Week of Dec. 19-23, 2016

The mission of West Hills High School is to graduate critical thinkers and problem-solvers who contribute positively to society as productive, responsible citizens.

Activities for the week:

Final exam days are minimum days and listed below:

Monday, December 19 

Finals     Period 1 or 7       8:14 - 10:11 
                Break                10:11 - 10:27

                Period 4            10:33 - 12:30

Tuesday, December 20 

Finals     Period 3            8:14 - 10:11  

                Break              10:11 - 10:27
                Period 5          10:33 - 12:30

All Faculty and Staff Winter Luncheon in Foyer beginning at 12:30: We hope you will join us!

Wednesday, December 21 – last day of fall semester

Finals      Period 2          8:14 - 10:11 
                 Break             10:11 - 10:27
                 Period 6         10:33 - 12:30

Thursday, December 22 Teacher and Staff Contractual Work Day – No students or Campus Supervisors; Grades due by 3:00 p.m. 

   

West Hills High School is closed December 24-January 8, 2017, however our fields, Gym and Performing Arts facilities are used by all kinds of organizations, booked by both West Hills (for our own on campus people) and by the District for off-campus outside agencies for a fee. These fees are returned to WHHS to maintain and upkeep our beautiful campus.  

WINTER  BREAK: Please unplug and turn off any small electronics--coffee pots, refrigerators, desk top computers, microwaves, etc. during our week off.  Every dollar we save on electricity COMES BACK TO WHHS! 

Personal message from Robin to you:

I thank you for each day of 2016. Your dedication. Your endless energy. Your love of learning. Your kindness to all. Your integrity. Your honesty. Your laughter. Your compassion. Your patience. Your time. Your making amends. Your investment in our students. Your investment in ourselves. Your love of West Hills. I thank you and WELCOME WINTER BREAK and wish a FABULOUS 2017 to all! 

Week of Dec. 12-16, 2016

The mission of West Hills High School is to graduate critical thinkers and problem-solvers who contribute positively to society as productive, responsible citizens.

Activities for the week:

Monday:        Collaboration Day schedule

Tuesday:       Regular Day

Wednesday: Regular Day

Thursday:     Regular Day

Friday:           Regular Day; Winter Choral Concert--7:00 p.m. Theatre; All Faculty and 

                       Staff get free tickets

Thank you all for the TERRIFIC Winter Assembly on Friday! ASB and Mr. Riego were AWESOME in their planning, carrying out and follow through for the entire week of activities! All who participated in the reading of "Oh the Places You Will Go" were wonderful and we are working on getting that video linked on our website and out to teachers and staff who have requested it. School spirit and CELEBRATING with some FUN and student performances (Thank you Band, Choir and Mr. Pezdek) help make our We are One, We are the Pack not just a slogan but a reality. Students LOVE to see ALL of us at these events--thank you for your continued support!

Follow up to our Monday Collaboration Day meeting: Thank you for the start of the conversation to Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). Department Chair and Leadership continued the conversation in looking at the feedback from our meeting. Here is the very rough draft that we are working with:

• West Hills graduates are College-Career and Life Skill Oriented Critical Thinkers who:
• Collaborate: Take initiative, work collaboratively and  independently
• Follow through with plans and goals
• Are productive and accountable
• Communicate effectively in a variety of ways, with a variety of technology
• Are Creative and welcome alternate solutions and divergent thinking
• Are self-directed and resilient
• If you are interested in joining the sub-committee from Department Chair and Leadership working on this to prepare a draft to bring to all Faculty and Staff on our next meeting, please let Robin know.

Much of the discussion in Department Chair focused on skills for the 21st Century: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity. We discussed if we should Apply for 21st Century Schools Status where this Rubric was helpful in this discussion. We also watched this short video on an exemplar school, Savanna High in Anaheim. We noted that we have some of the same programs as this school, but what made it powerful was the cohesive project based approach for students, regardless of which program they participated in. This led us to a discussion of Senior Projects or some type of Senior demonstration of learning. Please continue these conversations--get involved in these conversations with your Department Chair and with others. 

We also discussed adding additional meetings to our calendar for the much desired All Faculty and Staff meeting. Department Chair and Leadership voted to take one Monday in January and in February and use the normal Monday Collaboration time for this instead of an after school Faculty meeting. By GEA Contract, the Principal may call these meetings, but it makes sense if there is consensus and a vote, to hold them at our planned for Collaboration time. Therefore, Monday January 30 and Monday, February 27 will be All Faculty and Staff meetings. 

Important Semester End Information for Grades and Faculty / Staff Work Day; Keep in mind as you read the attached information, Faculty may give a grade of "Incomplete" and students have up to 4 weeks into the new semester to make up any final exams or worked missed due to illness or excused absence. Giving a final early is always the teacher's choice. There is no requirement to do so. 

Faculty and staff Winter Luncheon: Tuesday, December 20 starting at 12:30 in the Foyer sponsored by the WHHS Foundation. Take a break after students have left to enjoy food and fellowship as a faculty!

From our Librarian: Resources for Avoiding Fake News

Have you heard about "fake news" in the news lately? In line with our school mission of "graduating critical thinkers," our teachers help students gain information and media literacy skills in order to 

effectively navigate technologies, which continue to change the way that we create, access, and share news.

Check out a new Avoiding Fake News page now available on GUHSD's Research Toolkit, a curriculum resource created by district teacher librarians for students and teachers. The page includes quick hints for evaluating news, links to fact-checkers that are part of the International Fact-Checking Network, and other tools and resources.

Library: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

News from our Guidance Department...

This went out to all Freshman and their parents via Infinite Campus...you are welcome to take a look with the Google Classroom code below: 

West Hills Freshman ​Parents, Guardians and Students: 

Over the past two days our freshmen students have participated in the initial phase of Career Cruising, an online portal, for the first step in satisfying the college and career graduation requirement. At that time freshman were also given a presentation on internet safety. Your student has the ability to return to the Career Cruising site and delve deeper in college and career exploration. We encourage you to invite your student to show you their initial results.  The access point to Career Cruising and the Internet Safety presentation are in the Class of 2020 Google Classroom, which your student can access on their Chromebook.   The Class of 2020 class code is: o99670k

We hope you will talk with your student about this experience and look into their results and the powerful tools within Career Cruising. 

Go Wolf Pack!

The West Hills High School Foundation is proud to sponsor alumni Dat Phan (Class of 1993) in our theater on Saturday, January 21, 2017 for a benefit for our West Hills facilities fund! Come see Dat Phan and his comedy along with current WHHS Performing Arts students and selected other performers. All proceeds benefit WHHS! Purchase tickets from AL's Sport Shop here in Santee or through Taylor in our Finance Office. Pre-Sale tickets are $15 and it is predicted to be a SELL OUT. 

As always, check out our website for lots of information. Go Wolf Pack!