. Please review the attached special schedules with your child so he/she knows what to expect on the first day of school. Wednesday, September 6 will be a regular day of school (7am-2pm) for all students.
First Day of School (9th grade)
Similar to the past two years, we have a special first day planned for Freshman entitled our Freshman Foundations program. We feel that the 8th-9th grade transition is critical to a child’s success in high school and we want all of our 9th graders to feel welcome and comfortable in their new building. In order to prepare our 9th graders for the transition to high school, 9th graders will arrive at school on their normal bus run by 7:00am. Once 9th graders arrive to school they will be organized into groups and attend their first high school community meeting.
After the community meeting, students will rotate through a series of information sessions based on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Stephen Covey. Students will also receive their laptops and learn about how to set up their own digital portfolio for high school. For lunch students will attend a barbecue outside to welcome the Class of 2021! At the end of the day, freshmen will attend an ice cream social with seniors to kick-off the year.
First Day of School
(10th, 11th and 12th Grade)
Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors will have a delayed opening for the first day of school and arrive to school by 11:30am on a special bus run. All bus schedules are posted on the website (http://pvcsd.org/HS/). During the half day, students will receive their laptops, learn how to set up a digital portfolio and attend community meetings with important information about the schedule and other school related items.
2017-2018 New Schedule for Classes
We are implementing a new modified block schedule for the 2017-2018 school year. Last year the teachers and administration spent considerable time researching and discussing a new block schedule format for our school. Some of our teachers and students visited other schools that operate with a block schedule in their building. Students and teachers returned enthusiastic about having the opportunity for a similar schedule in our building.
Research shows many benefits for schools that move to block scheduling:
- The increased time in class leads to improved teaching and learning. Teachers integrate more authentic hands on activities that enhance student interest.
- Longer periods several times a week lead to closer connections between students and teachers which improves student motivation
- Research reports that with longer blocks, stress for students and teachers is reduced, and discipline issues also decrease.
Our new schedule is attached. We will prepare our students with a special opening day information session where students will be introduced to the new schedule and learn strategies and apps to easily help them follow their daily routine. If your child would like to get a head start on organization, some free apps for scheduling classes are Class Manager, Student Agenda and Homework Suite Student Planner. These apps can help your child with their course schedule as well as organizing homework assignments.
New Teachers
We hired several new teachers to join our staff at the high school for this coming year. Each prospective candidate went through a rigorous process of interviews with administration, teachers, students, and community followed by a demonstration lesson with students and department members. We are very eager to welcome the following teachers to our building:
Ms. Danielle Pizutto, Science
Mr. Jake Ninen, Science
Mr. Matthew Denko, SpecialEducation
Ms. Kerry Sullivan, Math
Ms. Catherine Schoetz, English
Ms. Amy Novak, English
Ms. Adele Foster, English
Student Schedules
Student schedules will be ready for viewing on Friday, August 25 at 10:00 am through the Parent Portal. Once 9th graders receive their schedule, they are welcome to tour the building and practice with their lockers on Monday, August 28 and Tuesday, August 29 from 9am-2pm.
Digital Portfolios
It is very important that all of our students leave PVHS with the skills to brand themselves and the ability to know how to stand out above the competition. In order to help students with this process, we will be incorporating digital portfolios for students in 9th,10th and 11th grade this year. Digital portfolios are a computer compilation of quality work set against a standard that demonstrates your child’s creativity and achievement over time. Our seniors, who have just a few months before college applications, will be setting up a Linkedin account on the first day of school. This will help our seniors to begin setting up a personal network and personal branding with the guidance of our teachers and technology team.
Adolescence can be a very challenging period of life for individuals and families as conflicts can arise over sleep patterns, homework, personal freedom and communication. Our faculty and staff are here to partner with you to provide support during these challenges. We have two experienced school psychologists, Mrs. Wayne (ewayne@pvcsd.org) and Ms. Noto (gnoto@pvcsd.org) as well as our guidance counselors, Mr. Campion (dcampion@pvcsd.org), Ms. Davino (pdavino@pvcsd.org) and Ms. Kilduff (lkilduff@pvcsd.org) who are available if needed. Also, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Mr. O’Connor (coconnor@pvcsd.org) and myself (sintrieri@pvcsd.org) if you have questions or need guidance about how to navigate an issue for your child.
I look forward to seeing all of our students on Tuesday, September 5!
Sincerely,
Sandra Intrieri