August 11, 2023

At Assumption, we know that there is nothing more important to you as a parent than the health and safety of your daughter. To that end, AHS has dedicated significant resources over the past several years to enhancing the overall safety and security of our school – including improvements in our campus and facilities, investing in designated personnel, along with providing education and training for our school community.    

Some of these changes are less visible, but are no less important, such as the covering windows in classroom doors for emergencies, upgrading locks in the school building, and adding a new door access control system. Other modifications involved substantial changes to our facilities including gates around our courtyards, enhanced camera and lighting coverage throughout our campus, and the design of our new main entrance, including security vestibule.   

We have also invested in personnel to protect our faculty, staff, and students.   At our Legion Parking Lot, Chief Lamey of the Strathmoor Police department, along with his K-9 companion, Luna, along with Officer Scott Sturgeon of Audubon Park Police department are on duty to provide coverage of the cross walk and also general security of the lot along with designated AHS staff members. This is in addition to the many administrators, teachers, and staff who you will see each morning and afternoon directing traffic and supervising the main school and St. Raphael parking lots.   

AHS also contracts with off duty police officers for athletic and other large events and evening security checks. 

One further measure in our ongoing efforts to strengthen campus security is the addition of an armed campus security officer.   Mr. Rob Owen joins AHS as our new Director of Safety and Security after having served in a similar position with KCD.  Prior to that he served for 20 years at LMPD in varying roles including Unit Seargeant for the Community Policing Unit.  He will be in charge of all aspects of safety, security, and emergency preparedness for the entire campus.    

During August, and throughout the school year, we will be conducting emergency drills with all of our faculty, staff, and students including detailed instruction, training, and practice of our safety and security protocols. In this way, we can all work together and reinforce our commitment to keeping our entire school community safe.    

Frosh First Day and Seniors Last First Day 

This week we celebrated newest and oldest Rockets in our building! We welcomed the Class of 2027 as they started the year with their Freshman First Day and the Class of 2024 with their Last First Day at Assumption. We can’t wait to see how the year unfolds as they take off with new experiences and as the leaders of the school!  

9:15 WEDNESDAYS AND SPIRIT WEAR MONDAYS:  Next week, we will follow our regular 8:15 a.m. schedule each day.  We will begin our 9:15 Wednesday schedule on Wednesday, August 23.  Additionally, next week, students will be in full uniform each day as we review and practice uniform expectations. Students should wear their uniforms to school on Monday – NOT SPIRIT WEAR.  Spirit Wear Mondays will begin on Monday, August 21.  

BEFORE- AND AFTER-SCHOOL SUPERVISION REMINDER:  The school doors open at 7:15 a.m. each school day, and supervision is provided in the cafeteria before school from 7:15-8:00 a.m. (until 9:00 a.m. on 9:15 schedule days) and after school from 3:15-4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and until 4:00 p.m. on Friday.      

MANDATORY PARENT ORIENTATION MEETINGS: We are excited to welcome you to our campus for parent orientation meetings. Each meeting will last 1-1½ hours. All orientations will also be livestreamed for those parents who need to attend virtually.  A virtual link will be sent via email on Monday. Important information about the school year will be shared at these meetings, and you will have the opportunity to meet with other parents and our administrators and staff.    

  • Monday, August 14: Freshman and Sophomore Parent Orientation Meetings, 6:30 p.m.: The freshman parent meeting will be held in the cafeteria, and the sophomore parent meeting will be held in the theater.  
  • Wednesday, August 16: Junior and Senior Parent Orientation Meeting, 6:30 p.m.: The junior parent meeting will be held in the cafeteria, and the senior parent meeting will be held in the theater.  

ASSUMPTION PARENT PRAYER: Our parent prayer group will begin meeting on August 29 from 8:30 – 9:00 a.m. in the AHS chapel and will continue to meet each Tuesday morning throughout the school year.  Please park in any open space and enter the school through the main entrance.  During the year, we pray for every student by name twice.  Please join us for any or all of these opportunities! 

RETREAT UPDATES:  We will kick off our retreats after Labor Day: You can find the 2023-2024 retreat schedule HERE. We are so excited to continue our tradition of freshmen, juniors, and seniors heading to Mount St. Francis for their retreats and our sophomores will be returning to the Earth & Spirit Center for the third year.  Students will receive information from Mrs. Scudder regarding retreats and registering for them in their homeroom in the first couple weeks of school. Please review the retreat dates with your student(s) and establish which date(s) will work best for their family, academic and extracurricular schedules. Please note that freshmen attend retreat with their homeroom.  

