December 7, 2012
Cabot School exhibitions are for everyone. Exhibitions demonstrate student learning and will give you first-hand evidence of student engagement and depth of understanding. Next week, elementary music students will present, "The Joy of Music: A Creative Community Workshop.” This exhibition will focus on three themes: ensemble, communication, and creativity and will model meaningful project and process-based learning in the arts. This is our first all-elementary arts exhibition in a few years and everyone is encouraged to attend on Wednesday, December 12 at 6:00 PM in CSPAC.
The very next evening, another exhibition is on the calendar and you won’t want to miss this one,either. Beyond the Witch Hunt: Opposing Injustice features the ninth and tenth grade American Studies examination of the Salem witch trials and more contemporary examples of injustice including The McCarthy Hearings and the Internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. This is project-based learning in action so you’ll want to attend to see Cabot’s twenty-first century approach to learning on Thursday, December 13 at 6:00 PM in the Cabot School Library.
We are worried about the large number of days that some students are absent from school. The Washington County Attendance/Truancy Protocol included in the School-Family Handbook says, “Staying in school is the first step to a good education. Students cannot learn if they are not in school. Absences from school for any reason (illness, vacation, religious holidays, family deaths and other) affect a student’s ability to learn and succeed. Truancy is inappropriate absence from school, which is defined as unexcused or insufficient excuse for absence.” The Washington County protocol directs schools to notify parents and ultimately DCF and the State’s Attorney as unexcused absences accrue. We have had no need to do this at Cabot School as families tell us why their child is absent from school and it would feel presumptuous for us to judge whether the excuse was sufficient or not. The problem remains, however, that some students are absent from school frequently, accruing many days of missed classes. This interferes with learning at every grade level and we see the damaging effects. We are considering mailing letter to families when their child has been absent 5, 10 and 15 days in a semester, not as a truancy notice, but as a reminder to parents that absences are building up and that children should be sent to school everyday unless they are ill. We’d like to have some upfront communication with families about this proposal. Email Karen with your thoughts.
Comments are closed.