09-10 SCHOOL CALENDAR

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CALENDAR IN .PDF FORMAT

09-10 IMPORTANT DATES

CLICK HERE TO VIEW IMPORTANT DATES IN .PDF FORMAT

09-10 STUDENT HANDBOOK

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE STUDENT HANDBOOK IN .PDF FORMAT

JULY NEWSLETTER

July, 2009

Outside the sun is shining, and the temperatures read above ninety degrees. Summer is not over. However, it is time to talk about students returning to school for the fall term. The New River City facility has seen its first group of students and its first graduating class, and now it welcomes a new group of freshmen, the class of 2013. On August 26th this year, we expect 1900 or so students to attend the new campus. The freshman and sophomore classes alone number approximately 1100 students. Our school population is growing.

This fall the school will be changing its daily schedule as we move to an instructional system called a four by four (a copy of the schedule and dates are included in this packet). To review, the new schedule will allow for students to take up to eight classes per year, four classes in the fall and four classes in the spring. Fall and spring classes are taught in a ninety-minute block and each eighteen week class is the equivalent of a year’s study. Research has shown that there is no perfect daily school schedule. However, for any particular school there is a schedule that benefits students better than another. We believe that our students will benefit from the four by four model.

One benefit offered by the new daily schedule can be seen in the elective opportunities afforded students. This year we will offer new classes and expand courses that we have recently adopted. For example, students will able to experience Dance in our new dance room. Our music offerings have grown and we have added a new teacher to help us with choir and symphonic band. Our piano classes are full. We have expanded our Robotics classes because of their popularity and we have added some introductory engineering courses in our Career and Technical Education Department. These hands-on courses will expand into a sequence over four years and will certainly prepare students for career and college opportunities after high school. Also, our Video Production classes have proven to be extremely popular with students. Other classes include, Global Information Systems, Creative Writing, and Chicano Studies. There are more new course offerings, so please see our course catalog for more information. In this packet there is much important information regarding dates, times, rules, regulations and rights. We would ask you to be familiar with our policies, as knowing what students can do and cannot do leads better understanding.

We look forward to a successful educational year and hope that we will see you all at back to School Night on September 30th.

Stuart MacKay Ed.D.
Principal River City High School