College Preparation at RHS

My name is Shawna Stilian, the College and Career Counselor at Raymond High School, and I have the pleasure of writing a guest blog this week to let you know a little bit about what I do here in Raymond and what the students have been working on.

This is a new position here at the high school, it has definitely been a learning experience for me, but it has been a wonderful experience so far meeting all of the students and helping them to discover what could be next for them after high school.

Some of the things we have done in preparation for college are:

●     Classroom lessons on using Naviance to apply for schools and navigating the Common Application.

●     College Information Sessions by local College Admission Counselors.

●     “I Am College Bound Event.” This event was held in November in the media center, where students submit applications with the help of local college admissions counselors. Students were able to ask all of the questions they needed as well as have their applications and essays reviewed by the people who will actually read their college application when the time comes. A majority of the New Hampshire colleges and universities waived their application fee that day.

○     We had 72 students participate in the event

○     With 161 total applications submit

○     And 147 fee waivers used with a savings of around $7,000 dollars for our students.

●     Students have attended college fairs put on by UNH

●     Students attended a College Access Convention with workshops on:

○     Money for College from Financial Aid experts from NHHEAF

○     Inside the Admissions Offices: What Colleges Look For

○     Student Panel Presentation with current students from local 2-year and 4-year schools sharing their experiences and answering questions.

○     A tour of Southern New Hampshire University

●     FAFSA Filing and Financial Aid presentations

●     Students have been working on their applications along with applying for scholarships, requesting teacher recommendations, filling out transcript release forms, going on college tours, listening to college information sessions from college representatives here at the school, taking the SAT and SAT Prep classes and so on.

●     Some students are now receiving their acceptance letters and it is great to see all of their hard work paying off.

In the future we will have:

●     SAT Prep Classes put on by Reach High Scholars

●     State SAT testing for Juniors

●     College Tours

●     Junior Family College Overview

●     Spring College and Career Fair

●     And many more events for students to stay on track with college applications.

Some extra things I would like to mention are:

●     Dual Admission: This is a great program put on by the local Community Colleges and University System of New Hampshire. If your student is not sure what they want to do yet, or whether or not they are ready for a 4-year institution, or just really want to save some money the first two years of college, they should really consider the Dual Admission Program. Students can spend two years at any of the participating Community Colleges in NH at a very large discount from the state tuition. After two years the student will have an associate’s degree and will automatically be transferred (with no need to reapply) into their choice of a participating 4-year institution to complete their bachelor's degree. The student must have the required credits and maintain a GPA of 2.5 for most programs, but it gives your student a chance to get used to college courses and figure out what they want to do without spending the tuition of a 4-year state school right away. Any questions you can check out the website http://www.dualnh.com/

●     SAT Prep Boot Camp for Juniors: The Reach High Scholars Program and Academic Approach will offer a winter SAT boot camp for Juniors. The NH Dept. of Education will use the April 5th mandatory SAT test as a statewide assessment for all juniors. Although they will be used for statewide assessment, students can use these scores to send to colleges when they start applying senior year. By taking the SAT boot camp for the mandatory (and free) SAT, you will help to improve your student’s scores while minimizing the amount of times they will have to take and pay for the SAT over senior year. This boot camp can help raise your score and make your reach school that much more accessible.

○     The course starts on January 7th and has ten class sessions and three diagnostic tests before the SAT on April 5th.

○     The fee for the SAT Boot Camp is $450 (compared to courses other places run $650-$1000) and has possible reduced prices based on household income.

○     Please come see me in the School Counseling office for an application or email me at s.stilian@sau33.com and I can email the informational letter and application to you.

Google Apps for Education

This week's guest blog post comes from our Technology Director, Bailey Rigg.

For well over five years, the Raymond school district has been using the ultimate 21st Century technology tool in the classroom and it’s called Google Apps for Education, (GAFE). Teachers, students, staff and administrators all use GAFE for email, word processing, file storage, project collaboration, and much much more. GAFE has transformed how we think and use computer technology in our schools both in and out of the classroom. According to Google, over 30 million staff and students use GAFE as part of their technology and communication efforts within their educational facilities and that number is quickly growing every day.

GAFE brings email to all our staff and students and productivity tools like Google Docs and Google Sheets. When you tie all these programs together with Google Classroom, you really can see the power Google gives our teachers and students. Google Classroom offers each classroom a spot in cyberspace where teachers can post assignments and students can submit their work electronically. Feedback on student assignments are in real time, class communication is improved via the announcement and assignment areas, and Google classroom automatically reminds students when assignments are not completed.

