I want to use tonight's message to update you in the following areas:

 

• Athletic Director Search Process
• School Council December Meeting
• Course Spotlight - AP GOVERNMENT
• Mock Trial Team
• Investment Club Team
• December Students of the Month
• Announcements

 

Have a great night, happy holidays, and Go Clippers!

I feel very fortunate that we have many people who expressed interest to help with the hiring process. Because of this, my team has been able to create several steps so that we can ensure many voices are represented to help determine our new director. I have itemized these steps below.

 

The process will consist of 3 phases. By having three phases, this will help us capture student, coach, teacher, parent (high school sports and youth sports) and community input as we work towards a final decision.

 

Search Process Phases

 

PHASE 1 - Screening Phase (Jan 2 - Jan 9)

Initial phase which will review applications, decide interviews, and select up to 3 finalists for phase 2. This team consists of students, coaches, parents, All Sports Boosters rep, and school administration.

 

PHASE 2 - Community Interview Phase (Jan 16 - 6:00 - 8:00 PM)

All Students, parents, and coaches will be invited to listen to each finalist respond to questions from the community. Finalists will rotate among the three groups, recognizing that students, parents, and coaches have varying relationships with the Athletic Director. At the end of the interviews, participants will provide feedback on each candidate through Google form.

 

Each of the 3 community interview groups will be facilitated by leads representative of the group. These leads will gather consensus on questions to ask and will also summarize the feedback from the interviews with the objective of rating the quality of each candidate for the Phase 3 team.

 

PHASE 3 - Final Decision Phase (Week of Jan 20)

This team will conduct a final interview with each of the finalists who is passed on from the Community Interview. This team will consist of central office staff, athletics dept staff, community members, and high school administration.

Here is the summary of the December 10 School Council meeting. The team:

 

 

• Reviewed changes to the school improvement plan based on feedback from the November meeting.
• Reflected on school performance
• Participated in a preliminary budget discussion

 

Stepping into Mr. LaChapelle's AP Government class this past week felt like entering a high-stakes courtroom. Students squared off in Lincoln-Douglas style debates, tackling complex topics from vaccination mandates to the intersection of free speech and cyberbullying. They came armed with thorough knowledge of relevant cases to support their positions, and showed remarkable skill in anticipating—and countering—their opponents' arguments.

The mock trial team is preparing for their first round of trials. They have been studying their assigned case and working on their argument and questioning. Thank you to advisor Melissa Martin and Attorney Damian Turco for supporting the team as they get ready for their competitions.

Congratulations are in order to our Investment Club. Not only do they manage a portfolio using funding provided through the Newburyport Education Foundation, they also participate in the Massachusetts Stock Market Game. In this simulation, participating schools receive an amount of money and develop and manage a portfolio over a 4-month period. This year our team placed 3rd overall in the competition. Our investment club continues to be a top tier group against other teams in the state. Way to go, Clippers!

The following students have been recognized as Clippers of the Month. Accomplishments for these students range from embracing learning and demonstrating growth in the classroom as well as collaborating and persevering through difficult tasks in and out of the classroom.

 

Jacob Blinderman, Ben Buchmayr, Rebecca Cabral-Silvero, Tyler Jay, Elizabeth Knapp, Sam Lessa, Benjamin Mailloux, Abby Moriarty, Sadie Sherman, Ella Tierney, Bianca Turco

Newburyport Recreation and Youth Services is hosting a city wide talent show for all ages. You can sign up as a solo or group act- with any kind of talent- from music and singing to magic and comedy! Newburyport’s Got Talent. Sign-ups are now open until Dec 6th. The show is Saturday, Jan 25th. Information is available the take home emails and on the city website.”

 

DOWNLOAD THE NEW ARBITER SPORTS APP TO FOLLOW THE SCHEDULES AND STANDINGS OF OUR WINTER SPORTS TEAMS. THIS IS THE NEW SCHEDULING APP BEING USED ACROSS THE CAPE ANN LEAGUE.