Hi Everyone,
We continue to work to improve the high school. We are committed to continuous improvement. I appreciate everyone responding to our last survey about parent-teacher conferences. The data we collected was insightful and helped us gauge our efforts and the event. In response to some of the data, we will be advocating for a second parent-teacher conference for Spring 2014 - so next school year will likely have two parent teacher conferences. In addtion, in collaboration with our academic boosters we are pushing for students to attend our academic intervention study hall and for our teachers to support this after school study hall by providing assignments students can complete to earn credit in their courses. I've appreciated the continued support of our academic boosters to help us shore up our graduation rate. In addition I encourage you to check out the following website created by Jamie Williams our media and broadcasting teacher and her students - take an inside look at MHS and the learning opportunities we provide for our students:
at http://worklikeadog.weebly.com/
I apologize for being a bit behind in my posts; I'm going to attempt to catch up this month, the October board report is below for your information.
OCTOBER BOARD REPORTS FOLLOW:
Month/Year: October, 2012
Current Enrollment: 719
Free / Reduced Lunch Enrollment: 320; 42%
Student Services Listing: IEP-84, LEP-10
Students of the Month: Jake Anderson and Sarah Smith
Academics
Administration Team:
Dr. Terry Robinson, Principal:
Using Data to Inform Instruction
Department chairs will have four collaborative department meetings during the month of October to complete their Plan Do Check Act continuous improvement cycles. Tentatively these plans will be presented in November by each department so all faculty will be aware of and consider plans in the building. These cycles of improvement are team level efforts by MHS departments to improve EOC scores by 10% in the top two levels - advanced and proficient and to meet at least the state-level annual performance review requirement for the ACT. Ms. Gina Gilman, Mr. Michael Auer and I have facilitated department chair meetings and attended department level meetings when available to support his effort. In addition, Mr. Auer, from our Columbia, Missouri Regional Professional Development Committee will be assisting department chairs and attending some department meetings to assist in building teamwork within departments and embedding professional learning community and quality improvement practices. Overall, the goal of the high school is to grow teacher-leadership capacity and teamwork to achieve results
Our first practice ACT was held for seniors on September 27. This date was moved forward to gain data sooner about areas teachers could address with our seniors and possible affect final ACT scores. We are also attempting to enhance the data processing in the high school of the results via a computer program using scanned answer cards. Mr. Neely and Ms. Gilman have been instrumental in working toward implementing the new scanning machine and working with our vendor and Jenn Kraft and Dana Hunt.
In classroom walkthroughs I have observed more use of PLAN, EXPLORE and ACT test items to prepare students. We are still planning to enhance our finals for December 2012 by better reflecting the rigor of the ACT and EOC assessments.
JROTC Continued Growth
Over 40 students are currently participating in JROTC with support from the Missouri Military Academy. This program has nearly doubled in growth. Our homecoming parade featured the first Mexico High School JROTC color guard.
Parent-teacher conferences measured in post-conference online surveys
Our parent teacher conferences were measured as part of our continued improvement in this area at the high school. Parents participated in their conferences with teachers, then parents privately responded to a survey online which tabulated the results.
I’ve included the results below from an email memo sent to our teachers. The items we measured consider respect and communication, as well as the overall experience at parent-teacher conferences. 202 parents completed the survey. Our goal is to continue to improve these areas in our communication with our parents. We have collected these results which now allows us to chart our progress and monitor our performance each year. (see email memo next page).
Summary from an Email to our teachers follows:
September 28, 2012
Congrats to everyone on Parent-Teacher conferences!
Here are our overall approval ratings from Parent-Teacher Conferences Sept. 2012:
Total responses: ranged between 196-202 parents for each one below; some items were answered, while others were not
Overall rating of experience: 95% Positive or Very Positive - A
Communication on child's progress was helpful: 87.3% Agree or Strongly Agree - B+
Communication about grading: 85.5% Agree or Strongly Agree (parents understand how
grades being determined) - B
Communicating respect to parents (Teachers): 92.5% Agree or Strongly Agree - A minus
Communicating respect to parents (Administrators): 84.9% Agree or Strongly Agree - B
Child feels safe at school: 82.8% Agree or Strongly Agree - B
**note: a few items not calculated here for the "other" category in the question asked would push a percentage up or down by 1%
More to come, but good grades all around with some room for improvement
Our next goal will be to have all As in every category.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Jeff Anderson – Vice Principal/Activities Director:
Mexico High School hosted softball districts this past week as an addition to our homecoming festivities. We will be meeting this week to determine the location of district competition for basketball. Due to some district reassignments being made by MSHSAA, Mexico was not the top choice by voting schools in the new district for wrestling districts competition for 2012-13. St. Charles West will host district wrestling for the 2012-13 school year. However, the wrestling district tournament will be held in Mexico for
2013-14.
