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
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
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
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Academic Boosters to Meet on November 30, 2011
Dear Parents and Guardians and Youth Pastors,
The Academic Booster Club will meet on Wednesday, November 30 at 3:30 pm in the Leading and Learning room adjacent to the main office. The past few meetings have been attended by 7 to 12 parents. We have refined our focus on supporting literacy at the high school; chiefly, we want students to have many different kinds of books to read and our high school to be a literacy rich environment.
Each Wednesday our seminar teachers support DEAR day (drop everything and read). The Academic Boosters will be planning a reading round-up of books students would like to read to support the efforts of our teachers and the librarian, Lindsey Yancey, to have enough books for all our students. During our last meeting, Mrs. Yancey led a tour of our library and we discussed plans to have a reading round-up February 14, 2012.
We need your support and hope you can attend.
T.
Dr. Terry Robinson
Principal
Mexico High School
573-581-4296
"Whatever you are be a good one" -A. Lincoln
The Academic Booster Club will meet on Wednesday, November 30 at 3:30 pm in the Leading and Learning room adjacent to the main office. The past few meetings have been attended by 7 to 12 parents. We have refined our focus on supporting literacy at the high school; chiefly, we want students to have many different kinds of books to read and our high school to be a literacy rich environment.
Each Wednesday our seminar teachers support DEAR day (drop everything and read). The Academic Boosters will be planning a reading round-up of books students would like to read to support the efforts of our teachers and the librarian, Lindsey Yancey, to have enough books for all our students. During our last meeting, Mrs. Yancey led a tour of our library and we discussed plans to have a reading round-up February 14, 2012.
We need your support and hope you can attend.
T.
Dr. Terry Robinson
Principal
Mexico High School
573-581-4296
"Whatever you are be a good one" -A. Lincoln
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Academic Booster Club: October 18, 2011
Dear parents and guardians,
Last year we established links with our local youth pastors and some parents to serve as volunteers supervising our cafeteria. We have appreciated many of them coming to lunch regularly and helping us change the atmosphere of our cafeteria which was the troubled area of our building with 14 student altercations occurring during the 2009-10 school year. This past year, there were only two altercations in our cafeteria.
This year, we would like to continue to grow our connections with parents and those working with young people in our community. As I've settled into this community I've spent some time gathering areas our community can get involved and make a difference. If you would like to be a part of our fall meeting, I would be glad to meet you and discuss and brainstorm some places you can help our students.
We will have our first meeting October 26, 2011 at 3:30 pm in our conference room adjacent to our main office at the high school. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call me in the main office at 573-581-4296.
Dr. Robinson
Last year we established links with our local youth pastors and some parents to serve as volunteers supervising our cafeteria. We have appreciated many of them coming to lunch regularly and helping us change the atmosphere of our cafeteria which was the troubled area of our building with 14 student altercations occurring during the 2009-10 school year. This past year, there were only two altercations in our cafeteria.
This year, we would like to continue to grow our connections with parents and those working with young people in our community. As I've settled into this community I've spent some time gathering areas our community can get involved and make a difference. If you would like to be a part of our fall meeting, I would be glad to meet you and discuss and brainstorm some places you can help our students.
We will have our first meeting October 26, 2011 at 3:30 pm in our conference room adjacent to our main office at the high school. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call me in the main office at 573-581-4296.
Dr. Robinson
Thursday, August 18, 2011
WELCOME BACK! August 2011
Hello Everyone!
The school year is off and running! For many of our office and teaching staff we are literally RUNNING!
So much happens to kick off the school year; registration, computer entries, lesson plans, distribution of materials, cleaning, busing routes, shot records....that's just a start.
If you get a chance to thank a teacher or a staff member at our school -- please do so. The beginning of a school year is often one of the toughest parts of the school year.
I wanted to give you all this information about our seminar class:
Seminar is a ¼ credit course per semester and is taught by teachers with strong counseling and
administrator support. Teachers retain a small group of approximately 15 students (of the
same grade level) for their entire high school experience and develop strong working
relationships with them. The primary purposes of seminar are to do the following:
1) Guide young people to complete their assignments in their classes and stay on-track to graduation
2) Provide additional study time for students
3) Teach learning skills that promote success as a student and assist students in improving their overall grades and achievement
4) Promote a culture of literacy – students reading
We began with the plan and purpose above and throughout last year teachers took feedback through our building leadership team made up of teachers, adminstrators and counselors.
