Eagles Express, March 17th

Hello Godwin families,

I hope that you had a good week.  Our students are doing great things with excellence, perseverance, integrity, and compassion!

  • Congratulations to the Godwin Students of the Week for this week!  These students are nominated each week by Godwin staff for doing great things!  Please see Ms. Cipolla in the front office for your written nomination and swag!
    • 10th Grade    Josue Vasquez-Perez, David Dunnington, Mickaelly Costa, & Callum Dotson
    • 12th Grade    Carston Long
  • Congratulations to these students who competed at the state HOSA competition last weekend and who are moving on to the national competition soon!
  • Congratulations to freshman Tony Zhang for qualifying for the USA Junior Math Olympiad (USAJMO), which has around 250 qualifiers nationwide.  In order to qualify he scored incredibly high in the first round of American Mathematics Competition (AMC 10), then scored exceptionally well in the second round which is the American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME).  He is the first Godwin student to ever make it to the USAJMO level.  Congratulations to Tony!
  • Substance Use Program March 20th:  On Monday, March 20th during common study, we will welcome Mr. Roy Woolwine with “The Frankie Woolwine Story”.  Mr. Woolwine will share the story of his son, who was a Freeman student, who died in a car accident after drinking and driving. All grade levels will now participate in this program instead of being split up into grade level groups as previously communicated.
    • Sometimes students ask their parents to write an early dismissal for them when there is an assembly at Godwin.  I certainly am not in the seat of judgment of your family’s decisions for excused absences, but I will ask that you encourage your child to be at school for the assembly on Monday.  This presentation will be a powerful message that I would like for our students to hear.
    • The PTSO program that was planned for Monday evening is cancelled. 
  • Standards of Learning Testing Notification: Please be on the lookout for an email that lists what SOLs your student will take this year, and the dates on which they will test.  Students who are scheduled to take the W!SE or NOCTI certification tests will also have that information included in their email. The email will be sent to each student’s henricostudents.org email account as well as the email addresses listed under Contacts 1 & 2 in PowerSchool.  If your student is not scheduled to take any of these tests this year, you will receive a brief email stating that based on their current courses they do not have any SOLs, W!SE, or NOCTI this year.  These emails will begin to go out on Friday, March 17th, and everyone should receive their email by Tuesday, March 21st.  If neither you nor your student receives an email by that date, please email our Coordinator of Assessment & Remediation, Christy Hudson at clhudson@henrico.k12.va.us so she can verify your contact information and reissue the email.
  • Excused Absence Attendance Notifications:  Students who are absent more than 10% of the instructional school year, excused or unexcused, are considered “chronically absent.”  Chronic absenteeism not only impacts a student’s ability to engage in learning, but it is also one of the reporting categories that impacts our school’s accreditation.  At the end of February, our school had a chronic absenteeism rate of 13.8% (above the 9% threshold needed for state accreditation).
    • In order to check the attendance status of your child, you can log into the PowerSchool parent portal. Directions for this process can be found at https://henricoschools.us/powerschool/.  If your child has been out of school for a total of 10 sick days, Henrico County Public School’s policy is for parents to provide a doctor’s note for each additional absence.
    • For years, we have sent home messages to let families know when a student is absent unexcused, meaning that we have not heard from the family with a valid excuse for the absence. In hopes to improve parent/guardian awareness of all absences, we are going to start sending home messages for excused absences this coming week.  This communication will help families keep track of total absences and if a student is potentially approaching chronic absenteeism.
  • MERC Survey:  Henrico County Public Schools Strategic Plan has four overarching cornerstones for improvement: Safety and Wellness, Academic Growth, Equity and Opportunity, and Relationships.  One way we measure progress in these areas is through annual student, family, and staff surveys.  These surveys will collect input on a broad range of topics related to the Strategic Plan, such as student-parent-staff relationships, student learning opportunities, and student engagement. Henrico County Public Schools are working with the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC; https://merc.soe.vcu.edu/) in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University to conduct the surveys. Godwin High School wishes for parents/guardians to complete the survey beginning on Monday, March 13, 2023 and ending on Friday, March 24, 2023. Students will be requested to complete the survey on Wednesday, March 22nd during the common study period.  Should you wish to opt your student out of the survey, please review instructions in your preferred language.  Questions?  Please contact Mr. Arvin by e-mail @ jearvin@henrico.k12.va.us.
    MERC Climate Survey Student Opt-Out Form -English
    MERC Climate Survey Student Opt-Out Form -Vietnamese
    MERC Climate Survey Student Opt-Out Form -Spanish
    MERC Climate Survey Student Opt-Out Form -Portuguese
    MERC Climate Survey Student Opt-Out Form -Dari
    MERC Climate Survey Student Opt-Out Form -Arabic
  • Unannounced Safety Drill:  Sometime after spring break, we will conduct an unannounced lock and hide safety drill.  This is the drill that we practice in order to be prepared to hide and lock in the case of an armed threat to our community.  If you have questions about this or any other safety procedures at Godwin, please contact us.
  • Henrico County Public Schools Dress Code:  As the weather gets warmer, please review the HCPS dress code with your child.  The issues that we see most at Godwin with dress code are students wearing hats and hoods, shorts and skirts that are not at thumb-length when hands are placed at the sides, clothing with inappropriate messaging, and clothing revealing the midriff.  If the dress code is not followed, there could be a need for your child to change their clothing.  Thank you for your help with this.
  • Economics and Personal Finance Longwood University Course:   Henrico County Public Schools is connecting with Longwood University to offer Henrico students the opportunity to take online Economics and Personal Finance this summer.  The cost of the course is $50, and students will register directly with Longwood.  Registration will open in late March and end June 9th, and the course will run from June 26th-July 29th.  Rising 9th and 10th grade students who have a 3.0 GPA and have successfully completed Algebra I are eligible to register.  Please look for more information about this course soon.

Upcoming Dates: Here is the school-wide calendar which includes athletic events and activities happening this week.   Please note: Pets are not allowed on Godwin’s campus at events.

    • March 28th:  Student Holiday and Staff Workday
    • March 31st:  End of Quarter 3/Student Half Day
    • April 3rd-7th:  Spring Break
    • April 19th:  W!SE Testing for Economics and Personal Finance Students
    • April 21st:  School Holiday: Eid-Al-Fitr
    • April 26th:  9th, 10th, and 11th Grade English Performance Task Testing
    • April 29th:  Prom
  • Godwin PTSO:
  • Godwin Athletic Association:  Membership drive for the 2022-2023 school year is still open.  We raise money to benefit athletes and the facilities on which they practice and play.  Our goals are to promote positive community relations with parents, administration, students, alumni, and the greater Godwin community to make sure our athletic programs are the best they can be.  By joining the GAA, you are supporting all our athletes and coaches:  fall, winter, and spring sports.  You can click here to join online or to purchase a punch card.
  • We are grateful for Godwin’s community partners!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Leigh Dunavant
Principal