This is the last school week of the 2014 school year. It will be a busy week as students finish up their studies, wrap up food and money drives for charity, compete in athletic contests and perform at the band and choir concert. The concert will be held on Wednesday night at 7 PM in the high school cafeteria. This is always a wonderful night of music during this Holiday season, hope you can make it. Enjoy the upcoming two week break (December 22 - January 2). I want to wish you and your family a peaceful and restful Holiday season!

We will have the National Honor Society induction event at the school on Thursday morning December 11th. It will begin at 8:30 AM and it will be in the gym. Students who are inducted have met the requirements of membership (3.5 GPA and above, completed the application). All applications were reviewed by a faculty committee and the selections were then made. We will have our winter concert on Wednesday December 17th in the high school cafeteria. It will begin at 7 PM and will include, band, choir and percussion music. It should be a wonderful Holiday event, hope you can attend.

I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving break! We return to school on Monday for a four day student week. It is a grade day on Friday so there is no school for students. On Thursday we will be 12-weeks into this first semester. Progress report grades will be mailed home the week of the 8th-12th. It is critical that students make progress towards graduation. That means passing all of their classes each semester. With just over 12-weeks left in this semester it's a good time to make sure that attention is being paid to grades and the accumulation of credits towards graduation. Making the necessary changes to study habits now in order to pass all classes may be required for some students. We have Supervised after school homework club from 3-4 PM during the school week. Scheduling individual time with classroom teachers is also possible. Please ensure that you are working with your student by having discussions about grades, credits and progress towards graduation.

It's already the Thanksgiving break. The fall has gone fast as we move in to winter soon. This week is very short with two days of school. When we return on Monday December 1st it will be a four day school week. There is no school on Friday December 5th because it is a grade day for teachers. The time between the Thansgiving break and the Holiday break in December will go quickly. Winter sports contests will begin in December and continue over the Holiday break. I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving break spent with family and friends!

This will be another short school week. There is no school on Tuesday due to Veterans Day. Looking ahead for the remainder of the month, we have a full week of school the 17th-21st and then a two day school week the the week of Thanksgiving. This month will go by quickly. There is a break from sports this week also as all fall sports are now finished. Winter sports practices will begin on Monday the 17th. I hope that you had a chance to meet with your students teachers last week during conferences. If you were not able to meet with them please know that you can contact them by appointment, phone or email.

Parent and teacher conferences are this week on Thursday and Friday. The schedule is as follows; Thursday 5-8 PM and Friday 8 AM-12 PM. This is a time for parents and students to come to the school and meet with course instructors to check progress in each course. Teachers will have updated course grades and will be ready to share how students are progressing in the course. Strengths, areas for improvement and concerns both from the parent perspective and from the teacher perspective can be discussed during this time. Please be aware that Thursday night is typically busier than Friday morning. Also, please plan to meet with teachers for no more than 5-7 minutes each. If you need additional time with the teacher, please plan with them for an appointment at another time. Thanks and see you Thursday and or Friday this week.

There have been a couple of interesting education articles in the Oregonian this past week. The most recent one, on Friday I believe, was about possibly requiring students to have a "full load" of classes in high school. It is typically the case that 9th and 10th graders will have full schedules. For 11th and 12th grade students that isn't always the case. The state may move to a point where they link the amount of money a school receives to the "load" of classes that they have on their schedule. And so a senior who takes 4 classes (half time) would be funded by the state at half of the full monetary rate (about $7,000). This is something that we will have to be aware of as the talks at the Oregon Department of Education proceed. This could be a significant change for us in many ways.

Students and parents will begin to see a change in how classes at the high school are structured. We are moving to a standards based educational model. Teachers are spending time looking at the Oregon Department of Education web site and identifying the content area standards that they will teach in their classes. Once identified and communicated to students in course syllabi, these become the basis for passing the class. Students will have to "meet" or pass all of the standards in order to receive credit. Tests, quizzes and homework will play a larger role in passing the course. We will continue to provide information about standards based education as the year progresses.

Progress reports will be mailed home this week. This will provide students and parents a first look at how students are doing academically in all classes. While the report looks very official it is still only a progress report. These grades are not a part of a students permanent record. Only semester grades become permanent and those will come in late January. There are still 12-weeks to go in this grading period. A reminder too that both students and parents can gain access to grades at any time through Synergy Parent Vue and Synergy Student Vue. You will need to have your own unique log-in for this and we have those in the main office.

We have a short school week coming up. There is no school for students on both Thursday and Friday (October 9th and 10th). Teachers will be completing progress report grades on Thursday and Friday is a non-paid teacher Inservice day. Parents and students can expect progress reports to arrive home the week of October 13th. This is the first progress report of this semester. There will be another progress report in December and then final Semester grades will come in early February. A reminder that parents can see student grades at any time using the Synergy parent vue access. This also goes for students using student vue access. Please see our front office staff if you do not have the password for your account.