PBIS – Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Team – Coordinator Patty Swisher
The team has continued to attend trainings and is meeting requirements for PBiS with guidance from the Columbia, Missouri RPDC. The next meeting will be in Columbia on October 11, 2012. An informational video on proper assembly behavior was shown to seminar classes just prior to the homecoming assembly. In addition, students continue to be frequently recognized with bulldog respect, responsibility and safety tickets each week. A drawing has been held each week for dinner and food coupons to local Mexico restaurants. We have also expanded the collaboration and idea sharing at the district level by attending a district level meeting for PBiS. We recently completed our first set of discipline data to review. This data provides areas to improve with our students by category of offense, area and time of day.
Bridget Bingham – Special Education Teacher
The Home Management students will be walking to Westlake's next week to purchase mums. We will be planting them in the flowerbed adjacent to the MHS circle drive. This is an annual project for the students and a welcome addition to enhancing our school environment.
Sara Given – Speech, Drama and Theatre Teacher
On Friday, September 28 Sara Given presented a workshop at the Speech & Theatre Association of Missouri Conference at their annual conference. Sara was asked to present about her Advanced Children's Theatre program. She specifically addressed the current script writing unit the students are completing and their original anti-drug program they will perform at our elementary schools October 9-11.
The Advanced Children's Theatre class will present their anti-drug program at St. Brendan's Tuesday, October 9 at 2:00, Eugene Field Wednesday, October 10 at 2:00 and McMillan Thursday, October 11 at 2:00. All are welcome to attend.
Jami Williams – Media, Technology, Yearbook and Publications Teacher
The Mexico High School broadcast journalism program debut their first video newsmagazine, The Bark, on the MHS student broadcasting network, The Bite, on October 4, 2012. The network is currently an online channel and is currently housed at www.thebitemhs.weebly.com. The show, which was student-generated, student-written and student-produced, is the first broadcast since the program moved to Mexico High School from Hart Career Center this year. There are 21 students enrolled in the class and each student had a hand in one of the six stories that aired. The Bark will be produced every two weeks with the next show going up on the site on October 18, 2012 at 9 p.m. The October 18 show will feature digital profiles of each students' "hero" or a character in their life that has had an impact on them. The Bite has recently been invited to become a Midwest affiliate of STN (Student Television Network), which is a division of the Academy of Scholastic Broadcasting. Ms. Williams, the instructor/adviser, has also received an invitation to present her student work at the ASB Vid-Con held in Springfield, MO, at the end of the month.
The Bite, the overarching student broadcast network, will also begin working with KWWR/KXEO within the next month to bring a student presence to the local airwaves. One possibility that has been discussed is a morning drive-time show "Drive with a Dog" which will be pre-taped by members of the class and submitted to KXEO and run one day each week during the morning drive to school.
Stay tuned for GREAT things from the Broadcast Journalism students!
Guidance and Counseling Team:
Guidance Office activities during the past month of September:
• ACT practice day Sept. 27
• ACT meeting with senior seminar groups
• Mr. Neely attended the Articulation/CTE Advisory at MACC in Moberly
• Parent/Teacher Conferences
• College Career Fair
• Counselors meeting at HCC
• Mr. Holman administrated Explore and Plan Tests for 9th and 10th graders
• All counselors proctored small group testing for Explore and Plan
• MACC visited concerning DC Classes
• Senior Parent Night
• Scantron integration
• Mrs. Turlington and Mr. Neely attended the MU Counselor Meeting
• Mr. Holman attended our local Interagency Meeting
• New Scholarship opportunities have been downloaded on our website
• 8 College/university visits during September
• MHS/HCC College Fair
• 1 Army presentation
• 8 Army lunch room visits
• 104 transcripts requests mailed
MHS Events and Activities:
We concluded District Softball on the 6th. We hosted this event with 2 games on Wednesday, 2 games on Thursday and the championship game on Saturday.
Girls Golf is competing in sectionals on October 8th. They and tennis both finished up district competitions earlier this month.
School House Rock practices are well under way. Our students will perform this wonderful musical on November 16th & 17th at 7:00 pm and again on Sunday the 18th at 2:00 pm.
Football, Cross Country, Volleyball & Boys soccer will all wrap up regular seasons this month with districts to follow at the end of the month.
The MMS & MHS Student Councils will be bringing “Rachel’s Challenge” to our district on the 23rd of October with an assembly at both the Middle School & the High School.
Winter sports will have practices starting on October 29th. Schedules are posted on the MHS Athletics page.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Parents and Guardians,
We will hold parent-teacher conferences this week on Thursday, Sept. 27, 1:00 - 8 pm and Friday, 8 am to 11 am.
If you haven't made an appointment with a teacher yet, they may have difficulty reaching you.
Please call the main office and we can set an appointment for you.
