Wednesday, February 27, 2013

2nd Annual Shamrock Shuffle 5K

On Your Mark, Get Set, SHUFFLE!

Lace up your sneakers and get ready to run, walk or shuffle your way through the 2nd Annual Shamrock Shuffle 5K!

Saturday, March 16th, 9am at the Medway High School. Make sure to register by this Friday, March 1st for your free t-shirt, cinch bag and water bottle!  Get your GREEN on!!

Register on line at www.racemenu.com/shamrockshuffle

Monday, February 25, 2013

Coffee House Friday, March 1

The annual Coffee House will once again be hosted by the National Honor Society. The event will take place on Friday, March 1st in the MHS cafeteria from 6:00-10:00pm, and is open to the public. Tickets can be bought at the door for $5.

 We look forward to seeing you here at MHS!

Parking @ MHS Tonight (Feb 25)

I want Medway High School to be the heart of the town, and tonight exemplifies this desire:

Special Town Meeting @ 7pm in the MHS Auditorium

Boy's Varsity Basketball Playoff Game @ 7pm in the MHS Gymnasium. MHS vs. Dedham.

Parking adjustments for tonight:

Town Meeting Members should park in the two lots closest to the school, specifically the faculty parking lot (3rd entrance) on the right side of the driveway, with additional parking on the left).

Athletic participants and fans should park in the student parking lot (first two entrances on the right side of the driveway).

Entrance:

Athletic fans should enter through the gym entrance.

Town Meeting Members should enter through the Main Entrance.

Playoff games do not provide much, if any, flexibility, in scheduling, so we appreciate everyone's patience in parking tonight.

If boys win tonight, they will travel to New Bedford on Wednesday to play Greater New Bedford High at 7pm. Boy's Basket ball bracket can be found here: http://miaa.statebrackets.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=2729

Friday, February 22, 2013

Create a Team for the March 6 Trivia Bee!

Create a Team and impress the town of Medway with your collective knowledge!

The Medway Foundation for Education (MFE) is hosting its annual Trivia Bee on March 6, and needs more Teams!

Winners get bragging rights for an entire year!

To find out more information, Click HERE.

Logo Design Contest



 YOUR LOGO HERE!

The Medway Friends of Performing Arts (MFPA) would like to announce a contest open to  Medway students to design a logo for our group. Our mission is to foster and promote performing arts in the Medway Public Schools. The design should represent our commitment to the performing arts. Currently, performing arts in the Medway schools include music in many forms, and drama. 
The contest is open to Medway Public School students of all ages.
Students may submit their logo design, in any form, to their school office by the end of school on Friday, April 5, 2013. Digital submissions can be sent to medwayfriendsofperformingarts@gmail.com. 
The winning work will be unveiled and displayed at the Medway 300 Arts Weekend, May 11-12, 2013 at Medway High School. Works of runners up may also be displayed at the Arts Weekend.
There may be photos taken at the unveiling which may be posted on the MFPA Facebook page and/or website or publicly displayed.
The winning work(s) may be used on MFPA publicity materials.
Further questions can be addressed to medwayfriendsofperformingarts@gmail.com.

After-Prom Planning Meeting Feb 27

Medway Secondary Home & School Association (MSHSA) will hold an initial After Prom Party parent meeting on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 7pm in the High School Guidance Area.
  
Parent support is vital to this event. Any parent that would like to lend their voice to the planning of the 2013 After Prom Party is welcome to attend.  The After Prom Party will be held on May 17, 2013.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Sidewalks surrounding MHS

I was just received a text from School Resource Officer, Don Grime stating that "Summer Street sidewalks plowed from Highland Street to Adams Street northbound and Azala Drive to Pheasant Run Road, southbound. DPS is working the overnight on snow removal and they will attempt to complete the sidewalk clearing then."

Yes, There IS a Mandatory Parent Night This Evening

The posting on the school web page may appear confusing, so here is, as clearly as straight forward as possible:

There IS a Mandatory Parent Meeting this evening, Feb 11, at 7:00 pm in the MHS Auditorium. Attendance will be taken. I will conclude at 8:30 pm.

