Le Roy Jr.-Sr. High School

Mr. McArdle’s Weekly Update - 11/30/18

New Laude System!

Starting with the Class of 2024, Le Roy Jr.-Sr. High School will recognize graduating seniors through a Laude System. Our current 7th grade students will be the first to move through the Sr. High School without using our current graduation class ranking system, including Top Ten and Valedictorian/Salutatorian designations.

Last year our School Improvement Team, comprised of teachers, counselors, and administrators, evaluated the execution of our graduation class ranking system and how it impacts our students and school culture. In our findings and evaluation, it became clear that our current graduation system was not maximizing our student potential. We then searched for successful ways schools are motivating and celebrating student success at graduation. We analyzed schools in Rochester, Buffalo, and in the Midwest, and talked with colleges and universities about the impact of moving from a numerical ranking to a Laude System. One of the local schools we talked to, Webster Thomas, implemented a similar process 10 years ago.

After extensive research, our team sought to create a system that did two things. One, create a me vs. me system instead of student vs. peer, encouraging rigor in student course selection, decreasing unnecessary competition between classmates, and increasing students' academic and intellectual risks. Two, to honor all the many pathways our students travel to Graduation and reward them for taking a rigorous road that will not only maximize their potential, but prepare them for the competitive world.

The new Laude System is a point based system that combines honor points and cumulative grade point average. At Graduation in 2024 we will begin celebrating student success with the following levels: Summa Cum Laude ("with highest honor") for 95 GPA + 20 points, Magna Cum Laude ("with great honor") for 90 GPA + 15 points, and Cum Laude ("with honor") for 85 GPA + 10 points. Finally, our student graduation speakers will be voted on by the senior class and all students in a Laude level will be eligible for this honor.

Again, the Laude System is in place for our current 7th graders, the Class of 2024. It does not affect our students in grades 8-12. We will be meeting with the Class of 2024 to go over these changes prior to the 2019-2020 scheduling process. We would like to thank our entire staff for their vital part in giving feedback and developing this exciting new change. Also, a big thank you to our School Board who carefully reviewed this process and unanimously approved it. If parents have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our Student Success Center or myself!

On page 7 of the Weekly Update is the system at a glance!

Le Roy Jr.-Sr. High School

Mr. McArdle’s Weekly Update - 11/30/18

Powerful Assembly!

Today we had the honor of hosting Jacy

Good and Steve Johnson for a school-wide

assembly for our Knights. Jacy is a survivor

of a distracted driving accident on the way

home from her college graduation ceremony,

but her two parents are not. They were hit by

a semi truck that swerved into them trying to

miss a car driven by a distracted driver who

ran a red light. After recovering from a coma

in a hospital for months with major injuries

including brain damage and partial

paralyzation of the left part of her body, Jacy

beat the odds. She married her college

boyfriend and today the two travel the

country on a mission to share their story,

inspire change, and empower other to save lives. Our Knights were on the edge of their seats for the one

hour presentation and we hope they not only walk away with the life lesson, but live it and share their

experience with everyone. Jacy’s message is that nothing on a phone is more important than a life while

driving. Special thanks to our Driver Education teacher Mr. Humphrey for coordinating their visit and to

the NYS Police/Traffic Safety Office for funding it!

Read more about their story here: www.hangupanddrive.com

Guest Conductor!

Tuesday and Wednesday this week we hosted Dr. Robert Cameron, Director of Bands for the Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University. Our Instrumental teacher and Duquesne alum Ms. Dotts initiated the opportunity to bring Dr. Cameron to our school. These experiences are really exciting for our students and also for Ms. Dotts to get feedback on our bands. Big thanks to her for setting this up!

From Ms. Dotts:

When working with young musicians, Dr. Cameron endeavors to place the same responsibility on his students as he does in an professional environment, which was evident in his lessons with our students this week. Students in the Junior and Senior High Bands had the opportunity to participate in full-ensemble rehearsal clinics as well as group lessons led by Dr. Cameron. The students gained valuable knowledge and insight on how to further develop their skills as a musician; all of which shown through in their performances of the band and solo literature. Big thank you to Mr. McArdle, Mrs. Lowe, and Mrs. Beckler in helping Ms. Dotts arrange his visit!

Le Roy Jr.-Sr. High School

Mr. McArdle’s Weekly Update - 11/30/18

UKnight Sports!