LEAD & Learn is a 25-minute co-curricular period that is generally held each day except for 9:15 Wednesdays. During LEAD & Learn, students will meet in grade-level homerooms, attend class meetings, participate in family activities, and engage in a variety of advising, counseling, and leadership programming. Homeroom teachers collaborate with class officers and family program reps to foster a sense of community within each homeroom.     

During our freshman first day, our junior Homeroom Moms and homeroom teachers helped our freshmen students get to know one another and the school.  During the orientation day for all students, homeroom teachers reviewed school policies and spent time reconnecting or bonding after a summer apart.  Our Family Council members led their homeroom in a theme reveal activity to uncover this year’s school theme: Every Chance We Get.  Class Officers led their class in a full-class bonding activity to celebrate their first time as a new member of their respective grade-level.  Next week, students will be in homeroom during LEAD and Learn time to continue a review of policies and procedures, including our safety and evacuation plans, culminating in our first fire drill of the year on Thursday.  Freshmen will also work on a homeroom cheer for an upcoming family spirit contest.  

COVID REMINDERS: Recently, there’s been an uptick in COVID cases in the Louisville area.  As a reminder, if your daughter is not feeling well, please keep her home.  Recent onset of headache, sore throat, fever, cough, fatigue, and congestion are all signs of COVID.  We recommend home testing if COVID symptoms are present. In addition, families need to be vigilant for symptoms if there is a positive COVID case in the home.  AHS follows the CDC guidelines regarding isolation and return to school when someone tests positive for COVID. If your daughter tests positive for COVID, please notify our school nurse, Mrs. Jackie Miranda, at Jackie.Miranda@ahsrockets.org  or 502-271-2507.  Your daughter can return on day 6 if she is no longer experiencing symptoms but must wear a mask for a full 10 days.  Day 0 is the first day of symptoms.  If she is still symptomatic on day 6, your daughter must remain in isolation for the full 10 days and can return on day 11 as long as she is no longer symptomatic.  If you have any questions about the above, or any other questions or concerns regarding your daughter’s health, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Mrs. Miranda above.  We are looking forward to a happy and healthy school year!  

CARPOOL & TRAFFIC FLOW REMINDERS: Thank you for your patience and cooperation in the carpool drop off/pick up line yesterday and today. There is always a learning curve for all of us on the first few days! If you haven’t already, please be sure to review this link for detailed information about the proper way to drop off/pick up your daughter to and from school:  CARPOOL AND TRAFFIC FLOW INFORMATION & MAP. If everyone follows the rules, everything runs much more smoothly! Important Note: the paved shoulder along Bardstown Road in front of Assumption is used as a turning lane/waiting area for vehicles prior to entering the carpool lane on campus. Those queueing on the shoulder must be sure not to block the Bardstown Road/Tyler Lane intersection. A few tips: 

  • If you can, please come earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon; we begin supervising students at 7:15 in the morning and provide after-school supervision until 4:30 in the afternoon (4 p.m. on Fridays). If you arrive before 7:40 in the morning or after 3:15 in the afternoon, the traffic is much lighter and you can breeze through the carpool line. 
  • When traveling to/from campus for drop-off and pick-up, avoid Bardstown Road and Tyler Lane as much as possible. For example, instead of turning left from Bardstown Road to get in the carpool line, use the neighborhood streets to get to Bardstown Road north of Tyler Lane and then head south on Bardstown Road so you can turn right into the carpool lane. Here’s an annotated map of our neighborhood streets that can help you work out an alternate route that will help you avoid Bardstown Road and Tyler Lane and save you time:  Neighborhood Streets around Assumption NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS AROUND ASSUMPTION 
  • When you are exiting campus, TURN LEFT on TYLER, instead of turning right and going to the light at Bardstown Road. When you turn left, go to Eleanor Avenue, the first cross street, and then turn left (to take you down to Gardiner Lane for easy access to the Watterson Expressway) or right (to take you up several blocks before making another right to access Bardstown Road away from all the traffic). 
  • You can avoid the carpool line all together by making a quick stop at Gardiner Lane Shopping Center to drop off or pick up your daughter. They don’t mind as long as it is a quick stop and you don’t use the parking spaces near the stores that they need for their customers. It’s very short block and a safe walk for your daughter from the shopping center to Assumption. 

