Palmer High School News Sue North Principal John Diorio Assistant Principal Grades 6-12 4105 Main Street Palmer MA 01069 Phone 413-283-6511 Fax 413-283-3476 Dear Students, Parents/Guardians, I am excited to start the 2019-2020 school year. This will be my fourth year at the high school as the principal and I truly enjoy each and every day. It is wonderful to see the growth that each student has conquered with their academics and I’m proud to watch their accomplishments with sports, band, clubs, and extra-curricular activities. I always encourage students to have a voice in their school. When we work together, great things happen. Each year new clubs and events happen at the high school because students have a creative idea, they create a plan and proposal, and then we discuss how we can make their idea happen. We are continuing with PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support). Our focus is respect, responsibility, and safety. Another focus is Trauma-Sensitive Training for staff to help with social and emotional learning. We are continuing with the co-teaching model for Math and ELA for the foundations class for 6th & 7th grade. The co-teaching model is a regular classroom teacher and a special education teacher working collaboratively to help the students grow with their learning. We are adding an 8th grade Math and ELA class to continue the progression of the model. We are extremely excited for the Instructional Leadership Team to provide professional development and support to all staff to focus on school wide data. Some data that the staff will be analyzing is student engagement, MCAS, graduation rate, drop-out rate, attendance, discipline, and course pass rate & failures. We would like to welcome Laura Pompei and Cynthia Streker to our Spanish Department. Lisa Hua will be teaching 7th grade Math and Michelle Pavini for 6th grade ELA and an 8th grade ELA Communica- tions Workshop. Karen Hatch is the new Administrative Assistant. Makenna McCloskey, Tracy Murphy, and Kerrie Baldwin will be our new paraprofessionals. We are still in the process of interviewing for two more paraprofessionals, STEP Teacher (6th & 7th), and an ETL (Educational Teacher Leader). I’m thrilled that we will have a PTO for our school. Melissa Petrashewicz has organized this very im- portant parent organization to help support our students and staff. The first meeting is Tuesday, August 6th at 6 pm at the Palmer Public Library. Everyone is invited to attend. Please check every Sunday during the school year the Palmer School District webpage under News & Announcements. I post the weekly activities and events so that you are aware of important information. Thursday, August 22nd, a 6 th grade orientation will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Auditorium. (Information, school tour, and ice cream social). Open House will be Thursday, September 5th, from 6:00 to 8:00. More specific information will be com- ing soon. Enjoy the rest of your summer. I look forward to seeing everyone soon. Sincerely, Sue North Principal Connie Mahoney Assistant Principal Grades 6-12
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Palmer High School News
Sue North
Principal
John Diorio
Assistant Principal
Grades 6-12
4105 Main Street Palmer MA 01069
Phone 413-283-6511 Fax 413-283-3476
Dear Students, Parents/Guardians,
I am excited to start the 2019-2020 school year. This will be my fourth year at the high school as the
principal and I truly enjoy each and every day. It is wonderful to see the growth that each student has
conquered with their academics and I’m proud to watch their accomplishments with sports, band, clubs,
and extra-curricular activities. I always encourage students to have a voice in their school. When we
work together, great things happen. Each year new clubs and events happen at the high school because
students have a creative idea, they create a plan and proposal, and then we discuss how we can make their
idea happen.
We are continuing with PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support). Our focus is respect,
responsibility, and safety. Another focus is Trauma-Sensitive Training for staff to help with social and
emotional learning.
We are continuing with the co-teaching model for Math and ELA for the foundations class for 6th & 7th
grade. The co-teaching model is a regular classroom teacher and a special education teacher working
collaboratively to help the students grow with their learning. We are adding an 8th grade Math and ELA
class to continue the progression of the model.
We are extremely excited for the Instructional Leadership Team to provide professional development and
support to all staff to focus on school wide data. Some data that the staff will be analyzing is student
We would like to welcome Laura Pompei and Cynthia Streker to our Spanish Department. Lisa Hua will
be teaching 7th grade Math and Michelle Pavini for 6th grade ELA and an 8th grade ELA Communica-
tions Workshop. Karen Hatch is the new Administrative Assistant. Makenna McCloskey, Tracy Murphy,
and Kerrie Baldwin will be our new paraprofessionals. We are still in the process of interviewing for two
more paraprofessionals, STEP Teacher (6th & 7th), and an ETL (Educational Teacher Leader).
I’m thrilled that we will have a PTO for our school. Melissa Petrashewicz has organized this very im-
portant parent organization to help support our students and staff. The first meeting is Tuesday, August
6th at 6 pm at the Palmer Public Library. Everyone is invited to attend.
Please check every Sunday during the school year the Palmer School District webpage under News &
Announcements. I post the weekly activities and events so that you are aware of important information.
Thursday, August 22nd, a 6th grade orientation will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the
Auditorium. (Information, school tour, and ice cream social).
Open House will be Thursday, September 5th, from 6:00 to 8:00. More specific information will be com-
ing soon.
