Academic Dean Blog

Catholic Identity at Father Ryan

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 16:36:12 EST

Dear Parents:

As you may know from our school calendar and other postings, we are having our dual SACS/SAIS Accreditation visit October 24-26th of this year. You all completed a survey in May of 2011 that we have used to assess areas in need of improvement. As part of the accreditation process for Catholic schools, we have elected to evaluate ourselves in terms of Catholic Identity. You will find here the Catholic Identity Standards and Indicators. We have responded to each one. I would like to invite you to read our responses and send me any feedback you have regarding them. Your input is invaluable to us!

Sincerely,

Sara Hayes

Attendance Policies

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:31:01 EST

Dear Parents:

As the start of the school year gets fully underway, I thought it would be helpful to address issues of attendance. As you would expect, we believe that the best thing a student can do ensure academic success is to attend classes and participate fully in them.

With a block schedule, attendance is even more significant, as classes are 90 minutes long. Absence can mean missing a substantial amount of direct instructional time, as well as a larger amount of work to be made up. We strongly encourage students to attend class if at all possible.

Having said that, we also don't want you to feel you must send your students to school if they are feverish or ill! It isn't good for them, and it spreads the illness. This is why we allow 5 absences per class per semester before a student has to begin making up academic time they have missed.

Students have to make up missed academic time because scheduled, supervised instruction in each course is a requirement (along with earning a passing grade and paying required tuition and fees) for a student to earn course credit. Should a student miss more than five sessions of any class in a semester, the student will not be eligible to earn credit for that course unless he/she spends an amount of time equal to all class time missed after five absences in structured, supervised instructional time or activities, as approved by the Academic Dean. This policy is aimed at ensuring that students experience the supervised instruction that the faculty of Father Ryan High School feels is crucial to the academic growth of each student.

Should a student miss more than the time allowed, we usually hold "Academic Make-up Time Saturdays" towards the end of each semester, when students can come and spend the missed time doing academic work. Having the student attend outside tutoring is another way to make up missed academic time, but the cost of this is born by the student.

If a student becomes seriously ill or requires surgery, we will work with the family on an individual basis to develop an academic plan separate from this policy.

In regard to students being tardy to class, I want to clarify the importance of this, as well.

ALL TARDIES, AFTER THE SECOND ONE IN ANY CLASS, COUNT TOWARD DETENTIONS, whether the student brings a note or parents call to excuse them (this does not include doctor's appointments, car breaking down, etc.)Tardies are counted toward detentions whether they are "excused" or "unexcused"An "excused" tardy, for example, might be a parent calling once to tell us the student overslept. In this instance, the student will be allowed to make up missed academic work.An "unexcused" tardy is one for which there is no reasonable accounting for the student's lateness, i.e., he/she should have been on time, but stopped to get a McMuffin and was late; she was putting on makeup in the bathroom and forgot the time; the student was just "hanging out" and didn't think coming to class on time was important. In these instances, the student will not be allowed to make up academic work missed during the period the student was out of class; zeroes will be given.

The only difference between "excused" and "unexcused" is whether the student can make up the work missed while he/she was out of class.Please keep in mind that a student who constantly oversleeps and/or repeatedly arrives late will not continue to be given "excused" tardies. At some point those will switch to "unexcused."

We are hoping to teach the students responsibility, and to support you, as parents, in what is the sometimes trying job of helping our wonderful young men and women grow into responsible adults!

We have just gone over all of this with your young men and women in student orientations, but we wanted to make sure you were aware of these policies, as well. They are not new policies; it just helps to periodically re-emphasize them.

Parent Feedback for New School Year

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:05:29 EST

Dear Parents:

Welcome to the start of another academic year! While the campus has been busy all summer with summer classes, sports team practices, Catholic Heart Work Week, summer camps and even the Titans, it just isn't the same until all the students return. We feel as if everything is a preparation for the arrival of our "kids"!

I hope this summer has afforded you and your family at least a little extra time to connect and have some down time together. It is a challenging time in our world and our nation, and family seems to be the place where things are most centered and have real purpose.