573-581-4296
We'll also be collecting feedback on our parent=-teacher conferences. This is the link:
http://freeonlinesurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=dg7w6psinlgre5p1045645
After parent teacher conferences we encourage you to visit our feedback table and inform us about your experience and how we can improve. The table will have several laptops you can use to reach the survey website above, but if you're pressed for time, feel free to use the link above following your conference from home.
T.
We will hold parent-teacher conferences this week on Thursday, Sept. 27, 1:00 - 8 pm and Friday, 8 am to 11 am.
If you haven't made an appointment with a teacher yet, they may have difficulty reaching you.
Please call the main office and we can set an appointment for you.
573-581-4296
We'll also be collecting feedback on our parent=-teacher conferences. This is the link:
http://freeonlinesurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=dg7w6psinlgre5p1045645
After parent teacher conferences we encourage you to visit our feedback table and inform us about your experience and how we can improve. The table will have several laptops you can use to reach the survey website above, but if you're pressed for time, feel free to use the link above following your conference from home.
T.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Welcome BACK! Aug. 28, 2012
Hi Everyone,
If you know someone that wants to receive information about happenings at the high school; point them in this direction. I use this, our local Ledger, our automated phone message system, email, old snail mail, personal phone calls, our website, a faculty-only website for internal messages, email and most recently our Athletic Director - Mr. Jeff Anderson has added twitter to his own skill set about activities and athletics at MHS. He now regularly posts game scores and events for everyone connected to twitter. If you need information on how to add him, call his secretary in our office, Mrs. Kris Fecht. Right now, it's a little beyond my skill set (ha).
We're always working to improve communication and we realize we can never have enough. Over the past two years we've been growing areas of our school academically, culturally, and socially. This school needs to always be a beacon in our community and we aim to continue to polish the gem it is in Central Missouri.
This year we hired several new teachers and I'm proud of the hires we were able to add to our faculty. Many come with years of seasoning in education and our first year teachers appear to be the top of their class. Our administration team believes they will bring a boost of commitment and knowledge to our community of learners leading student learners. I met with them just prior to the school year beginning and I'll paraphrase my thoughts for them here:
"You were all hired because you have the spark, the attitude, the care and concern for students we're looking for in teachers. Your references talked about your ability to connect and your hard working attitude. If you're just beginning teaching; we think you're a standout. We hired you for this drive and attitude to improve yourself along with your enthusiasm for kids."
If you know you have a new teacher to MHS teaching your son or daughter, be sure to take the time to let them know you appreciate their efforts and their commitment to us this school year. As an inside note: our MHS administration team was focused on finding the best available teachers and personally I even used Skype (video conferencing online) to talk to several across our nation (yes, I learned another technology communication tool). We didn't hire anyone just based on a Skype interview, but it allowed us to network and connect with a few dsireing to be in mid-Missouri due to past connections to the region; we also took the time to check references well. Some of the conversations we had with references were the most helpful in choosing the best candidates for MHS.
I've shared our last August board report below for your information. This is the report given to the board each month. I hope everyone continues to feel welcome at the high school whenever you have a concern! We are here for your son or daughter and to succeed.
AUGUST 2012 BOARD REPORT:
Students of the Month: To be determined in Sept. 2012
Administration Team
Dr. Terry Robinson, Principal:
The building department chairs met on July 24 to review the building focus plan for 2012-13. This plan is based on the input of the superintendent, principals and department chairs. Additionally it reflects areas we will focus for the school year – Positive Behavior Intervention and Support to address discipline and the learning environment, Professional Learning Communities – to continue to improve practices and academic achievement, ACT and EOCs– test preparation and curriculum alignment and Whole Faculty Study Groups (WFSG) – this is a learners creating learners focus tied to a building-wide professional development plan. Our first WFSG will be on the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck; small groups of teachers will participate in a book study on the principles found there and their application to our high school efforts. Mrs. Gina Gilman has will provide guidance and reflection activities for the WFSGs.
Department chairs and other subject area teachers participated in E2020 training (online course software). Early feedback from these teachers indicated the program is rigorous and might be a possible support for classroom curriculum in addition to regular courses.
Truman State University will offer up to 5 credit hours to students able to pass their college level competency exams in Algebra and Trigonometry. Mr. Keith Louder was appointed the liaison for facilitation of this program by Dr. Robinson. In essence, students can learn from their regular MHS math instructors then take up to 5 tests to earn Truman State Credit after the student has registered for the Truman State courses at a reduced rate. These credits are readily accepted at almost all Missouri Universities because they are endorsed by Truman State. A representative from Truman State will visit MHS to coordinate registration after Mr. Louder has disseminated pertinent information and total student interest is known.
