04/23/2020 School System Transcript
Good evening Hamblen County School Family. Please take a moment to review the following information and contact Kellie Smith if you have any questions or concerns and we will address in a future broadcast.
1. One of the major questions we have received over the last several weeks involves student grades. Kindergarten through Eighth Grade will receive the grade they had earned at the end of the third quarter. The vast majority of students only had a few grades at the start of the fourth quarter before we closed school. However, we will add the fourth quarter grades to their final average if those assignments improve the child’s grades. They will not be used if they adversely impact the child. No child will be retained this year unless there are serious issues such as extensive absences or there is a clear indication the child will not thrive in the next grade level. School administration will contact you soon if this is the case.
High School students will receive the grade they had on March 20. Students in grades 9 -12 may continue to work on instructional materials to improve their grade until May 11. No assignments or additional work will be accepted after this date. We will place our main focus on seniors at this point and ensure they have sufficient credits to graduate this year. We will continue with credit recovery for high school seniors throughout May 11 and over the summer if needed to ensure they can graduate. Students are encouraged to remain engaged in the learning process to be ready for college and the next school year.
2. Students will have an opportunity to take AP exams on May 11 through May 22 with makeup dates running from June 1 through June 5. This will be a little different exam procedure from previous years and will be a timed 45-minute open book test. Additional information will be provided to students enrolled in these classes. Current juniors will have an opportunity to take the ACT on July 18 and seniors can retake it in the fall as seniors.
3. Many of our students left school with the thought they would return. Unfortunately, our students left a number of personal items at school. Beginning in May, school staff will begin to contact parents to notify them when they can come to school and pick up jackets, books, gym clothes, shoes, medication, etc. which were left in lockers. You may contact the school next week if you need something immediately such as medication or inhalers. School staff will also ask you to return any school material such as library books when you come to get your child’s personal items.
4. We have been able to cancel most of our field trips and recover most of the deposits we had placed. We are in the process of returning that money to parents or giving them the option of keeping the money in an account for the trip later in the summer or next academic school year. We were forced to give part of our deposits to certain vendors because of the work they have done to schedule the events, but we were able recoup most of the money. Regardless, we will refund any money that parents have paid. Most of the school staff have been out due to the stay at home order, but we will begin the process of notifying parents and returning money soon. The most complicated issue we have experienced so far has been with Disney and a trip we had planned with the East High School band. They have been reluctant to return the deposit and hope we can reschedule that event. We are working to resolve that issue but this one will be a long process and we will need to be patient. We will not attend the Beta Club conference this year and are in the process of recovering that money.
5. We will continue to use the same process we have used in the past for parents to pick up report cards at the end of the year. Parents may pick up their child’s report card on May 22. This may be a curbside pickup depending on health conditions. We will provide additional details later but wanted to give you this date. We will mail the cards to you if you cannot pick them up at school.
6. We still have a significant amount of charges remaining for school lunches and the extended school program from the regular school year. We are attempting to close out some of our financials, and we need parents to pay those charges. Someone from school will contact you soon if you have charges, but it would help us tremendously if you could pay for any owed charges. You may contact the school next week to determine if you have charges and how you can make a payment.
7. The Choral Program at East High School will have a remote end-of-the-year production. Please join the program live as the school celebrates awards night on April 30 at 7:00 p.m. and senior night on May 12 at 7:00 p.m. The school will conduct these activities through Facebook Live, YouTube Livestream and Instagram Live. This format will enable everyone to watch from the comfort and safety of their own home.
8. The majority of students who are currently enrolled in the Miller Boyd Alternative School will return to their home school in the fall. We are changing the concept and format for the alternative school in the fall and we need to make these changes. However, it is important to understand that students currently enrolled in Miller Boyd would be on strict probation and any future violations of school rules would result in more serious consequences. We will contact you soon if your child would still need to finish some type of disciplinary consequences.