I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break! We return to school on November 28th for three weeks before we have the longer two week Holiday Break. There will be a lot going on at school during those three weeks. we have the Blood Drive at the school, in our wrestling building, on Tuesday December 29th. That will be from about 9 AM to 2 PM. There will be no school on Friday December 2nd. This is a grade day for the end of the 12-week grading period. Our holiday band concert will be on Wednesday December 7th at 7 PM in the cafeteria. Our holiday choir concert will be on Thursday December 15th at 7 PM and will also be in the cafeteria. Winter sports contests start this week as well. It is a busy time of year, but also a fun time of year. If you get a chance, it would be great if you could come to the school for one or more of the events listed above to both enjoy and support our students and our community. Thanks and have a wonderful holiday season!

Conferences have just finished. I hope that you had a chance to get in to the school to meet with your son/daughters teachers. With about 9-weeks to go in the semester, it's important that each student know where they stand in terms of progress in their courses. Again, students can keep up to date by using the Student Vue program. Parents can also see how their student is doing academically and attendance wise by using the Parent Vue program. Both are online programs that can be accessed through the internet anywhere you are and at any time of the day/night. We had 28 students take the ASVAB test recently. The change for this test this year was that it is no longer mandatory for all juniors. Students opt in or out after classroom presentations by military representatives outlining the test and its goals. The weeks between now and the Holiday Break in December are broken up and there are many No School dates coming. The first is Friday November 11th (Veterans Day). The week of November 21-25 is a No School week for the Thanksgiving Break. And then there is a No School day on Friday December 2nd (Grade Day). Winter sports contests will begin the week of November 28th-December 2nd. And our fall sports teams have either wrapped up their seasons or are making deep playoff runs. Girls soccer ended the league season in third place. They lost an overtime play-in game to Philomath. Our girls volleyball team ended their season with a fifth place state finish. Our girls cross country team finished in third place at the district meet. The football team continues to play after a close win over Marshfield last Friday. They now advance to the state quarterfinals, traveling again to Coos Bay November 11th for a game against North Bend High School. All the beast to you and your family as we enter into the Holiday Season!

Parent/teacher conferences are coming up next week. We will hold two nights of conferences and they will be Wednesday November 2nd and Thursday November 3rd. Conferences will be from 5-8 PM. These are conducted on a drop-in basis so you do not need to schedule a time to meet with teachers. We just ask that each parent conference be kept to about 5 minutes in length. For those parents who may need more time to conference it is best to schedule either a meeting or a phone call with the teacher. Progress reports were sent home earlier and already grades may have shifted up or down. A reminder that there are still about 11 weeks left in this semester with our second progress report being sent home in early December. There will be no school on Friday November 4th. Our sports teams continue to do well. Football will be in the post season play with a game scheduled for Friday November 28th. Volleyball will host a state playoff match on Saturday October 29th and girls soccer may qualify for the post season after completing their regular season on Tuesday October 25th. Cross country district meet will be on Wednesday October 26th and we will see if we have qualifiers for the state meet on that date. Our Robotics Team begins their competitive season soon, competing on upcoming weekends in the Hillsboro area. It's a very busy time of year, the next two weeks, as we close out October and turn to November. It's just wonderful that so many of our students get the opportunity to participate in post season sports.

The week of October 10th-14th is a short week. There is no school on Friday October 14th. This is a non-contract day for school staff. It is Statewide Inservice Day. It provides an opportunity to be involved in professional development for those who wish to participate. Progress reports will be mailed home this week. Expect to get them by the end of the week. This is the first 6-week progress report and will show how students are doing academically, in their classes. Parents can keep up-to-date on academic progress by using the Synergy Parent-Vue site. If you have not used it, it is a great tool for looking at your student's grades, attendance, homework completed etc. Susan or Deanna can assist you with log-in information to the site. The PSAT test for all sophomores will take place on October 19th. This is a standardized test that provides students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge on a pre-college entrance exam test (pre scholastic aptitude test, PSAT). There is no cost and the results will delivered to students in a few weeks. The test will take most of the morning. With one third of the semester now over, it's important to be sure that your student has established good practices for school success. Being present at school each day, planning for and completing homework and preparing for in class tests are all critical for success. I encourage you to check in with your student regularly to make sure that they are on track with these practices.

We are entering a big week at the high school. This is homecoming week, a week of school spirit and fun and events. We start with the homecoming tapping assembly Monday morning at 8:30 AM. It will be in the gym. On Friday we will have the homecoming assembly and parade. The assembly starts at 12:45 PM and the parade around 2:15 PM. During the week there will be dress up days and class competitions. It all concludes on Saturday night with the homecoming dance in the wrestling building on campus. That will be from 7 PM - 10 PM. Tickets can be purchased until 3 PM on Friday. No tickets will be sold at the door.

We are now a couple of weeks in to the 2016-17 school year. It has been a good start to the year which I have to say is pretty typical for the high school. Great kids, supportive parents and strong community involvement. Looking ahead to upcoming things here at the school. We have the Drive for Ur School fundraiser on Saturday September 17th. It will be in the high school parking lot. Doherty Ford will donate funds for every licensed driver who test drives a new Ford vehicle on that date, for up to 300 drivers. It begins at 7:30 AM. Please consider coming out,completing a short form and driving a brand new Ford for a test drive. The PTO is organizing and receiving the funds. Some important events coming up this fall include the following; Homecoming Week the week of September 26-30, PSAT testing (for sophomores) in October, and ASVAB testing for juniors who wish to test (not required for all) in October/November. Our sports teams are out and competing well. Football is 2-0, volleyball is 4-1, cross country runners are competing each week and our soccer teams take the field for competitions starting this week. Thanks for all of your support and for the great kids that we have at Banks High School!