PBIS – Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Team – Coordinator Patty Swisher
The PBIS team met over the summer and new members were added. Plans for incentives for students and improving data collection efforts have been completed for 2012-13. PBiS continues to be in conjunction with training and consulting from the Columbia Regional Professional Development trainers. Training for new faculty members was completed and all faculty will participate in a training session during our annual building “Genesis Day”.
Activities/Athletics;
From Mr. Jeff Anderson – Vice Principal/Activities Director:
On August 7th Mr. Freeman & Mr. Anderson trained 40 new & Fall sport coaches on philosophy and policy pertaining to extra-curricular activities.
Fall Sports parent meeting will be Monday August 13th @ 7:30 PM in Sports Complex Lobby.
*Trained parents on Concussion Education
*Trained parents on Communication and proper order of Chain of Command.
Fall Sports Participation:
Boys & Girls Cross Country: 25
Boys Soccer: 26
Volleyball: 16
Girls Softball: 24
Football: 60
Girls Golf: 10
Girls Tennis: 8
Band: 80
Cheerleading: 26
Dance: 12
Total: 287
If you know someone that wants to receive information about happenings at the high school; point them in this direction. I use this, our local Ledger, our automated phone message system, email, old snail mail, personal phone calls, our website, a faculty-only website for internal messages, email and most recently our Athletic Director - Mr. Jeff Anderson has added twitter to his own skill set about activities and athletics at MHS. He now regularly posts game scores and events for everyone connected to twitter. If you need information on how to add him, call his secretary in our office, Mrs. Kris Fecht. Right now, it's a little beyond my skill set (ha).
We're always working to improve communication and we realize we can never have enough. Over the past two years we've been growing areas of our school academically, culturally, and socially. This school needs to always be a beacon in our community and we aim to continue to polish the gem it is in Central Missouri.
This year we hired several new teachers and I'm proud of the hires we were able to add to our faculty. Many come with years of seasoning in education and our first year teachers appear to be the top of their class. Our administration team believes they will bring a boost of commitment and knowledge to our community of learners leading student learners. I met with them just prior to the school year beginning and I'll paraphrase my thoughts for them here:
"You were all hired because you have the spark, the attitude, the care and concern for students we're looking for in teachers. Your references talked about your ability to connect and your hard working attitude. If you're just beginning teaching; we think you're a standout. We hired you for this drive and attitude to improve yourself along with your enthusiasm for kids."
If you know you have a new teacher to MHS teaching your son or daughter, be sure to take the time to let them know you appreciate their efforts and their commitment to us this school year. As an inside note: our MHS administration team was focused on finding the best available teachers and personally I even used Skype (video conferencing online) to talk to several across our nation (yes, I learned another technology communication tool). We didn't hire anyone just based on a Skype interview, but it allowed us to network and connect with a few dsireing to be in mid-Missouri due to past connections to the region; we also took the time to check references well. Some of the conversations we had with references were the most helpful in choosing the best candidates for MHS.
I've shared our last August board report below for your information. This is the report given to the board each month. I hope everyone continues to feel welcome at the high school whenever you have a concern! We are here for your son or daughter and to succeed.
AUGUST 2012 BOARD REPORT:
Students of the Month: To be determined in Sept. 2012
Administration Team
Dr. Terry Robinson, Principal:
The building department chairs met on July 24 to review the building focus plan for 2012-13. This plan is based on the input of the superintendent, principals and department chairs. Additionally it reflects areas we will focus for the school year – Positive Behavior Intervention and Support to address discipline and the learning environment, Professional Learning Communities – to continue to improve practices and academic achievement, ACT and EOCs– test preparation and curriculum alignment and Whole Faculty Study Groups (WFSG) – this is a learners creating learners focus tied to a building-wide professional development plan. Our first WFSG will be on the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck; small groups of teachers will participate in a book study on the principles found there and their application to our high school efforts. Mrs. Gina Gilman has will provide guidance and reflection activities for the WFSGs.
Department chairs and other subject area teachers participated in E2020 training (online course software). Early feedback from these teachers indicated the program is rigorous and might be a possible support for classroom curriculum in addition to regular courses.
Truman State University will offer up to 5 credit hours to students able to pass their college level competency exams in Algebra and Trigonometry. Mr. Keith Louder was appointed the liaison for facilitation of this program by Dr. Robinson. In essence, students can learn from their regular MHS math instructors then take up to 5 tests to earn Truman State Credit after the student has registered for the Truman State courses at a reduced rate. These credits are readily accepted at almost all Missouri Universities because they are endorsed by Truman State. A representative from Truman State will visit MHS to coordinate registration after Mr. Louder has disseminated pertinent information and total student interest is known.
PBIS – Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Team – Coordinator Patty Swisher
The PBIS team met over the summer and new members were added. Plans for incentives for students and improving data collection efforts have been completed for 2012-13. PBiS continues to be in conjunction with training and consulting from the Columbia Regional Professional Development trainers. Training for new faculty members was completed and all faculty will participate in a training session during our annual building “Genesis Day”.
