November News

Good Morning Parents,

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. Friday, November 2nd marked the end of the 1st quarter of the school year. We have accomplished quite a bit in the first few months of school and we have a lot of exciting things coming our way. I thought I would take a few minutes to fill you all in.

Parent Night:

Tomorrow, Thursday, November 8th is Parents Night. Teachers will be available to meet with you from 6-8 pm here at the Academy. We hope to see you all tomorrow!!

Report Cards/Progress Reports:

As I stated, Friday marked the end of the first quarter of the school year. This means several things. First, students should be ( or be close to being) 50% of the way through their current courses (with the exception of a few classes). I would recommend looking at the weekly progress e-mails sent out by Edgenuity and make sure that your son/daughter is close to or at 50%. If not, I would strongly urge you to start having a conversation with them. As always, students are encouraged to log on and do wok at home each night. I also stay after school each day until 3 and our staff is here a minimum of 1 day each week until 3 for extra help (Ms. Murray's day is Thursdays and Mr. Tanglis' day is Wednesday). Also, the end of the quarter means report cards are issued to students. Because of the nature of our program, we issue students progress reports. These reports indicate student progress as well as personalized comments from each teacher. I will email as well as snail mail you a copy of your son/daughters progress report next week. I will also email and send out instructions on how to read these reports. Please feel free to contact me if you are confused or simply just have a question. 

Attendance:

Daily attendance has been fairly strong. However, we still have a small number of students coming in 5-10 minutes late on a consistent basis. Please talk to your son/daughter about leaving early enough to get here on time. Once a student is late 4 times, they will be assigned an after school detention. I would like to avoid this as much as possible. Your help on this matter is greatly appreciated.

Community Service:

 November's activity will be held at the Greater Boston Food Bank. Next Wednesday, November 14th, we will spend our morning giving Thanksgiving meals to the less fortunate. The bus will depart the Academy at  6;30 am. Because of the early departure,  I ask students to be at the Academy no later than 6;30. I understand that this may cause an inconvenience on your and I really appreciate your help with getting the students here early. This is a great trip and a great way for out students to help our community. October's community service event involved our students participating in the Read for the Record initiative. Each year, Pearson Publish promotes this event that requites people to sign up and read a particular children's story to as many elementary students as possible with hopes of breaking the Guinness Book of World Record for most people reading a particular story. On Thursday October 25th, our students spent the day at their former elementary school's reading to kindergarten-3rd grade classes. This was a real treat for the elementary school students as well as our students former elementary school teachers. 

Social Media:

Please "Like" the Peabody Learning Academy Facebook page, Instagram page, YouTube page, Blog, and Twitter accounts. You can find the like to each at Peabodylearningacademy.com. The icons are located at the top of the web page. I frequently update each of these sites with pictures and announcements. It is a great way to see all of the amazing things your son/daughter is doing! 

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

October News

The last few weeks have been eventful and we have a lot of exciting things coming our way. I thought I would take a few minutes to fill you in.

Parents Night: 
Just a reminder that Parent/Teacher Night is going to on Thursday, November 8th from 6-8 pm at the Academy. Please put this date & time in your calendar. We look forward to meeting with all of you.

 Community Service:

On Thursday, October 25,  Academy students will take part in the world’s largest shared reading experience! The Read for the Record event brings together over 2 million people each year in classrooms, libraries, community centers, and homes across the country. Our students will visit their former elementary schools and spend the afternoon reading the book “Maybe Something Beautiful” to grades k-4.  This is always a fun trip. It’s important for our students to understand that they have quite a bit of influence and impact on our youth  Our next community service field trip will be to the Greater Boston Food Bank on Wednesday, November 14^th. I am asking students and parents a really big favor. The bus will leave at 6:15 am. I know this is very very early and is extremely inconveniencing a majority of you. We need to be in Boston for 7:30 am so it’s imperative we leave no later than 6:15. I will have a breakfast for the students (Bagel World, Dunkin Donuts). At the food bank, students will be handing out Thanksgiving meals to less fortunate. We have participated in this event for the last 8 years and it’s the staff’s favorite trip. We typically hand out close to 1000 meals to families. It’s eye opening and extremely rewarding for our students to have the ability to help. Please let me know if you have a problem getting your child to school this early. I will gladly try to work something out.