Over the past two years, we have also used Google Classroom to provide professional development opportunities to the Raymond School District staff. Feedback from those who took part in these Google Classroom professional development opportunities was overwhelmingly positive. Staff commented on the busy lives they have and that having these professional development opportunities through Google classroom provided them the flexibility to complete assignments when time was available. Also, most commented that if this training was not offered online through Google Classroom, they would not have had the time to participate.

I encourage parents to create a Gmail account so you can experience what your children are using every day in our school district. Google allows anyone to have a free Gmail account (go to gmail.com to sign up for a free account) that comes with most of the tools I have mentioned here. By creating this account, you can use it to become familiar with the productivity tools your child uses while at school. There are endless video tutorials online to help users to learn how to use the many tools your Gmail account provides which makes learning faster and easier. Give it a try and discover some of the productivity tools available to you through Google.

WHAT IS NH PACE?

This week's guest blogger is Melissa Lefebvre, the District's Curriculum Coordinator.

Each spring, our students in grades 3 through 8 have an opportunity to experience the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  This is an assessment that provides the district with very detailed information about each student’s performance as well as overall strengths and weaknesses of each school and the district as a whole.  These scores are also helpful in determining which students to invite to school intervention programs.

Though the assessment has many benefits, it is not without its critics.  Even though Smarter Balanced Testing Week may ensure a week with little to no homework, many students do not favor testing on a computer for four, one to two hour sessions throughout the week.   Although the information gained is helpful to improve teaching practices, teachers must give up time for lessons and projects in order to administer the assessment to their students.  Teachers find it difficult to access computer labs for lessons during this time because students are testing in them.  Tests are administered in April or May, so teachers have not yet finished teaching the year’s curriculum.  

State and federal assessments probably won’t disappear anytime soon, but what if there was a better way to assess student and school performance without taking so much time away from instruction?  What if there was an assessment that is more meaningful to students?  An assessment that could be administered when students were ready, and not only in April or May?  The NH PACE (Performance Assessment for Competency Education) model addresses some of these concerns.  The model helps to limit the amount standardized testing: PACE districts only give the Smarter Balanced Assessment to students once in elementary school, once in middle school, and give the SAT once in high school.  Under the model, students take the Smarter Balanced Assessment only three years instead of seven.  In all other years (PACE years), students will be given a performance assessment created by a team of teachers in the school and approved by the state.  Other than limiting the time spent on standardized testing, the NH PACE initiative has some other benefits:

• PACE assessments are created collaboratively by the teachers in the district, so what is being assessed is being determined by the teachers, not an outside assessment company
• PACE assessments are administered when the teachers feel the students are ready, possibly after the end of a unit where learning is more recent
• Teacher created PACE assessments are generally more engaging for students than traditional standardized assessments
• Teachers gain expert-level feedback on the assessments they create for PACE

Many NH districts have already joined this effort and adopted this model: Sanborn Regional, Rochester, Souhegan, Pittsfield, and Epping, just to name a few.  Our district’s Competency Committee, composed of teachers and building principals, is currently considering the benefits of taking part in this movement and the possibility of adopting the PACE model and moving toward a more meaningful system of assessment.  For more information, please visit http://education.nh.gov/assessment-systems/pace.htm.

By Melissa Lefebvre, Curriculum Coordinator

Our Policy About Policies

As some of us are taking turns doing a blog post in the Superintendent’s absence, I’ve been asked to write about how policies are written.  So I’ve thought about what I would want to know, as a parent, about the policies in my child’s school district. 

I suppose I would first ask: Where are the policies?  Sure, there are a few that are in our student handbook each year, but there are more? 

Oh, yes.  We have all of our policies listed on our website, under School Board Policies.  There, you’ll see them clearly indexed by topic.  We also have a complete policy book (hard copy – in a binder, not electronic) at Dudley Tucker Library, as well as each school library.  Every time a policy is revised, added, or removed, these binders and the website are updated accordingly. 

And then, after I clicked on that link and saw just how many policies there are, I suppose I would ask: How do you keep up with it all?

Well, I’m glad you asked.  We are prompted to review a policy or adopt a new policy through a number of avenues.  One of those is the New Hampshire School Boards Association (NHSBA).  They provide us with updates throughout the year of legal changes that may require some attention to policy. We also review policies based on advice from our school attorneys, advisories from the NH Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education, as well as parent and student input and experiences.  

Periodically, our School Board Policy Committee meets to review those advisories and advice.  When a policy does need to be revised, or when a new policy needs to be adopted, the Policy Committee forwards their recommendations on to the School Board.

What happens then? 

It’s School Board policy to bring a new or revised policy to the Board for two readings. 

