From the Principal

Dear ARHS Parents and Guardians,  

We are currently deep into the process of developing our FY11 budget. At the January 12^th Regional School Committee meeting, we presented our recommendations for how the high school will meet the various projected revenue levels that the town’s Budget Coordinating Group[BCG] has advanced. Under the BCG’s worst case scenario, the high school must be prepared to cut $1.3 million from its current budget for FY 11. Our budget recommendations along with other supporting documents can be found on our web site: www.arps.org/hs/Principal/.

Predictably, these recommendations catalyzed a wave of creativity. Smart ideas have been advanced by parents/guardians, teachers and community members to help us think about how to restore people and programs. All of this will, ultimately, help us fashion a better set of recommendations. At the same time, I have an interest in keeping everyone sober, which means pointing out the limits of creativity and innovation.

Their implied promise is that, at the end of the process, we will be able to figure out a way to keep everyone and everything and avoid any pain. The hard reality is that all the creativity we can muster cannot eliminate our obligation to present a plan to reduce the ARHS’s budget by $1.3 million. At best, creativity and innovation can soften this reality, but it doesn’t go away.

There is one additional creativity caution. Every good idea that insulates a course, program or person from being cut necessarily comes at the expense of something else. The bottom line doesn’t change. If something is added back into the budget, something else must be taken out. I’d ask that everyone try to keep this thought in mind as we work our way through the process.

Over the last week, we have had three opportunities to take feedback on our initial recommendations: two School Committee meetings and a faculty meeting. There are more public opportunities scheduled for us to take feedback. As a result, we have a lot to think about. We will take the feedback seriously, looking for a better balance between all the competing interests. At the same time, this can’t happen quickly. We haven’t sorted out all the feedback we’ve already taken and email brings more everyday. However, as we sort through the feedback and new recommendations emerge, I will bring them to you and the community.

Lastly, our school-based discussions have mostly focused on the expense side, which is predictable since our primary charge has been to reduce ours. To keep the discussion balanced, however, a word about revenue is in order.

The most basic point is that the entire budget development process is just that - one big set of revenue assumptions. Each of the three reduction levels corresponds to a different level of funding: ’if revenues come in at this level, here’s what our budget could look like. If revenue comes in at a lower level, here’s another budget recommendation.’ And, what level of funding will actually come in is, right now, a matter of speculation.

So, like every year, there is a softness to all of this, which is both the good and the bad news: things could change for the better - or not - but it also requires us to plan for the worst and, as a result, sow the seeds of deep anxiety.

Our work is to balance - with dollars in short supply - all the interests that are now competing and develop the best school we can afford. Given the varied conceptions about what "best school" looks like or means, this is a complex process. We will continue to take feedback and listen as carefully as we can. And, if or when revised recommendations come into focus, I will bring them to you.

Sincerely,

Mark Jackson
Principal

Mark Your Calendar

February 11: Late Arrival Day

February 15-19:  Winter Break  NO SCHOOL

February 23:  Spring Sports Registration    5pm

February 26: Parent Center Brown Bag Lunch w/ Principal Mark Jackson 12-1pm

 

Culinary Arts News

Course Registration for Next Year

Online registration for classes for 2010-11 will take place after February Break. A computer lab at school, where students may register, will be available every day during the lunch period as well as after school or during a directed study.

Information and pre-registration materials will arrive home in the mail in mid-February.  Please start talking with your student about choices for next year. 

2nd Annual Indoor Winter Tag Sale

Calling all bargain hunters! Please support your favorite ARHS Club or Sports Team and attend the Indoor Winter Tag Sale on Saturday, January 30, 8am-1pm at ARHS. Come view the fine collectibles, books, multi media items, toys, sports equipment, furniture and household items available for sale. Cafe refreshments will be served.

Contact bootht@arps.org or huffk@arps.org with any questions!

Alpine Ski Team Fundraiser

SUPPORT THE ARHS ALPINE SKI TEAM

Sunday, January 31st        4-8pm

BUFFALO WILD WINGS (Hadley location)

10% of food order goes directly to the ARHS Alpine Ski Team!  Enjoy a great evening with family & friends while watching the final competition of the DEW TOUR’s elite slope skiing and half pipe competition.  PRIZES will be awarded!

 

ARHS Parent Center

The ARHS Parent Center is the parent/guardian organization at the high school. We organizeinformational meetings with the principal for parent/guardians, send out “The Parent News”, a weekly newsletter, support the teacher appreciation luncheon and raise funds for mini-grants to teachers.  This Fall we also raised $20,000 (with the help of the Amherst Education Foundation) to keep after school clubs running at the high school!

