The Principal’s Newsletter

TIMBERLANE REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

April 2008

Congratulations to all of our eleventh grade students who achieved a “4” on NECAP Reading, Writing, and Mathematics tests administered in November. This was the first school year that TRHS students took these tests, which inform us of individual and school abilities to achieve national and regional standards. While our overall school scores were low, I am very proud of those students who put forth their best effort. Special recognition goes to Morgan Lingar, who achieved the top score in all three exams!

Our other high-achieving students were Moira Dhaliwal and Scott Lightizer in Writing; Thomas Cross, Hillary Miller, and Erik Hatton in Math; and the following juniors in Reading:

Nicole Avedekian Ann Britton Matthew Caiazzo

Kayla Chapman Rachel Collins James Crabtree

Katherine Cyr Nathasha Dominiquez Margaret Donovan

Elizabeth Hartigan James Haslam Erik Hatton

Emily Hoyt Kendra Jones Natalie Kerman

Jessica Lavigne Siobahn Lundt Lynette Macomber

Joshua Mahoney Eileen Neary Danielle Oates

Lindsey Patterson Alxa Sanfilippo Sean Steele

Ariella Stein Sean Sullivan Shannon Sweeney

Catherine Tarushka Kevin Zambrano Brittany Zorn

This spring, the state will again test juniors, this time in Science. I urge all students to give their best in all activities – especially on these exams, which give their parents our towns, colleges, and the educational community a measure of our collective success as a learning institution.

Model United Nations This year, a Timberlane delegation, and the advisor of the Model UN team, Mr. Hanscome, attended the national competition in New York City, after winning both regional and New England championships. The TRHS “delegation” represented the Central African nation of Burkina-Faso at the event, held at United Nations headquarters. The team was voted Best Delegation at the UMass/Lowell competition in early April.

Storytelling Class On March 5, five professional storytellers from Alaska, Cape Verde, and Hawaii met with 60 Timberlane students, sharing insights from their careers in this field. The session included twelve students and one of the storytellers working together to craft their own creation story, and then to perform the story in front of the other groups. Afterward, the visitors told Mr. Constantieau and Mr. Strainge, who coordinated the event, that the two hours with our students had been the most fulfilling time they had had working with students. It was wonderful to see the bond between students and storytellers as they engaged in this creative experience.

NEASC Update As announced in prior newsletters, our school will be evaluated by a team of 17 educators on May 4-7. On the afternoon of the team’s arrival, Sunday, May 4, we will be holding a formal presentation about the school and its programs in the PAC, starting at 2 PM. I extend a cordial invitation to you to join us on that afternoon, as we share different perspectives of Timberlane, and the results of our self-study, with the team.

NASA Experiment On March 6-13, four members of our Science Department, Mr. Edmiston, Mr. Broad, Mr. Rugoletti, and Mr. Cerniglia, traveled to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, for the significant honor of conducting an experiment on the “Weightless Wonder,” NASA’s airborne micro-gravity laboratory. This is a jet aircraft, which creates both low and high gravity environments using a series of up-and-down arcs. The TRHS team had the chance to run their experiment, concerning changes in sound waves, in “zero G” and in both simulated lunar and Martian gravity. They also were able to tour a number of other areas of the Space Center.

The Spring Play – and More! The Timberlane Players are presenting Inherit The Wind, is a powerful statement about the conflict of traditional values and the freedom of ideas, and is based on the 1925 Scopes trial, in which a Tennessee teacher was accused of teaching evolution. In addition to the production itself, a group of our staff (Mr. Strainge, Mr. Deveney, Mr. Constantineau, Mr. Pedersen, Mr. Silveira, and Mr. Wilder) crafted a complete teaching unit, including taped interviews with various authorities, to highlight the history of the original case, the role of the play in how the case has been viewed, and the continuing legal issues relating to the teaching of evolutionary theory in schools. Four team members were able to travel to Dayton, TN, the scene of the trial, for interviews and background material.

Student Council Conference Members of the TRHS Student Council traveled to Chicago in late February, to attend the annual conference of the National Association of Student Councils. This year’s conference had the largest attendance in the history of the event. Four students (Emily Weston, Kevin Zambrano, Briana Timura, and Danielle Dalton) made presentations, and Mr. Woodworth, who accompanied Ms. Libby and the students, also conducted a workshop on leadership skills.

National Merit Finalists Two seniors, Sarah Cannon and Emily DeBaun, have received the exceptional honor of being selected as National Merit Scholarship finalists. Well done!

Moving Toward Block Scheduling For several years, the faculty and staff have invested considerable time and effort in investigating block scheduling. It has become clear that we need to address the culture of the building and the learning needs of our students through systemic change. Some steps, such as our credit recovery and advisory programs, have already been taken. We have also aligned our curriculum, instruction, and assessment to national and district standards. With the blessing of the School Board and SAU leadership, we are beginning a focused discussion as we move toward implementing a block schedule in the 2009-2010 school year. We will be using the coming year-plus to prepare for the transition to that schedule, and to have the critical and necessary conversations that are essential to good planning and smooth implementation. Once approved, the new schedule will impact all aspects of the school’s operations, and we will face many challenges, that we will address together, as we create a daily format that works for us. The block format will provide us with more time and greater focus. We must move the conversation from if to how, and the timetable from someday to now.

Credit Recovery A year ago, we inaugurated our credit recovery program. This gives students who are failing in a certain course the chance to focus on the particular skills or concepts that they are struggling with, and make up lost ground in order to end the year with a passing grade. This year, we have added a Web-based component, known as NovaNet, which enables students to work at their own pace, in a supervised setting, in a variety of courses. The overall aim is to help students stay on track toward successful course completion and graduation.

Math Team Our Math Team wound up a successful season by taking second place in the State Tournament at Plymouth Sate University, and coming in third (out of 14 teams) at a meet we hosted here at TRHS. Kudos to Ms. Mascioli and Mrs. Burns and the team for all of their hard work and dedication to being the best!

Athletic Achievements We had an impressive level of participation in our winter sports program, with strong individual and team performance, in both long-standing sports such as the wrestling, basketball, and winter track programs and in newer additions such as skiing and hockey. Eight of our students were selected to participate in the annual NH Athletic Directors Leadership Conference on March 13-14: Emily Cannon, Becky Pickul, Leah Swanson, Kelsey Hutchinson, Cam Lyle, Evan Williams, Alex Smith, and Ryan Rothwell. In addition, the wrestling team won its ninth consecutive state championship and its sixth New England title.