The first reading is just that – a reading.  The new or revised policy is traditionally read aloud in its entirety.  Following that, the School Board may discuss any questions or further revisions they may want to make.  And then that’s it.  It doesn’t go the School Board for final approval and adoption until at least two weeks from that time.  Why the wait?  This time allows the public to provide their input on the proposed first reading of the policy, if they so choose. 

And how do we find out when a policy is up for revision? 

You will always find the policies that are up for revision or adoption listed as part of our School Board meeting agendas.  Our agendas are typically posted the Friday before a Board meeting at each of the schools and the Town Office.  We also post the agenda on our website, on our District Facebook page, and on RCTV. 

If you visit our website, www.sau33.com/agenda, you will also find links to the complete revised/new proposed policies for the upcoming meeting.    They will be clearly marked as either “First Reading” (which is the first look through) or “Second Reading” (which is adoption), with proposed revisions noted clearly on each.   You are always welcome to contact the Superintendent or the School Board with your comments about these policies.  

Jennifer Heywood

Administrative Assistant to the

Superintendent of Schools 

School District Budget Balancing

This week, our guest blogger is Business Administrator Ron Brickett.  He's written a bit about budget balancing, fitting as we have just begun our budgeting process for the 2017-18 school year. 

Budget Balancing

Budget Balancing for public schools can be described as the art of balancing the budget between what is best for the students with what the taxpayers can afford.  The Raymond School Board is always concerned about budget balancing throughout the entire budget process.

The budget process that I have used in Raymond is called zero-based budgeting.  "Zero-based budgeting is a method of budgeting in which all expenses must be justified for each new period.  Zero-based budgeting starts from a “zero-base” and every function within an organization is analyzed for its needs and costs.  Budgets are then built around what is needed for the upcoming period regardless of whether the budget is higher or lower than the previous one.”

I begin the budget process in mid-summer by analyzing expense accounts and determining what I consider as necessary budget amounts for the next school year.  This process includes many estimations since we are only in the first month of the current school year and I am estimating budgets for the next school year.

As my budget work progresses, I incorporate School Board, Superintendent, Principals and Department Head suggestions into a draft budget that is presented to the Town’s Budget Committee in the fall for their review and suggestions.

Two very important meetings are held in the January time frame to which taxpayers are invited to discuss their budget suggestions – the Budget Public Hearing at which time Taxpayers can voice their opinions about the budget and the Deliberative Session at which time taxpayers can actually change the budget amount that ends up being included on the budget warrant article to be voted on by taxpayers on election day.  It is the taxpayers of Raymond who finally determine the school district’s budget for each school year.

I hope that you as a taxpayer continue to stay involved with the budget process and help the School Board ensure that budget balancing is occurring.

Ron Brickett,

Business Administrator

Guest Blogs

Beginning November 9, I will be out for several weeks for medical reasons.  During this time, I have arranged for some "guest blogs" on such things as technology, our PACE initiative, policy writing, the budget process, and other topics that I hope are of interest about our district.  So check out some great information about our schools from another perspective-I hope you enjoy these blogs as I recover and look forward to getting back to work.

If you have any questions/concerns please continue to call Jennifer Heywood, Administrative Assistant, at the SAU at 895-4299 ext. 1103 and she will direct your call to the person who will be able to help you in my absence.

Is it really time for "Snow Days"?

This past weekend my son had to travel up north- he reported that there was snow on the ground!  I then heard the same on the news that evening- some places had 3-4 inches and extreme winds.  It's always this time of year when so many of us say, "I'm not ready yet".  Not ready for snow, cold, or winter.  (Of course, I know many others who "just can't wait"!)  In either case, it's time to think about those days when school might be cancelled or delayed-especially with this recent bout of very cold, blustery, wood stove weather.  I am repeating a blog I wrote a couple of years ago (with some updates) so that you have an idea of how these difficult decisions are made.

From a November 20, 2014 blog:

I thought this would be a good time of year to explain what goes into cancelling (or delaying) school for weather related reasons.  It's not always snow- over the years we've had both flood days and a hurricane day!  Usually, it is the superintendent watching the weather reports and hoping that the weather doesn't interfere with school.  Sometimes, it is a state-wide event and we all receive some direction from the NH Department of Safety. The hurricane one year was one of these, and all of the superintendents took part in a conference call advising us to call off school the next day.

