Friday, January 15, 2021

Dear Parents/Guardians,

It was so good to return to our hybrid schedule this week and to have students back on campus.  We were especially excited to celebrate the seniors with a special second semester opening activity as they have reached THEIR year – 2021!

COVID NUMBERS: As we did last semester, Assumption will report our number of COVID positive cases and quarantines for any individuals associated with our school on a weekly basis in the Rocket Report.  As of yesterday, Assumption’s COVID-19 numbers for this week are: (1/8, 1/11, 1/12, 1/13 and 1/14)

  • 3 new positive COVID-19 cases (students)
  • 3 new quarantine cases (students)
  • 5 total positive COVID-19 cases as reported to our local department of health as of January 5, the start of this semester (5 students)   

It’s important to note that there have been no known transmissions of COVID here at AHS. As a reminder to our parents, Assumption is required to report positive cases and quarantines of all individuals associated with our school to the State of Kentucky, our local health department as well as the Archdiocese of Louisville.   

LIMITING SOCIALIZATION: As you know, Assumption has worked diligently to minimize the risk of spreading the virus here on our campus. We have developed and implemented numerous health and safety policies and procedures as well as building modifications to combat the spread of the disease. However, we cannot control what goes on outside of school.  We have heard that some of our students are gathering in large groups on the weekends. Participating in activities like this where health and safety protocols are not followed greatly puts our students, faculty, staff, and families at risk. 

We want to again reinforce that parents limit their daughter’s socialization outside of school.  In the majority of our positive cases, the transmission occurred through a social activity where health and safety precautions were not practiced. Although we have been fortunate that our current protocols and hybrid model appear to have prevented spread of COVID-19 within our building, individual cases do impact others in our community, including requiring others in the building to quarantine as a result of exposure.  We are asking parents and students to continue to do their part. Talk to your daughter about the importance of maintaining good hygiene, wearing a mask, and practicing physical distancing wherever she goes.  Most importantly, we must emphasize how important it is that each family limit students socializing outside of school.  

As always, thank you for your support and commitment to the safety of our entire community.    

CALENDAR NOTES: 

  • DAILY SCHEDULE:  Next week, we will not have a LEAD & Learn Wednesday due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday. We will follow this schedule:
    • Monday, January 18 – NO SCHOOL – Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
    • Tuesday, January 19 – Day 1: In-Person – Maroon Cohort, Virtual at Home – Blue Cohort
    • Wednesday, January 20 – Day 2:  In-Person – Maroon Cohort, Virtual at Home – Blue Cohort
    • Thursday, January 21 – Day 3: In-Person – Blue Cohort, Virtual at Home – Maroon Cohort
    • Friday, January 22 – Day 4:  In-Person – Blue Cohort, Virtual at Home – Maroon Cohort

CAMPUS MINISTRY:

2020-2021 REGISTRATION – Save the dates!

  • CURRENT FRESHMAN PARENT REGISTRATION INFORMATION NIGHT: Attention, all freshman parents–on Wednesday, February 3, at 6:30 p.m. dean of studies Theresa Schuhmann will provide information about the registration and course selection process for all freshman parents via a Zoom meeting. We highly recommend that you take advantage of this important informational session in order to assist your daughters in planning their course of study for their sophomore year.
  • 2021-2022 COURSE SELECTIONS: This week during class meetings, freshmen, sophomores, and juniors received guidance on beginning the course selection process for the 2021-2022 school year.  Please ask them some of what they learned about the importance of taking full advantage of time and resources over the next month to make thoughtful and effective decisions to help them achieve their academic goals.  As we move into February, we will be communicating information about specific dates and deadlines related to the registration process so that you can support your daughter through this decision-making process.
  • FINANCIAL AID FORM: The financial aid link for 2021-2022 has been added to the school’s website. The due date is February 28 and the form must be submitted online to FACTS Grant and Aid Assessment.  FINANCIAL AID APPLICATION LINK.  As a reminder, you are required to file every year to receive assistance.

