Back to School Night - Sept. 15th

September 7, 2016

Dear Wahconah Parents/Guardians:

I am pleased to inform you of Wahconah Regional High School’s upcoming “Back to School Night” on Thursday, September 15^th from 6:30-8:00pm. This evening will provide parents and guardians the opportunity to meet each of their students’ teachers for the 2016-17 School year.

We will be following an abbreviated class schedule for the evening to provide you the opportunity to meet the teachers who will be working with your student. We will be following our “A Day” schedule, therefore, it would be best if you had a hard copy of their class schedule with you that evening. Wahconah support staff will also be on hand to assist you with any needs you may have.

Additionally, we will be offering an introduction to PowerSchool for all interested parents in our auditorium from 5:30-6:30pm. This is optional but many parents might find this useful as we begin the year with a new student information system.

Finally, it is my hope that we breathe new life into our School Advisory Council (SAC) in the coming school year. If this is something you may be interested in, please sign up at the table in A lobby that evening. There will be an informational handout about SAC along with a sign-up sheet on the table as well. For more information about SAC and the many other facets of our school, please consider visiting the new Wahconah website at

http://cbrsdwahconah.ss10.sharpschool.com/

Our website is entering its last phase of construction, but we do have many helpful resources available to you on the site that you can view prior to your visit with us on September 15^th.  On behalf of the Wahconah staff, I look forward to seeing you on the 15^th!

Sincerely,

Aaron M. Robb

Principal

WELCOME BACK!

August 31, 2016

Dear Wahconah school community,

It is both an honor and a privilege to be reaching out to you as the new Principal of Wahconah Regional High School. Mr. Steve Messina, our new Assistant Principal, and I are excited to begin this new endeavor with the staff, students, and families of our great school. Our goal is to reach out to you more often than you’ve probably been accustomed to in an effort to keep you apprised of all of all of the wonderful happenings at Wahconah. Our new school website is up and running but please keep in mind that it’s still under construction and will be so for the next several weeks. You may access it at http://cbrsdwahconah.ss10.sharpschool.com/ where you will also be able to access our school blog and our own Twitter page. You can also find important information at:

• School blog - http://wahconah.blogspot.com/
• Wahconah Twitter - @wahconahrhs
• Mr. Robb’s Twitter - @AaronRobb5

We are also starting this year with a brand new platform that is guaranteed to be an improvement over Edline. As such, have been working tirelessly to bring you PowerSchool. Similarly to the website, we ask for your patience as we continue to learn how to use this new platform to its fullest extent. We plan to offer a face to face session with you prior to “Back to School Night” on September 15th so you can ask any pertinent questions about PowerSchool in that venue.

Our School Advisory Council has remained dormant for the past several years at Wahconah. My hope is to breathe new life into that organization and re-ignite some of the quality communication that occurred in the past as a result of SAC. Typically this group has met one Monday evening a month to discuss issues pertinent to school, get updates from administration, and explore new and exciting ideas in education. I will be sending a separate mass email about that later this month along with more information that will be posted on the school website as well. Please consider joining!

Finally, it is with great pride that I inform you of Wahconah’s acceptance in the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) program. The first official meeting of the newly formed Wahconah Building Committee will take place later this month. We will be sure to post all information pertinent to the MSBA process on our website as well. You can access that information on the “MSBA” Quick Link toward the bottom of the page. We are currently in the eligibility phase of the process, which is the earliest stage. You will be hearing a great deal more about this as the school year progresses. Though there is still plenty of work to be done, it is extremely exciting to be entertaining the prospect of creating a new and improved Wahconah to serve the students of our district well into the 21st century!

On behalf of Mr. Messina and the rest of the Wahconah staff, we are excited to begin anew by working with you and your student in the coming school year.

Sincerely,

Aaron M. Robb

Principal

Health Office News - May

News from the Nurse May 2016

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Parents, guardians and students are invited to attend the last School Health Advisory Committee meeting of the school year which will be held on May 9 at 6:00 PM at the Kittredge School’s Special Education room. Kathy Buckley, Principal at Kittredge School, who is a parent of a transgender young adult will give a presentation on Transgender Insights. The committee, with representation from the school committee, physical education, school nurses, food service and parents and guardians, meets quarterly to discuss health issues that relate to students district wide.

All parents, guardians, teens and teachers are also invited to attend Dr. Ruth Potee’s engaging and informative presentation on The Teen Brain & Risk Taking, on May 26, 6:30 PM at Taconic High School Auditorium.  Dr. Potee is a family practice physician in Greenfield and is Chair of the Healthcare Solutions Opioid Task Force of Franklin County. Her talk is free and open to the public. Attendees will gain insight into how the teen brain develops and functions and how to apply this information in daily interactions with teens.  

