August 22, 2025

At Assumption, we know that there is nothing more important to you as a parent than the well being 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, and providing education and training for our school community.   

Some 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, which includes a security vestibule. We have also installed a security screening device where everyone who enters our building undergoes a background check. Additional security measures surrounding our reception area and enhanced restrictions to access the school building are underway and will be ready for implementation this semester. We are also testing a new emergency alert system which will roll out with the modifications planned to our reception area.

One major project completed has been the installation of ballistic film on all first-floor glass exterior doors and windows, which occurred over the past two summers.

We also invest heavily in personnel to protect our faculty, staff, and students.  At our Highland Hall lot, Chief Lamey of the Strathmoor Police department, along with his K-9 companion, Luna, and Officer José Wilkie of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department are on duty to provide coverage of the crosswalk and 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 our armed campus security officer — Mr. Rob Owen, who is our Director of Safety and Security.  Mr. Owen has over 20 years of law enforcement experience, having served at LMPD in varying roles, including unit sergeant for the Community Policing Unit.  He oversees all aspects of safety, security, and emergency preparedness for the entire campus daily.  

In addition to the above, AHS begins each school year with a Safety Week where we conduct emergency drills with all faculty, staff, and students which includes detailed instruction, training, and practice of our safety and security protocols, including our lock down drill. We continue these drills at various times throughout the school year. To further enhance our safety, we emphasize to our school community that if they “see something; say something”. Everyone in our school is urged to speak to an administrator or other trusted adult if they have any concerns or are aware of a potential threat. Those who prefer to remain anonymous can make a report via the Assumption Tip Line available through this link: ASSUMPTION SAFETY TIP LINE

In this way, we can all work together and reinforce our commitment to keeping our entire school community safe.   

Senior Sunrise

This morning, the Class of 2026 gathered for their Senior Sunrise, embracing a peaceful moment together before the day began. With the sky glowing behind them, they snapped photos, shared breakfast, and simply enjoyed each other’s company. Though the school year is already in full swing, this tradition gave them a chance to pause, reflect, and celebrate the bonds they’ve built which sets the tone for a year filled with connection, growth, and lasting memories.

SPIRIT WEAR MONDAYS: As a community, we have been working diligently to be sure that all uniforms are within school policies.  Excitedly, Spirit Wear Mondays will begin on Monday, August 25 for students who have earned the privilege.  Students may wear an AHS sweatshirt or T-shirt with nice jeans (no holes), or AHS pants purchased from the Assumption campus store (no shorts or leggings). Students who choose not to wear Spirit Day attire or have not yet earned the privilege to wear spirit wear must be in their full Assumption uniform once Spirit Wear Mondays begin.

MOCK SCHEDULE NIGHT: We will have our annual Mock Schedule Night for parents/guardians only on Thursday, August 28, beginning at 6:30 p.m. and ending at 8:40 p.m.; parents/guardians should report to their daughter’s homeroom for opening prayer and announcements. We will email you a copy of your daughter’s schedule midweek with information about the evening and event times as well.  Please plan to park at any open space at Assumption or St. Raphael and enter the school at the closest door. Ambassadors will be available at the doors and in the hallways to assist you in finding your way the entire evening.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY & LABOR DAY HOLIDAY: Students will not have school on Friday, August 29 as our faculty and staff will be participating in a professional development day. School will be closed on Monday, September 1 for the Labor Day holiday. 

ASSUMPTION PARENT PRAYER: Our parent prayer group will begin meeting on Wednesday, August 27 from 8:15-8:45 a.m. in the AHS chapel and will continue to meet each Wednesday 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!

PRAYER INTENTIONS: All Assumption parents and alumnae are invited to share prayer intentions. Periodically, we will include the line of “prayer intentions posted online by AHS parents and alumnae” as part of our morning prayer over the P.A. Likewise, feel free to include the intentions you find there in your own personal prayer. To participate, please follow this link.

RETREAT UPDATE: All sophomores, juniors, and seniors can continue to register for their retreats. Booterstown & Birr freshmen should have received their retreat applications in homeroom. All Booterstown, Birr, Limerick, Galway, and Cork parents are invited to pray for their daughters going on retreat this semester on September 3 at 5:45 in the chapel. We will wrap up by 6:30 for Guidance’s parent session to follow.

