Welcome Back!
August 3, 2018
Dear Parents and Students:
Summer is slowly winding down and before you know it another school year will begin. If you had a chance to swing by the high school in recent weeks you would have noticed that the athletic complex is shaping up to be a spectacular addition to our campus. We are very excited to be able to offer to not only our students but community members as well a safe, state of the art facility. A very sincere thank you is extended to all who made this project a reality.
We have several new staff members that we would like to welcome to MHS this year: Ms. Castonguay is the new Social Studies teacher, Mr. Felicetti is our new Tech Trades teacher, Ms. Davidson is now a full-time member of our Special Education staff along with Ms. Rowe, Mrs. Frame, while not new to MHS, is returning to the Guidance Department as a school counselor.
As has been the tradition at Messalonskee we have two exchange students enrolled this year. Caio Pedreira is from Brazil and Petr Svec is from the Czech Republic. Please make them feel welcome as I am sure that they will be a little nervous the first few weeks.
We wanted to share with you Policy ADC-Tobacco Use and Possession as it is one that we have been dealing with quite frequently over the past couple of years as it relates to vaping and juuling. For the purpose of this policy, “tobacco product” also includes electronic cigarettes and other devices designed to deliver nicotine or other substances through inhalation or “vaping”, or used to simulate smoking, and vaping paraphernalia. If a student is found to be in violation of this policy they will receive a suspension from school as well as a nine (9) week suspension from participation in extracurricular activities. If a student participates in a tobacco education program which has been approved by the building level administrator the suspension could be reduced to 4 weeks. If the electronic cigarette or vaping device contains an illegal substance such as marijuana, marijuana concentrates or THC, then the consequences would fall under Policy JICH- Drug & Alcohol Use By Students with consequences being suspension from school and a nine (9) week suspension from participation in extracurricular activities. We hope that students will refrain from participating in any activity that would put them in violation of these two policies and jeopardizing their participation in extracurricular activities.
The starting date for incoming freshmen is Wednesday, August 29th and for all other students Thursday, August 30th. We will once again host the Freshman Barbecue on August 28th. Postcards will be sent mid-August to all freshmen with details about the barbecue.
Homecoming week is once again early this year, September 10-14 with the dance being held on the 15th. While this seems extremely early we were not left with many options. The 7th of September is the first “home” football game, the next date is the 14th of September, followed by October 7th (which is Columbus Day weekend and there is no school on the 6th and the game would be played on Saturday afternoon, and the final date was October 19th and all other sports teams will have finished their season by then). In the future, our new athletic administrator, Mr. Chad Foye, will try to secure a date that is later in the season and inclusive of all sports teams.
Included with this letter is your schedule. Don’t worry if you lose it before school starts as we’ll have new ones printed for the first day of school. The school counselors will be in the week before school starts so if you need to make a change with your schedule you can call the guidance office directly at 465-4989 and schedule an appointment with your counselor. Ms. Sprague has students A-F, Mr. Derosby has students G-O, and Mrs. Frame has students P-Z.
Normally you would have received your son’s/daughter’s emergency card in the summer mailing. However, we are working on updating the form that you have been asked to fill out in the past and it is not quite ready. We will be handing out to students on the first day of school a packet of information that they will need to share with you. Please ask them about the packet as the information contained in it is very important. Please complete and return paperwork by September 5th.
Seniors, this will be an exciting yet busy year for you. If you have a study hall and are eligible for privileges please make sure that you complete the senior privilege form (which was mailed earlier this summer) and return it to Mr. Dunbar sometime during that first week of school.
And finally, most of communication is done electronically through the school’s webpage (https://mhs.rsu18.org/), Principal’s Pen (weekly update of events and activities – https://mhs.rsu18.org/category/principals-pen/), twitter (@MessalonskeeHS and @MessoAthletics), and the district’s webpage (https://rsu18.org/). We would encourage you to utilize these resources as frequently as you can to stay on top of what’s happening at MHS.
We look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks.
Paula Callan, Principal
Dan Bowers, Assistant Principal (Sophomores and Juniors)
Sam Dunbar, Assistant Principal (Freshmen and Seniors)