Happy Fall! The changing leaves remind us of the upcoming change of seasons. We are thrilled to share some important information with all of you.
Aspirations Day is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7th. We have two aspirations days (Fall and Spring) per year for all of our students. The goal is to help students find a career direction that interests them. By the time a student graduates from Cony, they participate in 12 days focused on planning for their futures. This is a mandatory school day for all students. Today's job market is different than days of the past. Students may have several different career paths in their lifetime. We want to prepare ALL of our students for their options. Our Cony CATC students stay at Cony to participate in this important day. Our Guidance department puts a lot of work into helping students prepare for their futures. Some of our grade levels are taking field trips and some are participating in events at Cony. Here is an overview of the activities.
Grade 7-We partner with the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce in an event called 7th Up Biz. Our Grade 7 students will visit 3 local places of work to learn about their businesses and organizations. This helps students start to think about career clusters they might be interested in. They will go on buses and eat a bagged student lunch at one of their locations.
Grade 8-Grade 8 students will stay at Cony. They will learn about our Technical Center programming by hearing from the Capital Area Technical Center teachers. This will give students an opportunity to think about CATC as an option when they go to high school. After the CATC experience, we have a guest speaker talking about creating a legacy and thinking about their futures. Students will end with outdoor leadership activities. They will eat lunch at Cony.
Grade 9-Grade 9 will remain at Cony. They will participate in a panel discussion about career pathways. We ask three staff members to talk about their journeys to where they are today. Then, grade 9 students will circulate between three presentations focused on JMG (Jobs for Maine's Graduates), What your value Auction, and developing skills called soft skills for the work place (communication, being on time, etc). They will hear a panel of seniors (Class of 2026) who will provide advice on finding success in high school. Grade 9 students will then go to their regularly scheduled Period 4 class. They will eat lunch at Cony.
Grade 10-Grade 10 students will be off and on campus. They will participate in a panel discussion about career pathways. We ask three staff members to talk about their journeys to where they are today. They will then visit the University of Maine at Augusta. They will hear a panel of seniors (Class of 2026) who will provide advice on finding success in high school. Students will then go to their regularly scheduled Period 4 class. They will eat lunch at Cony.
Grade 11-Grade 11 students will visit UMaine or Husson College with their homeroom. They will start by participating in a panel discussion about career pathways. We ask three staff members to talk about their journeys to where they are today. Students will then go by bus to either UMaine or Husson College. They will eat on campus and learn about the college experience and return to Cony by the end of the day.
Grade 12-Grade 12 students will remain at Cony. They will start by participating in a panel discussion about career pathways. We ask three staff members to talk about their journeys to where they are today. They will then participate in 2 workshops of their choice focused on a variety of post secondary experiences (college, military, workplace, etc). Then, they will hear from the guidance counselors about planning for senior year and beyond. They will conclude with their regularly scheduled Period 4 class.
We have hear from our Cony Alumni have helped students tremendously not just in planning for today but also giving them options later in life.
Parent Teacher Conferences-We are hosting Parent Teacher Conferences on Thursday, October 9th from 4:00-7:30. We have sent out a letter to families about the conferences. Parents and Guardians will have a choice to participate by phone or in person. We are scheduling 10 minutes conferences. You need to sign up at ptcfast.com. Here is the link: https://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Cony_Middle_and_High_School
NWEA Testing, October 14 and 15
As required by the state, we are conducting NWEA Testing on October 14th for Middle and High School students and October 15th for middle school students. Grades 7, 8, 9, and 10 will be testing on both math and English.
Please know that Juniors and Seniors will come in at 10:30 on Tuesday, October 14th so we can test all of our students. If Juniors and Seniors need to ride the bus to school that day, then they will be assigned to the auditorium.
Picture Day retake day is Friday, October 17th. If your student didn't get their picture taken or they want a different picture, we will conduct retakes on Friday, October 17th.
Communication-Please know that we communicate with families in a number of ways to keep families informed about Cony happenings. Here are the communication vehicles that we use; Newsletters, email bursts, facebook, instagram, augustaschools.org website, mailed letters home, and text messages.
Remote School Days-As winter approaches, we want to let you know that we are still using remote school days as an option as we did last year. We made some slight changes with the feedback we received from staff and families. We will use up to 5 days for remote school days. One major difference is that our Supt Tracy may called a potential snow day and we will give our lunches, but if the storm goes away, then he may have us go to regularly scheduled school. Another change is that students will have remote assignments that must be turned on the next day of school (not three days later). For the secondary level, teachers will have office hours from 9-11. We will write more next month.
Attendance-We are focused on improving our attendance at all of our Augusta schools. September attendance rates are as follows by grade level. Congratulations to our Grade 8 students for the best attendance rate for September. Grade 8 93.5%, Grade 7 92.9%, Grade 11 92.11%, Grade 9 91.7%, Grade 10 89.43%, Grade 12 87.9%. Please help us improve our attendance rates for October!
Thank you and please contact us with any questions.
Cony Administration