Financial Aid Night:

On Monday November 5th,  the Peabody Veterans Memorial High School guidance department will be hosting a Financial Aid Night for students and their families in the cafeteria (in English and in Spanish). We will have representatives from the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority on hand to help explain the financial aid process.  This is a critical meeting to make sure you are up to date on all the Federal financial Aid information that is out there. The workshops will begin PROMPTLY at 7:00pm. All Seniors and their parents/guardians  are strongly encouraged to be there because it directly impacts you and your family! We also strongly recommend that juniors and their parents/guardians also attend so that you can begin planning for your senior year.

Salem State University:

PVMHS will be hosting Salem State University for an On The Spot Admission Event in late November.  Please sign up for a time slot with Mr. Bedard. Please fill out the application on line.  Applications can be found here:  https://www.salemstate.edu/admissions-and-aid/undergraduate-admissions/applicants Applications are free if submitted by 11/15/18.  On the date of the event, each student will meet with an admissions counselor to review their application and transcript.  Most admissions decisions will be made on the spot with the exception of majors that require a portfolio or an audition

Scholarships:

Students at the Academy have the opportunity to apply and receive many different scholarships. One of these is exclusively for Academy students. the Simon Youth Foundation, the organization that has partnered with Peabody High School to offer this program, offers a scholarship program just for us. Students can receive up to $36,000.00 for college. Each of the last 8 years, we have at least one recipient of this type of scholarship at graduation. Students can apply now for one of these scholarships at: http://syf.org/scholarships/  .

Attendance:

We are still having a problem with students arriving on time. Students can be tardy up to 3 times without facing consequences. Tardies 4-7 will result in a detention. Tardies 8+ will result in a more severe consequence such as a in-school suspension! Please work with your son/daughter on creating a plan to get up and out the door at a reasonable time.

We are off to a great start. I would like to thank all of the parents for your support and hard work thus far. Here is to continued success! 

-Mr. Bedard

Welcome Welcome Welcome!!!!

Welcome back! I hope you all had a very smooth transition into the school year. Each month, I will be sending out an email with a newsletter keeping you all up to date with happenings here at the Academy. I would like to first review a few important things as we begin the new year.

Academic Progress: 

Each Monday you all will receive an email from noreply@edgenuity.com. This email will contain a weekly progress report. The report will show you each class your son/daughter is in, how much work has been completed, how much work should be completed, and current grade. I created a timeline that requires all students to finish their current classes on January 25th   ( the 1/2 way point of the school year). For example, if your son/daughter has 5% of the coursework complete and the target completion is 3%, that indicates that your son/daughter is ahead of schedule. I have attached a picture below that clearly demonstrates this. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Also, most students are not taking their Math or English courses online. Instead, they are being taught by the teachers in the classroom. We are working on how to notify you of their progress in a weekly fashion. There will be more news to come as we find a solution to this problem.

Open House:  Parent open house will be on Wednesday October 10th from 6-8 pm. This is a great opportunity for you to visit the school and meet with the staff. Teachers will review class expectations and I will gladly meet and go through schedules and talk about graduation requirements.

Community Service: Students are required to participate in 10 hours of community service each year as part of graduation requirement. Here at the Academy, your son/daughter will do approximately 6 hours each month. Our first event was on September 12th. All Academy Seniors volunteered at the City of Peabody/Brooksby Farm Senior Citizen Day. Students did a great job of assisting elderly Peabody Residents at this annual cookout.  Our next activity will be on October 25 in which our student will visit our local elementary school and read to the kindergarten students. 

As always, please contact me if you have any questions. I look forward to working with you all this year.

The Final Countdown!!!!

I hope everyone has been able to enjoy the nice weather over the last few days. Well, we are almost to the finish line! Hopefully, this email will clear up any questions you may have regarding graduation.

Academy Graduation:

Our graduation will be held on Friday, June 8th @ 11am here at the Northshore Mall. We will have several guest speakers including former New England Patriot and current radio host Jermaine Wiggins. Students will be asked to each say a few words as part of the ceremony. The venue will be located in front of Burtons Grill and we will have plenty of stadium seating. Please bring as many family and friends as you would like. It is a GREAT event.

