First and foremost, Happy New Year to you and your family!  I hope 2010 brings good health, happiness, and prosperity!

 

I spent a few hours during the holiday break reviewing credit reduction appeals from students who loss credit for one-trimester courses due to excessive absences (6 or more unexcused absences for the trimester). The majority of appeals were granted, as nearly all students had appropriate documentation for their absences. For absences due to illness, I prefer to see a medical note, but a note from a parent/guardian is fine.  I remind you to please write the excuse note when your son/daughter has returned from their absence and urge him/her to bring it to the office that day. The overwhelming majority of students and parents follow the simple protocol, however, I have had a small amount of instances where this was not the case. In some few cases, parents have written absence excuses notes well after the fact, e.g.., ones that detail numerous absences from September and October while writing the note to the office in late December, just prior to the appeals deadline. In such cases I do not grant the credit appeal as this violates the school policy and the integrity of the documentation may be questionable.

 

The MHS Attendance Policy & Procedure is on pages 8-11 of the MHS Student Handbook (available by clicking here). Thank you for your support and cooperation.

 

Cordially,

Dr. Joseph Maruszczak

Principal

 

During Trimester I, Mrs. Gentili's AP Biology students teamed up with the fifth grade science classes at the Jordan/Jackson Elementary School in a team effort to bring inquiry-based, hands-on laboratory experiences to their classes.  The idea was "kids-teaching-kids" in the hope to inspire authentic investigations at the younger grade levels and to spark an interest in science content...let's face it, high school kids are way cool in the eyes of 10 year olds!

 

The AP students had ongoing communicating with their grade 5 teacher throughout the process and after 6 weeks of researching, planning and practicing, the AP students visited the Jordan/Jackson science classrooms to teach a science lab for the day in early December.  All AP "teachers" did a
phenomenal job and were impeccably prepared.  They truly brought higher-level science to the Jordan/Jackson school and effectively emphasized the importance of inquiry-based science.

Feedback from the Grade 5 teachers was immensely positive.  It truly was a wonderful opportunity for collaboration and they thoroughly enjoyed watching their former students return to their classes in the roles of "teacher."  They were very impressed with the AP students' level of mastery, professionalism and enthusiasm.  Grade 5 students were very excited for these lessons...the
atmosphere at the J/J during our visits was incredibly positive and the students kept asking when the MHS students would return.  Feedback from the AP students was perhaps the most valuable and insightful.  AP students expressed a new-found awareness of respect for the teaching process and just how much thought and planning goes into a single lesson.  They also expressed how wonderfully gratifying it was to see how engaged and enthused the grade 5 students were.  This collaboration project truly was a success! It brought meaningful and insightful hands-on science lessons to the elementary students of Mansfield while at the same time, forged a partnership between the elementary science teachers and the AP biology students.

 MHS is now signed up with Shaw's Community Rewards. This is a way for the Class of 2011 to earn money by shopping with your Shaw's Rewards Card on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays at any Shaw's or Star Market.  To enter your Rewards Card number go to the website:  http://www.albertsons.com/cp/shaws/

Go in to "Shoppers login or register with your Rewards Card first," and enter your card info and MHS's organization ID #, 49001023474