TESTING RESULTS: Our Blue cohort students received paper copies of their PreACT and PSAT scores in homeroom today.  Please ask her to show them to you.  Your daughter also received her test booklet back as well and was encouraged during the class meeting to complete individual error analysis activities which are shown by research to be the best way to improve standardized test scores.  Maroon cohort students will receive their scores in homeroom next week and Pink cohort students can come to campus to pick up their paper copies or request that their scores be scanned to them.  Copies of the test booklets will be uploaded to Student SharePoint for their convenience. If a virtual student would like to request her test scores be scanned to her, she can email Kim.Steinke@ahsrockets.org.  Students can also access their PSAT scores online at the College Board website that is FULL of standardized test practice and information:  https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/scores. Also, for the fifth consecutive year, our juniors will have to opportunity to take a National ACT during the school day on April 13. Standardized testing goal setting and error analysis combined with discussion of course selection for next year is an example how your daughter’s team of professionals works together to help her reach her goals.  Please encourage her to visit her guidance counselor, college counselor, and/or academic dean with any questions or concerns.

HOMEROOM ATTENDANCE UPDATE FOR PINK COHORT/ALL VIRTUAL STUDENTS: Since we have been meeting in homerooms regularly now on LEAD and Learn days, starting next week, students in the Pink Cohort are no longer required to log in to homeroom via Teams on days 1 and 4. Their homeroom teachers will continue to start Teams meetings and all students who are learning virtually on that day are always welcome to join those attending in-person for homeroom and lunch bonding time.

REMINDER ABOUT LEAD AND LEARN DAYS: Our non-class days on Wednesdays are not days off from school like they might be in some other schools. Our LEAD and Learn Days do count as full days of school, and students are expected to be present/available virtually from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. All students are required to attend, via Teams, their homeroom meetings where attendance for the day is taken as well as all class meetings and other scheduled activities​. We are working hard to use our LEAD and Learn Days to provide your daughter with valuable, timely, and purposeful activities, so her attendance and participation matter.  If you schedule an appointment during school hours for you daughter on a LEAD and Learn Day, please contact the Attendance Office (attendance@ahsrockets.org) to request an excused absence.

LEAD & LEARN WEDNESDAY UPDATE:  This week’s LEAD & Learn Wednesday provided opportunity for a great deal of productivity and future planning for students, faculty and staff! Students enrolled in second semester dual credit classes met via Teams with Mrs. Fieldhouse about the registration process for these courses. After meeting for an opportunity to check-in with their entire homeroom after the Christmas break, students had independent learning time while the faculty and staff meet for professional development in preparation for our accreditation visit in March.  After lunch, freshmen, sophomores, and juniors met in class meetings to receive information about standardized test scores from the fall, to learn more about skills to facilitate challenging conversations that we all have from time to time, and received information to help them begin thinking about the registration process for the 2021-2022 school year. Seniors opened the semester with a special Class of 2021 activity during which they reflected upon how they want to make the most of this final semester of their high school career. In addition, throughout the day, freshmen met with their Heart to Heart groups and senior retreat leaders, sophomores provided virtual ACTS service to Semple Elementary, and our juniors celebrated the winners of their annual Team 22 Pet Photo Contest.  Our elected student leaders wrapped up the day engaged in our annual winter student leadership workshop via Teams to prepare for second semester.   

ACTS UPDATE – Parents of Sophomores:  We have been piloting a Covid-safe approach to our sophomore ACTS experience through virtual tutoring with Semple Elementary on Wednesdays from 1-2 via Teams using an online program called BookNook. In order for us to maintain tutoring as consistently as possible for Semple Elementary and to provide as rich of an ACTS experience as possible for our students, sophomores will be missing some minimal class time on either January 20 or February 10 since those are Wednesdays that aren’t LEAD & Learn days due to four-day weeks. Half of the class will be tutoring on January 20 (Day 2) and half will tutor on February 10 (Day 3). This will require our sophomores to miss part of third and fourth block classes on those days. Traditionally, students would miss all four of their Wednesday classes to attend their ACTS service in the community for 10 weeks in the spring; however, as we are completing service virtually, students benefit from a service experience with only this minimal loss of time in class. We appreciate your support and prayers as our Sophomores complete their Sophomore ACTS experience!