But when it comes to snow or ice, superintendents are pretty much on their own with the decision.  I watch the weather every night and check for any storms that are forecast for the school week.  If a forecast calls for snow or ice, I watch even more carefully!  On the night before a predicted storm, I stay up until around 11:30 PM watching the weather channel and the local reports.  I am then up the next morning at 4:30 AM to look out the windows and check the television weather reports again.  If there is already snow on the ground,  by 5:00 AM, I call our town road agent to see if the roads are clear. Our town road workers are a good judge of what it is like out on the roads and whether the roads will be ready. I also call our police department to see what the officers are saying about the state roads, such as Route 101. Finally, I need to make a decision to call off school before 6:00 AM as our bus drivers need to get the buses ready and out by 6:00 for our high school students.  This is so early that the decision is almost always a tricky one. (More than once, I've had to make a decision for a two hour delay due to unexpected icy roads that caught everyone by surprise!)

Once I make the decision to cancel or delay school, it is a race to notify everyone.  I call each of the administrative team and then, Jennifer, our Administrative Assistant, makes a call and creates a message to families and staff members.  I also call the television and radio stations, the town road agent, the police, and the town manager.  This all takes about 45 minutes to an hour.  Although students are not in school, our administrators all come in, and the schools and SAU offices are open for the day.

The most difficult decisions are when a storm is predicted for later in the morning- after school has already begun.  If the weather reports say that the storm will be here at 10:00, it is a tough call.  Should I take a chance and get everyone to school and hope that the roads will be clear at dismissal? Or should I cancel school and take a chance that the storm will be so bad, that people will forget it was clear in the morning?

And what if a storm sneaks in unexpectedly during the day?  Should I dismiss school and get the buses out as quickly as possible? Or wait and hope that the roads will be better prepared later in the day?

With every decision, I am aware that families may have day care or baby sitting issues that need to be resolved and that, they too, spend time watching the weather to try and predict whether there will be school or not. Every decision I make is made for the safety of our children.  I do not want students at bus stops or walking on roads that have not been plowed or out walking where drivers may be sliding on our roads.  We live in a rural area with very few sidewalks; winding, hilly roads; and narrow walkways.  When you add a snowstorm or ice to this, it can be a dangerous situation for our students.

Cancelling school is not something I like to do, but I do it for the safety of our students.  We had two rough winters in a row, followed by one mild one, let's hope this year, we only have snow on the weekends!

Superintendent Selection Committee

You may have heard that this year will be my last as your Superintendent of Schools.  This is my 5th year in this position and I am very proud of what we have accomplished over the last several years.  I will write more about that later.  This message is to encourage those interested in serving on the Superintendent Selection Committee to write a letter of interest to the School Board. Your Superintendent sets the tone and the direction of our schools, represents our district around the state, ensures our students have the best possible education, and so much more.

If you are interested in serving on this committee, please send your letter of interest by 12:00 noon on November 2, 2016 to:

Jennifer Heywood
SAU #33
43 Harriman Hill Road
Raymond, NH 03077

At the November 2 School Board meeting, the School  Board plans to create a committee made up of citizens, parents, employees and School Board members. Dates and times for meetings have not yet been determined.

Messages from Around the District

Bulletin boards are a mainstay of schools and, as I visit the schools, I enjoy seeing the many different bulletin boards on display.  A bulletin board is an opportunity to send a message to everyone who enters the school:  staff, parents, administrators, and, of course, the students.  A bulletin board can send a message about a great club you can join; a fundraiser for a field trip; or is an opportunity to see examples of great student work.  For the students, these messages act as incentives, recognition, encouragement and motivation. And, at every grade level, the message can be very different!

At Lamprey River Elementary School:

1.  Pirate Bulletin Board.  Students gave their opinions about the pros and cons of being a pirate.

 Why I Like Pirates:                                              Why I Don't Like Pirates:

They have swords                                                 They are boyish
They are mean                                                       They are scary
They have ships                                                     I just don't like them
They have hooks                                                   They have hooks

2. Several displays/bulletin boards on apples:  the parts of an apple; how you like apples (as juice, applesauce, pie etc.); the life cycle of an apple; and the results of a science lab on "Does an apple sink or float?"

3. On the bulletin board labeled "First Grade Hopes" students wrote what they hoped for as first graders: to be better in math; to learn to  read; to learn to write; and, of course, "for first grade to last a long time"!

4. Students wrote about "Where did your feet take you this summer?"  Some of the answers included:  catching trout; Niagara Falls; looking for crabs; swimming; and feeding a llama.

5.  After reading the book Wemberley Worried, students wrote about "What makes you worried?"  Responses included:  trees falling down; a flood; bad dreams; if we lose air; and skunks at night.             

At Raymond High School.

