Senior students who are seeking the Honors Diploma need to submit a community service verification form in order to ensure that they have fulfilled all of the requirements for the Honors Diploma. These forms are in the main office. A minimum of 60 hours of community service must be completed prior to receiving an Honors Diploma. In addition all of the other requirements must also be met, verifying community service hours is generally the last step in the process. Freshman, sophomore and junior students who plan to receive an Honors Diploma at graduation should make sure that they are on track to recieve one. A 3.5 GPA or above, 3 AP or Honors classes, 60 hours of community service and 4 years or math and science are required. Plan now to fulfill the requirements.

Semester report cards and transcripts should have arrived. We mailed them out late last week. For most seniors this is the next to the last report card they will receive. Also for seniors this is the report card and transcript that will be used for selection of valedictorians and salutatorians. Any senior student with a GPA 4.0 and over and having met all the requirements for the Honors Diploma will be a valedictorian. The salutatorian is the student with the next highest GPA having also met the Honors Diploma requirements. For juniors, sophomores and freshman students it will soon be time to select classes for next year. As we do that a reminder that if the Honors Diploma is a goal students must have met the following requirements; 3.5 GPA or above, 26 credits (4 math, 4 science), passed all state tests (math, science, reading and writing) and 60 hours of community service. It is not too early to start thinking about what classes to take next year although the curriculum guide won't be distributed until the end of the month.

Semester report cards should be arriving at homes this week. I recognize that they are late being mailed out. This is because we have had an issue with the grade reporting system we use. When we inspected some report cards, transcripts and class ranking we noted that they did not all match. We must have GPA on report cards and transcripts, and class ranking match. we are working on this issue and should have it resolved early in the week.

Semester grades will be mailed home this week. Any student who receives an incomplete (I) grade in a class will have two weeks to complete work for a letter grade in the course. Students may receive an incomplete because they have not submitted all coursework due to absences that have been excused absences. We are working on the curriculum guide for the 2015-16 school year which will outline what courses will be offered next year. It will be distributed to students in March and we will start the process of selecting courses for next year.

It's the last week of the first semester. Course grades become final on Monday January 26th. These grades then are added to each students transcript. The transcript is the permanent record that is used for numerous occasions ie. college entrance, military, work force etc. Please remind your student of the importance of doing their best to ensure their transcript reflects their commitment to their academic studies. Schedules for next semester will be distributed to students this week. Second semester courses start on Tuesday January 27th.

The end of the semester is two weeks away. It's critical that students focus on successfully completing their course work in the next two weeks. For any student who intends to participate in spring sports at the high school level, they must pass 5 classes this first semester. If they do not pass 5 classes they will be ineligible under that requirement. There are also other eligibility requirements. For seniors, failing any class that is needed for graduation puts them in a position to have to recover that credit in the last semester of their senior year. This may mean re-taking a course or doing it on line. The same is true for students who are 9th thru 11th but there is a bit more time to recover the credit. In addition, grades at the semester will be added to transcripts affecting GPA for all students. It's an important two weeks and I hope that students focus on their studies during this time.

Welcome to 2015! As we turn the clock to the new year we begin to think about the last half of this school year and there is lots yet to do. We will begin state testing later this month. State testing will take place for seniors who have not yet met the state requirements in the areas of reading, writing and math. Passing in all of these areas is a graduation requirement. Seniors will take the OAKs test. All juniors will be tested in the same areas. They will be tested beginning in March. They will take the new, and more rigorous Smarter Balanced tests. Semester grades become final on Monday January 26th. The semester grade will be added to each students transcript on that date and grades will be mailed home later that week. These grades are permanent and will remain on each students transcript. Please remind your student to continue their hard work until the end of the semester so that they pass all classes and recieve credit towards graduation and a diploma from Banks High School.