A Message From The Administration:
Greetings Patriots!
This is the final edition of the Patriot Express for the 2019 – 2020 school year. Although the last student day of school was Friday (06/05), any student needing additional time to finish up work for the 2019 – 2020 school year will have until 1:00pm on Wednesday (06/17) to get that work completed. Teachers will be finalizing grades between 06/17 and 06/18 (the last teacher day). Grades will be posted & verified, and report cards will be available through the PowerSchool portal no later than the following Wednesday (06/24).
We had two days this past week for students in grades 9 – 11 to come to school and to return their school books, uniforms, equipment (excluding laptops), and to pick up their yearbooks if they ordered one. We were opened on 06/09 from 9:00am – 1:00pm; 06/10 from 9:00am – 1:00pm and from 4:00pm – 7:00pm; and we will have one final day for collection and that will be this coming Wednesday (06/17) from 8:00am – 1:00pm. If you have school materials and/or if you ordered a yearbook, please make arrangements to come to school on Wednesday (06/17). Remember to wear a mask and to maintain social distancing. Thanks!
We had a slight delay in producing the academic awards/recognition certificates. Our goal was to have that completed by Friday (06/12) with the certificates being in the mail between Friday (06/12) and Monday (06/15). Long story short, the certificates for those students getting recognized will be getting printed between Monday (06/15) and Wednesday (06/17) and will be mailed out between Wednesday (06/17) and Friday (06/19). We appreciate your patience as we work to ensure that those students who have been selected by their teachers to receive an award are in fact getting the recognition they have earned. In advance, we want to congratulate all students who will be receiving an academic recognition for the 2019 – 2020 school year.
A survey was sent out (by email) to all parents/families last Monday (06/08) about the SAD 15 remote learning experience. The deadline to complete that survey was this past Friday (06/12) and we wanted to take this opportunity to thank those who completed it as your feedback is greatly appreciated and will be taken into consideration as we plan for the coming school year.
We want to take this opportunity to wish Janet Clemons, one of our alternative ed teachers, the very best as she moves into retirement at the end of this school year. Ms. Clemons worked in the private sector before getting into the education business 30 years ago. For the past 21 years, she has worked at GNGHS and has given her all teaching almost every subject under the sun to students in a variety of alternative ed programs that have existed at GNG, to include the most recent program called ExCEL.
She was the driving force behind many projects to include advocating for a van for the ExCEL program as well as the new greenhouse that was constructed this school year. On behalf of the faculty and staff, we want to thank Ms. Clemons for her service to our school, district, and community, and we wish her all the best for a happy retirement. Thank you Ms. Clemons – you will always be part of our Patriot family!
We would also like to recognize the following staff members who will be moving on at the end of this school year to pursue new endeavors/opportunities: Mark Heels (Industrial Arts/Shop); Brittany Sutherland (English); Jennifer Simons (Spanish); and Amy Aube (Special Education). We wish you all the very best and we thank you for your service to the students of GNGHS. You will be missed!
We’d like to welcome the following new staff members to the GNGHS family: Laura Fralich (ExCEL); Jessica Saltzman (Special Ed); and Mallory Cudlitz (Applied STEM – formerly Industrial Arts/Shop). We look forward to seeing your contributions to our school!
We like to end by sharing a few thoughts. To say this year was different would be an understatement. We all learned a great deal about the value of education, and maybe even developed just a little more appreciation for being in school to get that education. We recognize the challenges and difficulties the remote learning experience caused some, and we learned how it was welcomed by others. We witnessed many students rise to the challenge of having to be more independent; self-disciplined; self-motivated; and more responsible for their education. We greatly respect and appreciate the life-changes that families had to make to accommodate their students since March 16th. We are extremely grateful to have such a hard-working, dedicated staff who rose to the occasion and provided an education through a forum that they had little to no experience themselves with.
We’ve heard it said many times over the past three months of how this pandemic has brought out the worst in people, but we can honestly say that we’ve witnessed many great things that have happened and not just through our schools, but throughout our communities as well. Many people have taken a tough situation and have made the best of it, and from where we sit, we want to acknowledge that and to thank everyone for hanging in there as we navigated these unchartered waters. We have learned a LOT, and we’re still learning, but you have our word that no matter what next school year brings, we will continue to give 110% to ensure our students are getting the best we can provide. We want to thank everyone (to include our students, parents, community members, teachers, staff, the administrative team, and our School Board) for your continued support.
That concludes the Patriot Express for the 2019 – 2020 school year. We encourage students and parents to check your email often throughout the summer as we will be providing updates with respect to student schedules, sports, and of course the plan for what next school year (just as soon as that is determined). We wish you all a safe and enjoyable summer vacation. Take care!
Mr. Finn, Principal
Ms. Grealish, Assistant Principal
Click Here to view: Graduation Plans(5/6/20)
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Last updated 06/14/2020