1.  Constitution Day.  This display covered much more area than a bulletin board and featured a 10X larger than life eagle with posters on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

2.  French words that students might already  know such as, paper mache, mousse, grand prix, and hors' doeuvre.

3.  A bulletin board with information on 'National Recovery' month and a phone number for help.

4. A display of pennants from many colleges.

5.  Displays of student work such as an assignment called, "Teach a Math Topic to a 6th Grader".  Student results included problems featuring fractions, word problems, negative and positive numbers, and decimals.

At Iber Holmes Gove Middle School.

1.  An "I am what I eat display".  In a huge circle, students made pictures of healthy things they eat and put their names on each of the items.

2.  A board titled "Really Awesome Memorable Students" has Ram O' Grams on it for students who are being recognized for such things as:  Including others; being kind; encouraging others; and being helpful.

3.  A bulletin board with suggestions to help students get a good night's sleep.

4.  A number line showing the relationship and progression of positive and negative numbers.

5. Posters on the 5 themes of geography with examples of each one. The students found many different examples of each theme that were reflected in the individual posters.


This does not include all the art work and classroom artifacts that are in our halls- a topic for another day.  Our displays and bulletin boards are certainly messages to their peers and teachers about how our students think and learn.  And, by the time I publish this blog, many of these will change with new ideas and messages!

Dr. Cat

Last week I had a day when I didn't feel so well so I laid down on the couch. Our cat, Kitty, jumped up next to me and laid down, too.  You would think that this is not so unusual except our cat is very standoffish.  She will let us pet her for a couple of minutes, or pick her up for just a second, but, otherwise, Kitty is just "too good" for humans.  I fell asleep and woke a couple of hours later.  Kitty was still there!  My husband said she stayed there the entire time.

I told my daughter-in-law about this- everyone in our family knows Kitty is a little snobbish.  She said, "Dr. Cat!"  She said their cat does the same thing when one of the kids is sick, so they all call their cat, Cocoa, "Dr. Cat" when she does this. 

This got me thinking- everyone needs a Dr. Cat at some point.  It might not be a cat, of course, it could be your best friend, or a teacher, or your mom or dad, a spouse or, maybe, one of your children.  It's so nice to have support when you need it most, and to be there for those who need yours.

Ram Rally

This morning I attended  a "Ram Rally" at the  middle school.  A Ram Rally, for the uninitiated, is a whole school assembly to celebrate the accomplishments of our students.  Today, some of the things students were congratulated for include:  making the honor roll, working hard in  their classes, receiving a Ram O'Gram, and for attending a summer enrichment program "Raymond Roundtables".  The soccer teams were also introduced and showed everyone some of their skills with a soccer ball.  There was also time for a friendly contest between the grades.

This event is held monthly and is a wonderful way to remind our students that hard work pays off and provides our middle school students a time to be recognized for their work and good citizenship. These students should all go home and tell their families about their recognition.  I know that these celebrations also serve to encourage other students to always do their best.

The First Weeks of School

The first few weeks of a new school year are very exciting- for both staff and students.  Students continue their learning with new teachers, new classmates, and, hopefully, a new topic or subject that gets them  excited to be in school.  Teachers have new students and a new appreciation for their topic or subject matter.  Believe me, it is so much fun to pass on knowledge and information on what one loves!  It is also exciting to see that spark of interest or the light of understanding come on in a student- sometimes it takes extra help and a new way of looking at things.  Here is some of what I have seen around the district these first weeks of school.

• Middle school students excited about band

• Spanish I students making connections to Spanish words by naming foods they like to eat

• Students getting acquainted with their kitchens and setting them up in FCS

• Morning meetings 

• 5^th graders learning how to open a combination lock  

•  Pre-school students learning a song about the days of the week  

• High school science students doing a lesson on categorizing (disguised as a get acquainted lesson) 

• Teachers working collaboratively on writing competencies

• Safety drills

• Kindergarten students learning about letter sounds using the SmartBoard

• 4th grade students writing poem bios about themselves on computers

• A football game where our students played with heart

• Welcoming bulletin boards at every level (I'll write about these in a future posting)

• Peers congratulating our 2016-2017 NH Art Teacher of the Year- Mary Lessard

• 2nd grade students writing their goals for the year (I hope I am better this year in......)

• Middle school and elementary school students excited to pick out books in the library

• High school students working on homecoming floats

• Students working on wall size drawings and information for Constitution Day

• The school nurse taking student temperatures (those back to school sicknesses!)

• Reading teachers screening elementary school students for reading levels 

• Voting

• Snack time

• Physical Education classes held outside in some beautiful weather 

• Teachers sharing books they have read

• An aide assisting a student in a wheel chair  

And so much more!  My favorite part of any day is visiting the schools and talking/helping/listening and being with our students!