I wanted to enlist your assistance throughout the year on something. We have just passed the midpoint of our SAIS/SACS Accreditation cycle. I really want to solicit your opinions on varying subjects pertaining to the school throughout the year. Rather than send you a link to a large survey that would take a great deal of your time at one sitting, I would rather send, periodically, surveys on various topics that will be no more than ten questions. I promise you I will always keep it to no more than ten! I know you don't have a great deal of spare time, but we do want to hear from you as to ways we can improve the school spiritually, academically, athletically, artistically, etc. We seek your help and constructive comments as we move forward. Your viewpoint is invaluable to the future of Father Ryan High School.

I hope you will be willing to participate in these. They should take you no longer than 5-10 minutes at the most, and they will do a great deal of good.

Thank you for entrusting us with your children. We understand the obligation we have to love, teach and model the virtues with your children. Someone recently sent this prayer to me to give to friends who have their first baby. I thought I would share it with you:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this treasured child of mine. Although you have entrusted him/her to me, I know he belongs to you.

Help me as a parent, Lord, with my weaknesses and imperfections. Give me strength and wisdom to raise this child after your Holy Word. Please supply what I lack. Keep my child walking on the path that leads to eternal life. Help him to overcome the temptations in this world and the sin that would so easily entangle him.

Dear Lord, send your Holy Spirit daily to lead and guide him. Ever assist him to grow in wisdom and stature, in grace and knowledge, in kindness, compassion and love. May he serve you faithfully with his whole heart. May he discover the joy of your presence through daily relationship with your Son, Jesus.

Help me never to hold on too tightly to this child, nor neglect my responsibilities before you as a parent. Lord, let me raise this child for the glory of your name.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

(Prayer by Mary Fairchild)

May we support one another in guiding our young men and women this year.

God bless,

Sara Hayes
Academic Dean

The School Calendar

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:11:24 EST

Dear Parents:

The Diocesan Schools' Office has asked us to participate in a survey regarding the diocesan school calendar. The results will be used to plan future calendars.

I thought it might be helpful to you to explain the reasoning that goes into the planning of both Father Ryan and John Paul II's calendars (ours are virtually synonymous) as you take this survey.

As you know, if you have students in the parochial elementary schools, the diocesan school calendar tries to coordinate the major events throughout the school year: Christmas Break, Mid-Winter Break, Diocesan Professional Development, Spring Break, Easter Holy Days, etc. However, even among the elementary schools there are discrepancies as to which schools attend school on Holy Days, and which do not; which schools run according to the counties in which they are located, and those who do not.

The high schools look at things with one end in mind: how do we achieve the most balanced semesters in terms of instructional time so that students receive the very best education. To this end, we consider these things (most of which the elementary schools do not need to consider, nor should they):

Balanced semesters. A school year consists of 180 days. Ideally, that should mean 90 days of instruction per semester at the secondary level. This is important because, unlike the elementary schools, our students take semester courses. Without a balance of days, for example, one Introduction to Government class in the fall could end up 10-12 days shorter than the exact same class offered in the spring.
We feel it is imperative that students take their semester exams before the Christmas Holidays. A two-week holiday with no classroom instruction does not create the optimal conditions for exam success. For this reason, as well as the issue outlined in #1, we start the school year earlier than the elementary schools.
Our students take College Board Advanced Placement exams. We offer over 20 courses at this level, meaning we have numerous students taking these important national exams. These occur during the first two weeks of May. Our goal is to make sure that our students receive as much instruction before these exams as is possible. This is another reason why we begin the year a bit earlier; we are wrapping up the academic year as these exams begin, rather than having 3-4 weeks of instruction after the exams.
Two years ago we extended the original two-day Fall-Break to one week. This week occurs right at the end of the first quarter, allowing a break before the second quarter begins. By doing this, we created a "break" between every quarter in the year: Fall Break after first quarter; Christmas Break after second; Spring Break after (or close to) third. It provides a nice opportunity for students and teachers to take a breath, organize for the subsequent quarter, and prepare necessary materials. It provides a clear break for students to start fresh each quarter. In addition, while this was not the reason we extended Fall Break, it did have an influence: some of our families were taking students out of school in the fall for vacation, because the rates everywhere were more affordable, and it was the time the parents could get away from their jobs. Student absences due to vacations have dropped considerably since the Fall Break was extended.

