Current Events: Modified 10/09/2008 05:21 PM

San Diego 6 Morning Show at SRHS: Howdy Falcons! Did you miss the morning show with Ruben Galvan on San Diego 6 News?  No need to worry you can go on-line and see what you missed, see details below.

• 6:30 -- Drama class, with teacher Dennis Hollenbeck. (Video)
• 7:30 -- Language All-Stars: Japanese Language Teacher Alex Blackwelder will have his students give a lesson in Japanese. Other students from each of the other world languages taught at Scripps Ranch High, Spanish, French, and Filipino, will also be highlighted. (Video)
• 8:30 -- Construction Technology -- Not your father's wood shop, students learn about how to build, construction management, architecture and engineering. David Farnham is the teacher. (Video)

College Night Rescheduled: The Scripps Ranch High School counselors would like to to invite seniors and their parents to Senior College Night on Tuesday, October 14 at 6:30 pm in the school library. Please note this is a date change from the original date of October 9th. Everything you need to know about the college application process will be covered. We look forward to seeing you at Senior College Night on October 14th.

NEWS FLASH PSAT:   We have had to make some changes relative to the upcoming PSAT that was originally scheduled on Saturday, October 18th. Last Friday, we were informed the district is requiring all ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade students to take the exam on Wednesday, October 15th. There will be no charge for this exam however; we will need to create a testing schedule that will contribute to favorable test results.  Students who have already paid for their PSAT will be reimbursed via U.S. mail.

Senior Grad Night Tickets: 2009 Hollywood Grad Night will be an outstanding safe and fun overnight celebration for our graduates on June 15th at Dave & Busters. (Click Here) to download an order form. Ticket prices will increase $25 after 10/31/08, so buy now! Tickets will also be sold on campus during lunch hour from Monday, Oct. 27 thru Friday, Oct. 31.

Class Rings: Attention Juniors and Seniors, Jostens will be here during lunch outside the counseling office on Wednesday, October 8 to see the new and classic styles of class rings available for classes of 2009 and 2010. You can pick up a class ring packet. Jostens will be available on Monday, October 13, and Tuesday, October 14 at lunch to place your order.  A free Cap and Gown will be given for each ring order PLACED in the month of October.

Academic Performance Index: We are extremely proud of the information we just received from the 2008 Growth Academic Performance Index (API) Report. We have exceeded our growth target of 5 and our score improved from 785 to 820. This places us one of the top high schools in San Diego County and was accomplished because of the hard work and commitment from our students, staff members, parents, and community members.

Credit Recover Program:  The Credit Recovery Program is new to SHRS and provides instructional support and intervention for students at risk of dropping out of high school and/or failing to graduate with their class. Students currently enrolled in the Credit Recovery Program work independently in standards-based online instructional curriculum in math, science, English, social sciences, world languages, CAHSEE Prep and elective offerings. SRHS counselors decide who is qualified to enroll in the CRP. The Credit Recovery Lab is open Monday through Friday from 7:30-3:30 in Room 410. For further information, contact Marilyn Ortega at 858-621-9020 x 4410 or via e-mail at: mortega@sandi.net

Foundation Family Donation Drive: Pledge drive flyer -Thank you to those families who have already returned their donation to the SRHS Family Fund Drive. If you have not yet donated please consider returning your contribution by mail or by bringing it to Back to School Night. 100% of the funds raised by this fundraiser go directly into our children's education by providing the school with much needed items such as science supplies, sports equipment, Falcon Flyer (SRHS newspaper) funding and technology needs. Your donation of any amount will go a long way toward filling the gap caused by the $300,000 cut to the SRHS budget this school year.  If you have any questions and/or need a copy of the donation form please contact Kimberly Meyer (kmeyer@san.rr.com or Sue Pauley dpauley@san.rr.com) 

eScrip: Welcome new and returning parents of SRHS students.  Please take a minute to change your eScrip support to the SRHS Foundation. You can add/change your favorite grocery programs online. Just follow these easy instructions and SRHS can earn while you shop at Von’s, Ralphs and Albertsons.  For more information about this program and to get key SRHS numbers when you renew please visit our eScrip page.

Principal's Message: (September 15, 2008 @ 4:00 PM)

The first day of school always brings excitement to a high school campus and our opening was fantastic. Approximately 2,300 high school students arrived on the SRHS campus to pick up their class schedules, talk about their summer vacation, and renew old friendships. During the month of September most of my time was spent meeting and speaking with students during passing periods, in classrooms, during lunch, and at dismissal. My conversations with students has been meaningful and has given me a chance to learn more about their interests and also listen to their suggestions on how we can make SRHS even better.

We are very proud of our academic achievement, and throughout the years, have been recognized in several different areas. This year the tradition continues with the announcement of our just released Academic Performance Index (API) results. We exceeded our target API and had an increase of 35 points. Our new API is 820 and is the highest of all comprehensive high schools in the San Diego Unified School District.

When this announcement was made to our staff and students, the cheering could be heard throughout the campus. As we began to discuss contributing factor to our huge gain in test scores, staff members shared our students and staff members were very motivated to do well on their exams, our testing environment was conducive to test scores, our writing program improved scores in English, and parents encouraged their students to do well.

To continue with our quest to maintain an API over 800, we have formed our Instructional Leadership Team, which is made up of teachers and site administration. The group will meet on a regular basis with the purpose of supporting the instructional program through analyzing student data, looking at student work, observing teachers teach, and reviewing formative assessments.

We want to acknowledge our students who continue to excel academically. We have just been informed that 10 of our seniors are Semifinalists in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program and have the opportunity to continue in the National Merit Scholarship competition. Out of approximately 162,000 National Merit Program participants attending 1,700 schools, our students did an exemplary job.

On a selection index that ranged from 60 – 240, all 10 of our students scored in a very narrow band of 217 – 238. The two students that scored 238 were within a subgroup of 51 total students which places them at the 99th percentile of all students who were involved in the National Merit Scholarship competition. This is another impressive academic accomplishment from our students and demonstrates their commitment to academic and hard work.

Another hallmark of SRHS is the high level of involvement from our students in fall sports, band, cheerleading, AFJROTC, and various clubs. On any given day, we will have teams practicing or competing and we want to acknowledge their efforts and the hard work of our coaches and advisors. Additionally, parent support and booster clubs are essential to the success of all extra-curricular programs.

We are in the process of developing the Falcon Incentive Program (FIP), which is a program designed to acknowledge our students for their academic achievement, good attendance, and good citizenship. We have discussed incentives such as special assemblies, events, and rewards that will be scheduled throughout the school year. We are very optimistic this program will bring out the best in all our students.

Our community support continues to be excellent. Sudberry Properties Inc. will be launching a new development, The Watermark, located in Scripps Ranch on the southeast corner of Scripps Poway Parkway and I-15. On September 15th the Official Ground Breaking took place and showcased Scripps Ranch High School programs with cheerleaders, band members, athletes and faculty participation. Sudberry Properties presented a donation to the school during the ceremony.

In closing, we want to thank the SRHS Foundation for their unbelievable support. Our Foundation continues to provide support for our academic and extra curricular programs. Their contribution to our technology plan has been superlative. Supplying our teaching staff with document cameras and computers makes a big difference in our classrooms. Please consider joining this organization or making a contribution. We invite you to contact Chris Grint, Foundation President at chrisgrint@san.rr.com.

Regards, Kurt Madden, Principal