Our Freshman Mentor Team is off to a strong start in working with the class of 2029.  These 27 juniors and seniors have been a consistent presence for our freshman class in homeroom and during our RTI programming this week. Today, they provided a focused lesson during RTI time intended to help our newest class with some “Assumption 101: The Insider Scoop.” Hearing this insider information from older girls helps our freshmen feel like they are part of our community right away, and we can’t wait to see what they do with it!  The students are also taking intentional time to learn about one another through interest inventories, and they will work together as a group to celebrate their homeroom in a time-honored tradition, the Freshman Cheer-Off, which will take place just after Labor Day.

Additionally, all students have access to a number of RTI enrichment opportunities each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  When your student doesn’t have requested or desired academic needs during that time, we encourage her to participate in a program that will help her LEARN and GROW in other ways.  We have opportunities for movement, leadership development, college and career exploration, and mental wellness to name a few. As these opportunities expand this semester, we hope each student will find a way to be enriched at least once a week in order to experience all that Assumption has to offer.

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 and then after school from 3:15-4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and until 4:00 p.m. on Friday. For their safety, students waiting for rides after 3:15 must move to the cafeteria for supervision and may not wait outside or in the hallways.

ATTENDANCE REMINDERS: Below are a few reminders about attendance: 

ABSENCES & EARLY DISMISSALS: If your daughter is absent or coming in late on any day, please call the attendance line at 502-458-9551, press 1, and report the absence/late arrival before 8:30 a.m. If you need for your daughter to be excused early for a medical appointment, please send a note with your daughter the morning of the early dismissal and have her bring it to the attendance office before the school day starts. This helps us keep classroom interruptions to a minimum and protects the time for instruction of our students.  All students who arrive to school late should enter the school building at the attendance entrance on Tyler Lane outside of the theater to check in with the attendance clerk/school nurse. Please be sure you plan for early dismissals no later than 2:30 p.m. in order to ease dismissal traffic congestion.

GOING HOME SICK: If your daughter contacts you during the day telling you that she is sick and needs to come home, please do not just come to school to pick her up; instead, please call the attendance office and make our school nurse, Mrs. Kat Way, aware of the situation. She will find your daughter, assess the situation from a medical perspective, and then give you an update and let you know if you should come to take your daughter home, make arrangements for her to be seen by a doctor, etc.

REMINDER ABOUT DELIVERIES: To teach our students about being accountable for their own belongings as well as to limit the number of visitors to school during the day and effectively monitor those visitors coming into the school, we have a policy that does NOT allow for student deliveries. Parents, please do not bring items (lunches, homework, bake sale items, sports equipment, presentations, papers, etc.) to school to drop off for your daughters. Our main office staff and athletic office staff have been instructed not to accept those deliveries. Thank you for your cooperation with these efforts.

TYLER LANE SAFETY CONCERN: Students should never be dropped off or picked up on Tyler Lane. When exiting the parking lot, if you are on Tyler Lane headed for the light and want to turn left or go straight at the intersection, please don’t pull out to the left to get around the line of cars waiting to turn right onto Bardstown Road to get to the left lane. You need to wait until the road widens and the left lane actually begins. When you pull around the traffic, you are actually driving on the wrong side of the road, and you are risking having a head-on collision with cars coming from the other direction on Tyler Lane. This problem most often happens in the morning as faculty, staff, and students come down Tyler Lane to turn in at the two-way drive to get to their parking spaces on campus. When leaving campus after dropping off or picking up your daughter, please consider turning left on Tyler Lane and using Eleanor Avenue or other neighborhood streets to get to your desired route. If you choose to turn right and go to the light at the intersection, please wait patiently in a single line of traffic until you get to where there are actually two lanes.

REQUEST ON BEHALF OF STUDENTS WHO PARK AT STRATHMOOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH and THE ST. RAPHAEL PARKING LOT: Please do not wait in the Strathmoor parking lot across Bardstown Road from Assumption or in the St. Raphael parking lot to pick your daughter up at dismissal. Parents who do this are forming their own carpool lane of sorts and this blocks our students who rent spaces at Strathmoor (or are assigned parking at St. Raphael) into their parking spots, which has already caused some of them to be late for medical appointments, jobs, etc. If you don’t want to pick up your daughter from the Assumption carpool line, please use the “Gardiner Lane Shopping Center Option” mentioned in last week’s Rocket Report and shared with parents during our parent orientation sessions.

MONITOR AND MANAGE YOUR DAUGHTER’S HP ELITE LAPTOP: You should receive an email next week about apParent, a mobile app available to you at no cost so you can monitor and manage your daughter’s school-issued laptop after school hours. This app, if you want to install it, will allow you to view your daughter’s device screen, lock your daughter’s device with a custom message, and view 24 hours of your child’s web browsing history. Your daughter’s teachers can control their computers from 7:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. You can use the app outside of those hours on school days and all day on weekends and holidays. 

