From the Principal’s Desk...
Greetings!
Seems like just yesterday we were kicking off the new school year and now we’ve found the end of quarter one and we’re faced with the change of the clocks as Daylight Saving Time is upon us (that means change your clocks and your smoke detector batteries this weekend). There is much to write about today and I am thankful to finally have loads to say to you that hasn’t already been published in the daily notices.
Parent/Teacher Conferences are scheduled for November 19-21, 2021. Parents/guardians across the school system will continue to use the Synergy Conference Management module to schedule parent/teacher conferences online, print a schedule of appointments, and opt to receive email reminders of appointments. Synergy Conference Management provides a simple user interface and easy navigation. From Friday, November 9th, 8:00 am through Thursday, November 15th, 11:59 pm, parents/guardians can log into HCPSS Connect to view and select available time slots to meet with teachers.
The purpose of this conference window is to allow parents/guardians the opportunity for a quick meet and greet with staff to discuss general student progress. Accordingly, each conference slot is fifteen minutes long. If you have a pressing concern, you are strongly encouraged to contact the teacher to discuss it outside of the conference window. Synergy Conference Management allows users to schedule time with individual teachers. When creating your schedule, be certain to build in travel time from one conference to the next, as it is important to stay on schedule. We do not recommend scheduling your conferences back-to-back as you will lose meeting time while traveling from one classroom to the next. As a parent of a high school aged student, we strongly suggest conferences be scheduled at times that allow your student to accompany you. Students in this age group should be encouraged and expected to self advocate. Including them in this process will permit them to have that experience with your support.
To permit access to our staff by all with an interest, we ask that parents schedule conferences only for those classes for which there are concerns. High school teachers do not have a slot for each and every student on their rosters. So, please be strategic about who you’d like to see and mindful of the need for your neighbors to have the same access.
For step by step directions, please refer to the user guide posted to the county website. We look forward to seeing you during conference week. Should you have any questions or require assistance scheduling your appointments, please contact Student Services, by calling 410-313-2857. For questions about availability or course specific questions, please contact the teacher directly.
The week immediately preceding conferences is American Education Week. Parents who would like to get a glimpse at ‘a day in the life’ of our Centennial Eagles are welcome to come visit. The best day of that week is Tuesday, November 13, as teachers will avoid giving assessments on that date.
In case you missed it in the daily updates, we are making some adjustments to our Attendance Policy based upon our observations of student’s on-time behavior. Click here to read the new policy.
Over the course of the past quarter, we’ve been monitoring how we communicate with you. Specifically, we’ve been looking at the types of messages you receive, the frequency of the information sent, the delivery system (email, social media, Canvas announcements, etc.), and analyzing the reach of these messages. The daily alert sent via SchoolMessenger has an ‘open rate’ in the low 20% range, website traffic is equally low, and social media interactions minor. This leaves me with a lot of questions about the effectiveness of our current practices. In the coming weeks, we will be making some adjustments to our format and the content of the information. More information about these changes will be coming soon.
Finally, congratulations to Naige Correal-Winters, Patrick Correal-Winters and Jocelyn Choo, AKA ‘The Baltimore Bio Crew’ on winning Best Presentation in the 2018 International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. If you’d like take a look at their impressive product, follow this link to the iGEM competition results and see the breadth of international competition these kids were up against. Then scroll down to find the link to the Bio Crew’s page. Our students not only outscored high school peers, but undergrad and graduate level teams as well. Amazing win!
We also want to tell our Cross Country Boys and Girls how proud we are of their regional title wins yesterday and wish our Boys Soccer team best of luck as they advance to the regional finals next week.
Enjoy that extra hour of rest this weekend!
Cindy Dillon