Dear Portland High Students and Families,

Welcome to the 24/25 school year! I hope you all have had a wonderful summer and feel rested and re-energized for a new year. We are looking forward to seeing everyone back and meeting new students and families. We have several new staff members joining us this year; I know each of them will add to our current strong and engaging staff.

This letter contains a great deal of information as we start a new school year.

Here we go! Communication that you get from PHS will mostly be in the form of emails through our Reach My Teach (RMT) system. Reach My Teach is also how teachers will communicate with you and how you can communicate with us. RMT automatically translates information for our families. A "snail mail" letter will be a rarity. As a family, you will get monthly updates from PHS at the beginning of each month. Please make sure we have your updated phone number and email address. If you have any questions about the Parent Portal please email brycea@portlandschools.org

As you may know, the majority of high school students use the METRO for school transportation. Incoming 9th graders should have received theirs from their Middle School. If not, we'll make sure they get one. Last school year we experienced many, many students losing their Metro card. We will give one replacement card if it is lost; if the card is lost a second time students will have to pay to get another.

An adjustment for the coming year is a change to our daily schedule. Students will see that we will have a 45 minute Advisory every Monday and on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday during that same time frame is when we will have our WINN (What I Need Now) time. (Formerly Block 5) We made the change from this block which had been at.the end of the day - to the middle of the day because many students were not taking advantage of the time to see a teacher for extra help. We will take attendance and students are expected to stay with their Advisor or go to one of their teachers for support/make up.

We believe this is a very important time in the day for students. In the Fall our school counselors provide Senior Planning for all seniors during this 45 minute time block on Tuesdays and Thursdays and in the second semester for all Juniors. Preparing students for post high school planning, the college process and planning for the future are important components that our counselors provide to students.

With this schedule also comes ONE lunch period - from 11:40 - 12:20. All students will eat at the same time - something that we experienced a few times last year and students liked it! Students do have the opportunity to leave the school for lunch as well.

We know for a number of our students the change to the school day means they have to adjust. The schedule is included below. Please note that as we have done in the past, Wednesdays are a one hour early release day. Students are dismissed every Wednesday at 1:50. The daily schedule forWednesdays is also included below. Staff participates in Professional Development on Wednesday afternoons. There are no "early, early" release Wednesdays this year.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday	Wednesday
Block 1 8:20 - 9:35	Advisory 8:20 - 8:30
Block 2 9:40 - 10:50PM PATHS students dismissed at 10:45 AM	Block1 8:35 - 9:40
Advisory / WINN 10:55 - 11:40	Block 2 9:45 - 10:50PM PATHS dismissed at 10:45 AM
Lunch 11:40 - 12:20	Lunch 10:50 - 11:30
Block 3 12:25 - 1:35	Block 3 11:35 - 12:40
Block 4 1:40- 2:50	Block 4 12:45 - 1:50

Important dates for August and September:

We have scheduled a Grade 9 Meet and Greet on Wednesday, August 28 from 6:00 - 7:30 at PHS. This is an opportunity for members of the Class of 2028 to get their Chromebook, pick up their schedule and meet teachers. We invite all families of 9th graders to join us on the 28th. On that evening we will have a Q and A session for 9th grade students and families in the auditorium at PHS from 7:00 - 7:30.

School starts on Tuesday, September 3, for all PHS students.
PATHS students will begin their class at PATHS on Thursday, September 5.

We will have a staggered start time and staggered end time the first two days of school so that we can provide an orientation for our incoming 9th grade class AND have class meetings with each grade level - 10, 11 and 12. These class meetings are important and give us the opportunity to talk to the whole class and for them to re-engage with each other. This also offers our 9th grade students time to acclimate to the building.

Schedule:

Tuesday, September 3:
Students in grade 9 and 12 arrive at 8:20
Students in grade 10 and 11 arrive at 9:10

On this day, ALL grades will get their schedules from their advisor, have a Class meeting and follow their BLUE day schedule. A detailed schedule will be posted for all students.

Lunch will be served from 11:45 - 12:25.

Grade 12 students are dismissed at 11:45 on September 3rd.
Grade 11 students are dismissed at 1:40 on September 3rd.
Grade 9 and Grade 10 students are dismissed at 2:50.

Wednesday. September 4:
ALL grades arrive at 8:20 and report to their AdvisoryStudents will then follow their WHITE day schedule. A detailed schedule will be posted. Lunch will be served from 11:10 - 11:50.

Grades 10, 11 and 12 are dismissed after lunch. Grade 9 students will have a Class Meeting, participate in an Activity Fair in the gym (all grades may attend) and will be dismissed at 1:50.

Thursday, September 5th:
We will begin our normal schedule with all students from 8:20 - 2:50. Students will have their Blue Day schedule on this day.

Our Blue/White calendar is located and will be updated on our website: phs.portlandschools.org

School attendance is critical to student success. We want to see all students at school and we want them here consistently. When students are absent, whether for partial or full days, they miss learning opportunities - and we miss them! We will be putting an extra emphasis on improving attendance this year for individual students and the school as a whole.

We invite all families to our Open House on Thursday, September 19 from 6:00 - 7:30PM. We will have a "drop in"schedule that will give you an opportunity to briefly meet the teachers your student will have this year. We hope you join us on the 19th!

Enjoy the remainder of the summer and August in Maine. The new school year will be here soon!

Warmly,

Sheila C. Jepson
Principal

Mark your calendar for Picture day on Friday, September 13th! Students will get information at school about ordering pictures.