Rancocas Valley Regional High School

Greetings and welcome back to all of our returning students! Greetings to all of the students new to the RV community!

 

At RV, we operate under the motto of PRIDE! PRIDE stands for Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Diversity and Excellence. This school year will prove to be one of Perseverance as we embrace the challenges that resulted from the budget cuts that occurred earlier this year. Last school year, we had to make some tough decisions about how we would proceed this year – doing more with less while still continuing on the path of excellence. I am proud to report that we have made great strides in terms of HSPA scores and standardized testing. This year we were able to reach the benchmark of AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) and meet the standards established by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative. This was one of our goals under the Strategic Plan, adopted in 2007. Updates of our Strategic Plan will be posted on our website under About Us.

 

RV is going green! The website will be a valuable tool to our RV families this year. We will use it along with email and our telephone system to communicate with you about important information as it relates to RV and our students. This will help to eliminate and/or reduce the amount of paper work we mail home throughout the year. The opening of school information, all the forms we ask you to sign, school calendar, newsletter, etc. are all posted on our web site. Please make use of the site since no hard copies will be supplied. Exceptions will be made for the few families that do not have a computer or access to email. Our records show that 91% of our families have computer access so we feel confident in using email as our primary source of communication. Having said that, it is very important that you inform us of any changes to your contact information.

 

This year, every student will be assigned an RV email address. The staff is being instructed to use this email address to communicate with students. Staff members will also be using their own RV addresses for all email communications.

 

All communications as it relates to school policies and procedures is posted on our website. The student handbook is posted under the Students Icon. I encourage you to view these documents and familiarize yourself with the information especially for issues involving attendance, student in good standing and discipline issues. Being informed of the school policies and procedures early on makes for a much better school year vs. being surprised later in the year.

We will continue work on the Middle States Evaluation Process. In the end, this will produce a new strategic plan targeted for sometime in 2011.

 

Our Business Office has moved to the old Eastampton Elementary school site, now known as the RV East Annex. You will notice some construction work is taking place. Classrooms are being remodeled as we prepare to create a Life Skills Center for our students with special needs. Federal Stimulus monies are being used to complete this project.

 

Lastly, I have submitted my resignation to the Board of Education effective June 30, 2011. The search for the next Superintendent/Principal has begun with the hiring of a consulting firm, West Hudson Associates, to assist the Board. There will be opportunities for you to provide input into the process and the community will be fully informed about each step in the process via the web page. It is our hope that a new Superintendent will be selected by February, providing ample opportunity for a smooth transition.

 

As always, I encourage everyone (whether you have children in our school or not) to stay connected with our school and student activities. Our students are involved in many activities after school that are open to the public and cover a variety of interests from athletics to the arts. RV students provide examples of excellence in almost every area. Please join me in observing what I truly believe are some of the most talented high school students anywhere.