End of the Year Letter

June 20, 2012

Dear Parents and Guardians:

On May 23^rd, I sat in the auditorium and watched as the officers from each class presented to the entire student body the community service projects that they completed as the last challenge in the Class Cup competition.  I can honestly say that in 15 years of working in public education, I have never, ever, been so impressed by a group of students. Stop by Wellspring, listen to elementary school students talk about their “Fun Night”, take a walk by the dyke or on the beach, or stop by the newly created park on the HRA land facing World’s End, and you will see the handiwork of our students.  I was literally moved to tears.  Although the seniors and sophomores share this year’s Class Cup, all of the grades and all of the students, deserve special recognition for making our school and our town a better place.

A Look Back

Although we are already gearing up for the 2012-2013 school year, it is important to take a look back on the wonderful accomplishments of the past year, none of which would have been possible without the collective efforts of our entire community.

• Hull High School now has a true concert band again;
• On June 2^nd, we graduated 74 students, more than 90% of whom will attend a 2 or 4-year college;
• On June 8^th, the juniors and I celebrated the fact that the Class of 2013 earned some of the best MCAS scores ever earned by our school;
• This year, our school’s name was added to the MIAA Sportsmanship Honor Roll in recognition that not one Pirate student-athlete received an ejection or disqualification during this past school-year;
• We were nominated by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for a National Blue Ribbon Award;
• We were named to the College Board’s AP Honor roll due to our increased AP enrollment and increased scores;
• Our drop-out rate is down;
• Our attendance rate is up;
• Almost 40% of our students made the honor roll at least once this year;
• Our SAT scores are up;
• We had a very successful Class Cup competition;

• We had several teams compete in state tournaments;
• We had three wonderful theatre productions;
• We were featured on Nick News for our fundraising efforts; and
• We successfully completed our NEASC Self-study process, hosted 16 evaluators and received word that Hull will retain its full ten-year accreditation.

I don’t know about you, but I think this is a pretty impressive list of accomplishments for our school.  Congratulations!

Farewells

As our year ended, our community said farewell to several valued members of our community.

• Mark Galligan leaves us to take on the role of K-12 Humanities Coordinator for the Stoughton Public Schools.  In addition to his amazing teaching, Mr. Galligan led us through the NEASC self-study and accreditation process, as well as helping us complete our Blue Ribbon Schools application.  Our loss is truly Stoughton’s gain.
• Edwin Menon leaves HHS for an even higher calling.  Mr. Menon will become a full-time seminarian student starting this fall.  He leaves HHS after countless stories, word problems and words of wisdom.  Soar like an eagle, Mr. Menon!
• David Milner has made the wise decision that it is more important to be with his children and grandchild in Oregon than to teach chemistry at Hull High School.  Mr. Milner will be remembered by his students as a great teacher, musician and person.  In his words, “Science rules – you dig?”
• Heather Thomson retired after years of service to Hull High School.  You may not know this, but according to her students, everyday is Mrs. Thomson’s birthday!  Mrs. Thomson will rejoin us in the fall as she serves as the long-term substitute when Mrs. Cocchi is out on maternity leave.

Although it is hard to say goodbye to these teachers and their years of experience and dedication to our students, there will be excellent teachers in those classrooms when our students return in September.  We have already hired two outstanding math teachers to replace Mrs. Thomson and Mr. Menon, and are in the process of hiring a new chemistry and social studies teacher.  A special thanks to Jeannie Hulverson for being a part of our interview teams.

School Council

Come September, there will be three seats open on our School Council.  Sharon Striglio, Jeannie Hulverson and AnnMarie Dunn are at the end of their two-year terms on the School Council, so the PTO will hold elections for these seats on September 12^th at our annual Open House.  Sharon, Jeannie and AnnMarie have done an amazing job of representing you over the past two years and I thank them for their service, dedication and advice.  If you are interested in running for a seat on the School Council, please contact me or PTO co-presidents Michelle Proude or Lynn Strong so that your name can appear on the ballot on September 12^th.

Summer Reading

This week, you should have received a mailing that contained your student’s summer reading assignment.  If your child is taking an honors English class, this will be their first graded assignment of the year.  If he/she is taking a College Preparatory English class, the summer reading assignment will help boost his/her first term grade.  Please encourage your student to read their summer assignment.  I have read each of the books and they are all great reads.  If you are interested in what the teachers are reading this summer, check out “Nickeled and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich.  Each HHS teacher has been given a copy of this book and it will guide many of the conversations that the faculty has next year.

This past year has been a great one at Hull High School, and I know that next year will be even better.  Together, we have accomplished a great deal and have improved the educational experience of all of Hull High School’s students.   Although we will all take some well-deserved vacation this summer, Mr. Sivo, the faculty, staff and I will all be working this summer to ensure that we will build upon the gains that we have made this year to make sure that the school that our students enter on August 28^th is an even better school than the one that they left last week. 

On a personal note, I have now completed my third year as the principal of Hull High School.  It is amazing to me how quickly the time has flown by.  I am so blessed to be the leader of this outstanding school, and I am incredibly thankful for the support that this entire community has given me as I work with you to take Hull High School to even greater heights.  I look forward to many more years as your principal and working with you, as together we make sure that our students have the tools to excel after leaving us and to ensure that Hull High School is recognized as one of the best public high schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  You and I know this is true… now let’s show the rest of the world!

Have a wonderful summer and I look forward to seeing you all in August.

Sincerely,

Michael F. Devine

Principal

Hull High School