Dear PVHS Families,

With Homecoming 2019 behind us, I want to congratulate all of our fall athletes and teams for their dedication and hard work on the field/court. It was beautiful to see so many parents and alumni at the Homecoming game on Saturday night. Our community is incredibly supportive of our students.

Last week was also the midpoint of the first quarter. Please check the parent portal this Friday (10/11/19) for your child’s progress comments and updated grades. If your child is struggling in a course, please contact the teacher or your child’s guidance counselor for suggestions on how to improve your child’s academic performance.

Attendance letters will also be sent home this week for students who have missed at least six times or more for the first five weeks of school. Encouraging good attendance is one of the most powerful ways that you can help your child do well in school and prepare them for a successful future. If you are having difficulty getting your child to school in the morning, please reach out to your child’s guidance counselor for support.

We are very proud to be an IB World School that focuses on developing 21st-century learners who are inspired young leaders ready to contribute positively to our world. Our 2019-2020 IB Diploma Program Coordinators are Mr. Lathrop and Mr. DeGregorio. If you have questions about the IB program, please contact either Mr. Lathrop, Mr. DeGregorio or Mr. Mello, our Assistant Principal, and IB Administrator.

In addition to the implementation of the International Baccalaureate program, we are also promoting healthy social and emotional habits. Ms. Furlong is incorporating many of these skills into her lessons in 9th-grade Studio Art. She has been focusing on building student self-esteem, along with giving students strategies to strengthen their mental health. As a result, we hope this leads to greater emotional stability and less anxiety for each student. We will also be promoting these skills and attitudes during the 5th period academic study period for 9th and 10th graders with lessons by our counselors.

We are building upon the theme of improving student mental health with an Empowerment Week from October 15th through October 18th. “Empowerment” is our 2019-2020 school-wide theme for this year, where we teach students to embrace challenges and breakthrough individual hurdles and blocks. During Empowerment Week on October 15th and 16th, we will be holding a unique program for our 11th and 12th-grade students, “The Legends Program.” During each day, students will be broken up into workshops to learn about the building blocks of good mental health and why mental health matters. The workshop leaders are very eager and enthusiastic about presenting at our high school. We think it will be a great day of connectivity that will help students make good choices in the future about their mental health.

Our goal at PVHS is to help each child reach his/her potential in a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment that is free from worry.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Sincerely,

Dr. Sandra Intrieri