Superintendent’s Email Update
February 10, 2012
Dear Scituate Staff and Parents:
There is a lot of exciting news to share with you this week. Information on our winter sports season is included in the High School Score Card Section of this update. This week I enjoyed attending the Winterfest 2012 festival of one-act plays, an event organized by our very talented Scituate High School Thespian Society. I am very proud of our talented student actors, set technicians and our dedicated faculty advisors; it was a great performance.
Our next School Committee meeting is Monday night, and the major agenda items will include the district’s FY13 budget, implementation of the Aspen student information program and the district’s superintendent search.
For our high school parents, I want to offer you the opportunity to be involved in our high school principal search. If you are interested in serving on our selection committee, please send a letter of interest to Kim Peters in the Scituate Superintendent’s Office by Feb. 17, 2012. You can also email Kim at kpeters@scit.org. Please include any background information that would be helpful to know. Once we have identified finalists for the high school principal position, which I anticipate will be in about six weeks, I will be in touch to invite all interested parents to an open forum to ask questions and meet the candidates. The candidates will also spend extensive time both with students and staff members.
Otherwise, I hope you can dust off the sleds and skis and enjoy a bit of snow tomorrow. I am certainly glad the snow is coming during the weekend!
Sincerely,
Jim Kelleher
Interim Superintendent
On the Calendar:
School Committee Meeting – Monday, February 13, 2012, 7:00 pm in the High School Library.
Superintendent Search Focus Groups for Parents and Community Members – Tuesday, February 14, 2012 – two session s – 12:00 pm or 7:00 pm at the Gates Intermediate School Library.
Elementary ELA MCASare scheduled for March. Check with your school for details.
February Vacation– February 20th – 24th, 2012
SHS Kudos:
John and Abigail Adams MCAS Scholarships
Scituate High School presented the John and Abigail Adams MCAS Scholarships to an impressive number of Scituate High School seniors. More than one quarter of the senior class scored in the top one percentage of MCAS test takers.
Science Fair
On Thursday, February 2, 2012, Scituate High School held the 4th Annual Science Fair. The entire freshman class participated, presenting over 138 projects demonstrating the scientific method of Physical Science, Chemistry and Biology. Fifty three judges from the Scituate community volunteered their time to view the student’s work and listen to their presentations. All students should be commended on their effort, creativity and research and we congratulate the award winners:
Honorable Mention: Jay Patel, Jamie Kelleher & Victoria Johnson, Samantha Gottlich
5th place: Scott Reinhardt
4th place: James McGowan
3rd place: Leah Doherty and Nicole Grace
2nd place: Kaitlin Forsythe and Maria Garman
1st place: Laura Green and Molly Benson
American Legion Oratorical Contest
On Sunday, Februar y 19, 2012 at 11:00 am at GAR Hall (additional parking at Gates Intermediate School) Zachary Brazao, Christopher Robotham, Elizabeth Whitehouse and Melissa Harris will compete in the District 10 Level Oratorial Contest. Come support these students and the Scituate American Legion, Scituate High School and Town of Scituate as these students compete at the district level.
Music and Art
Boston Globe Scholastic Art Competition
We are very proud to announce that 24 students won recognition at this year’s Boston Globe Scholastic Art Competition. This is one of the best showings in the history of Scituate High School. Of those 24 awards, there were: 5 Gold Keys, 3 Silver Keys and 16 Honorable Mentions. Over 14,000 pieces of art from Massachusetts students in grades 7-12 were submitted in this competition.
Gold Key winners:Melanie Coan, Mark DelGrosso, Kathleen Lydon, Jonathan Ricci (2 Gold Keys) Silver Key winners: Stephanie Jones (2 Silver Keys), Sean Rielly
Honorable Mentions: Fiona Amelang, Maddie Anthony, Kristine Coleman, Ariel Dickerman, Tracey Duffey, Delaney Ferry, Stephanie Jones, Jessie Mclevedge, Morgan Moore, Sophie Mulcahy, Alyssa Pasini, Marina Pedini, Rebecca Short, Desiree Snyder, Meredith Sullivan, and Rachel Tripp
All Gold Key and Silver Key honorees will be on display at the State Transportation Building at 10 Park Plaza, Boston, beginning February 13th. The 5 Gold Key winners will compete with other students from around the country at the national competition in New York City that later this year.
