August 2017

Summer Newsletter Dear LMHS Families, It’s that time already, to begin thinking once again about starting up the new school year! Our staff will come back on Thursday, August 24, and the first day for students will be Monday, August 28. As we’ve done for several years, the first two student days will be half days; our dismissal time is 11:26am. Here are some details for the opening week of school: Monday, August 28 – first day of school for students / half day – An “orange day” 7:54 – Warning bell rings 7:58 – Homeroom period begins for all students 7:58 – 8:15 - Homeroom (schedules and other information will be distributed) 8:20 – 9:03 - Period A 9:07 – 9:50 - Period B 9:54 – 10:38 - Period C 10:42 – 11:26 – Period D Tuesday, August 29 – half day – An “orange day” 7:54 – Warning bell rings 7:58 – Homeroom period begins for all students 7:58 – 8:30 - Homeroom (form return and summer reading assessment part 1) 8:34 – 9:14 - Period E (grades 7/8/9 assembly) 9:18 – 9:58 - Period F (grades 10/11/12 assembly) 10:02 – 10:42 - Period G 10:46 – 11:26 - Period H Wednesday, August 30 – A “black day” Thursday, August 31 – An “orange day” Friday, September 1 – A “black day” Regular days and bell schedules Monday, September 4 – Labor Day No School Wednesday, September 6 School pictures before lunch – more info to come from the studio Homeroom period after lunch – for summer reading assessment part 2 You may have noticed that during the homeroom period on Tuesday, August 29 students will be taking the first part of their summer reading assessment. Just a reminder that this year, students in grades 7/8/9 have been assigned Wonder by R.J. Palacio and students in grades 10/11/12 have been assigned Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles. A pass/fail grade for summer reading will appear on student transcripts starting this year, so make sure that your student has read the correct book in time for the assessment! We do have copies available for signout in the main office. We will be welcoming several new faces to the LMHS faculty and staff this year: • Nicole Maddalena arrives as our new Dean of Students. Nicole replaces Art Reilly, who is now the full-time athletic director at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.

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Holly Freadman will be a long-term substitute in the English department for Jessica Hudnall’s maternity leave. Samantha Barbarotta will be our new physical education and health teacher, filling Cynthia Brouker’s position after her retirement. Shannon Clark is our new guidance counselor for grades 7-9. Shannon takes over after Dave Duquette’s retirement. Liz Spoto joins our special education department in the Life Skills program, after Deb Connors’ retirement. While Amy Consolati is not a new face to LMHS, she will be transferring from the library to the social studies department, taking the position formerly held by Paul Belknap, who has retired. Another familiar face in a new role: Keith Thomson has taken over the athletic director’s duties that Art Reilly used to have. At this point we are searching for a middle school science teacher to replace Tim Mertinooke, who was recently named Dean of Students at Lee Elementary School.

As we head into the new year, I’d like to share information with you about several of our initiatives: ✓ We are excited to offer our first Carpentry I class in many years. These students will have the opportunity to participate in a vocational carpentry program for the next four years, and leave LMHS upon graduation with the skills necessary to move forward in the field. ✓ We continue our move forward in the area of “competency-based grading.” Some teachers will continue a pilot began last year, where student grades are determined on proficiency toward meeting standards and goals in a course, instead of determined by a formula that gives a certain weight to tests, a different weight to quizzes, etc. As we move toward this goal as a faculty, all teachers this year will begin using our “soft skills rubric” to report on non-academic grades such as timeliness, participation, and preparedness; the course grade will only be determined based on academic scores. Additionally, all courses will have running averages that always give the current final average for the course, and don’t reset each quarter. We’ll have more information at our Open House night, and will send more information about these changes with the first quarter report card. ✓ We will begin a study to assess how well we are meeting our school’s guiding Vision and Beliefs. This will begin as in internal study with the faculty in the fall, and later in the year we will be seeking input from the greater school community, including parents and other community members. Enclosed with this letter, you’ll find a copy of your student(s) schedule, a copy of the calendar for the new school year, and a copy of the free and reduced lunch application. If your student still has outstanding schedule issues, the counselors will be available at the end of August, before the start of the year; contact the guidance office for details. You can also mark your calendars for our annual fall Open House on Thursday, September 14. If you are looking for a way to participate as a parent in the life of the school, please consider joining our School Council. The Council meets quarterly, and has among it’s duties reviewing the Handbook and recommending changes to rules and procedures of the school; and approving the annual School Improvement Plan. Please contact me if you would like to join the Council. As always, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Have a great rest of the summer! Sincerely,

Gregg M. Brighenti Principal