Homecoming week has now come and gone. the last event to the week was the dance last night. There were over 250 students and guests dancing until 10 PM in the wrestling building on campus. It was a full week of activities capped off on Friday night with the crowning of the homecoming gueen, senior Emily Vandehey. With the football, volleyball and soccer wins win over Tillamook, it was just a great week. In the next month there will be some standardized testing for students. Two tests will be administered and they are the ASVAB (armed services vocational aptitude battery) and the PSAT (pre scholastic aptitude test). Both tests are free and neither is a graduation requirement. The ASVAB results provide good information about students interests and links careers both in and out of the military, to their interests. The PSAT is a test that helps to prepare students for the SAT test later in high school. The SAT is a required test for many colleges for those students seeking admittance to college. Both tests are primarily sophomore level tests. Lastly, the end of the first 6-weeks is fast approaching. The last day of this 6-weeks is October 8th. There is no school on October 9th or 10th. The 9th is a grade day for teachers and the 10th is a non-contract day. Progress reports will be mailed home the week of October 13th. Looks like fall is now here with cooler temperatures and the need for warmer clothes, nice to see the change.

We begin homecoming week tomorrow. There will be a tapping assembly in the morning, dress up days each day, class competitions, a parade on Friday afternoon and a dance on Saturday night. We have two home athletic events this week, volleyball on Tuesday night and football on Friday night. It's a busy week. Parents will hear more and more about two changes that are coming. One is the new state test called Smarter Balanced, it replaces the OAKS test and the other is the move at the high school to a Standards Based system. Each year 11th graders will take the new Smarter Balanced assessment. The test will be in reading, writing and math. Testing will only begin once 80% of the school year is complete so roughly early April. Passing these tests or local assessment tests (as part of a classroom assignment) is a requirement to graduate. The new tests are challenging and will require higher order skills. We are aligning our curriculum to make sure that students are prepared for these new assessments. More on Standards Based education next week.

We are now in to the the third week of school. Students and staff are getting used to the routine of classes and the school day. The end of the first 6-weeks is just three weeks away. Homecoming week begins on Monday the 22nd. During the week we will have dress up days, a tapping assembly, class competitions, a dance and home sporting events. It will be a fun and full week. You will hear more information about possible changes to our current bell schedule. This is because we are below 130 hours of class time in each class offered. We are forming a committee of teachers, parents, a Board member and administrators to develop a recommendation for changing our schedule to meet 130 hours per class. We will have to implement this change by the start of the 2015-16 school year. The 130 hour requirement is a state mandate.

The first week of this school year is now in the books. Staff and students returned to a building that was clean, cool and ready for use. Those students who had incomplete schedules were directed to see Mr. Hardie and all but a very few now have complete schedules. Our seven new teachers are meeting students, establishing classroom routines and are providing outstanding instruction. They are; Keith Mayo (math), Karl Bledsoe (math), Lee Tintary (language arts), Robert Plowman (language arts), Elizabeth Russell (language arts), David Imhoff (social studies), Cole Linehan (health/PE). Each of them bring with them uniques experiences from their time in education and we are all better off as a result. New ideas, new energy and new perspectives have been wonderful to see. The year,is,off to a great start.

It's the start of the new school year tomorrow. All new students to the high school should plan to attend for the entire day. We have a special schedule planned, one that will include showing all students how to do a number of things ie. lockers, lunch process, absence reporting process etc. During the second half of the day students will attend all eight classes for a short time. We are excited to get the school year rolling and look forward to having all of the new incoming students. All students will attend on Wednesday for the first day of school and it will be an "A" day.

There are just seven weeks left in this school year. The time between now and the end of the year will fly by. Graduation will be on Friday June 6th at 7 PM. We are planning for an outside graduation, weather permitting. This would be on the football field. Prior to graduation there is awards night on Thursday May 29th and baccalaureate on Wednesday June 4th. Awards night is in the cafeteria at the high school and baccalaureate location is yet to be determined. All seniors planning to graduate are required to have met all state and high school requirements. We will be conducting second and third round state testing for those students who have not met in the areas of math and reading. Spring sports are in full swing and all teams are doing well.

I hope that each of you had a restful and relaxing spring break. We are back in school for the final push to the end of the school year on June 6th for seniors and June 10th for grades 9-11. It will be a busy time from now until the end of the year. We will be having those students who have tested this year on reading and math and have not met, complete a second round of state testing. We want to give students every opportunity to pass state tests this year because the state test changes next year and with it comes only one attempt each year. We will begin the scheduling process as soon as we know our staffing numbers for next year. We hope to have students scheduled and schedules printed and sent home with final report cards in June. Spring sports are now in full swing and I hope the weather improves going forward.

This is the last week before we head in to spring break March 24-28. Students have just completed state math testing. Any students who have not passed this testing will have opportunities to retest later in the spring. When we return from spring break we will start scheduling students for classes for this fall. I hope that you have a wonderful spring break week, and that the weather improves.

Congratulations to the girls basketball team on their win last Friday night over Marshfield in the play-in game for the girls state basketball playoffs. The team will now travel to Philomoth on Friday for the first round of the playoffs. Congratulations also to Colin Purinton who finished second in his weight class at the state wrestling tournament last weekend. State math testing will take place before spring break. Students will be doing testing on the computers and and it will include students in grades 9-12 although only those 9th graders who have had the math instruction that corresponds with the test items will be tested this spring. Students can take the math test up to three times a year. State writing testing is just finishing up. Spring sports are now starting and they include track, baseball, softball and golf. Hope the weather improves so that teams can get outside for practices.

