Newfound Regional High School

School district

Newfound Regional High School is part of SAU4. The Superintendent of Schools is Stacy Buckley. NRHS is the only high school within SAU4, and the school board approves most of the decisions. There is currently one high school, one middle school, and four elementary schools located within the district.

Administration

Newfound Regional High School has one principal, one vice principal, and multiple administrative staff positions:

New principal (2015)

Paul Hoiriis became the current principal on July 1, 2015. The past principal, Michael O'Malley, retired at the end of the 2014-2015 school calendar. He had served the district for 30 years.

New assistant principal (2015)

After interviewing several qualified candidates Paul Hoiriis selected Christopher G. Ulrich, former social studies teacher at Laconia High School. Mr. Ulrich's previous experience includes teaching at Nashua High School and Pembroke Academy. Superintendent Stacy Buckley stated, "We are excited to have [...] Chris join the Newfound Regional School District administrative team. [He brings] great skills and varied backgrounds to [his] new role and will prove to be a valuable [leader] in the district." Mr. Ulrich assumed his position on July 1, 2015.

School culture

Newfound has 34 full-time teachers and 402 students. There is a 6% minority enrollment, mostly made of African Americans and Asians. According to usnews.com, Newfound Regional High School is ranked #11 in Best High Schools in New Hampshire in 2015. Newfound Regional High School has an 81% proficiency in reading, while 37% proficient in mathematics.

School board

The School Board Chair for the Newfound Area School District is Jeff Levesque of Groton. The current school board members are Don Franklin of Hebron, Sue Cheney of Alexandria, Vincent Migliore of Bridgewater, Benjamin LaRoche of Bristol, and Christine Davol of New Hampton. The individual towns decide who is elected to the school board spots.

Part of the school board's responsibility is to propose ideas for the district. Each member will belong to a committee. Every month, Newfound will have a school board meeting that will discuss important subjects and have the public provide feedback. The school board approves things like the Handbook, appointments, discipline (longer than 60 days), and other various subjects.

Student activities

Student activities at Newfound include National Honor Society, Student Council, Math Team, Outing Club, Art Club, Cooking Club, E-Cubed, Geek Culture Club, International Thespian Society, Leo's Club, Literary Magazine, Project Promise, Tech Crew, Student-Staff Senate, Yearbook, Drama, Chorus, and Jazz Band. Newfound offers three varsity sports in the fall: field hockey, soccer, and football. Newfound also offers cross country in the fall. Newfound offers both varsity and junior varsity basketball in the winter, as well as spirit and alpine skiing. In the spring, Newfound offers varsity and junior varsity baseball and softball, as well as track & field.

Student-Staff Senate

The Student-Staff Senate (SSS) is made up of students and staff who work on changes to the school. Student-Staff Senate works like the U.S Senate. SSS has committees and subcommittees for each area of topics. SSS currently has 11 subcommittees, including Advisories, Portfolio, Project Promise / Clubs, Performance Assessment, Public Relations, Challenge Day, Change Culture, Student Handbook, Student/Staff Voice, Bylaws, and Athletics. During meetings and proposals, SSS uses Robert's Rules of Order. The main purpose of this Senate is to have student and staff, alike, convene with each other and use the Senate as a way to discuss matters that the students and teachers bring up.

SSS can make changes to the Handbook as long as there is a proposal made and brought to Senate's attention. If the motion passes, it goes to the Principal. If the Principal agrees, the proposed bill would then go to the Superintendent to look at. If the Superintendent agrees with the bill, the bill will then be brought upon the School Board to decide the proposed bill should be passed. If the bill passes, the bill will then be written into effect the next school year, and the affected area will be changed in the Handbook. Newfound SSS has changed some of the policies around school, including the usage of technology, as well as eating in the academic wings. If the motion fails, the proposal will go back to the appropriate committee in which they will make the necessary edits in order to improve the proposal. Most of the time the motion fails is because of the wording, or the proposal is not deemed necessary. In order for such proposal to pass, the motion must have the majority ruling in favor of the proposal.

