Principal's Update - December 6, 2011

 Dear Parents and Guardians,

Samantha Dean has been recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English with a Certificate for Superior Writing. Samantha was one of 1,649 juniors nationwide who were nominated for this award. Five-hundred-twenty were selected, twelve of whom were from Maryland with two from Anne Arundel County. Congratulations to Samantha and the teachers who have been working with her as she has built her writing skills!

Seven Broadneck High School musicians have been selected for participation as performers ―Side-by-Side‖ with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in concert on December 1^st, 2011. Congratulations to: Caroline Plott – 1^st Violin, Christina Paton – Viola, Melissa Paton – Viola, Matthew Policelli – Double Bass, Devon Baummer – Double Bass, Sara Cochran – 1^st Flute, Elena Murphy – 1^st Clarinet.

For the third consecutive year, Broadneck High School ranks as one of the Clark School of Engineering (University of Maryland) Top 25 Engineering Source Schools. Eight recent Broadneck High School graduates accepted admission to the Clark School for the 2011-2012 school year. In his letter to me, Dean Pine wrote: ―My thanks to Broadneck High School for producing outstanding graduates prepared to master our challenging curriculum and take full advantage of our many outstanding special programs.

Congratulations to the Broadneck High School Golf Team for winning their third consecutive County Championship. Garrett Moyer earned the title as Individual Champion. The Broadneck High School Golf Team is coached by Pete Hiskey. Congratulations as well to our Boys and Girls Soccer Teams on winning the Regular Season County Championships. The Broadneck High School Cheerleading Team won the County Championship recently as well.

As the registration process for the 2012-2013 school year approaches soon, there are points that should be considered when you work with your son and/or daughter on his/her course choices for the next academic year. We encourage all students to register for rigorous courses, which is often expressed as moving along the ―Standard – Honors – Advanced Placement (AP) continuum. When making course selections, you should consider both the pursuit of challenging courses as well as maintaining an appropriate balance between all of the activities in which your child participates. Be aware that course offerings and staffing decisions are made in April and are based on the course registration data available at that time. Given that, please guide your child’s selections with care and know that any changes which may need to be made must be submitted to the Counselor, who works with your son and/or daughter, by the end of the current school year. On another note, students will not register online for the upcoming school year. We hope to have that capability again for the 2013- 2014 school year.

Advanced Placement (AP) Information Night will be held at Broadneck High School on Thursday, December 8th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 pm. The evening will begin with a general presentation on our AP Program in the Auditorium. After that, parents will have the opportunity to hear from students, in a classroom setting, who are currently taking AP courses and from the faculty members who are teaching them. This is a great opportunity to learn more about AP Courses. We encourage our students, and their parents to strongly consider them as they approach course registration for the 2012–2013 school year.

In an effort to find alternative disciplinary actions for students who violate the Attendance Policy (including leaving school without permission, truancy or cutting class), possible consequences will now include the suspension, or future delay/denial of school parking permits. Please speak with your sons and daughters about this and remind those who are not seniors that they are endangering their future ability to park at school. If a student who has had his/her parking permit suspended and yet parks on school property, his/her car may be towed.

Student schedules are organized on a semester/semester basis. Your son or daughter will receive a new schedule for the second semester – which begins on January 26^th, 2012. This means that he or she will likely have many different teachers for their second semester classes. While many parents realize our schools are organized in this way, some do not – hence this notice.

I hope that you and yours have a wonderful, restful Holiday Season

Sincerely,

David G. Smith, Ph.D.

Principal