From the Associate Principal

Dear St. Francis Families,

Welcome to the 2018-2019 school year!  St. John Bosco articulated an approach to education and working with youth. As educators at St. Francis, each of our days are filled with blessings and learning which are both given and received.  I look forward to working with each of you to learn, teach, and grow and help the young adults of our campus do the same.


Topics included in this are:

  1. Bell Schedule
  2. Back to School Night wrap up
  3. Parents of Seniors
  4. Online Classes
  5. Thoughts and Information (shared at Back to School Night)
    1. RenWeb
    2. Google Classroom & RenWeb
    3. Tutorial
    4. Communication
    5. Textbooks
    6. College and Guidance Counseling
    7. Summer School

  1. New Bell Schedule

This fall, St. Francis transitioned to a new Bell Schedule. While the change has taken and will continue to take some getting used to, there have been two glaring benefits.  First, every class meets for an equal number of minutes each week! Additionally, as students requested, there is more consistency in the schedule. Collaboration periods are generally going to be on Wednesdays and Fridays. Teachers, Academic Department Chairs, and students will continue to adjust to the addition of a 1-7 day, but we look forward to the seeing continued benefits.


The new schedule should also assist parents in the scheduling of appointments or times when it is necessary to take your student out of school.  Please make every effort to schedule that missed school time when the students have a late start morning or an early dismissal.


  1. Back to School Night

It was a pleasure to see so many families on Tuesday evening for Back to School Night.  Thank you to the parents who attended. Top attendance was demonstrated by the freshman class with 74% attending followed by the junior class with 53%.  Thanks all around for the hospitality of the St. Francis Parents Association (SFPA) and National Honors Society (NHS). The SFPA provided the food and the students of NHS helped pass out schedules and give directions.


If you missed Back to School Night, please make sure you have taken some extra time to review the course syllabi and if interested reach out to the teachers directly.  The next school wide opportunity to connect with teachers is Parent Teacher Conferences on Tuesday, October 23. Conferences will be schedule by the main office beginning in October, but mark your calendars now.


  1. Parents of Seniors, if your son or daughter has not yet started to complete their profile/resume, they should start quickly!  That is the document they will hand to their teachers as they ask teachers and school employees to write their letters of recommendations.  The letters are quite time consuming to write so the more information the student provides, the easier it is for the person to write a strong letter.  Remind them to include the locations and events they work for or with as part of the St. Francis Christian Service Program!  Seniors who have taken an online class in the past, please see the note below.

The should have already received materials regarding ordering gowns and announcements.  And stay tuned for information regarding the first College Guidance parent meeting.


  1. Online Classes

Students registered for online classes should all be interacting with their teachers and familiar with the login process and assignments.  Seniors who have taken or are taking an online class, must be sure to include the class AND the institution’s name needs to be listed on your college applications.  Ms. Gutierrez will include this topic during her workshops.


Students are reminded to make sure they remain current in those classes.  It can be very difficult to balance the added priority, but falling behind makes everything much more difficult.


  1. Thoughts and Information (shared at Back to School Night)


It is the responsibility of St. Francis High School to PREPARE students for college and the world beyond our beautiful campus.

  • Preparing them means helping them learn how to learn, how to struggle, how to apologize, how to think of others first, and how to communicate.
  • Preparing means holding them accountable, helping them cope with change, and assisting them as they learn from their mistakes.  
  • We need to encourage them to be uncomfortable with hard conversations, with making a mistake, and without knowing exactly how a situation will end.

RenWeb

  • Grades at this point are very artificial - there are not enough grades entered into the gradebook to buffer when a student earns an extremely high or low score - the grade is not authentic to their actual content knowledge.  
  • For example a student who has not submitted the only assigned homework would be earning a 0%, even though they may know and understand Algebra.  On the other hand, a student who turned in the single homework assignment but did not solve the problems correctly may be earning a 100%, an artificially high score for a student who does not understand the actual math.  
  • RenWeb can provide students and parents with up to the minute information regarding attendance and grades, however ….
    • Please do not use RenWeb to replace direct conversations with your student.
    • Valuable lessons are learned when young adults have difficult conversations with their parents and teachers and are held accountable for explaining what they need and how to improve going forward.
    • Please help your student email and prepare for conversations with their teacher.


Google Classroom & RenWeb

  • Teachers have the option of providing information to students and families via Google Classroom or RenWeb.
  • RenWeb is the software used to communicate attendance and grades.  RenWeb is also used by some teachers to digitally post primary documents, such as the syllabus.
  • Google Classroom provides teachers and students with a method for more in depth communication.  
    • Many teachers provide students access to digital copies of notes, presentations, worksheets and other class materials.  
    • Teachers can also require students submit their digital documents via Google Classroom.
    • Speak to the teacher of a the course to request parent access to Google Classroom.  

Tutorial

  • Monday through Thursday teachers are available in their classrooms until 3:00pm.  
  • Students are encouraged to make use of Tutorial for individual questions and/or quiet work/study time to ensure their personal success.  
  • Students who need assistance should speak directly with the teacher and request extra help, particularly if there are other students present.  This allows the teacher to prioritize and share their time with the students in the room.

Communication

  • St. Francis makes use of a variety of tools for communicating with parents. In addition to RenWeb, St. Francis regularly distributes information through the mail, email, and via text or phone messages.  We encourage you to read all messages to stay informed.
  • Please assist St. Francis in communicating with you by keeping all contact information up-to-date. To update your contact information, please call the main office.
  • If a parent has a concern relating to a specific teacher, please have the student speak with the teacher first.
    • Following the student-teacher conversation or email, a parent may contact the teacher, particularly if there has not been a resolution.
    • To request a meeting with a teacher, please contact the teacher via his/her email address.  Email addresses are available on the school website and on the syllabus for each course.
    • If that process and time for the implementation of any agreed upon decisions, does not produce a resolution, contacting the department chair and/or and administrator is the next step.
  • The Administration expects a teacher’s first priority to be the instruction of students, so emails and phone calls are returned during their limited periods of free time or after hours.  
  • If you encounter school employees in the community, please be respectful of their time off and their family time and refrain from “talking shop”.  

Textbooks

  • Please refer to the syllabus of the course and contact the teacher if you have questions about the textbooks.
  • If you have purchased digital versions of the books, please speak with your student to ensure the book is uploaded on their iPad and they have followed the preliminary steps to gain access to the book and all of its related materials.
  • The courses listed on the class schedule for this evening are the only courses your student has this semester.  Textbooks should be purchased for these courses ASAP. Courses during second semester - indicated with an “S” on RenWeb will not be used until January and do not need to be purchased now.

College and Guidance Counseling

  • Mrs. Haydee Lemus is the freshman counselor (Class of 2022)
  • Mrs. Patricia Gutierrez is the counselor for sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
  • All parents are invited to all informational meetings hosted by the Counseling Department.
  • Students and parents are reminded to check email regularly for Counseling Department communications.

Summer School or any other approved courses taken at other institutions

  • Please submit OFFICIAL transcripts to the Main Office at St. Francis High School.
  • Transcript envelopes must remain sealed or come directly from the institution.

Have a terrific semester!

 
Go Sharks,
Ms. Colleen Eagleson
Associate Principal
Published