Student Council

Student Council is made up by the student body along with adult adviser(s). Student Council plans events such as Homecoming, winter carnival, spring fling, etc. Newfound Student Council follows their own Constitution that they've written up and approved by the council. Student Council has separate committees and subcommittees to focus on specific areas. Student Council meetings are run by parliamentary procedures. In order for a Student Council meeting to be in session, there must be a quorum that is met. Along with a quorum, in order to pass approvals (e.g.: fundraiser requests, agendas, ideas, etc.) the body must agree with a majority vote.

Members

Members are selected in various ways. In order to obtain a membership within Student Council you must:

Each member must agree to the terms of the Constitution prior of becoming a member of the council. The Constitution outlines the procedures and bylaws that each member has to follow. The constitution also outlines the description of each Officers. Another term for Officers in Student Council is called the E-board (Executive Board). The E-board will come together to discuss/vote on decisions such as a habitual absence of a member, behavioral issues, important agendas, etc.

Yearbook

Newfound Regional High School has a body of students who create the annual yearbook. Newfound uses Jostens as their primary yearbook company. Each year, they will dedicate the yearbook to an educator or administrator who exceeded expectations, or to someone who served at NRHS for a long time and is either retiring or leaving their position. The 2014-2015 yearbook was dedicated to Mr. O'Malley who is currently the principal, but will be retiring at the end of this school year. He had served the district for 30 years.

Project Promise

Project Promise is a program offered at NRHS along with other schools in NASD. Project Promise is a program that focuses on academic achievement in various subjects, physical and nutritional programs, and to infuse concepts of learning lifelong habits in hopes to connect with the real world. Project Promise branches off with many of the extra-curricular programs offered at the school. Cooking Club, Fashion Club, Zumba, Homework Club, Fitness Club, Japanese Culture Club, Outdoor Club, Geek Culture Club is all a part of Project Promise. NRHS Project Promise's goal is to " create a safe place that fosters youth voice and excitement among our participants." Project Promise is also a place where they help students transition after high school, and to give students opportunities to be leaders and mentor.

Athletics

Newfound Regional High School is a Division III High School. The only sports team that is not in Division III is the Spirit team, which is in Division IV. Newfound offers Soccer, Field Hockey, Football, and Cross Country in the fall. In the winter, they offer Basketball, Spirit, and Alpine Skiing. In the Spring, Newfound offers Baseball, Softball, as well as Track and Field. The Field Hockey team was the State Champions in 2006. The Field Hockey team also has won 2 back-to-back State Championship in both 2008 and 2009. In recent years, the Field Hockey team also has made it to Quarterfinals. The Girls' Basketball team has been strong in the past few years, as they have competed in the Quarterfinals.

The following table shows achievements made by Newfound teams or athletes:

Football

Newfound Regional High School Football program started in 2004 but was not funded by the School District. In spite of that, the Community created an organization to support the program. It was not until 2008 that the School Board approved of supporting the school's football program. In 2005, Newfound Football team was awarded the Sportsmanship Award from the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association. Since the beginning of the program, Newfound has yet to win any state titles or Runners-up.

On August 23, 2012, Newfound Regional High School has finally added a football field right across from the High School. The school board approved of adding a football field at the High School but states that it will have to come from the taxpayers. To avoid that, the Non-Profit organization, "Friends of Newfound Football" has raised enough donations to avoid the expense paid by the taxpayers. Before the addition of the new football field, Newfound was practicing and playing "home" games at the New Hampton School. Newfound first home game at their new field was on Saturday, September 8, 2013 against Winnisquam Regional High School. The football field was named "Morrison Field". From the start of the project to the end of the project, it took nine years all together for the field to be ready to be played on.