Parents and Guardians of 9^th graders are reminded to provide the school nurse with an updated physical exam report and immunization record before the start of the 2016-2017 school year.  Vision, hearing and postural screening as well as measurement of height and weight of the 9^th graders will be concluded by the end of the year. You will be notified by mail if your student does not pass one of the screenings.

Please keep the school nurse informed of changes to your child’s health whether illness, injury, medication or significant life event. I can be reached at 684-1330 x 5; fax: 684-1602; pbushway@cbrsd.org.

Sincerely,

Phoebe Bushway RN MS NCSN

WRHS Students Practice Resiliency with American Idol Contestant Casey McQuillen

Casey McQuillen, a former top 48 American Idol contestant, performed for Wahconah students Thursday afternoon, as part of her “You Matter” tour.  Sharing a combination of stories and original music, she addressed the issues of bullying, resilience, and self-love. The Berkshire Eagle covered the story, on the front page of the Berkshire section, with pictures.

She shared her experience of having made it as a finalist on American Idol, and since the shows had been taped well before they were to air, she, by contract, had to remain silent regarding the outcome. Her family and friends were effusive in their praise and were convinced that she was going to win. For months, having to keep the secret that she had ultimately lost, she struggled with self-doubt and disappointment, which led to weight loss and depression. When her secret was revealed, and her friends and family remained supportive, she came to understand that those who loved and supported her would do so regardless of such outcomes. It also helped her to understand the importance of both self-love and appreciation, and she encouraged the student audience to practice both. 

Casey also talked about being bullied in middle school, and then about a friend who returned to middle school, struggling with a medical issue, only to be treated terribly by his peers. She had written a song about him, which helped him to feel supported, which she performed, and was very well received by the students. Casey also sang another song to everyone in the audience who “feels that people often don’t understand how hard it is being you.”

Finally, Casey stressed the importance of finding what each of us “really wants to do” and then to give it a try – to not let the way people’s lives look on snapchat and Instagram discourage us. She pointed out that no one is snapchatting about when they do things like laundry, and yet everyone has to do things like that.

Casey ended her performance with the students on their feet singing “This Girl is on Fire.” She subsequently met with students for photos.

               The Wahconah Ambassadors, a group of 17 students, sponsored Casey’s visit, through fund raising and support from The United Way. The group’s focus for the year was raising awareness of the importance of being resilient. Members interviewed after the concert were pleased with how everything went. Donna Therrien and Mary DeMaranville, Wahconah faculty members, are the advisors of the group.

Latin and Physics Join Forces at Wahconah

Latin and Physics join forces at Wahconah for an exercise in cross-disciplinary learning

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) has made cross-curricular learning one of its signature recommendations for schools in the six-state region. The purpose of this approach is to encourage students to view what they are learning in one class not in isolation, but in concert with the rest of their academic courses. The ultimate goal of cross-curricular teaching and learning is to stimulate students to use their critical thinking skills so they will think “outside the box.” Sometimes a school’s non-stop daily schedule unintentionally prevents both teachers and students from achieving this goal, and often keeps students “locked” into viewing what they learn in one class as separate from information gained in their other five or six classes.

Recently, two Wahconah staff members, Charles Bradshaw and David Dahari, who teach academic subjects that could not be less alike—physics and Latin—agreed to combine two of their classes for two cross curricular sessions. Nearly fifty students met in the Latin classroom, where they shared thoughts and impressions about academic connectivity across the board, and how that matters when it comes to processing everything they learn in school. Both teachers posed essential questions about the importance students should attach to thinking about what they learn in a broader context not simply limited to test and quizzes in one class or another. Although some juniors were among the students involved, a majority were seniors who will be leaving Wahconah in their rear view mirror very shortly.  One of the exercises during the second class included a passage from the Roman writer Lucretius, an atomist, poet and philosopher from the first century before the Common Era. In that selection, he focuses on how irrational the “fear of newness” was then, and the students agreed continues to have a strong presence in our lives some 2,100 years later. The students who will be graduating were asked to share what they might fear about their “new lives” after high school, but what they will also gladly embrace. Mr. Dahari asked students to think about what science really means. Sometimes people equate it with knowledge. But as Mr. Dahari pointed out, what we “know” today may be something very different from what we will “know” five, ten, or fifty years from now. Students offered their thoughts about this, and many were thinking seriously about the process and the purpose of learning as it relates to a holistic overview of the lives they will live after high school.

