Attached please find an invitation to attend a fundraising gala at Salve Regina on March 11th.

Work on the gym is moving along very nicely. We are looking forward to the delivery of steel next week during vacation. When students return they will see the beginnings of a new skyline for our campus.

The fundraising effort is being done to raise enough money to completely finish the locker rooms and entrance for opening day of the 2006-2007 school year.

Bob Littlefield Principal

I am sure many of you have heard horror stories about the temperatures in the building this week.

Yes, the building has been abnormally cold.

Normally, everyone should expect the building to be less warm when re re-enter on Monday mornings. We turn the heat down over the weekend and turn it back up around 5:30 AM when the custodial staff arrives. Usually by 9:00 AM the building is warmed up.

This week we kept expecting the warm up but it didn’t quite happen. I toured the building this morning with Richard Almasian, director of buildings and grounds, and discovered some technical problems that were easily remedied. We think we have dramatically improved the situation.

In short, the problems were technical. Much of our building is forty years old. We found stuck valves, blower motors that had been turned off, etc. They have been taken care of and the place is much more comfortable this afternoon.

Everyone must be aware, however, that we are experiencing tough financial times. We are exploring ways to reduce our heating costs this year as I’m sure many families are attempting as well. That does not mean we are not heating the buildings. It means we are trying to be smarter about it.

There is a bright side: Remember back in September I wrote to you asking for help by encouraging our young women to dress more conservatively? That problem seems to have taken care of itself this week.

Bob Littlefield

Principal

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ATTENTION SENIORS AND THEIR PARENTS

This will serve as a reminder that any college applications with a January 1st deadline, must be received in guidance by next Monday, December 12th! Please keep in mind that the Guidance Office is closed over the Holiday vacation (December 23 - January 2). A two week period is required to process a complete application which includes: letters of recommendation, counselor's report, transcript, report card and secondary school report form. If you have questions, call guidance at 683-2139.

URI Centennial Applications should be mailed by this Friday, December 9th to assure delivery by the December 14th deadline.

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Also, everyone is invited to the PHS Drama Club’s first production of the season. They will be performing Anton Chekhov’s, The Seagull. On Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 7 PM. Please help support the arts and make it a point to check out one of the performances.

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Please find attached a letter from Chartwell’s Food Service describing the procedure for pre-paying for student lunches.

Bob Littlefield, Principal

ATTENTION - PARENTS OF JUNIORS AND SENIORS

The Guidance Department reminds you that on Wednesday of this week, November 30th, we will host our Financial Aid program at 7:00 PM in the cafeteria. David DeBlois, Director of the College Planning Center, will be the featured speaker of the RI Higher Education Assistance Authority.

Please plan to attend. The formal presentation will conclude by 8:30 with additional time available for specific questions and answers. Refreshments will be served.

Also, I have attached a flyer from Barnes and Noble regarding a book drive they are sponsoring.

Bob Littlefield, Principal

Attached are two important documents announcing a change in the school calendar. Monday, January 2nd will now be considered a holiday, this according to the RI Department of Education. Students will return to school on Tuesday, January 3rd. This will move the 180th day back to June 15th. The date for graduation, June 9th, will remain the same. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving break!

Bob Littlefield, Principal

Report Cards for Quarter One were distributed to students today!

Parent-Teacher Conferences- Along with reports cards each student received a Sign-Up Sheet for Parent/Teacher Conferences next Thursday evening beginning at 6 PM. Parents have three hours to schedule individual conferences with teachers. In order to schedule a conference just send your student in to school with the Sign-Up form and have him/her schedule a meeting with the desired teacher. We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity.

State Test Scores- Seniors were issued their individual results from their participation in the State Assessment Tests last spring. Each senior should have their scores for Math and English/Language Arts.

I have attached a document that explains our performance as a school in the 2005 School Accountability Program. The results have been released and will be printed in the newspaper tomorrow, November 10th.

There is good news and not so good news. The good news is our scores are up and we continue to be among the highest performing schools in Rhode Island. We are particularly proud of our performance in Reading and in Math Problem Solving. Because of our performance we will once again, for the fourth year in a row, be labeled a High Performing School.

You will notice on the attached document that the goals for High Performing Schools were increased for 2005. The targets for the last three years were 44.8 for Math and 52.8 for English. For 2005 they were increased to 54.0 and 68.0, respectively.

We hit the new targets in every category but one. If Tom Brady had 20 completions in 21 attempts he'd be Player of the Week. If Curt Schilling had 20 wins in 21 starts he’d win the Cy Young Award. If Evel Kneivel made 20 out of 21 jumps he’d be ……. Ok, that’s not such a good analogy. But you get the point.

For PHS to hit 20 of 21 it means we are still High Performing but with a bit of an asterisk. The asterisk means High Performing with caution. We have one year to pull up the scores of our IEP students in English Language Arts.

For more information on State Assessments for 2005 visit the Rhode Island Dept. of Ed. website: http://www.ridoe.net/

School Improvement Team We will be having discussions at all levels of our school on ways to improve student achievement. One place is at our School Improvement Team next Thursday, November 17th at 2:00 PM. If you are interested in participating please do not hesitate to respond to this e-mail.

Salute to Veterans/Active Military We have constructed a bulletin board in the Main Lobby to salute graduates and faculty members who are veterans or are currently serving in the military. I plan on keeping the display up for a few weeks. If you have a family member who is a PHS alumnus please send me a picture with their year of graduation and their rank and I will give it a place of honor in our school.

One Other Thing... This week there was an embarrassing photo of our marquis sign on Memorial Drive printed in the Newport Daily News. The word “conferences” was spelled incorrectly. Touché’ to the photographer. You got us. Now that you’ve embarrassed some high school kids, how about volunteering some time in our school to help some of our neediest students get ready for next year’s State Assessments? That would really do our kids some good.

That's all for now. Have a safe and restful long holiday weekend. Don’t forget to thank a veteran for their service to our country.