Enjoy the rest of your summer. I look forward to seeing everyone soon.
Sincerely,
Sue North
Principal
Connie Mahoney
Assistant Principal
Grades 6-12
Opening Dates
August 22nd Gr. 6 Orientation Night
6:00-8:00 p.m.
August 26th Teacher & Staff Orientation
Day
August 27th First Day for Students
September 2nd Schools Closed—Labor Day
September 5th Open House—6:00—8:00 pm
Report Card Schedule
Grades Close– Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Issued— Friday, November 8, 2019
Grades Close— Friday, January 17, 2020
Issued— Friday, January 25, 2020
Grades Close– Monday, March 30, 2020
Issued—Thursday, April 9, 2020
Progress Report Schedule
Progress Reports will be posted/issued:
Progress Reports Posted September 29
Progress Reports Posted December 6
Progress Reports Posted February 28
Progress Reports Posted May 1
Important dates to remember
We are looking forward to seeing all of you
at our Open House that has been scheduled for:
The evening will begin with meeting Mrs. North, Principal
and Mr. Diorio and Ms. Mahoney, Assistant Principals. Parents will have the opportunity to
follow their student’s 1st semester schedule.
A copy of each student’s schedule will be available outside the auditorium.
I.D. PHOTOS/STUDENT PICTURES
Photos will be taken on Thursday, September 12th.
Order forms for purchase will be given out on the
first day of school. Please send completed order
forms with your student on photo day.
All students must have his/her photo taken.
Retakes will be on Thursday, October 17th.
September 5, 2019
6:00—8:00 pm
Palmer High School
Auditorium
Students in grades 6 will receive their schedules on Orienta-
tion Night. All other students will receive them on the first
day of school.
SENIOR INFORMATION
Class of 2020
Congratulations on making it to senior year! This year will prove to be exciting, challenging, but most of all rewarding as you achieve your goals, and look to your futures. Please be mindful that you only get to do this once, so make it count! Below you will find important information for the start of the year. Be sure to take note of dates and deadlines. All of this information will also be posted in the Google Classroom for the class of 2020. Please check your school email for an invite to the classroom, if you aren’t already registered. If you have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Chapin at [email protected]
• Senior Class Dues As you know Senior year is expensive and your dues cover many of the costs associat-ed with graduation and other senior activi-ties. After calculating the expenses, less the amount the class has raised over the years , your class dues will be $130.00 for the year. This amount will be broken in-to two payments of $65.00. The first pay-ment will be due no later than December 6. The second payment will be due no later than April 9. You may pay in full at any-time.
• Senior Photos for the yearbook Information regarding senior photo require-ments was posted in the Google Classroom for students and parents to review. If you are unable to access this information, please email Ms. Chapin at [email protected]
If senior photos have not been completed as of yet, please do so by the end of Sep-tember. It takes almost 6 weeks for these photos to be processed and then submitted to the yearbook staff. Please have your photographer submit your photo digitally to [email protected] no later than Friday, November 15, 2019.
• Yearbook Deadlines All photos, paperwork, and information will be due within the first two months of school, sub-mitted via Google Classroom. You will receive the information with all of the deadlines and sheets to fill out at the first class meeting. Info Sheet: Friday, October 4 Superlative Sheet: Friday, October 18
Baby Photo: Friday, November 1 Senior Photo: Friday,
November 15
I.D. Photos/Student Pictures • Photos will be taken on Thursday, September 12. • Order forms for purchase will be given out on the first day of school. Please send completed order forms with your student on photo day. • All students must have his/
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health mandates vision, hearing, BMI, and SBIRT screening. Vision, Hearing, and BMI screening will be performed in Grades 7 and 10, per state regula-tions. SBIRT screening will be performed on Grades 7 and 9. Pos-tural Screenings will be performed yearly on all students in Grades 6, 7, 8, and 9. If a screening has been done at a physician’s office, a copy of the health record must be forwarded to the health office
IF YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR CHILD TO PARTICIPATE IN A SCREENING, PLEASE CONTACT THE SCHOOL NURSE.
PHYSICAL EXAMS
According to Massachusetts state law, physical examinations are required upon entry to the school system (kindergarten and trans-ferring students) and every three to four years thereafter.
All students new to the school district must submit a signed physical examination performed by a health care practitioner, con-ducted within the past 12 months. Physical exams are required to be submitted minimally at the following intervals: Grade 7 and Grade 10. It is best practice to submit a copy of your child’s physi-cal exam yearly.
More News from the Nurse
The School Council is responsible for assisting administration in five major
areas. These areas include, but are not exclusive to, adopting educational goals,
establishing policies around student performance standards, identifying the
educational needs of students, formulating a school improvement plan,
reviewing the student handbook to consider changes and review of the annual
school budget and discuss school events.
The Council is required to hold meetings regularly, and maintain its membership
representative of the principal, parents, teachers, community members and at
least one student at the high school level. The membership term rotates every