All in all, both sessions for the combined physics/Latin students yielded positive outcomes. As student Austin Cancilla put it, he felt being in this mixed group was a “healthy” exercise.   Connor Washburn said "I thought it was really amazing that we were able to do so much thinking without lifting a pencil." Connor Matthews just said "I thought it was interesting how much two totally different classes have in common."  

Health Office News - April, 2016

News from the Nurse April 2016

Parents and Guardians are reminded to please keep the school nurse informed, including providing a note from their health care provider, if your child is diagnosed with an illness or sustains a significant injury. This is particularly important if the illness/injury necessitates any accommodation for your student, such as restriction from physical education.

 If your child becomes ill or injured during the school day he or she must see the school nurse for evaluation.  The school nurse will make an assessment and will contact the parent or guardian before a dismissal takes place.  When possible please make medical appointments for after the school day. If your child needs a medical appointment during the school hours and needs to be picked up early or will come in late please notify Mrs. Stowers well in advance and provide the school nurse with a Dr.’s note.

If your child needs medication to be administered during the school day, please notify the school nurse to make arrangements. Students are not permitted to carry their own medication other than EPI PEN and inhalers.

Parents and guardians of 9^th graders: health screenings will be continuing through April. You will be notified by mail if your student does not pass a vision, hearing or postural screening. You are reminded that all students entering grade 10 are required, by the Department of Public Health, to submit a recent report of physical examination to the school nurse before the start of school in September. This is especially important if your student does not play a sport for WRHS. The reports can be dropped off to me at school or mailed or faxed to my desk.

Parents and Guardians of Seniors: your student will receive their cumulative health record including a print out of their immunizations at the end of the year during graduation rehearsal. This is important information to keep in a safe place for future reference.  All colleges, the military and some places of employment have immunization requirements. It will convenient in the future to have access to these records.

With Prom and the Spring/Summer season around the corner, please be aware of the dangers of tanning, especially the use of tanning salons and discourage your teen from tanning. Tanning and sunburn can have very serious consequences, particularly to teenagers.  Sunburn and tanning, particularly from the use of tanning salons, has been shown to be closely linked to the development of malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns; I can be reached at ph. 684-1330 x 5; fax: 684-1330. Email: pbushway@cbrsd.org.

Sincerely, 

Phoebe Bushway RN MS NCSN

2016 Senior End-of-Year Schedule

SENIOR END-OF-YEAR SCHEDULE

2016

Seniors’ last day of classes: 

·         Monday, May 23

Senior Final Exams:

·         Tuesday, May 24 (Day 7 - per. TBA)

·         Wednesday, May 25 (Day 1 - per. TBA)

·         Thursday, May 26 (Day 2 - per. TBA)

·         Friday, May 27 (Day 3 - per. 4 with graduation rehearsal to follow)

Senior Events and Graduation Rehearsal Schedule:

·         Friday, May 27 (graduation rehearsal  12:30 – 2:21pm)

o   Explain expectations

o   Organize the class with seating arrangement; clipboards with name order

o   Practice processional/recessional

·         Sunday, May 29 - PROM

·         Monday, May 30 – NO SCHOOL (MEMORIAL DAY)

·         Tuesday, May 31 (Class Trip – Time/Place TBA)

·         Wednesday, June 1 (graduation rehearsal 9:00 – 11:00am; Class Picnic to follow)

o   Distribution of health records, caps/gowns, graduation tickets

o   Senior Assembly practice w/Mr. Bradshaw

·         Thursday, June 2 (final graduation rehearsal 9:00 – 11:00am; report cards distributed)

o   Practice handing of diplomas with Ms. Casna and Mr. Armacost

·         Thursday, June 2 (Class Night @ 7pm; graduates assemble in A lobby at 6:15pm)

·         Friday, June 3 (Senior Assembly @ 10am; graduates assemble in gym at 9:30am)

·         Sunday, June 5 (Graduation @ 1pm; graduates assemble in A lobby at 12:15pm)

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING: 

·         Graduation rehearsals are mandatory

^o     NO SHOW to Graduation Rehearsal  on May 27 =  no Class Trip and no Senior Assembly

o   NO SHOW to Graduation Rehearsal  on June 1 and/or June 2 = no Senior Assembly

o   NO SHOW to Class Night on June 2 = no Senior Assembly

·         Caps/gowns will not be released until all academic/financial obligations are met