Massachusetts Music Educators Association Allstate Music Festival
Three Scituate High School students have been accepted to the Massachusetts Educators Association Allstate Music Festival to be held at Sympony Hall on March 3, 2012. They are senior Bridget Wood, a soprano in the Allstate Chorus, senior Andrew Lemieux, a tenor in the Chorus, and junior Christopher Robotham, who was accepted to the Allstate Jazz Band and will play the vibraphone. This is one of the highest honors for a high school musician.
District Athletics
This winter, the elementary schools will begin incorporating exergaming modules such as Wii Fit and Just Dance into physical education classes. Exergaming provides an opportunity for parents and relatives to exercise and have fun as well as encourage fitness and bonding time during the day. Physical education teachers will be integrating heart rate monitors into classes as well. Using heart rate monitors during physical education class has been shown to encourage students to perform to the best of their ability while keeping them focused on their own achievement. The PEP Grant also afforded our elementary schools the opportunity to acquire and implement Project Adventrue’s age appropriate indoor (multi-swing) and outdoor (T.P. Shuffle) adventure programming elements. The Project Adventure curriculum uses exercises to build character, promote team work and encourage personal responsibility.
High School Score Card:
Boys Basketball’s record is 9-5 overall.
Boys and Girls swim teams came in 4th place overall in the League. They move on to Sectionals this weekend and States next weekend with 8 swimmers qualifying.
Girls Track team remains undefeated. They won the Fisher division championships.
Boys Hockey’s record is 7-3-2 for the League and 10-4-2 overall. They qualify for tournament playoffs.
Girls Hockey remains in 1st place for the league with a 6-0 record and a 9-7 record overall.
The wrestling team clinched the Patriot League, Fisher division title last week. They were undefeated in league dual meets this season. The team qualified for the Team States Championships on Saturday by ranking fourth out of the 13 teams at sectionals. The Wrestling team will send seven athletes to the State Tournament in Pittsfield.
Congratulations to Megan Otto, Scituate High School girls basketball player who scored her 1000th high school career point. She is the third girl and seventh overall in Scituate High School history to accomplish this!
The swim teams wrapped up their season on February 4th with the league championship. They closed their season with two wins against Rockland and Cohasset.
The Girls Indoor Track team has earned themselves the privilege of being Patriot League Champions. They went undefeated throughout their entire season, working vigorously to demolish all the teams. They had seven amazing Patriot League wins, and many individual accomplishments. The 4x2 team comprised of Katherine Powers, Elizabeth Tedeschi, Julianna Drew and Phoebe Ryan qualified for State competition, as well as the 4x4 team made up of Katelyn Fougere, Hannah Hoffman, Rachel Sandham and Erin Martin.
An update from the Early Childhood Center
The Early Childhood Center (ECC) recently held their annual open house for parents interested in the program for the school year starting in September 2012. The staff provided an informative overview of the program. Some of the topics presented were curriculum content (aligned with state frameworks, handwriting without tears and second step), developmentally appropriate classroom learning centers and field trip offerings. A public lottery will be held on March 5 at 3:00 pm in the preschool office.
The three preschool classrooms continue to explore winter topics. The classes are completing the Jan Brett author study that included “The Mitten” and “The Hat”.
We would like to thank our very active parent committee for a successful reptile show. We would also like to acknowledge Mrs. Tarsala for always creating a cheerful and loving entrance to the Early Childhood Center each season.
An update from Cushing School
Cushing School competed in the 2012 National Geographic Bee. In January, classroom competitions took place in Grades 4 through 6. On January 19, 2012, the Classroom Champions competed for the title of “Cushing School Champion”. Ms. Amanda Fanelli, Scituate High School History Teacher, accepted the opportunity to moderate the Cushing School National Geographic Bee. Mrs. Dawn Rota, Cushing School Curriculum Leader, prepared all materials and organized all the classroom competitions leading to our school bee. The Cushing School Classroom Champions are: Grade 4 Miles Bowker, Mason Hartgrove, Jack Kimball, Maria Mendes, Madeleine Porter, Connor Rosen, Grade 5 Owen Allard, Nicholas Bahamonde, Ryan Cohen, Peter Jarnot, Scott Reardon, Thomas Brennan, Grade 6 – Sean Francis, Shelby Hasenfus, Kelly Leary, Mary Cate Morris, Jaycie Rojik, John Svensen, Callie Moos and Abigail Walo.
After the championship round, Scott Reardon was named Cushing School Champion and Nicholas Bahamonde was announced as the first runner-up (Nick was also the runner-up in last year’s competition). Congratulations to our Classroom Champions as well as our School Champion and Runner-Up Champion!
