This Is Tripp Crayton, Principal at Jordan-Matthews High School, with Your Biweekly

This is Tripp Crayton, Principal at Jordan-Matthews High School, with your biweekly announcement. Copies of all messages can be found on our school website in both English and Spanish. Note that the six weeks period ends tomorrow. Report cards will be distributed on Wednesday, October 14, 2015. School will be closed on Monday, October 12, 2015 due to a Required Staff Development Day for Teachers.

I wish to thank our ESL teachers as well as our student entertainers for a great event this past Monday afternoon with the Hispanic Heritage Festival. I was greatly impressed with the number of students and community members who attended this event. We have a great school with some amazing faculty, staff, and students, and this event serves as a testament of why Jordan-Matthews is Our School. Our Community. My J-M.

All tenth grade students will be required to take the PLAN assessment on Tuesday, October 6, 2015. This assessment is a great way to prepare students for the ACT scheduled during the student’s eleventh grade year. The score report provided a few weeks after taking the test will help identify students’ strengths and areas where improvements are needed. All eleventh grade students will be required to take the practice ACT assessment on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 as well. The practice ACT will serve as a way for students to see their strengths and weaknesses in preparation for the taking the ACT in March. Because of testing, tenth and eleventh grade students should not be signed out that day until lunchtime. Students received a testing letter from their first or second block teacher with the room location. Students should be ready to test at 8:00 a.m.

Any junior or senior interested in attending a free SAT or ACT test prep session taught by Sylvan Learning Center should sign up in the counseling office. The SAT test prep date is Saturday, October 10 and the ACT test prep date is Saturday, November 14. Both sessions will be from 9 until 1. Each session is limited to 50 students.

In addition, all students must be off-campus by 3:30 p.m. unless they are in a supervised activity. We are seeing an increase in the number of students remaining on campus, without any reason to be. Transportation arrangements need to be made for students to be off campus by 3:30 p.m. unless they are waiting in the cafeteria for the school bus. Thank you in advance for your assistance with following this important safety protocol.

As shared a few weeks ago, we will begin our enrichment time the week of October 12th, continuing the same bell schedule currently in place. Students will have the time during each class period, one day a week for 25 minutes, either at the beginning or end of the period. This time gives all students the opportunity to engage in focused, higher level thinking activities, and make up work or assessments, if needed. We will be looking at reward opportunities throughout the year for students who go above and beyond academically. Overall, this plan ensures a safe and orderly environment, while maximizing instruction and enrichment; giving all students the time they need to be successful.

Yearbooks are now on sale for $55. On November 9th, the price of the yearbook will go up, so buy them now. Down payments are also accepted. This is Our Community. Our School. My J-M. Enjoy the rest of your day, thank you for your continued support of Jordan-Matthews, where it’s always a great day to be a Jet. Goodbye.