The following are revisions to seminar in response to teacher concerns:
1. There is not enough time to teach learning skills lessons well – time is too short
Revision: these lessons are not mandatory, but highly advised for individual students failing
Students should develop a PDSA – Plan Do Study Act – learning plan for each 6 week period, teachers will keep these plans on file and take time to meet with them individually to approve and review their plans.
2. Student Council and Leadership oriented students need enrichment – they have little need of intervention.
Revision: A seminar class has been formed for students actively participating in student council.
3. Students having more difficulty keeping up in classes need more attention in seminar; seminar class size should be reduced for these students and they should be identified so they receive more assistance in staying on-track.
Revision: Smaller classes were set up with a single digit class size of students having more difficulty.
(approx. 7 students per class) Students having more difficulty were identified by teachers via feedback to the building leadership team (BLT) All these students are located at MHS.
4. Concern about the loss of teachers with experience working with students at each grade level. Suggestion from teachers: Keep one teacher at each grade level so there is at least one person each year with the knowledge of what should happen at that grade level.
Revision: Stationary teachers were assigned to each grade level.
5. Some concern about the balance of teacher experience at each grade level was voiced.
Revision: Classes were better balanced with teachers of varying experience levels.
6. Necessary Adjustments
Our class sizes at the freshman and senior level are significantly larger than last year.
**This meant we couldn’t keep all students with the same teachers as last year.
Here are the focuses for seminar each day:
Monday:
Student Grade Checks
Tuesday:
Guided Study hall
Wednesday:
Drop Everything and Read
Thursday:
Guided Study Hall
Friday:
Guided Study Hall
And/or
Seminar: Team building activities
Seminar has also been used for class meetings, planning meetings, and special assemblies and guest speakers. Our revisions to seminar will hopefully better address our needs with students.
We are committed to continuous improvement and our teachers continue to look for ways to keep students on-track to graduation.
Additionally, the teachers and staff will begin pursuing positive behavior intervention and support (PBiS) for our students and teachers. In this 3-5 year process being pursued with the support of the Columbia Regional Professional Development Committe at Mizzou. We hope to better address poor behavior issues at the high school. We are committed to teaching students how to behave in a learning or business environment so they are successful in school and in life. Mr. Brad Ellebracht will be acting as our coordinator for this effort and the following teachers have also committed to serving on the committee: Ms. Taylor, Mrs. Breshears, Mr. Schenewerk, Mrs. Swisher, Mr. Winslow, Ms. Windmann(Crowe), Mrs. Gilles, Mr. Winslow and Mrs. Conn.
Our planners for students will be distributed next week. Student Council provided the planner choice for students to use for 2011-12. There has been a slight delay from our distributor.
Finally, MHS faculty and staff is looking forward to assisting your son or daughter as they work toward the completion of their high school education. Please call on us if you have any questions or concerns throughout the year.
Dr. Terry Robinson
Principal
The school year is off and running! For many of our office and teaching staff we are literally RUNNING!
So much happens to kick off the school year; registration, computer entries, lesson plans, distribution of materials, cleaning, busing routes, shot records....that's just a start.
If you get a chance to thank a teacher or a staff member at our school -- please do so. The beginning of a school year is often one of the toughest parts of the school year.
I wanted to give you all this information about our seminar class:
Seminar is a ¼ credit course per semester and is taught by teachers with strong counseling and
administrator support. Teachers retain a small group of approximately 15 students (of the
same grade level) for their entire high school experience and develop strong working
relationships with them. The primary purposes of seminar are to do the following:
1) Guide young people to complete their assignments in their classes and stay on-track to graduation
2) Provide additional study time for students
3) Teach learning skills that promote success as a student and assist students in improving their overall grades and achievement
4) Promote a culture of literacy – students reading
We began with the plan and purpose above and throughout last year teachers took feedback through our building leadership team made up of teachers, adminstrators and counselors.