POWERSCHOOL INSTRUCTIONS:  PowerSchool is our first line of communication to students and parents/guardians regarding grades, course registration, and attendance records. Please review this link with the directions on how to access PowerSchool and make sure you know your username and password prior to the start of the year:  POWERSCHOOL INSTRUCTIONS.  Your daughter’s current personal information and contact information is listed here as well.  We ask you to review it and make any necessary corrections no later than Monday, August 14.  You will also be asked to review the STUDENT-PARENT HANDBOOK 2023-2024 with your daughter and to select the drop-down box verifying that you have reviewed the handbook as part of the legal agreement between you and Assumption High School.  

OTHER BACK-TO-SCHOOL FORMS & INFORMATION: Please be sure to complete the forms that were mentioned in the summer back-to-school email.  This information can be found on our website through this link: Back to School Information Page 

FRESHMAN AND TRANSFER APPLIED DIGITAL LEARNING CLASS:  A reminder to our parents/guardians of freshmen and transfers: Lessons for the Applied Digital Skills online technology course will start at the beginning of each week with assignments due at the end of each week. The next lesson will go out at the beginning of next week on Monday, August 14.     

DROP/ADD DEADLINE:  Our drop/add period for classes ends on Tuesday, August 22.  If you or your daughter has questions about her schedule, please contact the appropriate dean of studies: Student Last Name A-K:  JUDY FIELDHOUSE,  Student Last Name L-Z:  THERESA SCHUHMANN 

TEXTBOOKS:  All students should have their textbooks at this time.  If your daughter still needs textbooks, please access her booklist through this link: https://bnck-12.com/ahsrockets. 

COUNSELING CONNECTIONS:  The Assumption Guidance and Counseling Department invites you to join them on Facebook and/or Twitter to stay up to date with deadlines and counseling programming for students of all grade levels.  On Facebook, “like” the Assumption Guidance Parent Page.  On Twitter, follow @AHSGuidanceDept. 

FLIK LUNCH ACCOUNTS – Information from FLIK:  If your daughter plans to buy lunch at school beginning on Monday, August 14, then please be sure to review these links: FLIK MEAL PLAN INFORMATION and FLIK LUNCH MENU. MySchoolBucks, the company that handles the Flik online deposits, is accepting online payments now at www.myschoolbucks.com. All of the balances that were left from last year have been carried over to the new school year. Please sign up on the website to get low balance emails. If you plan to write a check for your daughter’s lunch account, please be sure to make the check payable to FLIK and to include your daughter’s name and ID number in the memo line, especially if your last name is different than your daughter’s. Please note:  if you choose a meal plan for your daughter, then only payment by check is an option. Your daughter can drop off the check in main office or the cafeteria drop box during school hours.   

SENIOR YEARBOOK PORTRAITS: If your daughter has not had her senior portrait taken, please schedule her appointment at Illumination Studio ASAP.  Information can be reviewed through this link: AHS SENIOR PORTRAIT INFORMATION  If you have any questions, you can contact Illumination Studio directly at 502.585.3103. You can also email Beth Smith at bsmith@studioillumination.com. 

FRESHMAN PARENT MASS – Save the date! This Mass is a beautiful way to celebrate your freshman daughter’s high school journey as part of a community of faith.  It will be celebrated on Sunday, September 10, at 2:00 p.m. at St. Raphael Catholic Church.  Please come even if your family isn’t Catholic.  Siblings are invited as well – please bring the whole family!   

Please join us at The Assumption Green for field hockey and soccer games, at the gym for our volleyball home games, and at the courses for our cross country meets and golf matches.  All of our athletic team schedules can be found on the Athletics page of our website:  ATHLETICS.   

Tickets to all home games can be purchased at the door for $8, cash or credit card. 

Congratulations to:

  • The Golf team for a very strong start to their season. The team has finished in the top 5 at 7 of their nine tournaments and is currently ranked 3rd in All- State points.  Senior Geriann Ackermann has also had multiple top 5 finishes as an individual and is currently leading the state in All- State points.  
  • The Soccer team for opening their season with a 6-0 win against Collegiate. 

NEXT WEEK:

Saturday, August 12

  • Golf @ Anderson County Invitational @ Wild Turkey Trace GC 
  • Freshmen Soccer vs Central Hardin 11:00am 

Tuesday, August 15

  • Volleyball vs Male. Freshmen 5:00, JV 6:00, Varsity 7:00 
  • Soccer @ E- Town. JV 6:00, Varsity 7:30 

Thursday, August 17 

  • Volleyball @ Presentation. Freshmen 5:00, JV 6:00, Varsity 7:00