We are in the midst of state testing right now. Testing will continue, really, through May. Students are just finishing reading testing. Next Monday they will begin testing in writing and then we will test in math. Our current 10th graders will test in both reading and math this year. If they pass either or both of these tests they will have met graduation requirements in these areas. If not they will test again in both junior and senior years. The writing test can only be taken once a year in both junior and senior years. Again, students must pass state tests in reading, writing and math OR pass local assessments (2 in each area) to meet state graduation requirements. Also just a reminder that we will be including an unofficial copy of your students transcript with each progress report/report card we send home. The transcript has good information about where students are in meeting graduation requirements. It will show how many credits they have and how many they need as well as whether they have passed reading, writing and math requirements. Our goal is,that every student meets graduation requirements and graduates from high school.

The weather has been something! I can still see at least a foot of snow out the window of my house here in Forest Grove. I can only imagine that those living outside of Banks and especially in the hills have much more snow. I expect this week coming up to be a week where attendance may be impacted due to the weather. While we always want students to be present and in classes, it is understandable if they are not given these conditions outside of town and in the hills locally. Buses may be on very limited bus runs and that information should be posted early each morning. Just a reminder that if school is closed then there will be no after school activities.

The district technology committee has been meeting since the fall. The committee meets every two weeks. Members on the committee include teachers, parents, district technology staff and an administrator. The goal of the committee is to make recommendations to the board about technology improvements for the district. By the end of this school year the committee will need to recommend the type of device for the purchase of 120 computers. These 120 computers will need to be able to be used for next years Smarter Balanced Assessments, the new state test in reading, writing and math. They must have "touch screen" capabilities in order to be used for state testing beginning next year. The committee is looking at mobile devices that include lap tops and tablets. This is a big decision and an important one because we expect that these new devices will be used not only for testing but also in the classroom during instructional time. We want our students to move forward in the use of technology both for testing and for learning in the classroom.

The second semester starts on Tuesday. Any student who would like to request a schedule change will need to make an appointment to see Mr. Hardie. All changes should be completed by Friday January 31st. Semester grades will be mailed home by January 31st as well. State testing for juniors, seniors who still need to test and those sophomores and freshman in advanced classes will begin in February.

State testing is on the horizon. This year is the last year of testing with a test called OAKS. Starting next year we will use a test from Smarter Balanced. Other states are already using the Smarter Balanced tests and they are finding that for the most part student scores on these tests have decreased in comparison to their previous test results. We are also anticipating some drop in test scores. Because passing state tests in reading, writing and math is now a requirement for graduation it will be very important for all students to focus on doing their absolute best on each test. Any junior, sophomore or freshman who passes state test this year, on OAKS will have met graduation requirements for that assessment. Scores from this year will be "banked" so that students don't have to pass tests twice. Another way of meeting the writing, math and reading requirement is to pass what are called local assessments. These are typically classroom assignments that are graded using the state scoring guide. Students can meet the requirement by passing two of these in each area during the course of a class. There will be many opportunities to do local assessments starting in the 9th grade.

It was so nice to see all of the students dressed up last evening for the Winter Formal dance held at the World Forestry Center in Portland. Although the weather did not cooperate it was a nice venue with enough space to accommodate the 170 students who attended. Congratulations to Josh Krieger who was crowned king of the Winter Formal court! With the start of the second semester comes new classes and state testing. All juniors will be tested in math, reading and writing unless they have already passed state tests or local assessments in these areas. The requirement for obtaining an Oregon and Banks High School diploma now is that students have passed tests or local assessments in all three of these areas and that begins with this graduating class. Students will be tested, usually during class time, throughout this semester. Math and reading tests can be taken more than once in a year. State writing tests can only be taken once in the junior year and then again in the senior year. We will be very focused on state testing, monitoring who has passed them and most importantly who has yet to pass them. We will provide communication to parents from this point forward, where their student stands in terms of meeting state testing standards. This information will come with progress reports and semester grades.

With the start of the new year, it's time for the return to school. I hope that you had a wonderful break spent with family and friends. We now gear up for the last three weeks of the first semester of this school year. All course grades will be final on January 27th. This is the grade day date and semester grades from teachers are due on this date. A reminder that semester grades are final and are permanently recorded on transcripts. These grades are also used for calculating cumulative grade point averages. For the first time, some students course grades will be "weighted". Grades in all AP courses will be weighted which means that an A grade in an AP course carries with it 5 points instead of the usual 4 points. A grade of B carries with it 4 points etc. Because of weighted grades it will now be possible for students to accumulate a cumulative grade point average of over a 4.0 GPA. I also want to remind each of you that beginning with this years graduating class an Honors Diploma is a requirement for consideration as a Valedictorian or Salutatorian. This is a significant change from past policies. Please encourage your son or daughter to continue to do their absolute best in all classes between now and the end of this semester, mad welcome back to school!