I hope this helps explain some of the reasoning that goes into the formulation of the school calendar!

Would you mind going to the diocesan link and taking the survey? Your feedback would be most helpful and appreciated. Here is the link:

http://www.dioceseofnashville.com/surveyopenclose2010.htm

The survey will only take a few minutes to complete. The link will remain active until the end of business day on Friday, December 10, 2010 so please complete it before then.

Thank you,

Sara Hayes

Attending School

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:54:54 EST

Dear Parents:

I want to address the importance of school attendance, as well as clarify Father Ryan's attendance rules.

Regular school attendance establishes patterns of behavior, responsibility, and commitment that will extend into the students' adult lives. Students need to understand that failure to attend school jeopardizes the credits they should earn, and potentially will impact college acceptances. In addition, when they miss school, they miss important class instruction that is almost impossible to make up; practical skills taught in the classroom are also missed.

For Father Ryan to be able to award academic credit for a course, three criteria MUST be met:

1) The student must participate in scheduled, supervised instruction in each course, with no more than 5 absences in one semester;

2) The student must earn a passing grade (70) or better;

3) The student's tuition and fee obligations must be met.

Sometimes parents think that as long as the absence is excused, it doesn't count toward the student's totals in regards to the attendance policy. This is not the case. (For clarification, if a student's absence is not excused, the student receives a zero for all work done that day, and there may be disciplinary consequences, as well. An excused absence allows the student to make up missed work.) Attendance is the issue; the reason for the absence is not when it comes to total absences. A student may miss 7-8 class periods due to surgery or a lengthy illness; these may be excused by doctors' notes. Nonetheless, if the student exceeds the total indicated in #1 above, he/she must make up the instructional time in order to earn academic credit. This is not just a matter of attendance at Father Ryan; it is also our desire to be in compliance with the State of Tennessee's Compulsory School Attendance laws.

Should a student miss more than five sessions of any class in a semester, the student will not be eligible to earn credit for that course unless he/she spends an amount of time equal to all class time missed after five absences in structured, supervised instructional time or activities, as approved by the Academic Dean. Please note that this course attendance policy applies to all absences except those required of a student by another credit-bearing course (e.g., a class field trip). This policy is aimed at ensuring that students experience the supervised instruction that the faculty of Father Ryan High School feels is crucial to the academic growth of each student. This is not a matter of discipline; it is an issue of the school's approach to teaching and learning.

Typical methods of making up instructional time include, but are not limited to, the following: structured, supervised instructional time at school outside of school hours, professional tutoring (approved by the Academic Dean), summer school, etc. Costs related to the compensation for missed class sessions will be borne by the student and/or parent/guardian.

I hope this clarifies the "what" and "why" of our attendance policies. If not, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Sara Hayes

How We Dress . . . Who We Are

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:33:31 EST

Dear Parents:

I'd like to broach with you the issue of dress. We need your assistance as parents on an issue that is not easy in today's social environment.

Chaperoning a dance can be a challenge, but thankfully, we have wonderful young men and women who are very cooperative at our dances. We have numerous administrative, faculty, and staff chaperones to help our young men and women make good choices regarding dance behavior.

One issue, however, that is a difficulty for us is the matter of dress – specifically, the dress of our female students at these dances. We have sympathy for you, as parents, in helping your young women choose appropriate dresses to wear to formal and semi-formal events. We've visited the popular stores where our young ladies like to shop, and we have seen the dresses that are offered to them. They are often skimpy in coverage, too clingy to the body, and leave very little to the imagination. You have difficult choices, and we don't envy the role you must play as you work through these issues with your daughters.

As a Catholic school, we teach a theology of the body that focuses on respect for the human body, made in the image and likeness of God. Pope John Paul II, in his document The Theology of the Body, expressed these thoughts:

In a world which so often portrays the body as an object for one's pleasure or as a machine which doesn't have much to do with our spiritual side, John Paul II again seeks to present the truth as it is found in Scripture.

