School resumes this week after a long Thanksgiving break. We have a grade Dy on Friday December 4th. This is will mark the 12-week point in this first semester. Students will not be in school on December 4th. The National Honor Society induction will be coming up in December. This will be a morning event held in the gymnasium. Students and parents will be notified of who is being inducted prior to the event so all may attend. We are working on possibly altering our bell schedule starting next fall. The reason for a possible change is to be able to allocate some time during the school day for students to be able to access any teacher for roughly 30 minutes twice a week. This is so that students can take re-tests, or get additional help from teachers. There will be more to. One on this after the first of the year. Winter sports contests start this week.

This is the last week of school prior to a one week break. There will be no school from November 23rd-27th. Four of the days that week are non-contract and non-paid days for all school staff. When we return from the Thanksgiving break there will be three weeks of school and the longer Holiday break of two weeks. 12-week progress reports will be mailed home the second week in December. Congratulations to our football team as they defeated Mazama 28-21 yesterday afternoon. It was a hard fought game between two very good teams. Banks will play next on Saturday November 12st at 3:30 PM at Hillsboro Stadium. We will be playing Cascade.

This past week was College Application Week at the high school. All week long senior students had the opportunity to attend presentations that helped theM look into their future and what they might do after high school. There were sessions on college, trades and the work force and the military. Students signed up for what they wanted to attend. Whitney Scott, our new counselor organized the event. It was very well received and students and parents voiced their appreciation for having it. Congratulations to the volleyball team. They won the state 4A volleyball title on Saturday night. They defeated Sisters in three close games. This is their first state title. The football team defeated Baker on Saturday. They will now play Mazama next Saturday. Time and location have not been set yet.

Parent conferences will be November 4th and 5th from 4:30-8 PM. Parents are encouraged to come to the high school to meet with teachers and discuss their students progress in courses. Teachers will be available during this time to meet. The front office will have copies of transcripts, current grades and a map for parents who need them. Hope to see you this week. There is no school on Friday November 6th. We also have College Application Week November 2nd-5th. This is the week when our seniors can attend sessions on applying to college, applying to trade schools, military options, being informed about sports in college etc. We will have sessions throughout the four days that seniors can attend if interested. The focus is on getting students started on their next step after graduation from high school. It's our first time doing this and Whitney Scott, our new counselor, has brought this program to the high school. It is a great opportunity for our students!