The ARHS Parent Center Weekly NewsletterKeep abreast of all that’s happening at your teen’s high school. Do you need reminders of important  ARHS dates? Are you aware of all the different programs available? The ARHS Parent Center publishes an email Parent Newsletter with all the scoop delivered right to your desktop each week!

Subscribe to the ARHS Parent News at:

http://www.arhsparentcenter.org/

 Parent Center "Coffee with the Principal"

Please join us for a Parent Center discussion with the Principal. We host monthly brown bag lunches and evening coffees with the Principal in Room 13 at the high school. See the schedule below. You are invited to bring your questions and meet other parent/guardians. Refreshments will be served.

January 21, Thursday, 7-8 pm

February 26, Friday, 12-1 pm

March 18, Thursday, 7-8 pm

April 9, Friday, 12-1 pm

May 20, Thursday, 7-8 pm

 

Science News

The Science Department is happy to welcome Ms. Annie Paradis to our department, filling the position formerly held by Biology teacher Phil Crafts, who retired in June.  Ms. Paradis is a doctoral candidate in the University of Massachusetts Department of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology Division.  Her dissertation topic, of interest to many local gardeners concerned about invasive species, is on the population dynamics of the hemlock wooly adelgid. 

An avid swimmer, camper, and hiker, Ms. Paradis also spends time recording firefly sightings for the Boston Museum of Science, in an effort to understand why this population is dwindling. 

We also congratulate Chemistry teacher Mr. Mike Thompson, and his wife Becky Lederman, on the arrival of their beautiful twin boys, Nathan and Steven.  Welcome!

The Astronomy classes visited the Bassett Planetarium at AmherstCollege, where Coordinator of Education Steve Sauter offered them a tour of the major constellations.  Students also viewed a demonstration of the sky from different locations on the Earth at different times of the year.  An optional opportunity coming up is for students to join Mr. Aaron Kropf at the Wilder Observatory for a nighttime telescopic view of our neighboring  red planet, Mars!

Ms. Kathy McCarthy’s AP Biology students had the opportunity to attend a Genetics Update Conference presented by Dr. Sam Rhine, founder of the Genetics Ed Center, at UMASS.  A dynamic and knowledgeable speaker, Dr. Rhine introduced students to the ‘Age of RNA,’ as well as informing them of the latest advances related to stem cells and gene therapy. 

AP Environmental Science students spent a full day visiting local geological sites with their teacher, Mr. Nat Woodruff.  Sites visited included the Sunderland delta, the intersection of Mt.Toby conglomerate and TurnersFalls sandstone, and Cranberry Pond, a kettle pond from glacial LakeHitchcock.  The trip was linked with the students’ Soil and Geology unit. 

The ARHS Science Department invites the community to visit our website at:  http://www.arps.org/hs/Academics/Science/Home/main/

We thank  Junior Noam Zilberstein for donating his time and expertise in designing the site for us.  Stay tuned for easy access to information about Science requirements, MCAS information, and opportunities for students!  There is also a special section on 9^th grade Science. 

Opportunities in Science

Each year, ARHS students participate in special science programs, research internships, and summer institutes.  We keep a file of these opportunities in Rm. 218, or list them on the Daily Announcements.  If you work in the science field and are willing to have a student intern, please contact Ms. Mary McCarthy, Science Department Head mccarthm@arps.org  with the details.  Thanks!

· 9^th Grade Ecology / Environmental Science students just completed their unit on Quantitative Ecosystems Modeling.  They measured the light input to the AmherstRegionalExperimentalForest, compared this to the forest’s biomass output, and calculated ecosystem efficiency – in the process, they acquired skills in precision and accuracy, and in the use of scientific notation, standard deviation, and significant figures.    

· In Biology, students have been using chemical indicators to identify the nutrients present in the cereal, fruit, tofu, and other foods they had brought in from home (Thanks, parents and guardians!)

·   Chemistry students have been mixing reactants to form interesting color precipitates.  They use comparisons of amounts of products to determine charge and chemical formulas.

 · And in the Projectile Motion unit, Physics students have been predicting where an object would land in the ‘Bull’s Eye Lab.”

Don't Miss These Links!

• Spring Sports Registration
• 6th Annual Amherst Monte Carlo Night
• The Graphic
• From the Parent Center