Activities/Athletics;
From Mr. Jeff Anderson – Vice Principal/Activities Director:
On August 7th Mr. Freeman & Mr. Anderson trained 40 new & Fall sport coaches on philosophy and policy pertaining to extra-curricular activities.
Fall Sports parent meeting will be Monday August 13th @ 7:30 PM in Sports Complex Lobby.
*Trained parents on Concussion Education
*Trained parents on Communication and proper order of Chain of Command.
Fall Sports Participation:
Boys & Girls Cross Country: 25
Boys Soccer: 26
Volleyball: 16
Girls Softball: 24
Football: 60
Girls Golf: 10
Girls Tennis: 8
Band: 80
Cheerleading: 26
Dance: 12
Total: 287
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
April 2012: The Year is Winding Down
Hi Everyone,
School is winding down and it has to be the fastest school year in my memory. There have been so many great memories from this school year. As our building continues to look for areas to improve, communication is at the top of my list -- you can never seem to have enough. Our academic boosters are continuing to look for ways to allow our community and parents to have a part in the business of serving students and supporting the efforts of teachers. Right now, we are considering changing our meeting time for academic boosters to possibly include more parents. Additionally, the academic boosters are working to improve communication and recruit new members. Personally, I'd love to at least double the members of this blog next year and reach more parents and community members. For this entry, I've included the report for the school board for your review. Look here in coming weeks for a few surveys about our communication with the community and ways we can improve for 2012-13. High on the list of our faculty and staff is keeping students on track to graduate on time. We want our school to be an engaging place students want to be and students to find the help they need to succeed.
We recently voluntarily participated in an AdvancED review. AdvancED is an international certification program. It provides feedback to schools participating for our improvement. School districts are not required to submit to a review of the AdvancED team made up of trained evaluators (administrators and leaders from other school districts usually from Missouri). They conducted interviews with students, parents, teachers and school leaders to review our high school. Also, they review documentation supporting our claims of what we do in our school. Finally, they observe classrooms and processes over a two-day period and compile a report. What is important about this process is this: We submit to the certification process because we want to improve and glean data they provide to guide our efforts. Our review is an unbiased viewpoint from an outside team of evaluators and they provide the valuable "fresh set of eyes" we need.
I hope everyone in our community feels welcome to provide feedback to our school leaders and teachers.
Our latest board report follows.
Sincerely,
Dr. Terry Robinson
Month/Year: April 2012
Current Enrollment: 681
Free / Reduced Lunch Enrollment: 253/51
Student Services Listing: 68
Students of the Month: March
Academics
Congratulations to the Class Officers for 2012-13 school year:
Class of 2013: President – Haley Auwater, Vice President – Megan Brandow,
Secretary – Danielle Bohr, Treasurer – Samantha Spurling
Class of 2014: President – DayNeisha Shivers, Vice President – Shannen Maxwell,
Secretary – Victoria Shaw, Treasurer – Keagan Riddick
Class of 2015: President – Abby Dick, Vice President – Sydney Schutte,
Secretary – Maddie Prince, Treasurer – Gabe Jones
From Mrs. Stephanie Gutshall, Ag Teacher: Please congratulate the following students for competing at Area 4 FFA Contest in Centralia during spring break:
FFA Knowledge Team- 2nd place, advancing to Districts; Abigail Hoer, Lauren Ransom, Sonny Roberts and Mackenzie Stumpee
FFA Creed--4th place alternate; Lauren Ransom
Division 1 Public Speaking- 1st place, advancing to Districts; Abigail Hoer
From Mrs. Julie Exendine, Foreign Language Teacher: Please congratulate our French and Spanish level 3 and 4 students. We attended the Foreign Film Festival at the University of Central Missouri and they represented our school well and brought home many awards! We competed against many Kansas City Schools!
Spanish III:
2nd Place Best Level 2 Comedy: La batalla épica
3rd Place Best Level 2 Mystery: El gato
Spanish IV:
1st Place Best Level 3 Comedy: Chicas antipaticas
3rd Place Best Level 3 Spanish Film: Chicas antipaticas
Best Actor Overall of Spanish Films: Michael Perll
French III:
Best Level 2 French Film: Mec Logique
Best Use of Language Level 2 French Film: Mec Logique
2nd Place Best Level 2 Comedy: Mec Logique
Best Actor Overall of French Films: Jordan Henry
French IV:
Best Use of Language Level 3 French Film: Assassiner, je t'aime
2nd Place Best Actress: Kaitlin Harlow
From the Administration Team
Dr. Terry Robinson, Principal:
The academic boosters are working to enhance volunteer efforts at MHS. Specifically, they are working on a plan to foster growth of volunteers to assist students in the academic intervention study hall. The boosters are considering communication and recruitment efforts to support our intervention efforts. In addition, expansion of the academic intervention study hall is being considered to include more students.
