April 17, 2020
Dear NHS Community,
I am sure you have heard yesterday’s news about schools remaining closed for the rest of the school year. Governor Sununu announced it and Dr. Lupini sent a letter with the revised school schedule. We do indeed, have many things to consider and plan for with the extended closure. As Dr. Lupini said, we don’t have the answers yet, but will be working hard to plan ways to make the best of the situation. We will be making alternate plans for 8th grade graduation and will plan for ways students can retrieve items they may have left at the school. We also hope to find a way to share some parts from the school play.
Yearbook
The North Hampton School yearbook will go to print soon, thanks to the diligence of Jennifer Donnelly. Jenn is both a parent and a teacher at our school and has been working hard to make sure our yearbook is as special as ever! One small gesture we’d like to make is to pay for all 8th graders’ yearbooks this year. When the order sheet is sent out later in the spring, please remember that 8th graders will not need to pay for their yearbook!
Parade
We have been given permission by the North Hampton Police Department to have a Teacher Parade! We are working on a route that will include as many neighborhoods as possible. We will send the exact route out to you next week. Our plan is to have a mid-day parade next Friday, April 24th. We have been asked to stagger the parade to avoid big traffic issues, but it could mean it will take a while for all of the cars to pass through each neighborhood. We recognize that we will not be able to drive down every street, so we hope that families will be able to make their way to a spot along the route to see us, while also practicing social distancing. A detailed route will be sent out via email on Monday or Tuesday next week.
Grading and Reporting
Please see information below for how we will be adjusting report cards for the third trimester:
Elementary Report Card for T3
The Trimester 3 Report Card for grades K-5 will be in narrative format. Parents will receive narrative comments from classroom teachers in the content areas of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. Parents will receive a narrative review of the offerings from each of the UA teachers by grade level. Students will not receive proficiency grades for academic skills in T3.
Middle School Report Card for T3
The Trimester 3 Report Card for grades 6-8 will include Competency Grading using the 1-4 proficiency rating scale and a “Not Assessed (NA)” option for areas where there was not sufficient work submitted by the student to inform the competency grade. Final Traditional Grades will be determined based on the body of work and participation demonstrated throughout T3. This will not be calculated on a running average of grades. Students will earn an A, B, C, and NA (Not Assessed). Teachers will use this T3 Traditional Grade Rubric to inform each student’s traditional grade.
Zeros will not be entered for missing work, but these assignments will be marked as “missing” in PowerSchool. Therefore, the parent and student portals for PowerSchool will no longer calculate a traditional grade for the course, as this grade could be misleading to students and parents. Parents and students should instead reference the T3 Traditional Grade Rubric and use PowerSchool to track both work submission and individual scores on assignments and competencies.
Middle school UAs will follow the same guidelines as core content teachers.
We’re All In This Together
Finally, we ARE all in this together, so I thought you might enjoy a throwback video to last November when NHS staff performed at the school Talent Show! Enjoy!