What to Expect at the High School This Year

Students are in for three major changes at the high school this year, according to Principal Thomas Gwin.

The first major shift in activity will revolve around the Ninth Grade Advisory Program.

“We have been working on a strategic plan for the last year and this year it will get underway," Gwin said. "We will have a Ninth Grade Advisory Program for introduction to the high school … We have made the ninth grade homerooms much smaller for a start, from 26 kids to about 15 or 16. Advisors will meet monthly. The advisor will be with the students all four years. They meet once a month with prescribed program agendas for every meeting to help the kids assimilate from middle school to high school life. A faculty member will be the student's advisor who will act as a go-to person other than the student guidance counselor for aid throughout their four years in high school.”

This idea for a Ninth Grade Advisory Board came from the faculty who felt a need to help middle schoolers transition more fluidly.

“We wanted to give some education to the students in terms of organization, stress release, or bully prevention,” Gwin said. “It was a way to get something across to the kids that doesn't happen in the classroom.”

The second major change at the high school this year revolves around a new homework policy that lays out an expectation for homework guidelines for teachers. Gwin said that some parents of students in honors classes felt their child was being overloaded by too much homework.

Gwin hopes by examining homework closely with teachers and parents, overloading students will be avoided. Included in this new homework policy is a new honor code that lays out what constitutes plagiarism. Gwin said that with the Internet and the ease of cutting and pasting, the high school wants to make clear this won't be tolerated.

“This is to prepare students for college, if they have academic problems like this in college, it leads right to expulsion,” he said.

Thirdly, a feasibility study will be taking place to see what happens to the high school in the next few years. This study will be complete by year's end and will provide help to create recommendations for Gwin and the rest of the administration on how to use the building in upcoming years; what needs renovations, the possibility of additions, and generally, how the high school needs to be improved to deal with the influx or more and more students each year.

“We are going to try and do a better job in terms of communication between faculty and parents and administration and parents. We will survey the parents throughout the year to see if goals are met in the Spring,” said Gwin, detailing an overall change in High School policy expected to take place this year.