February 2010
Dear Parents/Guardians,
On Thursday, February 4, 2010, beginning at 7:00 PM, the high school will host our annual Course Selection Night. The format will be slightly different from previous years, so please read the following information carefully:
• Parents of current 9th, 10th and 11th grade students are invited to come to the Library from 7 to 7:30 PM to meet with department chairpersons to ask questions you may have regarding course selection. Your attendance is not mandatory, nor is it recommended if you feel you have a solid understanding of course selection options and the steps to follow during course selection. If, however, you have questions about the course level that would best meet your child’s needs, or the best sequence of courses to select, this would be an excellent time to have those questions answered.
• At that same time (7 to 7:30 PM), parents of current 8th grade students are invited to meet in the Auditorium to hear a 30 minute overview of important information every parent of a student who will be new to the high school should know regarding course selection.
• At roughly 7:30 PM, parents of current 8th grade students will be invited to leave the presentation in the Auditorium and proceed to the Library. Teachers from every department will be available to answer your individual questions from 7:30 to 8:30 PM.
The Course Selection Handbook, which is available online at the high school website, contains important information that every parent and student should read thoroughly. There are a few new features in the course selection handbook:
• The estimated amount of time an appropriately placed student will need to devote to completing homework is now included for every course. We believe this information will help students and parents make careful decisions about the level of course they should select.
• A map of possible course sequences is included for all of the “core courses” including math, English, science, social studies and world language. This change is a result of parents sharing with me that they found the “sequence map” that has always been included in the math portion of the handbook to be especially helpful information. We hope you find these additional “sequence maps” to be useful as well.
I would like to draw your attention to a few additional course offerings that are available this year (see the Course Selection Handbook for additional information).
• UHS has partnered with Immaculata University to offer two dual enrollment psychology courses, one in the fall and one in the spring semester. These dual enrollment courses allow our students to earn college credits while they enjoy the supportive environment of the high school, offering a “taste” of college expectations during the high school years. UHS is taking advantage of a grant offered by the PA Department of Education (PDE), so we’re able to offer discounted tuition to our students who successfully complete one or both of these courses (see page 54).
• For the first time, our counseling center will offer a College Admissions Seminar (see page 53) to 11th and 12th grade students who desire additional support as they embark on the college application process. We encourage you to consider signing up for this course, especially if you are a first generation college applicant. Our counseling center will continue to offer the numerous support services related to college applications that have been provided in the past. We see this new course as yet another support to our college-bound students.
• We are augmenting our driver’s education offerings by adding a classroom instruction option during the school day. The after school classroom instruction and behind the wheel options that we have always offered will continue. In addition, though, students may elect to take a daytime classroom instruction driver’s education course that will be taught in UHS by a Chester County Intermediate Unit certified instructor. The cost for this daytime option is higher than the evening option since two difference organizations that set their own pricing will be running the courses (see pages 53 and 67).
We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, February 4 for Course Selection evening. Please keep in mind the timeline to complete course selection: The window opened on February 1 and will close on February 15. Please feel free to contact the Main Office if you have any questions in advance of this event.
Sincerely,
Paula Massanari
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