The body is not some little "add-on" to creation. Rather it is a vital part of who we are as human persons. Why? Because the physical body reveals the spiritual part of the person. (From Northrop, Anastasia M. John Paul II's Theology of the Body)

We want our young men and women to have a wonderful time at our school events. While the concern with some of the dresses worn by our female students at dances is not new, our most recent Homecoming Dance brought this to our minds with new focus. This problem was evident both in our own female students and in our many female guests from other area schools who were dates for our young men. Some skirts were so short that students could not lift their arms without revealing undergarments; some were so tight as to restrict movement; others were so low-cut in the front that nothing was left to the imagination. It is hard to enforce an atmosphere of trust, respect for the body, and mutual esteem when students are dressed in this manner.

This puts us in a difficult position as chaperones. We have no wish to embarrass any student, but we also do not wish to convey the message to our other students that dressing in such a way is appropriate. The large majority of our young ladies were dressed appropriately, and we are appreciative of this.

We know this is a challenge for you, as parents. However, if you can lend us a hand in reminding our young ladies that the school expects them to dress modestly and in a way that shows self-respect, that would be helpful to us. We know they push to wear things that are the most current trends; we push back to remind them that they are made in God's image and likeness. We want them to be proud, self-respecting women, who are proud of themselves for who they are, for their achievements – and not just because of how they look when dressed in fashion trends that may be inappropriate.

I welcome your feedback.

Thank you,

Sara Hayes

It's Not All About the Test...But the Test Is Still Important

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:05:44 EST

Dear Parents:

As you know from our school calendar, Wednesday, October 13th is national PSAT Testing Day. Juniors take the PSAT for primarily two reasons: 1) to determine strengths and weaknesses in the areas of critical reading, math, and writing; and 2) to take part in the competition for scholarships from the National Scholarship Merit Corporation (NSMC). The PSAT also gives students a sense of how they will do on the SAT.

For sophomores and freshmen, taking the PSAT is an opportunity to practice; they are allowed to take it before they are at the grade level (junior) where the scores can qualify them for consideration for scholarships. It also enables them to see areas where their basic skills may be lacking so they can improve these before the junior year.

Mr. Spore and the English teachers have been going over the PSAT and sample questions, format, etc. However, below is a way for you and your student to go online and practice taking the test prior to October 13th. It is a great means by which students can get over any anxiety, as well as learn why their answers may be incorrect:

#On the menu on the left hand side click on "Preparing."

In the middle of the section under Preparing you will see "Critical Reading", followed by "Sentence Completion" (right underneath).

Click on "Practice now".

The new page gives some hints and then the student clicks on the numbers to get to the actual questions.

The student answers each question mentally, then click on "view answer." Repeat.

When your student has gone through all seven practice areas, he/she is ready to use the 2010 full-length Practice PSAT Test found in the booklet he/she has (these were given to them in English class).

Mark the answers in the booklet (pages 3 / 4). It would be a good idea to have your student do at least the first ten questions in each section, more if you can.

As he/she concludes each section, the student can click on "2010 practice test explanations." This gives the correct answer to each question and explains why it is correct; it also explains why incorrect answers are incorrect.

Questions within a set go from the easiest to the hardest, and so should you. Guess when you can eliminate at least one choice. Don't lose points to carelessness.

To help you and your student prepare for this important day, I am including below some helpful information from PSAT Test Taking Tips and Advice from Peterson's College Search. This section speaks directly to the student:

What Should Students Bring the Day of the PSAT?

Student ID

About 5 Number 2 Pencils

Calculator

The student should relax the evening before the PSAT. Before going to bed, he/she should check through the list of things needed for the test. They should make sure the calculator has fresh batteries, eat a breakfast high in protein (brain food) even if he/she normally doesn't, and head for school.

How is the PSAT Scored?

A student receives one point for each correct answer and loses 1/4 of a point for each incorrect answer.

When you get your score multiply it by 1O and you have a projected SAT score.

The Critical Reading Sections of the PSAT

The PSAT's Critical Reading sections include reading comprehension questions about full-length and paragraph-length passages. They also include exercises that ask the student to complete a series of sentences.

Sentence Completion: 13 questions

Passage-based reading: 35 questions

Two 25-minute sections

Total time: 50 minutes

Sentence Completion exercises test both vocabulary and reasoning skills. As you scan each sentence, you can try to predict what word would most appropriately fill each blank. You may find that you can guess what word should fill one, but not all, blanks in a sentence. Don't panic. Here's a chance to use your reasoning skills. Look at the answer choices and see if one features a word similar to that you guessed. Then eliminate the selections that do not fit your prediction.