Track and Field

The Boys' Track and Field program first started in 1980 by Earl Mills and has run the program until 1998. Newfound Boys' Track and Field has had 14 Individual State Champions, along with 2 State Decathlon Champions. The following table shows the Individual Championships:

Both of the State Decathlon Champions for Newfound were won by Dan Plourde, as shown in this table:

The Girls' Track & Field has won 15 Individual State Champions since 2004. The first coach for the Newfound Girls' Track and Field team was Peter Cornelissen. The following are the Girls' Individual Championship from Newfound:

Field Hockey

Newfound Field Hockey has won 3 State Championships and Runner-Up once. Ann Hall started this program in 1974, but later retired the next year. Karri Peterson is currently the Field Hockey coach, and she has been coaching since 2004. Under her belt, she has won 3 Field Hockey State Champion and 1 Runner-Up in Class M/S under her time as coach. Here is the following table:

Girls' Basketball

The Newfound Girls' Basketball were State Champions back in 1972 under Class A while they were State Runners-up 3 times in 1973, 1988, and in 2007. There are 11 players who achieved more than 1000 points during their High School career under Varsity. Ann Hall was the first coach known to have coached the Girls' Basketball team. The current coach is Karri Peterson, a 1000th-point scorer club, herself. She also coaches the Field Hockey team, as well. The following table shows the 11 players, and their points achieved overall:

Boys' Basketball

The Boys' Basketball was State Champions back in 1995. The coach then was Dan Peters. There is currently 7 people who have scored 1000 points in their High School career under Varsity, and they were:

The boys' basketball team has had three different coaches in the past four years from 2013-2016.

Communities

Newfound Regional High School serves the New Hampshire towns of Alexandria, Bridgewater, Bristol, Danbury, Groton, Hebron, Hill and New Hampton. On March 18, Hill residents voted to withdraw from the Franklin School District and join Newfound. With two more votes agreeing with the motion, Hill will now have a 10-year tuition agreement with Newfound. The final vote was 75-73. Newfound students sometimes go to the Tapply Thompson Community Center (TTCC) to help out elementary students, or is there for a recreational event.

Annual Spring Musical

Every Spring, the Newfound Drama Department hosts the Annual School Musical. The community and students from NRHS auditions for roles that they want. The musical usually occur in late April, and they start practicing around February to prepare for the show. The director of the Spring Musical is Stephanie Wienchek, and she herself, was an actor. The Spring Play is an annual tradition and has been for 34 years. This year's performance was Once on This Island by Lynn Ahrens.

Academics

Newfound offers Advanced Placement courses. They offer AP Calculus, AP Computer Science, AP US History, and AP Biology. Newfound also offers Virtual Learning Academy Charter School. Also, Newfound offers Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy courses, such as accounting. Newfound also offers Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO). Some courses Newfound has to offer are: Spanish I, II, III, IV, V; French I, II, III, IV, V; Economics, Modern European History, Global Studies, Programming I, II, III AP; Robotics; Chemistry; Living on Your Own (LOYO); Family & Consumer Science. Newfound has partnered up with Plymouth Regional High School so that Newfound can send its students to PRHS for classes such as: Culinary Arts, Health Science, Mechanics, and Marketing. Newfound has to pay PRHS based on tuition basis. Currently, there are 23 CTE students that go to Plymouth Regional High School.

Grades and Grading

Newfound goes off of the Summative assessment and Formative assessment continuum. Most of the teachers weigh the summatives as 90% of the overall grade for the quarter and 10% formatives for the overall grade for the quarter. Each quarter (4) is 20% of the overall grade, and exams (midterm/Test (assessment)) are 20% of the final grade. So they factor in 80% from the four quarters, and 20% from the midterm grade and the final exams. That adds up to 100% for the final grade. Formatives would be homework, short essays, and Document-based question. Most of the time, these materials would get you ready for the Summatives. Summatives would be quizzes (sometimes formative), projects, tests, etc. The following table shows the grading table that Newfound goes off of:

Grading Software

Newfound uses Web2School for inputting student grades and attendance. There are two different types of accounts: Parents and Teachers. Parents have access to their child(ren) current grades, report card, attendance, progress reports, transcripts, schedule, etc. The teachers have access to all of the above, and also has access to inputting grades, locker combination, personal information (e.g., allergies), and discipline reports. Newfound utilizes this tool to help teachers organize their grades, and allows students/parents to see their current grades without asking their teachers.

Awards

Newfound Regional High School has received some awards as a school, and also as individual awards recognized by the State of New Hampshire and/or individual organizations: