Open House Article in Whitman-Hanson Express

Hello SSVT Community,

The 2012 SSVT Open House was a fantastic success, as evidenced by the nearly 200 students and their families who attended, along with a great showing of alumni!  What attendees witnessed were our students and instructors in their shop settings doing what they do best.  Families also were treated to a fantastic culinary display in the cafeteria and also were provided important information from our guidance staff, academic department heads, and our athletics program.

Whitman-Hanson Community Access producer Kevin Tocci attended the event and with the assistance of our Vocational Director Deborah Collins, videoed clips from our shops during the Open House. That footage is being edited now and once finished, it will run on the Whitman-Hanson local cable access channel, and we will be able to distribute it to other local cable stations in the district and also link it to our website.

Thie Whitman-Hanson Express also covered the event and published an article this week  http://www.whitmanhansonexpress.com/whitman-hanson-news/9505-kicking-the-educational-tires.html

I hope you and your families have a restful vacation.  I'm off to the mall!

Thank you Mrs. Bumpus!

Hello SSVT Community,

As the school prepares to wrap up for our December vacation and look with ahead to the new year, this is also an important time for one of our faculty members, Mrs. Jeanie Bumpus.  Mrs. Bumpus is retiring after 27 years of service to the students of South Shore Vo-Tech.  More than anything, Mrs. Bumpus maintained a firm belief that all students can be successful, and many, many graduates can attribute their post-secondary success to her efforts.

We wish Mrs. Bumpus the very best in the next chapter of her life with her family and we thank her for her dedicated service!

Viking Football Featured in Ledger/Enterprise

Hello SSVT students, families and staff,

When you have a moment, please check out these photos from Thursday's football practice:

http://www.patriotledger.com/photos/x2105838787/A-memorable-season-for-South-Shore-Votech-football

We are all very proud of what our team has accomplished and hope to see you at the Thanksgiving Game at home vs Southeastern at 10AM!

Traffic Flow Patterns

Hello SSVT Staff, Students and Families,

In an effort to ensure consistent traffic flow patterns and provide parents, students, staff and guests with clear directions, we will be upgrading, relocating and in some cases removing some directional signs on campus.

A few helpful hints:

1. During school hours, there should be no vehicles driving around the back of the building except for authorized school business. 
2. For everyone's safety on campus we are asking all drivers at all times to follow the same counter-clockwise traffic flow pattern at all times, whether during school hours or not. 
3. Families arriving for an after school game who are likely to park in the back or near the library should bear right, driving around the back of the building toward the library parking lot.  There is no problem with turning left to remain in the front of the building, but those cars are limited to parking in the front of the building only.
4. Families idling on Webster Street picking up their children should avoid idling close to the school exit so that those cars leaving the lot can see clearly onto Webster Street when turning left.

Thank you!

Revised School Calendar

Hello SSVT Students and Families,

Our students and staff got right back to work without missing a beat after losing two days to Hurricane Sandy last week.

Here is a copy of the revised 2012-2013 school calendar in light of the October 29-30 days off.  In this version, which is on the school website, we made a slight adjustment to the list of holidays on the right of the calendar (there were two dates for Good Friday listed).

Thank you!

Draft Vocational Curriculum Frameworks Published; Public Comment Sought

In Massachusetts there is plenty of attention given to academic curriculum frameworks because of the high stakes nature of MCAS testing, and with Massachusetts moving toward alignment with national Common Core curriculum standards.

In the vocational community we consider the vocational technical curriculum frameworks to be equally important.   There have been state curriculum frameworks for our vocational programs for several years now, and our 14 vocational programs are aligned with the current frameworks.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently convened groups of educators and employers to write new frameworks which have been released in draft form .   For now, SSVT students will be taught in alignment with the existing frameworks until these new frameworks are adopted.

There is a public comment period on these curriculum frameworks and I encourage all SSVT staff, parents, advisors, alumni to share your perspectives on what a rigorous and relevant vocational curriculum should look like in all of our programs. I also encourage our current students to take a look and talk with your teachers about these documents and/or give feedback to our Vocational Director Mrs. Collins.

Each framework document is packaged around an industry area and may not match up with the titles of our 14 programs, so please contact me if you need assistance determining which framework matches up with our vocational programs.

We will be discussing this information with our Program Advisors at our fall meeting on November 8, 2012.

Notice to Parents: Online Option to Schedule Nov 1st Parent/Teacher Conferences

Hello SSVT Parents:

This letter is being mailed home, but here is an advance copy...

This year SSVT will be utilizing an on-line scheduling tool to book parent/teacher conferences.  To get started, visit the school website at http://www.ssvotech.org and click the link: “schedule a Parent/Teacher conference” located on the home page.  Once at the Conference scheduling page, follow the step-by-step instructions below:

1.    Check the box next to the name of the teacher you want to have a conference with.

2.    Enter your child’s last name, first name, your name, and your email address.  Click the submit button.

3.    You will receive an email at the address you specified in step 2.  You will have to click the link in the email message that says “click here to select conference time.”

***If you do not receive an email please check your Spam folder ***

4.    You will be directed to a website with a list of available meeting times for the teacher you selected.  Choose the time that best meets your needs by checking the box to the left of your selected time slot.  Times listed in RED are unavailable because they have already been booked by another parent.

5.    When done, click the button done choosing appointment time.

6.    On the next page you have 3 options:

a)   I am finished making appointments

·   Choose this option if you are done making appointments with each of the teachers you’d like to meet with.

b)   Yes, I need to register another conference for this student

·   Choose this option if you need to schedule a conference with another teacher.

c)    Yes, I need to register another student

·   Use this option if you have more than one student at the school and would like to schedule a conference for your second child.

7.    Continue following steps 4-6 until you have scheduled all the conferences you would like to schedule.  Choose I am finished making appointment when you are done.

You will receive email notifications of all of your appointments and will also receive reminders of your appointment times.  You may reschedule any of your appointments up until October 31^st, the day before the scheduled Parent/Teacher conferences.

If you do not have internet access or would like assistance in scheduling your conferences please contact your child's guidance counselor. Use the chart below to determine which counselor is assigned to your child.

Counselor Name	Student Assignments	Phone Number
Amy Dow	Auto Body, Culinary Arts, HVAC, Metal Fab, Cosmetology	781-878-8822 x440
Joseph Madera	CIT, Electrical, Electronics, Drafting, Graphic Communications, Allied Health	781-878-8822 x422
Todd Zahurak	All Freshman, Automotive, Carpentry, PMT	781-878-8822 x421