Dear Parents/Guardians:

We are thrilled to welcome back our students, and to extend a warm greeting to our new families. Londonderry High School has undergone some positive changes over the summer and the building and grounds look spectacular. We have installed new carpeting, painted various areas around the school, and improved the aesthetics in the front of our building along with our foyer, tied in with our school colors. We opened our doors to approximately 1750 students. We are very proud of Londonderry High School and we're looking to build upon the momentum we created last year when we set a number of high school records with a fantastic student-body.

We continue to encourage our students to become more involved in school activities and increase their school spirit. This can be accomplished by becoming involved in school clubs and teams and/or by their attendance at school activities including athletic contests, concerts and other events. We ask you to encourage them to do the same. We really promote a family atmosphere at Londonderry High School and try to foster a sense of belonging with all of our students. The more comfortable they feel at school, the better they will do academically. Our students are given a lot of autonomy and we recognize that this is their school. We also understand that technology has made things much easier and faster to communicate. Students are allowed to carry cell phones and iPods that they may use in non-academic areas. If you need to contact your student during the day, please call his/her House Office and we will get them the message. We discourage the use of cell phones for calls, texting, and e-mailing in classrooms as it is a distraction to the educational process throughout the day. Your support towards that effort is greatly appreciated.

The student and parent portal in our X2 Student Management System is an efficient way to monitor academic progress. All parents and students have log-in information and passwords to access the portal to view real time attendance, assignments, and grades. Our expectations for teachers are to update their grade books in a timely fashion (a minimum of every two weeks), so we ask that you are patient with the grading of assignments. The dates listed next to the assignment are due dates, not grading dates. This wonderful online feature will keep you and your students apprised of their progress, but we also encourage you to call or e-mail teachers if you have any questions, using our school website. If you need us to reissue your log-in and password information, please contact Paul Dutton (Asst. Principal) at pdutton@londonderry.org

One additional feature of the X2 system will be Competency Categories. As you may remember, in compliance with the Department of Education, the Londonderry High School professional staff developed Competencies and Competency Assessments in every course. All LHS students will need to pass these Competencies in addition to the course in its entirety, to earn credit. It is considered best practice, and we plan to assist our students in every way to ensure their success. For background information on Competency and Competency Assessments, please visit our high school website. The link will be located on the right of the home page under "School Info".

There will be many opportunities for you to visit the school this year to enjoy our many programs. We will be holding our annual Parent Night on Thursday, September 16th at 7:00PM. School Pictures are going to be held on Wednesday, September 15th. If you are coming to the school during any school day you must report and sign in at the Welcome Center in the front foyer. This is the only entrance to the building for visitors. We ask for your cooperation and understanding for the safety and security of our students.

At this time we would like to remind you that for the protection of our students, it is important that you notify the school when your student will not be in attendance. School Board policy requires the school offices to contact the homes of students whose absence has not been reported. The purpose of this policy is to avoid any delay in determining that the student is in your care. You should do this by calling your student's House Office 432-6941 (H1 A-Fe x 2117, H2 Ff-Mar x 2217, H3 Mas-Pel x 2128, H4 Pem-Z x 2526) either the evening before or the morning of the absence. Please contact us by 7:00 AM if at all possible, and tell us the student's name, your name and relationship to the student and the reason for absence.

This is the first of ten monthly newsletters I will be sending home towards the beginning of each month. This newsletter will have some important information for you. You will also find an updated calendar of events for that month. I hope this will help keep parents informed about all the great things going on at Londonderry High School. Because there are so many daily athletic events, we have provided you with websites at the bottom of the calendar, but will post all varsity home games.

I truly believe that we are the best public high school in New Hampshire and I am honored and proud to be the principal of Londonderry High School. We will get to formally showcase our accomplishments and school pride during the NEASC Decennial Accreditation Visit from November 14-17, 2010. A team of twenty educators from across New England will evaluate our Self-Study Report and speak to students, parents, staff, and the administration to determine whether or not we are a mission-driven school. Although I do not expect students and staff to memorize our Mission Statement, I would like them to be familiar with the seven key words from it. They are listed on the pillars in our front foyer, and they encapsulate who we are and what we're about: Safe, Nurturing, Opportunities, Academics, Character, Citizenship, and Success. For the complete Mission Statement and Student Expectations please visit our website.

I look forward to working with you during the school year. Please contact me anytime if you have any questions or concerns, or feel free to stop by my office to say hello. I wish you all a wonderful school year, and have a safe and enjoyable, extended Labor Day Weekend.

Sincerely,
Jason Parent
Principal

• Parents' Night Letter
• Cell Phone Use
• LHS Course
  Competencies