SCHOOL SAFETY WEEK: Next week is officially Assumption High School Safety Week, and we will continue practicing our emergency drills during the week as required by Kentucky law. This past Monday, we began with our all-school fire drill. This coming week, we will be reviewing and practicing our lockdown drill, earthquake drill, and severe weather/tornado drill. This is a good time to remind you that in the case of a true emergency/disaster, parents will be notified and kept informed via emergency alerts; students will be released only to their parents or other authorized guardians and will have to be signed out before leaving; students who provide their own transportation to/from school must have parent/guardian permission to leave verified by school personnel prior to leaving, provided it is safe for them to do so. If it is safe to enter the school building, parents will gather in the Marshall Family Atrium to await the release of their daughters; and if the building is not accessible, parents will gather in the back parking lot of on Highland Hall (former American Legion property) to await the release of their daughters. Please be sure that you are signed up for emergency alerts through School Messenger and that we have current and accurate contact information for you and others we could call upon if there would ever be an urgent situation involving your daughter. Also, please note that the person you designate as an emergency contact is the person we would contact only if we cannot get in touch with a student’s parents/guardians—the name you provide as the emergency contact should not be the same as either the first or second contact because we will attempt to get in touch with them first/before going to the emergency contact.

TERRIORISTIC THREATENING: State law requires all schools in Kentucky to inform students and parents about laws regarding terroristic threatening and its potential penalties. When students or others make threats to harm other students, school staff, or even school property, whether the threat is a “serious” one in which the person truly intends to do harm (terroristic threatening in the first degree) or whether it is a “hoax” threat made without any real intention to carry it out (terroristic threatening in the second degree), such threats are extremely disruptive to the school and the educational process and are upsetting and cause fear among students, parents, and school personnel. Regardless of the intention of the person making the threat, school officials and law enforcement officials may be forced to close schools to investigate such threats that are made, and the emotional, instructional, and financial impacts of these acts are incalculable.

We will review the information below with our students as part of our ongoing Student-Family Handbook review process, but it would also be helpful for parents/guardians to review it and then discuss it with their daughters.  Please stress with her the importance of alerting an adult who can make sure appropriate action is taken (you, her counselor, an administrator, one of her teachers) if she ever hears or sees anything in person or via social media, group chats, etc., that might qualify as a terroristic threat.  She can also report any concerns or potential threats anonymously through the ASSUMPTION SAFETY TIP LINE.

According to Kentucky state law (KRS 508.078), a person is guilty of terroristic threatening in the second degree when he or she intentionally makes false statements by any means, including by electronic/online communication, for the purpose of:

Causing evacuation of a school building, school property, or school-sanctioned activity;

Causing cancellation of school classes or school-sanctioned activity; or

Creating fear of serious bodily harm among students, parents, or school personnel.

A threat directed at a person or at a school does not need to identify a specific person or school in order for terroristic threatening to occur.  To read the full text of KRS 508.078, please use this link.  Terroristic threatening in the second degree is a Class D felony punishable by one to five years imprisonment and/or a $1,000-$10,000 fine for adults (KRS 532.020) or, for juveniles, a fine not to exceed $500 (KRS 635.085), with fine assessed at the court’s discretion in lieu of commitment to the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Terroristic threats cause widespread fear throughout a school community and totally disrupt the educational process. Any such threats to Assumption students or employees are totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The administration, in coordination with responding law enforcement agencies, will pursue legal charges for felony terroristic threatening in the second degree, to the fullest extent of the law, against anyone who makes such threats, including students. A student suspected of making terroristic threats will be removed from school pending the results of an investigation and appropriate disciplinary action (up to and including expulsion) will follow if warranted.

40 BOOKS CHALLENGE: As the school year begins, we once again have launched our 40 Books Challenge. This program encourages students to read for enjoyment and rewards them for meeting goals for independent reading. Our challenge is for our students to read at least 40 books during their four years at Assumption, with incentives awarded for meeting the yearly goal of 10 books and the ultimate goal of 40 books. Reading for pleasure is one important key to helping students unlock their academic potential.  You can encourage your daughter to spend some of her leisure time curled up with a book and work toward meeting her goal in this year’s 40 Books Challenge!