The following are revisions to seminar in response to teacher concerns:
1. There is not enough time to teach learning skills lessons well – time is too short
Revision: these lessons are not mandatory, but highly advised for individual students failing
Students should develop a PDSA – Plan Do Study Act – learning plan for each 6 week period, teachers will keep these plans on file and take time to meet with them individually to approve and review their plans.
2. Student Council and Leadership oriented students need enrichment – they have little need of intervention.
Revision: A seminar class has been formed for students actively participating in student council.
3. Students having more difficulty keeping up in classes need more attention in seminar; seminar class size should be reduced for these students and they should be identified so they receive more assistance in staying on-track.
Revision: Smaller classes were set up with a single digit class size of students having more difficulty.
(approx. 7 students per class) Students having more difficulty were identified by teachers via feedback to the building leadership team (BLT) All these students are located at MHS.
4. Concern about the loss of teachers with experience working with students at each grade level. Suggestion from teachers: Keep one teacher at each grade level so there is at least one person each year with the knowledge of what should happen at that grade level.
Revision: Stationary teachers were assigned to each grade level.
5. Some concern about the balance of teacher experience at each grade level was voiced.
Revision: Classes were better balanced with teachers of varying experience levels.
6. Necessary Adjustments
Our class sizes at the freshman and senior level are significantly larger than last year.
**This meant we couldn’t keep all students with the same teachers as last year.
Here are the focuses for seminar each day:
Monday:
Student Grade Checks
Tuesday:
Guided Study hall
Wednesday:
Drop Everything and Read
Thursday:
Guided Study Hall
Friday:
Guided Study Hall
And/or
Seminar: Team building activities
Seminar has also been used for class meetings, planning meetings, and special assemblies and guest speakers. Our revisions to seminar will hopefully better address our needs with students.
We are committed to continuous improvement and our teachers continue to look for ways to keep students on-track to graduation.
Additionally, the teachers and staff will begin pursuing positive behavior intervention and support (PBiS) for our students and teachers. In this 3-5 year process being pursued with the support of the Columbia Regional Professional Development Committe at Mizzou. We hope to better address poor behavior issues at the high school. We are committed to teaching students how to behave in a learning or business environment so they are successful in school and in life. Mr. Brad Ellebracht will be acting as our coordinator for this effort and the following teachers have also committed to serving on the committee: Ms. Taylor, Mrs. Breshears, Mr. Schenewerk, Mrs. Swisher, Mr. Winslow, Ms. Windmann(Crowe), Mrs. Gilles, Mr. Winslow and Mrs. Conn.
Our planners for students will be distributed next week. Student Council provided the planner choice for students to use for 2011-12. There has been a slight delay from our distributor.
Finally, MHS faculty and staff is looking forward to assisting your son or daughter as they work toward the completion of their high school education. Please call on us if you have any questions or concerns throughout the year.
Dr. Terry Robinson
Principal
Monday, May 9, 2011
April and May 2011
Hi Everyone,
Spring...finally! It has been a full year and I won't pretend my blog can contain all the events and achievements of this school year. Our faculty and staff are among the busiest I have encountered and they do it all for the benefit of the students and families they serve. If you haven't done so, I know any teacher would appreciate a kind word, email or card from a parent or guardian. Sometimes, it is the little things, that kind appreciation from someone that drives caregivers like teachers. Frankly, we can all use a kind work about what we've devoted our lives to do - serve others.
T.
Month/Year: April 2011
Current Enrollment: 683
Free / Reduced Lunch Enrollment: 245/50
Student Services Listing: 72
Students of the Month: March
Dillon Shoemaker and Shelbi Prince
Academics:
From Ms. Yount, Science Department: Bio Club will be taking a trip on Monday May 2nd to Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville, MO. It is a Clydesdale Breeding ranch.
From Mrs. Julie Exendine, Foreign Language Department: Congratulations to the following French III students: Lexie Abbott, Ana Garcia, Kaitlin Harlow, Paislee House, Nikki Polston, Liesl Walser, Randi Winterhalter, Sam Wren whose original French film was awarded 1st place for Use of Language in their category and 2nd place Comedy in their category at the University of Central Missouri's Foreign Language Film Festival. I am so proud of these girls! They wrote, filmed and appeared in this entirely student created production!
From Mrs. Christina Gerber, Math Department: In Math II we just started learning how to write
2-column algebraic proofs. Once my students started to get the idea of what a proof is and how to write one, I had them come up with their own problem to prove. They did this as an individual assignment and so as a result I was able to use their proofs on a quiz. Everyone who turned in a proof (some turned in two proofs) did an excellent job as I would have written a very similar quiz. When I passed out the quiz they were all really excited to see the problem they wrote on the quiz.
Activities:
From Mr. Cortez, Band Director: We've officially survived yet another MSHSAA District Music Festival. Directors and parents alike praised our efforts in running a wonderful festival, and it could not be done without everyone's help! So, a heart-felt THANK YOU!!
Our large groups performed well, the Choir bringing home an EXCELLENT (2) RATING and the Band bringing home a SUPERIOR (1) RATING.
We had some students who will move on to the STATE level in Columbia (April 28): Vocalists Marshall Forbis and Nikki Jung, Pianists Ben Zinkel and Sabrena Joiner, Trumpet Trio of Abby Braden, Thomas Freeman, and Jonah McKeown.
The following students participated in this year's Music Festival as well: VOCALISTS: Audreonna Taylor, Alexis Mika, Shelby Hobbs, Rachel Silver, Kristin Walch, Monica Martinez, Lacie Matthiesen, Jackie Hurd, Dalyne Test, Jordan Henry. INSTRUMENTALISTS: Nandita Thapar, Piano; Marshall Forbis, Saxophone Solo; Levi Holmes, Piano; Austin Miller, Trumpet Solo; Lawrence Jerichow, Trumpet Solo; Jonah McKeown, French Horn Solo Mexico Trombone Trio (Benjamin Zinkel, Austin Weber, Cassandra Schmidt) Mexico Clarinet Trio (Sabrena Joiner, Carley Nance, Haley Mathews) Mexico Saxophone Quintet (Aaron Lightfoot, Jacob Lauer, Marshall Forbis, Chelsea McCord, Aaron Williams-Conley) Mexico Percussion Ensemble (Michael Perll, Dylan Nance, Ben Rogers, Christian McKeown, Nandita Thapar, Levi Holmes)
From Sarah Pence – Quiz Bowl Sponsor: The Quiz Bowl team finished up the 2010-2011 season on April 9th by placing 4th place in districts. Stephen Houke took home the 3rd place medal for most questions answered during the day. It has been a truly enjoyable season with exemplary students that have received compliments from every tournament that we attended for being "the nicest kids."
Nick Hoth – Wrestling Coach: The Mexico Wrestling team has been awarded the "Team of the Season" by KRCG Channel 13. The River City Credit Union presented the Mexico Athletic Booster Club with a $500 check on the wrestling team's behalf.
Speech & Debate Team – Coach Sara Given: Michael Perll and Nate Hitchcock (District Champions in multiple events) will be competing at MSHSAA State Speech & Debate Friday, April 15th and Saturday, April 16th. They are quite entertaining to watch in both their Duet and their Debate. Administration Team:
The MHS Student Ambassadors have been featured in the 3/50 Project advertisement.
Leadership in Practice was held at the Elks with 35 freshmen and sophomores as well as 6 junior consultants that had previously been through the program. A big thank you to The Elks, The Chamber, Mexico Rotary, and Noon Kiwanis for contributions. Also, thank you to our community members that spoke- Ron Hopkins, Dana Keller and Jeff Frazier.
Shelby Smith and Ana Garcia will represent the Student Ambassadors at the monthly Chamber Meeting.
National Honor Society initiation was held April 6.
Government End of Course Exams were taken March 28.
Mrs. Woolsey finished her interviews with the seniors March 23.
Paul Pitchford from the University of Missouri finished professional development of Understanding by Design with 11 MHS teachers on March 23.
Guidance and Counseling Team:
• College/University visits in March: Missouri S & T, Hannibal LaGrange and Missouri Western
• A+ Advisory Meeting/ Breakfast was on March 9th with Phil Neely A+ Coordinator
• Mexico High School Local Scholarships were due in the Guidance Office on March 15th. This year 96 Local Scholarships were offered. The Guidance Office processed 1,991 scholarship applications from our seniors.
• Scholarships have been distributed to the 96 scholarship committees, for their decisions. The Awards Ceremony will be May 20th at 9:00a.m. in the MHS Gymnasium.
• There are still several Current Scholarships being offered on the Guidance Office webpage.
• The online Government End of Course Exam was administered the week of March 28th.
• ZAPS (an ACT preparation class) was offered on March 29th in the Mexico High School Library.
Upcoming Events:
4/14 State FFA Convention
4/14-16 MHS Chamber & Women’s Choir Trip to Branson
4/15-16 MSHSAA State Speech at MU, Michael Perll and Nate Hitchcock
4/16 MHS Saturday School
4/18 & 4/19 FBLA State Competitions - Columbia, MO
4/18 MHS ASVAB - Testing Rm 308
4/20 MHS FCA Mtg - Band Rm
4/27 Health Occupations Class Blood Drive
Glory of Missouri Awards Recommendations sent to Senator Cauthorne’s office:
Benjamin Zinkel KNOWLEDGE
Shelbi Prince LIBERTY
Shaquille Curtis EQUALITY
Sierra Buck LAW
Nathaniel Hitchcock JUSTICE
Dillon Shoemaker FRATERNITY
Stephen Houke EDUCATION
Micha Willis PROGRESS
Heather Elder HONOR
Rachel Silver TRUTH
Margaret Ganzalez-Meyer VIRTUE
Amorye’ Curtis TEMPERANCE
Marissa Brown ENTERPRISE
Ryan Pickering CHARITY
Spring...finally! It has been a full year and I won't pretend my blog can contain all the events and achievements of this school year. Our faculty and staff are among the busiest I have encountered and they do it all for the benefit of the students and families they serve. If you haven't done so, I know any teacher would appreciate a kind word, email or card from a parent or guardian. Sometimes, it is the little things, that kind appreciation from someone that drives caregivers like teachers. Frankly, we can all use a kind work about what we've devoted our lives to do - serve others.
T.
Month/Year: April 2011
Current Enrollment: 683
Free / Reduced Lunch Enrollment: 245/50
Student Services Listing: 72
Students of the Month: March
Dillon Shoemaker and Shelbi Prince
Academics:
From Ms. Yount, Science Department: Bio Club will be taking a trip on Monday May 2nd to Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville, MO. It is a Clydesdale Breeding ranch.
From Mrs. Julie Exendine, Foreign Language Department: Congratulations to the following French III students: Lexie Abbott, Ana Garcia, Kaitlin Harlow, Paislee House, Nikki Polston, Liesl Walser, Randi Winterhalter, Sam Wren whose original French film was awarded 1st place for Use of Language in their category and 2nd place Comedy in their category at the University of Central Missouri's Foreign Language Film Festival. I am so proud of these girls! They wrote, filmed and appeared in this entirely student created production!
From Mrs. Christina Gerber, Math Department: In Math II we just started learning how to write
2-column algebraic proofs. Once my students started to get the idea of what a proof is and how to write one, I had them come up with their own problem to prove. They did this as an individual assignment and so as a result I was able to use their proofs on a quiz. Everyone who turned in a proof (some turned in two proofs) did an excellent job as I would have written a very similar quiz. When I passed out the quiz they were all really excited to see the problem they wrote on the quiz.
Activities:
From Mr. Cortez, Band Director: We've officially survived yet another MSHSAA District Music Festival. Directors and parents alike praised our efforts in running a wonderful festival, and it could not be done without everyone's help! So, a heart-felt THANK YOU!!
Our large groups performed well, the Choir bringing home an EXCELLENT (2) RATING and the Band bringing home a SUPERIOR (1) RATING.
We had some students who will move on to the STATE level in Columbia (April 28): Vocalists Marshall Forbis and Nikki Jung, Pianists Ben Zinkel and Sabrena Joiner, Trumpet Trio of Abby Braden, Thomas Freeman, and Jonah McKeown.
