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.