If you are unable to attend this evening's presentation, you may attend the Alternative Mandatory Parent Meeting on Monday, March 18, at 7pm. It will conclude at 8:30 pm.


Friday, February 8, 2013

Alternate Mandatory Parent Night March 18

I just received confirmation that the alternate Mandatory Parent Night (see earlier postings for details) date is Monday, March 18, 2013 @ 7:00 pm in the MHS Auditorium.

So, if your son or daughter may attend the Sophomore Ring Dance or the Junior/Senior Prom, a parent must attend either of these two events:

Monday, February 11, at 7:00 pm in the MHS Auditorium
or
Monday, March 18, at 7:00 pm in the MHS Auditorium

You may, of course, attend both of you wish. The two presentations are different. If a parent did not attend the Feb 11 presentation, they must attend the March 18 presentation for students to be able to buy a ticket for the Sophomore Ring Dance of Junior/Senior Prom.

Grade 9 parents- Upper class parents and students have repeatedly told me that it is very possible that your son or daughter may attend one  of these events, even if they've never attended a dance before. PLEASE, don't get caught

Monday, February 4, 2013

Junior Family Info Evening Feb 6

Junior Family Post Secondary Information Evening
02-06-2013

Dear Juniors and parents/guardians:

Please reserve Wednesday, February 6th at 6:30 pm for Junior Family Post Secondary Information Evening. The counselors will host a panel of college admissions representatives and senior students, as well as present information on the use of Naviance and the post secondary planning process. In addition, juniors will begin meeting with counselors in small groups for a series of post secondary planning sessions in beginning in February and running through April. Juniors will be receiving dates and times to meet with their counselor in small groups during study halls. Counselors will be introducing the college exploration and planning modules of Naviance to the juniors, and covering important post secondary planning information including self evaluation, important dates, college visits, interviews, essays, admissions criteria and testing.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Impressive Video From Mrs. Aigler's Biology Students

Link is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTTl1e-zd70&feature=youtu.be



Communication Conflagration

I am constantly struggling with electronic communication. I received over 26,000 emails at school during the course of the last calendar year. I have not counted the number this year. Nor have I counted phone calls. I have more important tasks to accomplish. I will count them in July. 

My blog has been viewed 13,137 times since it was created in August, so someone is reading it. Hopefully not the same person, over and over again.

We use three major methods to 'get the word out' to the entire Medway community:
  • Blackboard Connect
  • Contant Contact
  • MMS Family Portal
Blackboard Connect is a service designed to send voice messages and emails to an audience. Contact information is created by transferring parental unit (i.e. parent, grandparent, guardian) email addresses from our database. It contains over 1,100 email addresses for the high school (parent and staff).

Constant Contact is a service wherein anyone who wants to receive emails from the district may enroll. On our district web page, the blue "Join Our Email List" button is the path to being placed on our list. It contains almost 1,300 email addresses.

The MMS Family Portal allows us to post messages to parents and students that are viewed when they log into their account. It can be targeted and individualized for students, as it is protected by a password. Every parent has access to it, for 805 students.

Ironically, these three methods do not communicate with each other, so maintaining these three databases is a challenge for our tech. department and secretaries. Emails change, and it takes time to correct errors. If you are a parent, and are not getting Blackboard Connect emails, please email me. Include the name of your child and your email address. I will try to get it correct right away.

Of course, how would you know you are not getting the emails....Hmm. Ask a neighbor? I could send a letter home asking parents to check and see if they got my email. No. It would cost $400 for postage. Maybe a postcard...

In addition, I have to decide which one is the best to send out the message. I prefer Blackboard, since it is updated at the start of the year. Constant Contact is prettier, with nice templates that are easy on the eyes. MMS is the most accurate, but you need to log in to view the emails. I could use all three to send out a message, but then I've doubled the number of emails, and cluttered up MMS.

I share this information with you to let you know that I will continue to explore ways to efficiently and effectively communicate with you, right after I delete all of this spam...