June 29, 2019

Dear Students and Parent/Guardians,

Another year has closed and as we begin to prepare for 2019-20 please find some important information in, and attached to, this letter pertaining to the start of the new school year.

The school year for students begins at 9:25 am Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. Students should come fully prepared to work (binder, paper and pens/pencils) as this is a regular school day. Students will find their name posted in the cafeteria with directions of where they will report to their first block teacher.  During this time, Teachers will hand out student timetables, passwords, collect registration fees ($40) issue lockers and review school procedures. Student fees ($40) are to be paid by cash, money order or a certified cheque. Personal cheques will not be accepted. Please make money orders or certified cheques payable to ‘Auburn Drive High School’. Student fees collected are to provide for many activities and services throughout the year that are utilized by all students. Some of the funds are used to support athletics, transportation on field trips, clubs, guest speakers, spirit events and most student council sponsored activities.

Should you require further information prior to opening day, please feel free to contact the school either Aug 29thor 30th, between the hours of 9 am to 3pm, at 902-462-6900. For those not yet registered the late registration day is Wednesday, August 28th, 2019.

First semester curriculum night for Auburn Drive High School will be held Thursday, September 12, 2019, at 6:30 pm. Our first School Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting of the year will be Monday, October 7, 2019 at 6:00 pm. If you are interested in attending please contact the school. Picture day will be Monday, Sept 16, 2019. Student ID photos will be taken at this time. All students are encouraged to attend whether or not you intend to purchase packages. Grad photos will be arranged later in the first semester. Information will be sent home with details.

Students traveling to and from school by school bus should follow the same schedule used during the 2018-19 school-year, any changes would be updated the last week of August and may be updated again in September. Please make sure to create an account on BusPlanner for your student and check BusReport for more details.

I would like to take a moment to make you aware that we have a number of severe allergies in our building. We cannot have latex products, strawberries or kiwis in the building at all. We are also a scent and peanut/tree nut restricted building. There is absolutely no applying of scented products on our premises and we request our students restrict the amount of scented products they apply at home. Thank you in advance for supporting a safe and healthy environment for ALL of our students and staff.
Wishing you a safe and enjoyable summer break.

Sincerely,
Karen Hudson, Principal

Additional Notes 2019-20

Exemptions
When exemptions are offered the guidelines for earning it are as follows: the student may have 6 absences and/or 6 lates in any class. Absence or Late number 7 in ANY class negates the exemption of any subject for that semester. These do not carry over but are reset at the start of each new semester, including during year-long courses.

Excused Absences
There is NO ‘safe arrival’ line at Auburn Drive High School. All tracking of absences is done in writing. You can send in a note with your student in advance of the absence or after the fact. Also available is emailing attendance notes to jennifer.johns@hrsb.ca. Information is also posted on our website on how to report an absence. We strongly encourage you to account for each absence as it occurs.

Calls from PowerSchool Automated Attendance System
Please note that you should allow 24-48 hours for the note you send or email in to be processed. This might mean you get a call from the system even though you sent in a note that day. If you know where your student was, you know you sent in a note, please also know it will be tended to as soon as possible.
You will also get calls if your student attended a field trip that day. Field trips are entered as a group and ONLY after the trip has been completed –which is the only way to ensure an entirely accurate head count and usually is entered the next day but it can take a few days for that to be updated.

Credit Loss
The Department of Education attendance policy can be found here: https://www.ednet.ns.ca/sites/default/files/docs/provincial_student_atte...
How it affects high school students is that at 18 absences in one class they are eligible for a review done by the principal for a loss of credit for that course. Mitigating factors would of course be taken into account, as would the student’s marks, but the final decision remains that of the principal as to whether or not the student would be required to drop that course and try again in another semester. Along the path to 18 absences there is a protocol in place that ensures the school has been in contact with home on many occasions so this would never be a surprise action.

Social Media
Follow us on Twitter @auburn_eagles for information on current events and important updates.

Cafeteria
We once again have Cainyn’s Catering for our cafeteria. Tony offers a variety of food at a variety of prices to satisfy most budgets and taste buds. The cafeteria accepts both cash and plastic for forms of payment. We don’t yet have gift certificates but are looking to add those to the mix.