An update from Hatherly School
Hatherly School’s Grade 4 enjoyed an informative and inspiring visit to the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset. The students participated in a session with Gallery Artist Katherine Morrison. She shared many examples of her unique handmade books.
Hatherly School looks forward to celebrating “Read Across America Day” on March 2nd. Mrs. Fitzmaurice will read The Lorax by Dr. Seauss. The theme for the Hatherly School’s literacy celebration this year is “Learning about the Environment through Literacy”.
An update from Jenkins School
On Tuesday, February 7th, Jenkins School will host “The Rain Forest”. All Jenkins students will enjoy a preview of the presentation in the morning. In the evening, all community members will have the opportunity to see this exciting exhibition. The shows will be held in the Jenkins School Gymnasium at 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm with an admission fee of $5.00 (age four and above). There will be alligators, monkeys, greys, macaws, snakes, jungle cats, cockatoos and more!
Jenkins After School Activities began this week. Piano, guitar, drama robotics, chess, beading, gardening and gym time were some of the activities offered to students. Over 130 students signed up to participate in these varied and exciting after school classes.
An update from Wampatuck School
Wampatuck School continues the long tradition of crafting sentiments of the heart to send to community officials, workers and supporter to brighten their spirits. Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to tell people they are appreciated and special. The recipients of heartfelt gratitude will be sent to Representative James Cantwell, Senator Robert Hedlund, the Scituate School Committee, Scituate Fire and Police Departments, Town Hall, Library and Recreation and School Departments. They also extend valentine wishes to their School Council, PTO Executive Board, Phone Directory Supporters and local nursing homes.
An update from Gates Intermediate School
Students are invited to sign up to learn more about the Career Speaker series. Community members have volunteered to share how they entered their career, what training or college was required for their job, what they like most about their job, what challenges they face and what a typical day is like. This is a great opportunity for students as we begin to expose them to different career options.
The first presenter was Matt Spaulding, a personal trainer. His presentation was very popular and well attended!
Upcoming speakers: Fashion Designer, Amanda Bartlett on February 6th; Boston Herald Photographer, Matt Stone on February 8th; Chiropractor, Christina Scott on February 15th; Registered Nurse from Mass General, Mary LeClair-Kinahan; RN in Sports Medicine from Mass General, Sheryl Hasset and a Veterinarian.
The Gates Student Government just finished collecting items for soldiers deployed to Afghanistan. The items will be sent to James Voelger, a Scituate soldier in the U.S. Army, and his troop that have been deployed to Afghanistan for the next 10 months. We hope they will be very excited to open their care packages.
Mark Your Calendars– Upcoming School and Athletic Events (HOME Games only)
Please be sure to double check the following games at Scituate High School Athletic Schedule Website
Friday, February 10th
3:30 pm Girls Freshman Basketball vs. Hingham High School
5:00 pm Girls Junior Varsity Basketball vs. Hingham High School
5:00 pm Coed Varsity Track vs. Al l League Meet – Call (781) 545- 8750 x 344 for details.
6:30 pm Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Hingham High School
Saturday, February 11th
11:00 am Girls Varsity Ice Hockey vs. Martha’s Vineyard at Milton Academy
Sunday, February 12th
10:30 am Boys JV Ice Hockey vs. Quincy High School at Hobomock Arena
Tuesday, February 14th
3:30 pm Girls Freshman Basketball vs. Hanover High School
5:00 pm Girls Junior Varsity Basketball vs. Hanover High School
6:30 pm Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Hanover High School
Thursday, February 16th
3:30 pm Boys Freshman Basketball vs. Middleboro High School
5:00 pm Boys Junior Varsity Basketball vs. Middleboro High School
6:30 pm Boys Varsity Basketball vs. Middleboro High School
Friday, February 17th
TBD Coed Varsity Track vs All League Division State Championship – Call (781) 545 8750 ext 344 for details
Saturday, February 18th
3:00 pm Girls Varsity Ice Hockey vs. Brookline High School at Milton Academy
Sunday, February 19th
5:00 pm Girls Varsity Ice Hockey vs. Boston Latin at Matthew Arena, Northeastern
Refer to the Scituate High School Athletic Schedule page to see any upcoming tournaments over February vacation week.
In the spirit of working together – Scituate Public Schools acknowledges and appreciates the effort and work that goes into the newsletter by each school administrator, staff and community member. Thank you for your continued input.