The secret to most reading comprehension exercises is to grasp the main ideas and themes. Don't get bogged down by trying to remember every detail as you read. You can look these up later, if needed. Scan the text thoroughly enough to get the big picture. Then address the questions that refer to a specific passage. If you have time, you can then return to the harder questions.

The Writing Section of the PSAT

The PSAT Writing section includes multiple-choice questions covering the fundamentals of grammar, usage, word choice, and organization.

Identifying sentence errors: 14 questions

Improving sentences: 20 questions

Improving paragraphs: 5 questions

One 30-minute section

The great thing about multiple-choice questions, whether they focus on writing or math, is that they give you the answer. Your job is simply to recognize it. In the writing portion, you'll be tested on your knowledge of grammatical rules and sentence structure. Generally, the object of your search is clarity, so the simplest answer is usually the best. If a response seems awkward or overly complex, it is likely to be incorrect.

The Math Section of the PSAT

The Math sections of the PSAT include multiple-choice questions and grid-in (calculation) questions. Topics include numbers and operations; algebra and functions; geometry and measurement; and statistics, probability, and data analysis.

Multiple-choice: 28 questions

Grid-ins: 10 questions

Two 25-minute sections

Total time: 50 minutes

As for the math questions, you can greatly improve your chances of a correct response by first eliminating the outlier—the one response that bears little resemblance to the others. You'll be given reference formulas and facts, but you'll need to know how to use them. You're allowed to use a calculator, but, again, it won't help you unless you know how to approach the problems. If you get stuck, substitute numbers from the answer choices as your variables. Start with the middle number—if it doesn't work, you'll know whether to choose a higher or lower number.

An educated guess always beats a blind stab, so try and reason your choices down to two before taking a guess. In doing so, you'll greatly improve your chances of success. Remember that the PSAT only penalizes you for wrong answers in the multiple-choice and fill-in sections, not in the math grid-ins.

The math questions require you to calculate your response and place it into a grid. Remember that the grid does not contain a minus sign, so an answer can't be a negative number. There is no penalty for incorrect responses here, so go ahead and make your best guess. You can't grid mixed numbers, so if you get a mixed number as an answer, you'll have to convert it to an improper fraction or a decimal.

I know this is a great deal of information! Hopefully you and your student will be able to take some time over the Fall Break to read over this together and talk about it, as well as taking the practice test online.

Good luck, and God bless,

Sara Hayes
Academic Dean

It's Everybody's Business

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:14:15 EST

Last year, Father Ryan finalized its Strategic Plan for the next few years. An exciting document and proposal, it focuses on bringing Father Ryan, an already excellent school, to a level of quality that will set a new standard for Catholic education. While that sounds like a boast, in reality it is a confirmation of the goal of Father Ryan every day: to bring such a level of excellence to the educational experience of each student that he/she will receive an education at the highest standard.

As part of the strategic planning process, we are evaluating our academic programs, recognizing what we do well and investigating improvements. As part of our SAIS/SACS accreditation surveys, we asked our most recent alumni if there was any way Father Ryan might have better prepared them for the college. Amidst the complimentary returns was expressed the desire that we had a business curriculum, or at least some business courses, to better prepare them for this major in college.

Pursuant to that request, I would like to ask for some feedback from you, our parents. Currently we have an active computer education department that teaches several of the standard courses offered in other secondary business departments. We also offer a fine economics course; however, we do not offer business staples such as accounting, finance, banking, entrepreneurship, business law, ethics, etc.

I would like to ask for your feedback in regard to this issue. It will help us as we move forward with our strategic plan for the welfare of our students. In your reply, can you answer these questions?

1) Do you think a business program (or at least some integral business courses) is essential to a secondary education? In surveying local and regional schools, some have no business offerings at all – not even economics and technology – while others do. I’d like feedback from those of you in the business field.

2) From your experience, what courses do you see as vital to a young woman or man preparing to pursue a business major in college, as well as a business career?

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Sara Hayes

Academic Dean