Hagerstown Jr. - Sr. High School
Proud to be a TIGER!
I challenge you to find a school with a population of 800 students or less that will have more to offer its students. Our academic and extra-curricular offerings are comprehensive. Our modern and well maintained facilities allow us to host more major athletic events than any other county school in the area. Our student and teacher access to technology is excellent. We have nine computer labs throughout the building making more than two hundred and fifty computers available for our students. Our students are provided an education which emphasizes rigor, relevance, and relationships. Increased rigor requires that all students are provided additional help. We provide our students with before, after, and in school opportunities for assistance. Our community is committed to its schools. As an active member in the Communities In Schools of Wayne County, we are able to have a school coordinator who works with parents, school patrons, business, and other youth organizations to find and connect the resources necessary to provide each student with a comprehensive educational experience.
For the last eight consecutive years our school has been identified by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce “BEST BUY” school. Two members of our teaching staff have been selected, in different years, as among the top ten teachers in Indiana as determined by the Indiana Department of Education Teacher of the Year Committee. In the spring of 2010 our seniors participated in the National High Schools That Work Senior Assessment. This assessment measures the student’s skills in reading, math, and science. Our school was identified as one of thirty “Pacesetter” schools from more than 940 schools who participated in this assessment. The information above makes it easy for me to say, it is great to be a Hagerstown Tiger. Come visit.
Mark Childs
Proud Principal
Principal's Newsletter
From: Proud Principal, Mark Childs
Subject: It has been a SUPER semester at our school!
Our Challenge Continues
Our students just completed the most rigorous semester exam in more than twenty years. These exams are designed to inform students, parents, and teachers of their student’s progress toward our mission, "To develop Successful learners, Responsible citizens, and Productive members in a global economy." (S.R.P.) In addition these exams, classroom performance and standardized test performance further inform our teachers' instruction. Many of our students and teachers have implemented an assessment tool call Acuity. This tool provides students and teachers with much needed information on individual and grade level mastery of the Indiana standards at specific times within the academic school year.
I now call upon all parents to recognize the high expectations their child must know, understand, and be able to perform in the twenty-first century and the direct connection education will have on the kind of future their child will experience. Parents must be more informed and involved in their child's education. I cannot emphasize this enough, parents must provide the monitoring, encouragement and, when necessary, enforcement of home study, completion of work, and best effort on academic learning.
A parent's increased involvement is relatively easy. First become familiar with our Parent Portal. This parent tool allows parents to, in real time, examine your child's grade book scores and discover what your child has not completed. Our greatest frustration is knowing that it is not because our kids can't do the work expected, it is because they don't. A parent's monitoring and enforcement of completion of school work, more than any other factor, will improve student performance. Secondly, a parent can become informed on the many extra-help opportunities that exist. We have students most every morning report to school at 7:00 a.m. to report to Mr. Hamilton in a computer lab (rm. 106) to work on-line or get help. After school on Tuesday and Thursdays from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. we have peer helpers, National Honor Society members, and our Community In Schools Coordinator to provide help and support.
In summary, we have super students. These students are capable of reaching the new demands of knowing, understanding, and being able to do what their future will demand. These conditions for success in college and careers require more from the educator, more from the student, and more from the parent.
Together WE can make a successful future for all happen!