Welcome Letter

Dear Berea High School Family:

I am grateful to all of you who support Berea High School. It is a pleasure to be the principal of such a great school. Our faculty, staff, students and community have demonstrated why Berea High School is such a special place. Each year we prove that we are one of the best kept secrets in Greenville County.

As you all know, it has been a difficult couple of months. We have put a lot of time and effort to ensure that we are providing an environment that is safe for our students to return. Our faculty and staff have been working hard to provide a quality education to our students. As you know with the hybrid schedule, students are required to do much of the work at home that would have been done in class. In addition to completing assignments in Google Classroom, students will be required to attend Google Meetings to discuss material and to get help from the teacher on assignments they are struggling with. This puts a lot of responsibility on the student to focus on and complete assignments designed to reinforce learning, and/or to complete new material so students are prepared to use the time in the classroom more efficiently.

How can the parent help? Parents should sign up for Parent Backpack. The link is on the district and school websites. Backpack will give timely updates on grades and attendance. Parents can follow up to make sure that students are actually completing assignments. Another thing parents can do is send teachers their email address and request that the parent be added to Google Classroom as the guardian. Google Classroom will then send parents weekly updates on student progress and allow the parent to see if their student is actually logging on to Google Classroom. No matter which format a parent decides to use, it is vital that parents are following up with their students to see what they have completed. One issue we had in the spring was that students would be on the Chromebook and tell the parent they were working and completing assignments, but that was not always the case. Verify what students are doing at home. Have them show you what they are doing and what they have completed. Teenagers are still teenagers, and they need to be taught to be responsible and to be self-starters. Left to their own devices, they are more likely to choose the easy path, which is not always the best path.

With your help and the tireless dedication of our faculty and staff, we will provide a bright and prosperous future for all of our students. We can do this and do so safely. Please continue to encourage your student and support their teachers, coaches, and staff members who are here to help you make your student productive citizens and pillars of our community, who strive to be excellent in everything they do. We hope you have a great year. Thank you for choosing to be a Berea Bulldog!

Sincerely,

Mike Noel, Principal