Wednesday Mr. Pollard’s Principles of Business class traveled to GCC to participate in Professionals Day. This class operates as a virtual business in which students create a company and product line, and then buy and sell their products with other participating schools in the area throughout the school year. Professionals Day was a great opportunity for the students to present their business idea and products, while networking with other virtual businesses. The students participated in a creative activity to test their entrepreneurial skills by collaborating with the other schools to create a brand new product out of a box of junk! This year our students have created a business entitled UKnight Sports and have created a branding campaign behind it. The day was a huge success and the students are looking forward to opening their virtual stores on December 1st! “UKnight Sports delivered a stellar presentation at Professionals Day. Based on the reactions and feedback we received from other schools, we were able to successfully convey our business idea and engage many of the students in the room. We networked, collaborated, and made new friends with individuals from other schools, all while trying to spread the word about UKnight Sports to everyone present.” - Reece Tresco, CEO, UKnight Sports

Big thanks to Mr. Pollard for his efforts in continuing this great class and opportunity for our students!

Putting the Student in Student-Athlete!

I am excited to announce that ALL our fall varsity teams were named NYS Scholar Athlete Teams again this year! To qualify for this honor, teams’ average GPA for 75% of the roster must be 90% or higher. As you can see by the results, we have many reasons to be proud of our teams and their accomplishments. I cannot thank our student athletes enough for their commitment to performing not only in competition, but in the classroom as well. They have very busy schedules and put in long hours each week. I would like to also commend our coaches who make academic achievement a priority in their programs. Way to go, Knights!

Le Roy Jr.-Sr. High School

Mr. McArdle’s Weekly Update - 11/30/18

Career Lunch-N-Learn Series!

In conjunction with Genesee County BEA, we ran our third Career Lunch-N-Learn Series today! We continue to be very excited about this opportunity for our students to have lunch with a professional!

Our third lunch was with Le Roy alum Andrew Rich, Agency Operator at Farmers Insurance Agency here in Le Roy, but pursues a passion of filmmaking on the side. He shared with our Knights his unique perspective to tell stories to a larger audience and his passion for the creative arts and the hard work that goes into making films. He also recounted his recent experience participating in the Buffalo 48 hour film challenge in which you have to shoot and produce a short movie in 48 hours. He passed on to our Knights that "Life comes at you fast. It pays to have a good plan. Sometimes you can't plan for everything, so if there's something you truly want from life, sometimes the best advice is to do it yourself." Finally, Andy has offered to come back and work with students who are interested in film and/or would want to participate in this year’s film challenge. Students can sign up in the main office between now and winter break! A huge thanks to Andy for his willingness to share his story and come back to work with our Knights!

Game Time!

Winter sports are in full swing with our Modified teams off to a great start and our JV/Varsity teams starting game play this week. We look forward to an exciting sports season and invite everyone to follow our Knights! Here are the home openers or first event for our JV/Varsity teams:

11/30 - Varsity Swimming vs. Medina @ Byron-Bergen - 5:30pm 12/1 - JV/Varsity Girls Basketball vs. Keshequa - 5/6:30pm 12/4 - Varsity Hockey vs. Spencerport @ Falleti Ice Arena - 6pm 12/7 - JV/Varsity Boys Basketball/Cheer vs. Hornell - 6/7:30pm 12/12 - Varsity Wrestling vs. Avon/Geneseo - 6pm 12/15 - Indoor Track @ Houghton College - 10am To see the entire winter schedule, click here—> http://bit.ly/LRSports Good luck to our players and coaches this season, leave it all out there!

FIRST PLACE!!!

Congratulations to our Jr. High Academic Challenge Bowl Team!! Thursday night they defeated Geneseo in the semi-finals and Livonia in the finals to finish the season as the overall league champions. Throughout the year they were led by team captain Ruby Schmidt with strong support from all of the other Knights including: Mikah Berl, Kevin Cottone, Jackson Fix, Owen Williams, Jacob Elmore, James Western, Owen Morrison, and Wyatt Dziedzic. Big thanks to Mr. Bob Zoeke and Mr. Chris Cappotelli who are our coaches and leaders of these fantastic Jr. High Knights! Way to go, Knights!

Le Roy Jr.-Sr. High School

Mr. McArdle’s Weekly Update - 11/30/18

Little Free Libraries!

