January 13, 2025

Happy New Year and welcome to Spring Semester, which began today. 

We've had a great deal of success (and fun!) registering students for this spring's YES Program over the last couple weeks. At this point, the vast majority of students have registered, and we are now following up with all students who have not. If you haven't yet, check in with your student about which offerings they've selected! And if your child, or you, are wondering when YES placements will be announced, we encourage your patience: we plan to post course assignments just prior to the start of Spring Break in April.

One other item to let you know about (this info has already been shared with students): Prior to the start of second semester, we made a change to how we assign grade level reporting in Powerschool, which became effective last week. This change affects around 10% of students, but we want to make sure all families are also aware. For the last few years, we've entered the grade level that matches how many credits each student has earned (rather than one that matches how many years they've been at BHS). For most students, they're the same thing. But for students who are behind on credits, the grade level does not match how many years they've been in school (a 3rd year student, for example, may still be listed as a 9th grader). The goal of this approach was to make sure every student and family was crystal clear on whether they were on track to graduate. While that was a great goal, it had a lot of other unintended consequences for students and some of our systems (like the color of ID cards, yearbook photos, advisory assignments, and much more). For some students, that has felt really embarrassing or shaming, which was not the intent. 

To correct this, we have now changed the grade level in Powerschool to match the number of years in high school, regardless of credits earned.  However, it's important to understand that credits earned still determine graduation eligibility. That has not changed. For example, if your student's grade level changed to 12 last week, but they do not have the number of credits to match, then they still are not eligible to graduate this Spring with other 12th graders. So it matters that students and your family also pay close attention to how many credits have been earned, which can be found in the Powerschool portal. Students whose grade level have changed who want an updated school ID should see Ms. Camp in the Main Office and she will be happy to create a new ID card for them.

Please check out the rest of this issue for updates on upcoming events, information about National Honor Society, afterschool programming, and SAT registration, some changes in our cafeteria and more!

With appreciation,

Sabrina Westdijk

BHS Principal