The start of the 2016-17 school year is here. The first day of school is Tuesday August 30th. All incoming 9th graders and any 10th, 11th or 12th graders new to the school should be present on Tuesday. We will have an orientation day where students will learn about the school routines, get to know the staff and will also be able to go to all eight classes for a shortened period. Lunch is provided on this day as well. All returning students start school on Wednesday morning. There is no late start this week so classes begin at 8:25 AM on Wednesday. On another note, I wanted to share that this will be my last year at the high school. I will leave the high school at the end of June 2017. I am retiring and although I don't have any set plans at this time, I look forward to travel and more bike riding as at least a couple of things to keep me busy. I am very pleased to announce that Jacob Pence will be the principal at the high school beginning with the 2017-18 school year. Jacob will do an outstanding job in this new role. Jacob and I will work closely this coming school year on making a smooth transition for my departure and his move to the principalship. To that end, I will be handling student management for 9th and 10th graders and Jacob will handle 11th and 12th graders. Jacob will also be much more involved in graduation planning and the counseling of seniors as they move towards graduating. I anticipate some other changes as well and will keep you posted. We expect to post and hire for Jacob's replacement in the spring. As I have always said, the students, parents and community of Banks are wonderful. The students commitment to their studies and the parent and community support results in a high graduation rate with students prepared to move on to the next step in their lives. Thanks for great kids and all that you do to support their success! Welcome to the 2016-17 school year.

On Tuesday March 8th all juniors will be taking the OAKS science test. This is one of the three state assessments that comprise the essential skills tests. Unlike the ELA and math tests passing the science test is not a requirement for graduation. The test provides students good feedback about their science knowledge and also provides teachers good feedback about their science teaching. For students at Banks High School who are seeking the Honors Diploma, passing the science test is a requirement. Students can take this test up to three times in a school year beginning with their 11th grade year. Students will be tested on March 8th during their first two classes of the day. They will not attend their regular morning classes on this date. This will be the first state tests of the spring. ELA and math testing will occur in April.

We are working on the curriculum guide for next year. This document will be distributed to all students during the forecasting process which will begin the week before spring break. The guide will have course descriptions, graduation requirements, Honors Diploma requirements and career and college information. We are looking at the possibility of adding some new courses next year and those will be added in the guide. One of our counsellors will meet one-on-one with your student to complete their forecasting sheet. All students requests are submitted to the computer scheduler at the ESD and schedules are produced. We expect to have student schedules to students/parents with semester grades in June.

The week ahead will be a busy one with a couple of home basketball games on Tuesday and Friday nights. Games start at 4:30 PM with varsity games at 6:00 and 7:30 PM in the high school gym. District wrestling will take place next Saturday. It will be at Scappoose High School. Wrestling starts at 9:00 AM Saturday. Looking ahead, regional wrestling will be the weekend of the 19th-20th at Crook County High School. Our winter sports teams are doing well as they head down the home stretch towards state level competition. Come attend an event and cheer on our student athletes.

We are beginning to look towards the end of the year, and graduation. For our seniors that means making sure that all of the requirements for graduating and receiving a diploma are complete. Passing the essential skills requirement in reading, writing and math means either passing the state tests in these areas or successfully completing work samples. The other major requirement is having 24 credits and meeting the requirements there as well i.e. 4 credits of language arts, 3 math, 3 science etc. It's a great time to review transcripts which should be coming home with semester grades this week. For the remainder of our students it will be time to select courses for next year soon. We will be forecasting for next years classes, in March and April. Those seeking the Honors Diploma will need to pay close attention to the requirements and their course selections. It's a very busy time of year from now until the end of the year, but it's also an exciting time with the fun of graduation just around the corner.

We are starting the second semester on Tuesday January 26th. For seniors, the count down towards graduation begins. We will work with all seniors to help them complete all of the many requirements that are required by both the State and the District. the biggest deterrent to being able to graduate has always been attendance at school. Seniors who do not attend regularly, for any reason, put themselves at risk of not graduating. Please make sure that your senior student has regular attendance.

The end of the first semester is Friday January 22nd. There is no school on Monday January 25th. That is a grade day for teachers. The new semester starts on Tuesday January 26th. Students received their second semester schedules last week on Wednesday and Thursday. If they did not pick it up, they can come to the office this week and get their copy. The Winter Formal dance is Saturday January 23rd at 7 PM. It will be at the World Forestry Center which is up next to the Portland Zoo. The dance ends at 10 PM.

The end of the first semester is two weeks away. Please make sure that your student is aware of this end date and that they are working at passing all of their classes with the highest grades possible. Making good progress towards graduation is critical. We are looking at the possibility of making the ASVAB test optional starting next year. This test is given by the military and is a good tool for gauging student interest for college and career preparation. Students will still have an opportunity to take it if they would like, however it would not be mandatory as in the past. Another announcement regarding testing has to do with state academic testing. Parents were sent an opt-out form that they will need to complete if they would like their 11th grade student not to take state testing this spring. State testing in science, math and English language arts is mandatory for 11th grade students unless parents opt-out their student. Forms Requesting an opt-out are due by February.

After the long break, school esumes tomorrow morning. it's snowing pretty good right now so it would be best to keep an eye on the weather and TV station reports. It is just three weeks until the end of the first semester now. Semester grades are the ones that will go on to transcripts and be permanent. We will be handing out second semester student schedules in a few weeks. Welcome back to the second half of the 2016 school year.