Peabody High School Graduation:

Peabody High School graduation will be held on Friday, June 1st @ 5pm on the Football field. I have attached a schedule that includes graduation rehearsal times. Students that wish to participate are required to attend rehearsals! 

Cap & Gown:

Students participating in Peabody High School's graduation will pick up their cap & gown at rehearsals. I will have cap & gowns here for those that do not wish to participate in the high school graduation. 

Senior Festivities:

Attached is Peabody High Schools Senior Brochure. This brochure highlights all days/times of Senior activities. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Senior Finals:

Students that have completed all required coursework and have attained the 115 credits for graduation will have the last day of school on Wednesday May 16th. All other students must complete all required work by Wednesday, May 23rd. Students that do not complete all required school work will not be allowed to participate in graduation.  Please make sure that your child is on track to complete all required work. 

I look forward to seeing you all on June 8th! Please contact me if you have any further questions.

Quarter 3 News and Report Cards

I hope you all enjoyed the first week of Spring. Hopefully the sun will finally decide to show up this week!  We are now coming to the home stretch of the year and wanted to make sure you are all aware of what to expect. 

Report Cards:

I have sent out 3rd quarter report cards and you should be receiving them by the end of the week. Just a reminder (especially to parents of new students), that our students receive progress reports in place of the traditional Report Card. Our teachers are grading on how much academic progress the students are making along with the traditional number grade. The report is broken into several categories. At the top, you will find your child’s name, grade, and other school related information. Next, you will see the attendance record followed by the educational assessment. The assessment is broken into five categories; subject, instructor, progress, target completion and grade. The target completion column indicates where your child should be in relation to finishing the course. The progress column indicates how much work has actually been completed in relation to the target. For example, if your child’s progress is 85% and the target is 100%, this means that your child has completed 85% out of the 100% of the school work assigned by the Edgenuity program. The goal is for the student to be at or exceeding the target. In this case, this would mean that your child is 15% behind.  The last column indicates your child’s grade for the quarter. This is followed by a brief comment from each of the teachers. Lastly, you will find a grid that includes all of the courses your child completed at the Academy with career credits earned. Please feel free to contact Mr. Bedard if you have any questions.

Seniors:

Final exams for graduation Seniors will begin on Friday, May 18th. Seniors must have all of their courses completed by Friday, 25th. If not, they will not be able to participate in graduation. Please reach out to Mr. Bedard if you have any questions or concerns. 

Graduation:

I will email you all a schedule for graduation rehearsals for those participating in Peabody High School's Graduation Ceremony. Students are required to attend all rehearsals. PVMHS graduation will be on Friday evening, June 1st. The Learning Academy will have our graduation on Friday, June 8th at 10 am. 

North Shore Community College:

Seniors will be visiting North Shore Community College on Wednesday, May 2nd for placement testing and enrollment. 

E-Cigarettes and Vaping:

This is a huge issue at all schools. We have caught students using these devices in bathrooms and even in the middle of class ( yes, in class with a teacher present!). If you follow me on twitter or Facebook, I have shared many articles about the issues all schools are facing. I have made it clear, I do not want to see them in this building. I understand that some parents are ok with their children using theses devices. As a parent, that is your decision. As a school official, I  

(along with all high school administration)  don't want them here. Please speak to your child about simply leaving the device at home. In case you did not see the video I shared, please take a look. It's only 3 minutes long. 

https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2018/04/06/high-school-students-vaping-e-cigarettes-gupta-orig.cnn

I hope you all enjoy April Break next week. Again, feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

March Happenings

Happy Monday! I hope everyone was able to enjoy a weekend without snow! It looks like we are going to miss out on this latest snow storm that was scheduled to hit later this week. I wanted to catch you all up on some things happening at the Academy. You can always call or email me if you have any questions.

Parent Teacher Night:

Just wanted to remind you all that Parent Teacher Night is Thursday, March 22nd from 6-8 pm at the Academy. If you can not make it that evening, please email me to set up a time in which I can arrange teachers to call and discuss your son/daughters performance. Hope to see you Thursday!

Walkout:

On Thursday March 15th at 10:00 am, a majority of our students participated in a 17 minute school walkout to voice their opinion regarding stricter gun laws and to pay tribute to the 17 students killed in the horrible tragedy at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. The walkout was both voluntary and approved by the Mayor and School Department. I had a chance to speak to the students that participated and those that did not. All of the students were very insightful and had provided me with some great feedback. I am very proud of the way in which the students behaved and for they way they articulated themselves on that day. It was a learning experience for both students and staff. 

