CHS Report
Carrabec High School
Principal’s Report
April 5, 2023
I would like to begin this report by informing the board of the final decision about course offerings for the 2023-24 school year. The high school will continue to offer the same honors classes for freshmen that were offered this year which are in English and Modern World Studies. As I noted at last month’s meeting, the final decision had not been made at that time. Since then I have had follow-up conversations with many parents and board members about this topic. The feedback was not unanimous in favor of maintaining honors but it strongly favored keeping them.
On Friday, March 17, the district had professional development led by
Dr. Lester. The topic was restorative practices. It was excellent. Utilizing restorative practices to engage students was the topic. Research shows that increasing student engagement in turn increases student motivation which leads to increased achievement. I am looking to expand upon engaging students by having teachers participate in professional development on related topics. I have asked teachers to submit to me any training opportunities of which they are aware. I explained that I hope to develop a cadre of teachers that get trained. After being trained they will be responsible for providing on-going training and support to other staff. I realize that professional development funds are limited but we will try to accomplish as much as we can with what we have.
March has been a busy month of student activities. Early in the month we held our winter carnival. As part of the activities we had approximately 40 students go skiing at Sugarloaf. We simultaneously held competitive activities at the school. Cookie and cake decorating were two of the most popular activities. The cornhole and Mario Kart competitions were also extremely popular. The senior class won the overall event by a mere 42 points.
Another activity that occurred this month was the winter overnight camping trip. Mrs. Long and Mr. Baum took the outdoor club up to the Flagstaff area. The first day was windy and rained hard. The students had a great time despite the rain. Students in Health and Fitness have also participated in outside of school activities. Kap has taken groups of students down to CCS to teach swing dance to the middle school students. In recognition for outstanding performance in class, Kap also took a class of students to Champions in Waterville. It was a reward activity but it also reinforced that physical fitness is a life-long commitment.
There are four activities that I would like to recognize individually. The first activity would be the performance of the Cobra Bowling Team. They went to the State (Bakers) Meet. The team had one of their best days. They even won their match against Skowhegan who had beaten them multiple times during the regular season.
The second activity I would like to mention involves the National Honor Society. To be inducted into the National Honor Society students must demonstrate scholarship, service, leadership and character. Mr. Langlois and Mrs. Robinson led the induction ceremony wherein 20 students were inducted to join the six previous inductees. Well deserved congratulations went out to all of the students and their parents.
Ms. Taylor and Mrs. Long’s drama students were amazing in the one-act play competitions. The title of the play was “The Ghost in the Machine”.
Despite the fact that there were technical difficulties involving a weak internet which prevented the students from projecting a cell phone image, the team won second place overall in their division. What really is amazing is that all of our participants are underclassmen. We have high expectations for next year.
The last group of students to receive individual recognition is the math team. For the second year in a row, the team won the Mountain Valley Conference. To be conference champions, it requires strong performances from multiple individuals. The Cobra Math Team had several high performers. Most notable were Desmond Robinson, who was the second highest sophomore scorer at the meet and Luke Carey, who for the second year in a row had a perfect score. Congratulations to the team and Mr. Collard for all their hard work.
Looking ahead, it is going to be a busy Spring. Spring sport practices have begun. The performing arts group is planning on doing a musical of Alice and Wonderland. There will also be a Spring chorus and band concert. In addition, the seniors have a multitude of upcoming activities. When we have a complete schedule of events, I will mail each of you a copy.