DUAL CREDIT COURSE REGISTRATION: Attention, parents of students enrolled in dual credit (DC) courses:  If your daughter is enrolled in DC English, she began her registration for this course through University of Louisville before school was out last spring or this week. Parents will be receiving an email from UL to confirm this enrollment that they must sign and return by next week.  All other students enrolled in dual credit classes will be enrolling in the next two weeks. Please check with your daughter about this process so she can tell you when to expect a parent email from the college/university partner of her DC course.  In September, your daughter will want to keep an eye out for an email from KHEAA to take advantage of the Dual Credit Scholarship, which pays for two classes for every student in the state of Kentucky for BOTH her junior and senior year. If the family does not sign up for the KHEAA account and request the scholarship, you will owe each university approximately $97 PER CREDIT HOUR for all courses.   Please refer to this document for all of the courses and the partner institutions. If you have questions regarding registration or paying for dual credit courses, Dean of Studies Judy Fieldhouse will be in the cafeteria on Mock Schedule Night to answer your questions. Please stop by and see her!

UPDATE: Mrs. Fieldhouse went into all DC Public Speaking classes this week and our UL liaison came during RTI on Friday to register students for DC English IV and DC The Teaching Profession.  If your daughter is in any of these classes, please ask her what email address she gave to JCTC and/or UL and please check that email address for a parent form that they need to submit to the college/university before the student can be fully registered.  All other DC classes will register next week.  Thank you for your attention to all matter DC related!

POWERSCHOOL GRADES: PowerSchool grades are available for your view via your PowerSchool account.  The following reminders are important to keep in mind:

PowerSchool grades are provided as our first line of communication to our families regarding your daughter’s progress, but it is important to keep in mind that no first semester grades are final until January 2026.

As indicated in the Student Family Handbook, if a student is absent or misses class due to retreat or any other school-related function, we use a PLACEHOLDER ZERO to help her remember to make up this work.  This PLACEHOLDER ZERO will be replaced with the actual grade once the student completes the makeup work and the teacher is able to enter it in PowerSchool.

Teachers are asked to have grades as up to date as possible by the 1st and the 15th of each month.

If you or your daughter have a question regarding a grade recorded in PowerSchool, please have your daughter reach out to the teacher with her question.  You are always welcome to follow up with the teacher as well.

GREEK ISLAND INTERNATIONAL TRIP: Now is the time to make Spring Break 2026 the BEST BREAK EVER by signing up to go on a GREEK ISLAND CRUISE!  This cruise is open to all current students and their families (although parents are not required).  A trip interest meeting will be held on Monday, September 8 at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria.  Please email Dr. Lisa Wieland at lisa.wieland@ahsrockets.org for more details.

Save the date! COLLEGE INFORMATION NIGHT FOR SENIOR PARENTS:  Kim Habich and Leigh Jackson, college counselors, have provided detailed information about the college application process to the class of 2026 via the College Workshop held on August 1 and the makeup date held on August 7.  To further assist senior parents and families with the college process, there will be a college information night on Thursday, September 4 at 6:30 p.m. in Assumption’s theater.  If you have any questions, please contact Kim Habich or Leigh Jackson.

JUNIOR ACTS: During the junior Catholic Social Teaching classes last week and this week, Katie Culver, the service-learning director, reviewed the Junior ACTS (A Christian Through Service) requirements. Each junior will need to complete 15 hours of service at one agency that serves a marginalized population or do service work around a particular justice issue. These hours are due the semester they are enrolled in Catholic Social Teaching, and this includes the completion of their Junior ACTS commitment form, which does need a signature from an adult from home. Students will need to track their hours in MobileServe as they have previously done. All of the details are found in the Junior ACTS syllabus which your daughter received last semester and is on Student SharePoint as well.  If you have any questions, please contact Katie Culver at katie.culver@ahsrockets.org or 502-271-2597

PSAT ON OCTOBER 8: To prepare our students for the wide variety of college admissions processes, Assumption High School strongly encourages all juniors to take the PSAT, which is offered during the school day on October 8. Taking both this exam and the ACT in the same month will allow your daughter to compare scores and determine whether signing up for an SAT outside of school is worth her time. The PSAT, when taken in the fall of the junior year, serves as the National Merit Scholar Qualifying Test. It can also be used as a qualifying score for the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program (GSP) and serves as a basis for several scholarship programs, including some which can be accessed through a parent’s employer.

