 Wildcat Weekly
October 20th, 2019
Communication
I learned a long time ago that communication is perhaps the most important piece of any successful relationship. At Deer Park Jr/Sr High School, we also encourage each other to work towards the most clear and consistent communication we can with our students, parents, and community. We hope that you have felt the push from our teachers to come meet with us during conferences later this week! If not, please allow me to make one final push for you to meet with your student's teachers either this Thursday or this Friday. Thank you!
-Shane Hartley, Deer Park Jr/Sr High School Principal
What's New?
Conference Sign-Ups
If you have not yet done so, PLEASE sign up for our parent/guardian-teacher conferences. Go to THIS LINK to sign up!
Dates and times for conference sign-ups:
October 24th - 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (No School all day)
October 25th - 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (No School all day)
PreACT
On Tuesday, October 22nd, all sophomores will be taking the PreACT. This test is designed to prepare students for their ACT, which all juniors take. It is also designed to help students and teachers determine which areas are students' strengths and which areas we can improve upon. Please help your student be as prepared as possible for this day by ensuring a good night's rest Monday night and a healthy (but not too heavy!) breakfast Tuesday morning.
College and Financial Aid Information
On October 24th from 6-7pm in our Career Academies (located downstairs, under our gym), Ms. Madden will host a College and Financial Aid Session. A representative from Xavier University will be here to present important information about completing the FAFSA. Conferences take place this evening, so it's a great opportunity to gain some information while if you are already in the building too. We hope to see you all there!
Unity Day
This Wednesday, October 23rd, is our annual Unity Day. This is a day where we purposely focus on supporting each other as a Deer Park Jr/Sr High School family, and it works hand in hand with October's Anti-Bullying month. While many students and staff have purchased "Unity Day" t-shirts, anyone can show a spirit of Unity by wearing orange on Wednesday (the official "Unity Day" color)! This is a great way to remind ourselves that we are always looking to Help Others, Help Our School, and Help Ourselves! (#H3)
News from the Counseling Department
ACT Changes: Speaking of the ACT, there are some changes to the ACT that will take place starting in September:
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Single Section Retesting will allow students to retake just one or two or three sections, rather than the entire four-section, nearly four-hour test. Students will be able to focus on just the sections they wish to retake—no need to retake the English Section if you already have, and are satisfied with, a 35 in English. Higher sub-scores should be one result of more focused preparation and testing. However, students with a 30 in the Math section and lower scores in the other three sections may choose to only focus on those lower scores, when with sound preparation a 33 may be feasible in Math. Jumping an already-high Math score three points will have the same impact on the overall composite as jumping a 22 to a 25 in English.
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Superscoring will ensure that all colleges will consider the composite score derived from the best subscores, whether occurring on the same test or not. Although many colleges are already superscoring their applicants’ ACT results, now all will, which should increase average composite scores. Understand that composite scores necessary for lucrative scholarships may also increase. Let’s hope that high schools and states will align with the ACT and colleges, and use only each student’s superscore when publishing ACT results for high schools and entire states.
- Being able to choose between online testing and traditional paper testing on national test dates should allow students to receive scores about ten days sooner, which can help with application strategies and future testing plans. Though I prefer doing math and science sections on paper, many ‘screenagers’ are comfortable doing the test online. Now each will get to choose.
With single section retesting, superscoring, and online testing all likely to nudge average composite scores higher, we urge all high school students to hammer the grammar and prepare hard each time they take the ACT.
In Case You Missed It
School Safety
We are consistently looking for ways to increase safety for our students. Please help us by being cautious of students in our back parking lot, especially in the mornings. We have increased supervision back there before school, and we are working through other ideas to keep our students safe. We have also recently asked students to no longer ride or park their bikes, scooters, or skateboards in the back parking lot in order to help keep things safe! We also know that students have a lot of energy as well as the distractions from cell phones can be very real. If your child rides a bike or scooter to school, that is great too! However, please help us in reminding them to be careful of cars and other people while riding to school. Thank you for helping us to make our school a safer place!
Mobile Dentist Opportunity
The Mobile Dentist is scheduled to come to the Jr./Sr. High School on Monday, November 11th. Forms will be sent home to all 7th and 8th graders through their teachers, and forms are available in the front office for high school students.
Terrace Metrics Survey
On October 30th, our 9th and 12th grade students will participate in a survey called Terrace Metrics, and here is a link to more information including an opt-out form should you choose to not include your child in this survey. We ask that this form be turned into the school if you DO NOT want your child to participate.
Food Allergies
Our school nurse, Ms. Julie Dydo, has created an info-sheet for parents for more information about food allergies. Please follow this link to access this information!
Additional Notes from the Guidance Office
Jr. High Presentation: This Wednesday, the Junior High students will see a program from the National Theatre for Children sponsored by Duke Energy on energy conservation. If you are interested in receiving a FREE energy saving kit, please click HERE.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. The biggest struggle that most schools have is students willing to stand up and report unkindness. Here are some links to resources that parents and guardians can use to reinforce how to stand up to bullies and deal with unkindness.
https://www.stopbullying.gov/
https://www.pacer.org/bullying/nbpm/
KNOW! The newsletter linked below from the Prevention Action Alliance discusses the serious concerns regarding E-cigarettes and vaping. Please take a few minutes to read THIS NEWSLETTER.
Advice from On To College: College Can be Affordable! Please use this link for an article from our John Baylor Prep program with more information!
Seniors: As part of the college application process, it's important to fill out the FAFSA form as part of receiving Federal Student Aide. Please see this link for important information you'll need to fill out the FAFSA form!
Staying Connected
There are multiple ways to stay connected to Deer Park Jr./Sr. High School. Please see the attached flyer for ways to stay connected through Email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Text Messages.
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E-Mail: If you are not already signed up, please register for the e-mail communication. To register, simply go to www.deerparkcityschools.org and click on the button on the left side of the page that says “Subscribe to District News”. From there, you will send an email requesting that you be added to future email communication from the district.
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Twitter: Follow Deer Park Jr./Sr. High School for the most up-to-date news and happenings! @DeerParkHS, @DeerParkSchools and @dpcounselor.
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Facebook: follow us at Deer Park Community City Schools and Deer Park Jr/Sr High School
- Text Messages: Through a great program titled Remind, we can provide text message alerts/reminders in a safe, confidential manner.Remind never shows a person's cell number, which means we never see your number and you never see ours. Standard text messaging rates do apply. To subscribe, send an individual text message to: 81010 with the message @dpwildcats. Follow the instructions you receive via text message to complete your registration. Seniors also have a text messaging service. To subscribe, send an individual text message to: 81010 with the message @dpseniors
Upcoming Events
October 24th and 25th - Conferences (No School for Students)
November 5th - Teacher In-Service Day (No School for Students)
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