Half Year Point/
Teachers’ Comings and Going/
Health Insurance/
Congats Jodie/
Art Teachers Works on Display/
Framingham Younger than State in Age of Teachers/
“If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been due more to patient attention than to any other talent…”
Isaac Newton
Hi All;
The Patriots have again made it to the Super Bowl, and we have reached the half-way point of the school year.
Today the second semester begins and in actuality today marks the 89th day of classes, so we are just shy of the mid-year. Regardless, new schedules with second semester classes will be distributed in homerooms today, and remember that the lunch times assigned to different departments will change also. We’ve had a nice stretch of consistent class days recently, and I hope we can continue this momentum with some quality learning time. We have four solid weeks until the February vacation, and this is a sequence that provides a great opportunity for completing a good deal of the curriculum, provided the recent weather patterns hold and we avoid any snow days.
In addition to the new schedules being distributed to students we are also welcoming back FHS English Department teacher Ali Courchesne. For the first half of the school year, English Teacher Tony MacDonald was admirably covering for Ali while she was on a leave of absence. As Ali is rejoining us, many of you are aware that Phoenix Program Behavior Specialist Amy Johnson had a new baby girl last week. While Amy is out on maternity leave, Dan Ashman will be filling in for her. Most of you will remember Dan as he also filled in for Michelle Merrick during her recent maternity leave. You are likely also aware that our librarian Liz Sower has also begun her maternity leave as of this past Friday. As soon as some paperwork is completed through human resources, Liz’ position will be temporarily replaced by librarian Maia Hajj. Maia recently completed her Master’s degree in library science through Simmons College, and did her internship at Newton North High School this past fall. These shifts in staffing are just a sampling of the other maternity leaves that will be coming later this spring. If you get the chance, please welcome these new members to our faculty.
Huge kudos are in order for FHS’ own Math teacher Jodie Conway. You may recall that Jodie qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials held in Houston, Texas over this past M.L. King weekend. There were only about 150 women in the entire nation who qualified, and Jodie finished in an outstanding time of 2:48:02. Jodie accomplished this feat despite a lower leg injury that hampered her last few weeks of training as she prepared for the big race. This came after she ran a 2:44:09 in the Philadelphia marathon this past fall to qualify for the Olympic Trials. Her spectacular time in Philly was good enough for 3rd place, and was less than 9 minutes off the all-time course record! Jodie also pulled this off while teaching and being a mom for two young children. I’m going to remember this the next time I start feeling sorry for myself thinking I’m too busy… Congratulations to Jodie!
Most of you probably got a big envelop at home this week full of information about the changes to Framingham Public employees health insurance coverages. I am again going to list the available informational meetings during the next few weeks and it is really important that you attend at least one of them to stay informed about the changes that are coming. Please Note: Although these sessions are broken into School Information Sessions and Town Information Sessions, you can attend ANY of them.
SCHOOL INFORMATION SESSIONS
DATE DAY LOCATION TIME
1/24/12 Tues FHS – Cafeteria 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
1/25/12 Wed Fuller – Room D31 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
1/26/12 Thurs Walsh – Room 113 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
2/7/12 Tues Walsh – Room 113 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
2/8/12 Wed Fuller – Room D31 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
2/9/12 Thurs FHS – Cafeteria 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
TOWN INFORMATION SESSIONS
2/1/12 Wed Senior Center 9:00 am – 11:00 am
2/15/12 Wed Town Hall – Blumer Conf. Rm 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
2/15/12 Wed Town Hall – Blumer Conf. Rm 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
2/23/12 Thurs Town Hall – Blumer Conf. Rm 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
2/23/12 Thurs Town Hall – Blumer Conf. Rm 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Next time you walk into the Barnes and Nobles at Shopper’s World, look to your left! Current art students of FHS Fine Arts teachers Dan Nicholson and Josie Kealty have paintings, mixed -media pieces, and large collages on display on the wall. The exhibition runs from now until the end of February. When you get a chance, try and swing by to take a look. If you get the opportunity to see the artwork of one of your students, be sure to let them know.
Remember that we have a full faculty meeting this Wednesday 1/25 right after school at 2:15 PM. The grading window for term 2 and mid-year exams is currently open, and the deadline for inputting those grades is this Wednesday, 1/25 @8:00 AM. Please make sure to include appropriate comments to provide additional insight around student performance.
Really good tips! I have been looking for everything like this for quite a while today. Thank you!