Interviews have begun for open positions in the district and some recommendations should be ready by the next board meeting. Candidates for open positions in social studies were interviewed this week and last week and English will begin this coming Monday. Department chairs and members are participating in reviewing applications and making recommendations for candidates to interview. Additionally, interview committees will include department chairs and other department members by request of the chair.
The Senior Planning committee met (composed of senior students) and reviewed recommendations from students for the senior’s choice teacher of the year nominees. The winner will be named at graduation. In addition the class of 2012 will be honoring the support staff member of the year by establishing the Lori Mealy award, the award will be named in her honor and there are plans for the award to be accepted by her family. The class of 2012 hopes this will become a yearly award by senior classes for the support staff member of the year.
PBIS – Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Team – Coordinator Mr. Brad Ellebracht:
The PBIS team continues to meet and review data regarding disruptions to class. Plans for incentives for students and improving data collection efforts have been discussed for 2012-13. In addition, the team has presented to faculty and solicited input from a variety of sources. The effort continues to be in conjunction with training and consulting from the Columbia Regional Professional Development trainers.
Mrs. Deb Haag, Assistant Principal over Instruction:
EOC testing will be held during most of the month of May. Teachers were provided information and training to assist them in transitioning to a block schedule to facilitate testing.
On March 28th and 29th AdvancED (formerly NCA) was here to evaluate MHS as a part of voluntary accreditation process. AdvancED is an international accreditation process. Mexico Senior High School has be accredited with this organization since 1908. At this time, a written report is being finalized by the chair of the Quality Assurance Review Chair. That report will be submitted to the state AdvancED office for approval within the next 30 days. The state will then approve or assign the rating and send MHS the written report.
At this time, the recommended outcomes from the Quality Assurance Review Team from this process are below (please note that all schools going through this process receive both commendations and required actions):
Overall Recommended Rating: Accreditation on Advisement
Commendations:
•Mexico High School has a great sense of tradition and history. There is great pride in the school and many faculty and staff members are graduates who have chosen to return to work in the school, speaking to strong community bonds.
•There is a strong tradition of teacher leadership, as Mexico High School recognizes and values the importance of developing leadership capacity within its instructional staff.
•There has been deliberate work to establish systemic structures and strategies to serve as vehicles for school improvement (i.e., ACT seminars, Building Leadership Team, School Planning Institute).
Required Actions:
–Choose and implement one or two instructional strategies across all classrooms in the school for both consistency and to leverage student learning.
–Utilize one or two of the current cadre structures to focus on meaningful data analysis, to improve all levels of communication, and to increase stakeholder involvement in the school improvement process.
–Create a building-level School Improvement Plan to focus the work, professional development planning, and implementation accountability for improvement goals, with a focus on one or two building goals per year.
Leadership in Practice:
On April 3rd, 4th, and 5th, thirty--eight freshmen and sophomores attended the 3rd annual Leadership in Practice Program held at the Elk's Lodge. The event was a success due to the support of the local community leaders/organizations and superb table facilitators. Students are recommended by their teachers, who are requested to consider all students that lead, not just those in common leadership positions. The students participate in many activities including: examining leadership styles, studying characteristics of leaders,practicing ethical decision making as well as designing and promoting a needed product. Their culminating activity is to present three ideas/processes/ways to improve MHS. Students left the on the third day empowered.
Guidance and Counseling Team:
The team is working on course requests, and supporting EOC testing for the month of May.
Activities/Athletics
From Mr. Jeff Anderson – Vice Principal/Activities Director:
Random drug tests were conducted on April 11. Recommendations for coaching during the 2012-13 school year are also being considered. Academic intervention study hall for athletes has approximately 8 students meeting for additional help with their classes.
MHS Events and Activities:
April 5: ZAPS testing, Jrs. Act prep
April 12-15: Choir Trip to Nashville
April 20-22: State Speech & Debate Tournament in Columbia
April 26: State Music Festival
May 3: End of Course exams begin
May 4: Dinner Theater
May 5: Prom (at Elks Lodge)
May 16: Last day for Seniors
May 18: Awards assembly
School is winding down and it has to be the fastest school year in my memory. There have been so many great memories from this school year. As our building continues to look for areas to improve, communication is at the top of my list -- you can never seem to have enough. Our academic boosters are continuing to look for ways to allow our community and parents to have a part in the business of serving students and supporting the efforts of teachers. Right now, we are considering changing our meeting time for academic boosters to possibly include more parents. Additionally, the academic boosters are working to improve communication and recruit new members. Personally, I'd love to at least double the members of this blog next year and reach more parents and community members. For this entry, I've included the report for the school board for your review. Look here in coming weeks for a few surveys about our communication with the community and ways we can improve for 2012-13. High on the list of our faculty and staff is keeping students on track to graduate on time. We want our school to be an engaging place students want to be and students to find the help they need to succeed.
