NORTH HILLS PREPARATORY

February 15, 2011 Volume 1, Issue 20

TUESDAY TIDBITS

Senior Director’s Corner

Fellow Parents,

Last week I was reading an article about famous quotations that are either misattributed or misquot-ed. One of the quotations that got the most attention was, “may you live in interesting times.” This ancient Chinese proverb apparently may be neither ancient nor Chinese. I will leave that debate up to the linguist among us. However, after experiencing the events of the past few weeks I can’t help but think, these are

truly interesting times at North Hills.

Over the past few weeks I have gone from helping remove ice with a snow shovel I brought with me from North Carolina to shaking the hands of the five National Merit Finalist from North Hills, Reginald Du, Emily Le, Richard Levan, Jarrod Milhorn, and Joachim Valdez. I celebrated the fact that our seniors have already been offered over $5,300,000 in scholarships and grants right after I sent an e-mail home explaining how our construction crew hit a gas line. I spoke with the staff about the implications of possible state funding cuts before I congratulated Chris Golubski, Sharice Williamson, Shailaja Rao, and Shahla Iqbal for being named IB examiners. These are truly interesting times with many highs and some lows. Luckily the one constant is that we, as a school community, are able to pull together and get through the tough times

so we can celebrate the successes.

This past weekend I attended the 20th Anniversary Teach For America Alumni Summit in Washing-ton DC. During my trip I was able to catch a screening of the documentary “Race to Nowhere.” The movie examines the question, “are we over programming our children?” The contention seems to be that some students are missing their childhood as a result of the many activities and events they take part in. The constant pressure to succeed students face, can lead to depression, stimulant misuse, and in the worst case; suicide. The film also challenges some of the practices of the highest performing schools in the na-tion such as over scheduling of AP courses, assigning copious amounts of homework, and caring to in-tently about letter grades and standardized test scores. The constant focus on results actually sucks the enjoyment out of learning and can lead to students “doing school” Ultimately the message is that the price some students pay for success is awfully high. I am in the process of inquiring about hosting a screening of the film either at or near North Hills. While I am not sure I agree with all the claims made in the film, I am

sure that a shared viewing could lead to lively debate and serious introspection.

Finally, I want to remind everyone that our Parent Information Night takes place this Thursday start-ing at 6:30 p.m. Yasmin Bhatia will present the draft version of the Uplift Strategic Plan to get your feed-back and answer your questions. After her presentation, we will have an open question and answer ses-sion. As always, the presentations and minutes from the meeting will be posted on the web site. I hope

you will take the time to learn about the future of Uplift and share your feedback and concerns.

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start

today and make a new ending

Maria Robinson

Page 2 TUESDAY TIDBITS

UPCOMING AT NHP

February 14 to 18: No name calling week

February 16: MS Theater field trip

February 17: Parent Information Night - Yasmin Bhatia guest speaking

February 18: Middle school UIL awards ceremony

February 21: Make up snow day for the third missed day - “A” day

February 22: “A” day (due to snow make up day we will have two “A” days in a row

For a complete A and B day calendar please go to parent resources and click on resources

http://www.uplifteducation.org/2113201119151134523/FileLib/browse.asp?A=374&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=57079

Window close March 4

PARENT SURVEY AVAILABLE

We are asking that all parents to participate in our annual parent survey about North Hills Preparatory. This year we have set specific goals around satisfaction. The information you provide will be used to help us improve our school and serve you better. Additionally, your input is critical to attain the high goals we have set for North Hills and your children. To com-plete the survey please visit our web site and click on Parent survey 2011.

For those parents who need computer access, North Hills will open its media center during the survey window to allow you to complete the parent survey:

February 17 to March 4 from 3:50 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. every week day except early release Wednesday

By PARENTS, for PARENTS –

PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT MEETING

– Thur. Feb. 17 @ 6:30 - 8:00 pm --*note new time

All NHP Primary, Middle and Upper School parents are invited to attend North Hill's monthly Parent Information

Night [PIN], Thursday, Feb. 17 at 6:30 - 8:00 pm in the school's East Commons.

The meeting will include:

* Presentation by Yasmin Bhatia * Shout-outs on successes at NHP

* Extracurricular activities available at NHP

This will be followed by a Q&A session and a wrap up segment. Parents are encouraged to bring questions, Mr. Stover and directors will be in attendance to answer them.

**Find all current and previous Q&As and additional presentation info posted on the NHP website

under the Parent Resources Resources PIN tab.**

Erica Cervantes signed an athletic scholarship last week to play soccer at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Arkansas-Pine Bluff won the SWAC conference in 2009 and ad-vanced to the NCAA tournament, they won the Western Division of the SWAC in 2010 and are looking for an outstand-ing season in 2011. Erica led her North Hills Prep soccer team to the Charter School State Championship last year and looks forward to hopefully repeating as State Champs again this spring.

Our next deadline for submitting Boxtops is approaching soon. Please turn in all collected Boxtops to the Primary or Main Office by Wednesday, February 23rd. So far this school year, North Hills has earned nearly $400. We need everyone's help in reaching our goal of $1,024, so check your cabinets and pantries for Boxtops which are on items such as Fruit Roll-Ups, Hefty Trash Bags, Hamburger Helper, Toaster Streudels, Avery Binders and Mailing Labels, Welch's Jelly, General Mills cereal (Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Total, Wheaties, etc.), and many Betty Crock-er products. This is by far one of the easiest ways to earn money and support North Hills. If every student turns in just 7 Boxtops, we will meet our goal. Should you have any questions, please contact Paula Sotelo at 972-394-2645 or by e-mail at p_sotelo@hotmail.com

The Middle School will be hosting our own No Name Calling Week next week at NHP.

NHP Middle School NO- NAME CALLING WEEK February 14th-18th

No Name-Calling Week is a week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds. The goal of the week is to provide inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying at NHP.