We have two Little Free Libraries up and running on school campus! The first one is located at the start of the Hartwood Park Trail and the second is located at the elementary school playground. These Little Free Libraries were a joint community service project by the Class of 2018 and the Class of 2019. The project was generously funded by the Cris Condidorio Memorial Fund, Le Roy staff, and donations of books from the Le Roy community.

Little Free Libraries promote the love of reading by fostering community book exchanges. People are encouraged to take a book and leave a book. Huge thanks to Ms. Bradley and Mrs. Johnson for their efforts in creating and bringing this idea to reality! We look forward to seeing these libraries being used and sharing literacy throughout our community!

For more information, visit: LittleFreeLibrary.org.

Le Roy Jr.-Sr. High School

Mr. McArdle’s Weekly Update - 11/30/18

Tech Tip Pit Stop with Mrs. Bertrand: #07 NYSCATE Brings Tech Ideas for Our Knights

Just before Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to attend the annual NYSCATE Conference in Rochester alongside our very own Mrs. Johnson, Ms. Bradley, Ms. Marten and teachers from our WSS building. According to the NYSCATE site, this is “an organization of dedicated technology using educators, committed to transforming teaching and learning, to provide our children with an education that prepares them to live satisfying and productive lives.” From my Instructional Tech Coach point of view as well as that of our teacher leaders, this conference is one of the absolute best opportunities to experience the latest and greatest with instructional technology development, learn from colleagues who are using different types of technology, connect with vendors and so much more! The theme to the conference this year was Navigating the Future, Mrs. Johnson honed in on that message when she shared, “What I loved most about this year’s NYSCATE conference was the focus on empowering students with the tools to create and collaborate meaningfully and ethically in our fast-paced, global society.” What a powerful message for our Oatkan Knights!

With an annual attendance of over 1,500 attendees, more than 150 exhibitors and over 120 presentations by teachers and technology experts - this conference is like the “Tech Super Bowl” and it’s right in our backyard. From attending sessions about how to use a green screen with the popular DoInk app, or learning about Digital Citizenship, advanced Google tools and so much more, this conference brings the best of the best. When looking back on her experience at the conference this year, Ms. Bradley reflected that “The most beneficial part of NYSCATE is learning about how other educators implement

apps, extensions, and other technology into their curriculum. Over the years, I've learned about Kahoot!, Breakout EDU kits, and various other interactive tools that are favorites among LeRoy students.” I couldn’t agree with her more!

Now the fun really begins as my peers and I will share our experience and new knowledge gained with our colleagues for the educational benefit of our Le Roy students. From new sites, apps, or extensions, to helpful tips and lesson ideas, we’re armed with technology enthusiasm and ready to implement new instructional tools. Ms. Marten is certainly ready to motivate change as she shared with me, “I am always inspired at NYSCATE by all the new and innovative technologies that I can bring back to LeRoy and use in my classroom to engage students in our exploration of history.” And engage our students we will! Here’s to some enriching upcoming technology experiences for our students!

Check out the Tech Tip Pit Stop from our Instructional Technology Coach Mrs. Jen Bertrand! Thanks, Jen!

Le Roy Jr.-Sr. High School

FOR LAUDE POINTS RECOGNITION

MINIMUM COMBINATIONS

Pre AP English

AP Lang

AP Lit

Pre Calc

Stats

AP Calc

AP Chem

AP Bio

Physics

French 4

Spanish 4

5 Credit Sequence

4 years of band + 1 solo fest

4 years of chorus + 1 solo fest

Theater

Business Law

CFM

POB

Keyboarding

Microsoft Office Suite

DDP

CIM

CEA

POE

Psychology

Sociology

All courses

ENGLISH

MATH

SCIENCE

SOCIAL STUDIES

Pre AP World

AP World

AP US History

AP Gov

LOTE

MUSIC

BUSINESS

TECHNOLOGY

SOCIAL SCIENCES

FACS

ART

advanced courses

1

2

2

1

2

2

2

2

1

1

2

2

2

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

1

2

3

GPA + PTS

LAUDE SYSTEM

SUMMA CUM LAUDE

MAGNA CUM LAUDE

CUM LAUDE

95 GPA + 20 pts

90 GPA + 15 pts

85 GPA + 10 pts

BOCES

ACADEMIES

Health Academy

Justice Academy

Info Tech

WNY TECH ACADEMY

3 year enrollment

4

4

4

4

2 per year + 2 per year for NTHS membership

Starting with the Class of 2024

*Points will be rewarded upon successful completion of the course

**Course offerings are subject to change year to year