We recently voluntarily participated in an AdvancED review. AdvancED is an international certification program. It provides feedback to schools participating for our improvement. School districts are not required to submit to a review of the AdvancED team made up of trained evaluators (administrators and leaders from other school districts usually from Missouri). They conducted interviews with students, parents, teachers and school leaders to review our high school. Also, they review documentation supporting our claims of what we do in our school. Finally, they observe classrooms and processes over a two-day period and compile a report. What is important about this process is this: We submit to the certification process because we want to improve and glean data they provide to guide our efforts. Our review is an unbiased viewpoint from an outside team of evaluators and they provide the valuable "fresh set of eyes" we need.
I hope everyone in our community feels welcome to provide feedback to our school leaders and teachers.
Our latest board report follows.
Sincerely,
Dr. Terry Robinson
Month/Year: April 2012
Current Enrollment: 681
Free / Reduced Lunch Enrollment: 253/51
Student Services Listing: 68
Students of the Month: March
Academics
Congratulations to the Class Officers for 2012-13 school year:
Class of 2013: President – Haley Auwater, Vice President – Megan Brandow,
Secretary – Danielle Bohr, Treasurer – Samantha Spurling
Class of 2014: President – DayNeisha Shivers, Vice President – Shannen Maxwell,
Secretary – Victoria Shaw, Treasurer – Keagan Riddick
Class of 2015: President – Abby Dick, Vice President – Sydney Schutte,
Secretary – Maddie Prince, Treasurer – Gabe Jones
From Mrs. Stephanie Gutshall, Ag Teacher: Please congratulate the following students for competing at Area 4 FFA Contest in Centralia during spring break:
FFA Knowledge Team- 2nd place, advancing to Districts; Abigail Hoer, Lauren Ransom, Sonny Roberts and Mackenzie Stumpee
FFA Creed--4th place alternate; Lauren Ransom
Division 1 Public Speaking- 1st place, advancing to Districts; Abigail Hoer
From Mrs. Julie Exendine, Foreign Language Teacher: Please congratulate our French and Spanish level 3 and 4 students. We attended the Foreign Film Festival at the University of Central Missouri and they represented our school well and brought home many awards! We competed against many Kansas City Schools!
Spanish III:
2nd Place Best Level 2 Comedy: La batalla épica
3rd Place Best Level 2 Mystery: El gato
Spanish IV:
1st Place Best Level 3 Comedy: Chicas antipaticas
3rd Place Best Level 3 Spanish Film: Chicas antipaticas
Best Actor Overall of Spanish Films: Michael Perll
French III:
Best Level 2 French Film: Mec Logique
Best Use of Language Level 2 French Film: Mec Logique
2nd Place Best Level 2 Comedy: Mec Logique
Best Actor Overall of French Films: Jordan Henry
French IV:
Best Use of Language Level 3 French Film: Assassiner, je t'aime
2nd Place Best Actress: Kaitlin Harlow
From the Administration Team
Dr. Terry Robinson, Principal:
The academic boosters are working to enhance volunteer efforts at MHS. Specifically, they are working on a plan to foster growth of volunteers to assist students in the academic intervention study hall. The boosters are considering communication and recruitment efforts to support our intervention efforts. In addition, expansion of the academic intervention study hall is being considered to include more students.
Interviews have begun for open positions in the district and some recommendations should be ready by the next board meeting. Candidates for open positions in social studies were interviewed this week and last week and English will begin this coming Monday. Department chairs and members are participating in reviewing applications and making recommendations for candidates to interview. Additionally, interview committees will include department chairs and other department members by request of the chair.
The Senior Planning committee met (composed of senior students) and reviewed recommendations from students for the senior’s choice teacher of the year nominees. The winner will be named at graduation. In addition the class of 2012 will be honoring the support staff member of the year by establishing the Lori Mealy award, the award will be named in her honor and there are plans for the award to be accepted by her family. The class of 2012 hopes this will become a yearly award by senior classes for the support staff member of the year.
PBIS – Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Team – Coordinator Mr. Brad Ellebracht:
The PBIS team continues to meet and review data regarding disruptions to class. Plans for incentives for students and improving data collection efforts have been discussed for 2012-13. In addition, the team has presented to faculty and solicited input from a variety of sources. The effort continues to be in conjunction with training and consulting from the Columbia Regional Professional Development trainers.
Mrs. Deb Haag, Assistant Principal over Instruction:
EOC testing will be held during most of the month of May. Teachers were provided information and training to assist them in transitioning to a block schedule to facilitate testing.
On March 28th and 29th AdvancED (formerly NCA) was here to evaluate MHS as a part of voluntary accreditation process. AdvancED is an international accreditation process. Mexico Senior High School has be accredited with this organization since 1908. At this time, a written report is being finalized by the chair of the Quality Assurance Review Chair. That report will be submitted to the state AdvancED office for approval within the next 30 days. The state will then approve or assign the rating and send MHS the written report.
At this time, the recommended outcomes from the Quality Assurance Review Team from this process are below (please note that all schools going through this process receive both commendations and required actions):
Overall Recommended Rating: Accreditation on Advisement
Commendations:
•Mexico High School has a great sense of tradition and history. There is great pride in the school and many faculty and staff members are graduates who have chosen to return to work in the school, speaking to strong community bonds.
•There is a strong tradition of teacher leadership, as Mexico High School recognizes and values the importance of developing leadership capacity within its instructional staff.
•There has been deliberate work to establish systemic structures and strategies to serve as vehicles for school improvement (i.e., ACT seminars, Building Leadership Team, School Planning Institute).
Required Actions:
–Choose and implement one or two instructional strategies across all classrooms in the school for both consistency and to leverage student learning.
–Utilize one or two of the current cadre structures to focus on meaningful data analysis, to improve all levels of communication, and to increase stakeholder involvement in the school improvement process.
–Create a building-level School Improvement Plan to focus the work, professional development planning, and implementation accountability for improvement goals, with a focus on one or two building goals per year.
Leadership in Practice:
On April 3rd, 4th, and 5th, thirty--eight freshmen and sophomores attended the 3rd annual Leadership in Practice Program held at the Elk's Lodge. The event was a success due to the support of the local community leaders/organizations and superb table facilitators. Students are recommended by their teachers, who are requested to consider all students that lead, not just those in common leadership positions. The students participate in many activities including: examining leadership styles, studying characteristics of leaders,practicing ethical decision making as well as designing and promoting a needed product. Their culminating activity is to present three ideas/processes/ways to improve MHS. Students left the on the third day empowered.
Guidance and Counseling Team:
The team is working on course requests, and supporting EOC testing for the month of May.
Activities/Athletics
From Mr. Jeff Anderson – Vice Principal/Activities Director:
Random drug tests were conducted on April 11. Recommendations for coaching during the 2012-13 school year are also being considered. Academic intervention study hall for athletes has approximately 8 students meeting for additional help with their classes.
MHS Events and Activities:
April 5: ZAPS testing, Jrs. Act prep
April 12-15: Choir Trip to Nashville
April 20-22: State Speech & Debate Tournament in Columbia
April 26: State Music Festival
May 3: End of Course exams begin
May 4: Dinner Theater
May 5: Prom (at Elks Lodge)
May 16: Last day for Seniors
May 18: Awards assembly
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Summary: February 2012
Hi Everyone,
Our internet connectivity slowed work in the office for a while last semester. It made work on the computer difficult as the connections were evaluated and many of the issues were resolved. I had to put this blog on the back burner as many tasks were slowed if they required the computer.
Some highlights over the past few months you might not be aware of have been:
1. Our faculty coming together with administrative support to raise ACT scores - most of our students scored from 1 to 5 points higher. In addition, some seminar time is now being used for students wishing to improve their scores.
2. Our academic booster club focused on literacy and exceeded their goal to gather 750 new or gently used books for our students to support our drop everything and read time on Wednesday afternoons.
3. The first Gary Filbert classic shootout was held this winter and drew fans and teams we normally do not see in our schedule..
4. Our teachers are using IPADs to learn their feasibility in the classroom and two high school students serve on this committee to explore ways they can be integrated into learning and increase student engagement in learning.
5. Our positive behavior and support team continues to develop plans of action to guide our building toward teaching and affecting student behavior to increase learning. They have attended several trainings and have presented to our entire faculty with the support of the Columbia regional professional development committee. This is an effort to help our faculty and students achieve more in the classroom.
We continue to look for ways to improve learning at the high school. We are looking forward to an updated and remodeled science lab for 2012-13, an improved library space, and improvements to Emmons auditorium sound storage.
As we continue to improve, I hope any parent or community member will feel free to call upon the leadership at the high school to provide input and guide our efforts. I have been very appreciative of our academic boosters work this year for our students; it is also a great opportunity for parents and citizen to discuss issues of concern. For your information, the entire community should know this simple fact:
Students attending MHS regularly and pursuing our advanced placement and college preparatory classes (in other words, they report they are taking challenging classes at MHS) score above the national average on the ACT. Students can find what they are looking for at MHS and our faculty and staff are committed to looking for ways to improve our service to families everyday.
In closing, I hope everyone will attend our next playoff basketball game in Moberly for our boys this coming Wednesday night February 29. I'm looking forward to watching our students excel and represent our high school; it's exciting to watch our kids succeed.
Dr. Terry Robinson
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