All juniors will be automatically signed up to take the test. If you are the parent or guardian of a junior and would like for her to opt out of this test, please fill out this survey by Tuesday, September 9. Please note that she will be required to submit a form indicating how she plans to use her time that day (college visit, day of service, catch up on coursework) to her dean in order not to be considered absent on October 8. If you do not fill out the form by September 9, she will be signed up to take the test and expected to report to school on this day. Please direct questions regarding the PSAT to Colleen Murphy at colleen.murphy@ahsrockets.org.

PSAT ON OCTOBER 8: The PSAT will be offered at Assumption on October 8. We recommend that freshmen and sophomores who are likely to use a PSAT as a qualifying score for scholarships, programs, or awards take the exam. Freshmen and sophomores in the McAuley Honors Program will be registered for the PSAT automatically. If your daughter is a freshman or sophomore who is not currently a part of this program and you would like for her to take the PSAT, please fill out this survey no later than Tuesday, September 9.  We will be happy to add her to the group. Please direct questions regarding the PSAT to Colleen Murphy at colleen.murphy@ahsrockets.org.

FRESHMAN PARENT TECHNOLOGY ORIENTATION: At least one parent for each freshman needs to complete the required online technology orientation by Monday, September 2. This training is essential for supporting your daughter’s academic success through her technology. The training will walk you through the most frequently asked questions about her HP Elite laptop and what is expected of your daughter when using the technology. When logging in to view the training, please enter your daughter’s name as the nickname so we can accurately mark your completion. Access the training here.

MANDATORY FRESHMAN GUIDANCE PROGRAM: Freshman parents, please mark your calendars and plan to attend one of our mandatory Freshman Parent Drug/Alcohol Education Programs on Wednesday, September 3 at 6:30 p.m. in our Media Center OR Monday, September 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Media Center. You do not need to pre-register; just come on the night most convenient for your schedule. This is an important program designed to familiarize you with the school philosophy and policies in the area of drug and alcohol prevention. We know that what parents say and do makes a difference in the choices their daughters make. At this meeting, you will hear from Kamaria Wesley, dean of students, and a local therapist from Innerview who will present vital information about drug and alcohol prevention. It is a program that will be worth your time and attention. At least one parent or guardian is required to attend one of these meetings.   

FRESHMAN ACTS: This week, Katie Culver, service-learning director, visited all the freshman theology classes.  She spent time teaching the students about our legacy as a Mercy school and the goal of creating a servant’s heart in each of our students. Additionally, she informed the students of their Freshman ACTS (A Christian Through Service) service requirement. In addition, all students learned how to log and verify their service hours through the program MobileServe. All freshmen are required to complete five (5) hours of service before April 2, 2026.  All of this information and directions on how to use MobileServe can be found in the Campus Ministry tab in Student SharePoint. If you have any questions, please contact Katie Culver at katie.culver@ahsrockets.org or 502-271-2597.

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 7, at 2:00 p.m. at St. Raphael Catholic Church.  Please come even if your family isn’t Catholic.  Siblings are invited as well – 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.

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

Congratulations to:

The Soccer team for picking up wins over Collegiate, Mercy, and Notre Dame

The Volleyball team for kicking off the season with a win over Male

The Field Hockey team for beating North Oldham in the Apple Tournament

Next Week:

August 22-August 23

Varsity and JV Volleyball @ Knoxville Tournament

August 23- August 24

Varsity and JV Soccer @ Gatlinburg Tournament

Saturday, August 23

Golf @ Larue County Tournament 8:00 a.m.

Monday, August 25

Field Hockey Froshmore White vs SHA Blue @ North Oldham 5:30 p.m.

Field Hockey Froshmore White vs SHA Red @ North Oldham 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, August 26

Volleyball @ St. Henry. Freshman 5:30 p.m., JV 6:30 p.m., Varsity 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, August 27

Freshman Volleyball vs Mercy & Sacred Heart @ Sacred Heart 5:00 p.m.

Thursday, August 28

Golf Jefferson County Tournament @ Oxmoor CC 5:00 p.m.

Volleyball vs Providence (IN). Freshman 5:00 p.m., JV 6:00 p.m., Varsity 7:00 p.m.

Varsity Field Hockey vs Male 7:30pm

Saturday, August 30

Cross Country Tiger Run @ Champions Park 8:00 a.m.

Golf Gene Hilen Invitational @ Juniper Hills 9:00 a.m.

Soccer vs Manual. JV 9:30 a.m., Varsity 11:00 a.m.

Volleyball vs Cathedral (IN). Freshman 3:00 p.m., JV 4:00 p.m., Varsity 5:00 p.m.