CLASS OF 2021 INFORMATION – Senior Parents:

  • SENIOR RETREAT: We are excited to offer a senior retreat experience for the Class of 2021.  Your daughters have been emailed a registration form in which they were invited to rank their date choices. Please encourage them to fill this out by TODAY Friday, January 15. Please contact Julia Scudder at Julia.scudder@ahsrockets.org if you have any questions regarding retreat.
  • GRADUATION ANNOUNCEMENTS: Balfour packets were handed out to seniors this week in homeroom regarding graduation announcements and other 2021 graduation items.  If your daughter is in the Pink Cohort she will need to pick up that packet at school.  An email was sent to the senior class on Monday with information about picking up packets in the main office if in the Pink Cohort.  Please be sure to check with your daughter about the information she received during homeroom.  All orders need to be ordered online or taken directly to Balfour by February 1.  Orders can be placed online at www.kyanabalfour.com or contact them at (502)499-7100.Orders will be delivered to AHS around the first week of April.
  • GRADUATION AND SENIOR EVENTS: We have traditionally held graduation at Bellarmine University.Due to renovation plans at Bellarmine University, we will not be able to hold our Class of 2021 graduation in their gym this year.  We have secured Broadbent Arena at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center for Saturday, May 15 at 11:00 a.m.  Of course, our ability to host graduation at Broadbent depends upon the course of the pandemic.  Our senior events planning committee is currently meeting to discuss graduation and all other senior events this semester.  Our hope is that we can honor this senior class by hosting our senior events in-person in some fashion. We will continue to inform you as our plans develop.

LUNCH UPDATE FROM FLIK:  Please remind your daughter to pre-order her lunch for next week if she plans to have FLIK provide her lunch on her hybrid in-person days. Lunch orders must be submitted by 8:30 a.m. the morning of but can be ordered a week in advance through this link: www.flikisdining.com.  Your daughter will receive an email confirmation when the order is placed. If she does not receive a confirmation email, the order was not received by FLIK. For full information about the lunch ordering process, please click on this link: INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACCESSING LUNCH MENU AND ORDERING

  • MAIN ENTRÉE LUNCH MENU OPTIONS for January 19-22:  Chicken Fried Rice, Vegetable Egg Roll, Steamed Corn, Grilled American Cheese on Texas Toast, Cream of Tomato Soup.
  • NEW LUNCH CART SERVICE: Starting Monday, January 18, FLIK will be offering a cart service in addition to their regular lunch service. With the addition of the cart service, students will have the ability to make an immediate purchase. The cart will be stocked with chips, drinks cookies and a limited number of premade turkey sandwiches. Purchases will be recorded at the time of the sale and a student’s FLIK account will be charged at the end of the day.  This might be a good time to check your daughter’s FLIK lunch account balance, to be sure she has funds available on her account.  We hope that this cart service will provide another means for students to enjoy lunch while here at school.  If you have any questions about FLIK or FLIK lunches, please contact Chef Esau Milenthal at Esau.Milenthal@compass-usa.com.

UPCOMING CLUB OPPORTUNITIES:  Be sure to ask you daughter to take some time to check out the upcoming club meetings that will continue to be posted regularly on the website calendar linked here:  https://www.ahsrockets.org/events/event/

ASSUMPTION PARENT ORGANIZATION (APO) NEWS: Rocket Spectacular Virtual Benefit Auction:  The Countdown to Rocket Spectacular is on!  Everyone is invited to participate in our VIRTUAL event this year on Saturday, January 30 at 7:30 pm.  Please mark your calendar and plan to join us for our program, silent auction, and more!  We will email more details closer to the event.  Rocket Raffle tickets are still available and the $20,000 winner will be drawn the night of the event. We encourage students to try to sell as many online as possible.  https://one.bidpal.net/assumptionrocketspectacular. If you have any questions, please contact tricia.ferree@ahsrockets.org. As a reminder, the final deadline for ticket sales: January 12, Maroon Cohort, and January 15, Blue Cohort. 

Gratefully,

Martha Tedesco

Principal