Monday, June 02, 2008
2007-08 School Year Comes to an End

As we close the 2007-2008 school year, and say good-bye to the class of 2008, we are reminded of the legacy this class leaves as they depart our hallways. The class of 2008 presented themselves as noticeably responsible leaders at North High, serving as positive role models for the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. The class of 2008 includes members of the 2nd-in-state Varsity Athena Team, the 2nd-in-state Winter Guard Team, the 7th-in-state Boys’ Gymnastics Team, 9th-in-state Girls’ Badminton Team, and the 10th-in-state Speech Team. Furthermore, the class of 2008 had a role in every other academic, athletic, or activity-related organization in the school, establishing a level of excellence for all who follow. We will miss the class of 2008 – a class with great class — but we wish the graduates well as they embark on the exciting futures ahead of them. Indeed, we look forward to hearing about their many successes!

This time of year is also a time of transition, however, and a time for change as we retire two faculty members – math teacher, Larry Puetz (33 years) and special education teacher, Nancy Kunnemann (24 years) — and one support staff member, Joan McGady (9 years). These staff members have been integral to the success of students at North High, and we will long remember the contributions they provided to students, staff, and parents. We certainly wish them a happy and healthy retirement!

For the first time in three years, we will not experience any change in administrative leadership. We will, however, be looking forward to a schedule next year that includes 15 late arrival days and no 11:15 early dismissal days. The late arrival days will provide an opportunity for certified staff members to meet, on a regular basis, in professional learning teams to review student work and make appropriate adjustments in assessment and instruction to positively impact student learning and achievement. And, with this revised schedule, we actually increase instructional time for students while also increasing professional collaboration time for faculty.

Finally, we are indeed pleased to welcome the class of 2012, and their parents, to the North High family. We are confident that the class of 2012 will bring its unique energy and talent to add enthusiastically to our student body. On Thursday, August 14, we invite freshman parents to meet with the administrative team at 7:00 p.m.; additional information will follow later in the summer. The freshmen, themselves, will then join us on Tuesday, August 19, for a morning of transition activities to get acquainted with North High.

Until then, we wish a safe and restful summer to all of our families. We look forward to seeing you in the fall!

Posted by Maria Ward on MONDAY, June 02, 2008

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Friday, March 28, 2008
4th Quarter Begins "A strong finish is as important as a good start"

As we enter into the final stretch of the school year, we ask you to work with your teen(s) to maintain focus on learning and appropriate choices during the fourth quarter. Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of the fact that nine weeks still remain in the school year. And for seniors, some may believe that there’s little left to do, particularly if college acceptance has been solidified. With a full quarter still remaining, however, there is still plenty of time to make the most of learning opportunities, to make good choices for the future, and to attend school every day. We believe that a strong finish is as important as a good start. With these thoughts in mind, we offer a few suggestions to ensure a strong finish.

• Emphasize the importance of daily attendance with your child.
• Outline commitments for each day and week, allowing students to think more carefully about how best to arrange and meet their responsibilities.
• Assist students in the prioritization of tasks, emphasizing that schoolwork must remain a high priority.
• Remind your teen that test anxiety is often produced because of lack of preparedness. • Encourage him/her to start studying for a test several days before the actual test, using the night before a test only for review.
• Help your teen make healthy choices. Remind him/her that unhealthy choices may have consequences they will regret.
• Set high expectations for your teen, but, more important, help him/her to develop high expectations for himself/herself.
• Encourage your teen to be a model of good citizenship each and every day and to take responsibility for his/her actions and the consequences that result from those actions.

While your role includes setting the standards and expectations for your child’s academic success, it is equally important to understand, and acknowledge, that your teen is ultimately responsible for his/her success and for his/her actions, in general. Your contributions, interest, support, and affirmation of your teen’s appropriate choices will help to create conditions in which success is inevitable, ending the school year on a high note.

Important dates to remember: PSAE test dates are April 23 and 24 for all juniors; sophomores will also test on these two days, taking retired ACT and Work Keys tests; freshmen will take the PLAN test on Thursday, April 24. A detailed schedule is included in this newsletter, and a separate mailing will come to your address in April. Please be aware that Friday, April 25, is a full day of school, and our expectation is that all students, freshmen through seniors, are in attendance — just as on any other regular school day. Furthermore, a senior meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 29, during period 2, to talk with seniors about graduation and issues related to graduation. Additional information regarding this meeting will be communicated via announcements.

Finally, barring any other emergency day use, the last official day of school will be Monday, June 2; only students who have finals to make up are required to attend on June 2. For most students, Friday, May 30, will be their last day of school. See the insert included in this newsletter for the second semester final exam schedule.

As always, we greatly appreciate your continued support!

Posted by Maria Ward on FRIDAY, March 28, 2008

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Friday, January 4, 2008
Second Semester Begins

This time of year brings several important events to our students, parents, and staff:

• Ending the first semester and beginning anew with the second, taking an opportunity to celebrate successes and renew effort and focus.
• Welcoming approximately 546 incoming freshmen at the Class of 2012 Open House on February 7.
• Working with our current freshmen, sophomores, and juniors to select appropriate course choices for next year.

Looking at the third item, I would like to focus your attention on course selection. As we review academic performance indicators on an annual basis, the results imply a clear message: students who take a three- and four-year sequence of suggested core courses outperform students who do not. The indicators considered include G.P.A., standardized test results, employment opportunities, and post-secondary school studies. As you and your teenager(s) consider course selections, you are encouraged to work closely with counselors to develop a plan of study that includes rigor and appropriate challenge, a plan of study that will best prepare your teen for the future s/he will face upon graduation from high school. Please be reminded that the class of 2011 and 2012 must earn twenty-two credits to graduate from Community High School District 99. Also, as with the 2007-08 school year, all students, freshmen through seniors, must be enrolled in six credit-earning classes.

In regard to standardized testing, all juniors will take the Prairie State Achievement Examination on April 23 and 24. And, as mandated by state law, this exam is required of all students who receive a regular diploma. A commitment on the part of all of us – staff, students, and parents – will result in scores that truly reflect our students’ capabilities. We appreciate your support and partnership in encouraging your junior(s) to perform his/her best on these test days, upholding the high expectations you/we have for your teen(s) each day. This year, we will also administer practice ACT and Work Keys tests to sophomores during the two PSAE test days. And we will administer the PLAN test to freshmen on the second day of PSAE testing. Seniors will be excused for both of these days. Additional information is included in this newsletter, and specifics regarding the two-day schedule will appear in the March/April 2008 “Notes from North.”

As always, we appreciate your continued efforts to encourage and support your teens to maintain focus, to make healthy lifestyle choices, and to strive for quality in their work.

Posted by Maria Ward on FRIDAY, JANUARY, 4 2008

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Friday, October 26, 2007
First quarter comes to an end.

With the first quarter just completed, we are well on our way into the school year! The first quarter at North High School brought myriad activities that engaged students in significant ways and often resulted in exemplary performance for which our students were recognized. Highlights of those recognitions are contained in this newsletter.

This fall saw the first student leadership weekend come to fruition, and forty-six students, along with eleven adult staff members, joined the OWLS staff (Outdoor Wisconsin Leadership Synergy) at the George Williams/Aurora University campus on Lake Geneva. Senior leaders were key facilitators in supporting underclass peers to participate in team-building activities and focused discussion (in the evening) about courage and “doing the right thing” at North High. We look forward to continued opportunities whereby students can challenge each other to be courageous role models among their peers, making appropriate choices and healthy decisions, sometimes in the face of peer pressure to do otherwise.

Our Homecoming week with the theme, “Under the Big Top,” was a huge success, despite the outcome of our hard-fought football game. Homecoming Olympics involved nearly 800 students on 95 teams. The Ice Cream social offered a “cooling off” for participants while also collecting over 750 non-perishable food items in the food drive. The Variety Show was host to a wide range of superb talent among our students, and the Homecoming Assembly, with a special appearance of the Jesse White tumblers, and Jesse White, himself, was touted as “the best assembly yet” by many of North’s students. Our football game saw hundreds of fans come out to cheer the Trojans, and the Homecoming Dance was a huge success with nearly 1500 students “dancing the night away” in the Purple Gym.

Finally, although we made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the spring of 2006, we did not make AYP in the spring of 2007. Although, as a school, North High exceeded the target of 55% of our students meeting standards in reading and math, every subgroup must also meet the target, and that did not occur in 2007. Consequently, we will develop a revised school improvement plan to target areas in which we have deficiencies. We will be asking for parent input and review of the plan, so please let us know if you have interest in participating on a parent review committee. Furthermore, although we were well above the 55% target this past spring, the target for 2008 will require 62.5% of a school’s students to meet or exceed standards in reading and math. For the first time in the country’s history, all schools will have to “move the middle.” To meet this goal, we will need the collective efforts of staff, students, and parents in order to help all of our students meet expectations. While we have many programs and initiatives at North High in which our students excel — and one test does not define us — we cannot ignore the PSAE test. Building on several initiatives begun in the last several years, we have increased the implementation of research-based learning strategies in classrooms, added an after-school homework assistance program (STRIVE – Success Through Reaching IndiVidual Expectations), and have expanded our literacy liaison content teacher cadre to twenty. We are confident that, with your assistance, we can continue to provide a world-class learning environment for all of our students.

In relation to the information above, I would like to remind all parents of our upcoming Parent-Teacher Conferences which will be held on Thursday, November 1, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. and from 5:30-8:50 p.m. And just a reminder that, for the most up-to-date information, please refer to the Parents’ Calendar as well as to our school website.

We look forward to seeing you in the building!

Posted by Maria Ward on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2007

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Greetings and welcome to the 2007-2008 school year!

It is with great pleasure that I welcome all North High families to the new school year. We have been busily preparing for your arrival all summer and are eager to hear the “buzz” of student conversation in our hallways on August 24, the first day of school. The June Notes from North introduced our new Assistant Principal and two new deans. This newsletter introduces, and welcomes, two new department chairs: Ms. Stacey Villanueva, World Languages Department Chair, and Mr. Scott Wuggazer, Special Services Department Chair. Additionally, our school nurse of nineteen years retired in the spring, and we are pleased to welcome Ms. Sharon Burge to the Nurse’s Office at North High. Additionally, thirteen other certified staff members will be new to North this year, and we look forward to the contributions they will make to our students, both in and out of the classroom. Finally, four new support staff members joined us this summer and have participated in the planning and preparation for the opening of school. I know that both veteran and new staff members join me in welcoming you and your children to the new school year.

As with last year, all teachers will be providing on-line access to their students’ grades, although the frequency of the postings will vary depending on the teacher/course. And, this year, Progress Reports will not be mailed out as they have been in the past, since on-line grades make them obsolete by the time they arrive at your house. Instead, the most current grade online is the “Progress Report.” In the second and fourth quarters, however, grades, as of the fifth week of each quarter, will be mailed to all students who are failing or receiving a “D” in a course. Parents are encouraged to contact their child’s teacher(s) if they have questions about improving their child’s academic status. If Internet access is not available to you in your home, local libraries provide such access. Furthermore, at our Parent Open House, you may stop by our library to “practice” accessing the grades on line if you are unfamiliar with the process.

September 6 is the date of our Parent Open House, and you will have an opportunity to hear from each teacher as to his/her timeframe for posting grades, etc. I encourage all parents to join us on Thursday, September 6, and also on Thursday, November 1, when we will hold our annual Parent-Teacher Conferences. Additionally, for our incoming freshman parents, we will have our Freshman Parents’ Night on Thursday, August 16, from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. (please note change in start time from June newsletter) in the Clarence Johnson Auditorium, at which time the administrative staff will present pertinent information and respond to questions you may have about transition to high school. Finally, the first day of school is Friday, August 24. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors will attend school in the morning, from 8:00 – 11:20 a.m.; freshmen will arrive by 11:00 a.m. for a brief orientation and lunch (provided), after which they will attend classes until 3:25 p.m. The schedules for the day will be an informational piece included in the packet you will pick up on August 20.

We are planning for another exciting and productive school year, and we welcome you, the parents, as partners in our work to help every child be successful. Please consider attending the many academic, athletic, and fine arts events/programs that are offered at North High. Your attendance brings much appreciated support for both students and staff members. Together, we can ensure that the 2007-2008 school year is the most fulfilling one yet!

Posted by Maria Ward on WEDENESDAY, AUGUST 01, 2007