Graduation:

PVMHS graduation will be on Friday evening, June 1st ,while our ceremony is on Friday, June 8th at 10.am. Students were measured for cap and gowns and are required to pay $20. Please send the payment to school ASAP. Cash or a check made out to University Cap and Gown are acceptable. 

Last Day of School:

Hopefully, we are done with the snow. As of right now, the last day of school will be Monday June 25th. I understand that many people are in the process of planning vacations so please be aware. Students are required to be here up until the 25th. 

Community Service:

The snow has really screwed me up in regards to executing my community service field trips. Right now, I have several trips planned at the end of April and May. I will keep you posted. 

Please contact me with any questions or concerns. I hope you are able to make it in on Parents night! 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I hope everyone was able to stay warm over the last few weeks. We have lots to anticipate this new year. I hope this will bring you all up to speed. 

Community Service:
Our blanket drive for Children Hospital was a huge success. We topped our goal of 100 and finished with a total of 113 blanket kits. The students really enjoyed putting them together and did a really nice job with the project. I have posted pictures on all of our social media outlets, check them out! Thanks to the many people that donated a blanket for the cause. Our next project will be visiting the Torigian Life Center and spending time/ serving lunch to the senior citizens in the community. We are hoping to go before the end of the month. I'll keep you posted.
Graduation:
Believe it or not, that time of year is vastly approaching! Fittings for graduation cap & gowns will take place all next week (Tuesday, January 16th--Friday January 19th ) in the upper lobby outside the main office until 12:15 following midterm exams! They will be $20 and your student will be measured for their graduation gowns & caps! It's very important that they get measured this week. Please come prepared with payment, as well.
Armed Forces Testing:
On Thursday, February 15^th, we will be administering the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) exam to interested students. The ASVAB exam is part of a Career Exploration Program that can help you take the steps towards finding a career that is right for you. You can benefit from the ASVAB exam whether you plan to go to college, join the military or enter the workforce. There is NO COST to take the exam. If any student is  interested in taking the ASVAB exam, please see or contact Mr. Bedard. Students must must sign up for the exam by Wednesday, Feb 7^th
Mid Terms/Finals:
Nest week, January 16-19, students at Peabody High School are scheduled to take their mid term examinations. Here at the Academy, Students are expected to be finishing their classes or Taking their Final Exam. If you have not been doing so, Please look at the weekly emails from Edgenuity and see where your child's progress is. If they are behind, please encourage them to either stay after school with the teachers and/or do some work at home.
Ms.Murray:
Ms. Murray celebrated the arrival of the newest addition to her family. She gave birth to a baby boy of January 5th. Unfortunately for us, she will be out of school for the next 12 weeks. Fortunately, we have a great replacement! We welcomed Mr. Jonathan Mart here last week. He will be filling in for Ms. Murray during her leave. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Scholarships:
Just another reminder that students at the Academy have the opportunity to apply and receive many different scholarships. One of these is exclusively for Academy students. the Simon Youth Foundation, the organization that has partnered with Peabody High School to offer this program, offers a scholarship program just for us. Students can receive up to $36,000.00 for college. Each of the last 7 years, we have at least one recipient of this type of scholarship at graduation. Students can apply now for one of these scholarships at: http://syf.org/scholarships/  .  The Deadline is vastly approaching ( February 15th). Applications close on February Also, there is a scholarship opportunity from the Massachusetts JCI Senate for graduating high school seniors  who plan to continue their education at accredited post-secondary colleges, universities or vocational schools. I have attached a copy of their application, or you can get the application on their website at http:\\majcisenate.weebly.com\ . Also, Scholarship opportunity Environmental Science: Henry David Thoreau Scholar. Win up to a $20,000.00 Tuition Scholarship for Environmental Studies. Must submit on-line by February 1, 2018 of your senior year

www.thoreauscholar.org

Each year they award the Henry David Thoreau Scholarship to outstanding Massachusetts high school seniors who are ready to meet the challenges of the ever-evolving , interdisciplinary field of environmental studies

I hope you enjoy the long weekend.