Dartmouth High School prepares to welcome back students

As the new school year approaches, Dartmouth High School is preparing to welcome back and welcome in students, along with a number of goals and advice.

This school year there will be a focus on attendance and tardiness to make sure “students are here and they’re ready to learn,” Principal Ryan Shea said.

Implementing this focus will include working as a team with the school counselor and social worker to try and determine the barriers and roadblocks preventing students from getting to school on time and to strategize a way to help students and decrease tardiness. 

“It’s going to be working with students  and families to support students that are not making it here or students that are not making it here on time,” Shea said.

Another focus this school year will be on expanding participation in clubs and activities.

“We keep saying that the school day doesn’t end at 2:03, so we want our students to be participating in the school day,” Shea said.

He added that students who are involved in an extracurricular and stay for afterschool activities often have better success in school.

For the past two years, the school has been piloting pre-AP courses in English and biology for freshmen. These courses are designed to be accessible to all students, identify AP potential and teach students to think critically and in processes.

“Our teachers that were teaching it were like, ‘This is really like hands-on learning. It’s investigatory learning,’ so they were really excited about it,” Shea said.

Besides continuing to roll out the pre-AP English and pre-AP biology courses, class offerings and curriculums will look similar to what exists now.

“We’re actually really proud of where our program of studies is at, and for the students, I think we have stability with that, which is a really nice thing,” Shea said.

He added, “Coming in, we’ve kind of had to tweak it the last few years to make it work, so it’s nice that we have continuity now.”

Shea and other administrators also had some advice for new and returning students.

“I think every year as you go through high school has different milestones,” Shea said. “There’s a lot more freedom, and how do we navigate that freedom?”

Last year, the school introduced ninth grade guidance counselors and social workers to support freshmen transition from middle school.

“There’s a lot of more freedom just within our schedule, within the movement of our student bodies … so it’s really important that the freshman start off on the right foot and they get involved … and learn how to be a  high school student ,” said Assistant Principal Michael Martin.

Assistant Principal Graham Coogan said incoming students should take ownership of their learning, which he said they could do by actively building skills around time management and organization.

Sophomore year is one of building transcripts and resumes, Shea said.

“It’s a time for you to challenge yourself and grow and or find high interest classes,” he said. “You have a little more flexibility in your schedule as you become a sophomore.

He called it a year for students to begin stepping out of their comfort zone, as well as challenge themselves and grow.

In junior year, students are starting to explore what they want to do after high school and determine what it requires to reach this goal.

“We’re starting to really start thinking about that post-secondary, start generating those college essays in your brain, and starting getting some of those ideas down,” Shea said.

Shea’s number one piece of advice for incoming seniors is to take a deep breath and also enjoy the moment.

“There’s a lot coming at them and everything’s coming to a head,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just taking a deep breath and enjoying the moment.”

He said the goal is that by senior year they instill the necessary tools and knowledge for students to be able to stand on their own.

“We wouldn’t halfway through the building or two-thirds through the building take all of our supports away when we’re not necessarily ready for that,” he said.

Shea called the high school a “really special place.”

“It’s got really special students, really special staff, and I think the beauty is that there’s really this family environment that I love to see continue,” he said.