The following students participated in this year's Music Festival as well: VOCALISTS: Audreonna Taylor, Alexis Mika, Shelby Hobbs, Rachel Silver, Kristin Walch, Monica Martinez, Lacie Matthiesen, Jackie Hurd, Dalyne Test, Jordan Henry. INSTRUMENTALISTS: Nandita Thapar, Piano; Marshall Forbis, Saxophone Solo; Levi Holmes, Piano; Austin Miller, Trumpet Solo; Lawrence Jerichow, Trumpet Solo; Jonah McKeown, French Horn Solo Mexico Trombone Trio (Benjamin Zinkel, Austin Weber, Cassandra Schmidt) Mexico Clarinet Trio (Sabrena Joiner, Carley Nance, Haley Mathews) Mexico Saxophone Quintet (Aaron Lightfoot, Jacob Lauer, Marshall Forbis, Chelsea McCord, Aaron Williams-Conley) Mexico Percussion Ensemble (Michael Perll, Dylan Nance, Ben Rogers, Christian McKeown, Nandita Thapar, Levi Holmes)
From Sarah Pence – Quiz Bowl Sponsor: The Quiz Bowl team finished up the 2010-2011 season on April 9th by placing 4th place in districts. Stephen Houke took home the 3rd place medal for most questions answered during the day. It has been a truly enjoyable season with exemplary students that have received compliments from every tournament that we attended for being "the nicest kids."
Nick Hoth – Wrestling Coach: The Mexico Wrestling team has been awarded the "Team of the Season" by KRCG Channel 13. The River City Credit Union presented the Mexico Athletic Booster Club with a $500 check on the wrestling team's behalf.
Speech & Debate Team – Coach Sara Given: Michael Perll and Nate Hitchcock (District Champions in multiple events) will be competing at MSHSAA State Speech & Debate Friday, April 15th and Saturday, April 16th. They are quite entertaining to watch in both their Duet and their Debate. Administration Team:
The MHS Student Ambassadors have been featured in the 3/50 Project advertisement.
Leadership in Practice was held at the Elks with 35 freshmen and sophomores as well as 6 junior consultants that had previously been through the program. A big thank you to The Elks, The Chamber, Mexico Rotary, and Noon Kiwanis for contributions. Also, thank you to our community members that spoke- Ron Hopkins, Dana Keller and Jeff Frazier.
Shelby Smith and Ana Garcia will represent the Student Ambassadors at the monthly Chamber Meeting.
National Honor Society initiation was held April 6.
Government End of Course Exams were taken March 28.
Mrs. Woolsey finished her interviews with the seniors March 23.
Paul Pitchford from the University of Missouri finished professional development of Understanding by Design with 11 MHS teachers on March 23.
Guidance and Counseling Team:
• College/University visits in March: Missouri S & T, Hannibal LaGrange and Missouri Western
• A+ Advisory Meeting/ Breakfast was on March 9th with Phil Neely A+ Coordinator
• Mexico High School Local Scholarships were due in the Guidance Office on March 15th. This year 96 Local Scholarships were offered. The Guidance Office processed 1,991 scholarship applications from our seniors.
• Scholarships have been distributed to the 96 scholarship committees, for their decisions. The Awards Ceremony will be May 20th at 9:00a.m. in the MHS Gymnasium.
• There are still several Current Scholarships being offered on the Guidance Office webpage.
• The online Government End of Course Exam was administered the week of March 28th.
• ZAPS (an ACT preparation class) was offered on March 29th in the Mexico High School Library.
Upcoming Events:
4/14 State FFA Convention
4/14-16 MHS Chamber & Women’s Choir Trip to Branson
4/15-16 MSHSAA State Speech at MU, Michael Perll and Nate Hitchcock
4/16 MHS Saturday School
4/18 & 4/19 FBLA State Competitions - Columbia, MO
4/18 MHS ASVAB - Testing Rm 308
4/20 MHS FCA Mtg - Band Rm
4/27 Health Occupations Class Blood Drive
Glory of Missouri Awards Recommendations sent to Senator Cauthorne’s office:
Benjamin Zinkel KNOWLEDGE
Shelbi Prince LIBERTY
Shaquille Curtis EQUALITY
Sierra Buck LAW
Nathaniel Hitchcock JUSTICE
Dillon Shoemaker FRATERNITY
Stephen Houke EDUCATION
Micha Willis PROGRESS
Heather Elder HONOR
Rachel Silver TRUTH
Margaret Ganzalez-Meyer VIRTUE
Amorye’ Curtis TEMPERANCE
Marissa Brown ENTERPRISE
Ryan Pickering CHARITY
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