High School Redesign

As many people have heard, the State of Michigan has passed into law some of the toughest graduation requirements for high school students in the country. This charge was led by State Superintendent Mike Flanagan, pictured here. (If you would like to hear about his reasons, please go to this link: http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-38924-143681--,00.html and you can watch an assortment of short videos he did.)

Without debating the new requirements, although I will say that I support them, it is our incoming ninth graders who must meet these requirements to graduate. Our teachers have worked very hard this last year getting ready for this and because of it some changes had to be made to the curriculum. Let me address each area individually.

Math
The state says: All students need four credits in math and must meet all the objectives, as determined by the state in Algebra, Algebra 2, and Geometry, and must receive a full credit of math or a math related experience in their senior year.

The issues: All students must get four credits minimum, but most will get more. This is because credits are determined by the High School, but the objectives by the state. Some students will receive a credit and a half in Algebra because they need the whole year to meet the objectives, others will complete the objectives in the 8th grade and start on Geometry in 9th grade. No matter how it is done, students will be getting a lot more math classes or they will not, by state law, get a diploma.

Science

The State says: All students must get 3 credits in science. One of these credits must meet all the objectives of biology as determined by the state, and one of these credits must meet either all the objectives of chemistry or all they objectives of physics.

The Issues: There are several issues having to do with science. The first is that although the state does not require the students to take earth science, the state tests the students on it. For this reason, we require freshmen to take earth science. The state also requires the students to get a full credit in either chemistry or physics.However, the state tests students in parts of both chemistry and physics. For this reason, the parts the students must have are taught to all students in their freshman year. These are the parts that do not contain the higher level math. The students will then pick from either Chemistry B or Physics B in their junior year. For this reason, all freshman will take Earth Science, Chemistry A and Physics A in their freshman year. Sometimes they may take two in the same trimester (if someone has a schedule with all three in the same trimester, please come in and see Mrs. Angus starting the week of the 27th and she should be able to help), but they would have no science in a different trimester. All students will take biology in their sophomore year.

English

The State says: All students must get 4 credits in English. These classes must include all of the objectives the state gives for each grade level.

The Issue: This means that although classes like speech and creative writing will be offered, students must take English I, English II, English III (or higher), and English IV (or higher) to graduate.

Social Studies

The State: Is requiring 3 credits with specific objectives, but what those objectives will contain is still being reviewed. Go to http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Social_Studies_Update_204721_7.pdf
if you want to see where the state is in the process.

The Issue: As with English, although classes like Current Events and Psychology will be offered, students still must meet the requirements as outlined by the state when they are completed. This should be done very soon.

To find out more about the other requirements in the arts, foreign language and the rest, please come to the meeting in the school auditorium on August 28th at 6:00 PM.

I hope that clears things up a little, but feel free to post any questions and I will answer them as best I can.

The calender and other news and events of interest:

• Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Francisco and I are back, and will be here Monday-Thursday through the 17th. After that it will be Monday through Friday.
• Ms. Stump is back August 13th (same days)
• Ms. Beebe is back August 14th
  The in-service days for teachers are the 21st, 23, and 24 (Ms. Hargrove, Ms. Hari and I met today with Mr. Francisco, and we are ready to go! Click here for the agenda. )
• Jennifer Angus (the new counselor) will be back on the 21st as well, but she will be Monday through Friday after that.
• We are holding the second annual Ranger Roll-Out Fun Fair on Sept. 14th, from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM before the first Varsity Football game, but more on that later.
• There will be a parent night on Tuesday, August 28th at 6:00 PM as a welcome to incoming 7th grade and as an explanation of the new state requirements for everyone. Please join us!
• Stacy Balos will be available for substituting in the building this year, but due to state rules her position has been posted. This is not a good situation and I am very sad to see it occur.
• An agenda for the opening day for staff, Sept. 4th, is being sent to all high school staff in the mail today, August 9th.
• Open House for the High School will be from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM on Sept. 4. A good time to chat with teachers, see friends, get schedules, check lockers, etc.
• We are reinstating the Principal Advisory Committee, which will meet on the 3rd Monday of each month at 5:30 PM. If you are interested in being a part of that, please contact Mrs. Anderson at 445-0541 or email her at manders1@remc11.k12.mi.us.
• Band Boosters are meeting on September 10th at the high school. If you would like more information, you can email Karah Hiscott, the band director, at knjhiscott@yahoo.com

Well, that's all for this week. Things are moving quickly now, and soon we will begin!

I think we're ready...