Chrismtas Tournament

Our basketball teams have been busy during the Christmas Vacation time and have played several games. Our teams have done great and are ready for "crunch time" as the County Tournament and Area Tournament on the horizon. Our teams play December 29, 2009 at Richland with our girls getting started at 11:30 and our boys following at 3:00 p.m.

Merry Christmas

This is "The most wonderful time of the year" in many ways. Everyone is excited about getting out of school to refresh minds and body and Christmas is right around the corner. From the faculty and staff of Ardmore High School I would like to wish all of the Ardmore family and very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Exams

Students will take exams in periods 4, 5, 6, & 7 today and periods 1, 2, & 3 on Friday. Students that exempted all exams are out of school until January 6, 2010.

Exemption/Check-out

Exemption procedures are many times confusing to parents, teachers, students, (and administrators). We want to make sure everyone is aware of the procedures we use here at Ardmore High School. Students may exempt their semester exams in accordance with the policy listed in the student handbook. Students that are exempt are not required to attend on the day the exam is given. Students that exempt all exams will not be required to attend school Thursday and Friday of this week.

Teachers will be handing out exemption forms on Tuesday and your student should bring this form home to be signed and return the form on Wednesday. This form will serve as the check-in/out form in case your child doesn’t exempt all their exams. This will let you know when they are expected to be at school and will give us permission to dismiss them when they do not have an exam. Students will not be required to go through the office when leaving so you can make arrangements with your child as to the location you will pick them up. In order to cut down on confusion students may only check-in/out one time during exemption days.

If your student should decide to check-out on Friday after the exam they must bring a note from you on Friday giving them permission to check-out. We can not allow a student to check out from a phone call so please send a note or physically come to the school to pick up your child. We hope everyone enjoys the break and has a Merry Christmas.

Exemption Procedures

Exemption Procedures
1. Exemption forms will be passed out on Tuesday, December 15.
2. Students will take the form around Tuesday to be signed by the
appropriate teachers.
3. Students must turn in their exemption sheet to their 1st period teachers
Wednesday, December 16. Late arrival students that don’t have a first
period teacher will turn the form in to the first teacher they have for
class.
4. 2nd Nine weeks tests will be cumulative and cover material from the
beginning of the first semester.
5. The semester average will be used to determine exemptions.
6. Absences will count for the entire semester to determine exemptions.
7. Students exempt from Friday exams are not required to be present on
Thursday for the reviews (one time check in/out rule still applies).
8. The last day students exempting ALL exams are required to attend is
Wednesday, December 16. Wednesday, December 16, WILL count
toward the determination of exemptions! Signed forms are pending
attendance on December 16.
9. Students may leave without checking in/out through the office for
classes they are exempt.
10. Students may only check in/out one time during the day.
11. Students NOT exempt and absent will receive an unexcused absence.
If they leave campus w/o permission disciplinary action will be taken.

Hunter's Highlights

The end of the first semester is quickly approaching. Students and teachers will be preparing for nine weeks test which are a major part of the semester grade. Students have been taking the Alabama High School Graduation Exam this week and we want to thank everyone for their cooperation. A special thanks to Ms. Kirk and the teachers and staff administering and proctoring the test.

Our Award Winning Tiger Band once again put on a great show at their annual Christmas concert. The concert helped raise money and canned food for local charities once again showing the heart of the Ardmore school and community. Mr. Nelson and the entire band is to be congratulated for such a wonderful show and having such a quality band.

Basketball season is in full swing and our teams are doing wonderfully. All six of our teams are doing great and we know the trend will continue. All of the coaches, players, and cheerleaders are to be commended for their performance at all of our games.

Miss Gina Hobbs has been selected to be Miss Merry Christmas for the 2010 Senior Class. Gina will be honored at a ceremony Tuesday hosted by the Athens Chamber of Commerce. Gina is a very deserving student and has represented Ardmore wonderfully.

Our math and science teachers continue to work with our students using hands-on activities provided by AMSTI. Our students are getting to partake in hands-on experiences that improve their comprehension in the areas of math and science. Our teachers are doing a great job and although the approach may be a little different; in the end our students will benefit.

January 7th Basketball Game

The MS basketball game originally scheduled for January 7th, 2010 at 6:00 at East Limestone has been changed to 3:30. There seems to be another event scheduled for that afternoon that could be a conflict.

Hunter's Highlights

This has been an incredibly busy week at Ardmore High School. The first semester is winding down and Christmas vacation and semester exams are on the minds of students and teachers. Nine Weeks Exams count 20% of a student’s final grade so these exams are extremely important. Parents please help us make this a priority for the students so they can reach their fullest potential. In order to encourage good attendance Limestone County Schools allow students to exempt their 2nd Nine Weeks exams if they meet the criteria listed in the handbook. Please keep an eye on our website to read the exemption policy.

Basketball season is in full swing and our teams are performing wonderfully. Our boy’s varsity team is currently undefeated in area play and this puts them in a great place in terms of the area tournament. Of course, I know Coach Sanderson would point out, it isn’t a time to let down. Please continue to come out and support our basketball program. We have great coaches, players and fans which makes the games fun.

Mr. Brad Lewis sponsors our “We the People” Team which is an academic competition related to US History. Mr. Lewis does an outstanding job preparing our students and at the recent competition our students performed wonderfully. The students seemed to enjoy the experience and I believe the educational value of this endeavor is very positive. Mr. Lewis is also our Sr. Beta Club sponsor this year and the Induction Ceremony is Monday, December 7, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the school cafeteria.

Our teachers have a lot of wonderful things taking place in the classrooms as they continue to provide a world-class education to the students at Ardmore. It is exciting to walk into the classrooms as our teachers use the most current teaching methods to reach our students. Our motto is, “When we cease getting better, we stop being good” so we continue to look for ways to improve.

Athens Christmas Parade

Our Award Winning Tiger Band will be performing in the annual Athens Christmas Parade Thursday night. We hope everyone can come out and support all of our students participating in the parade.

We the People

Mr. Brad Lewis teaches Government/Economics at Ardmore High School and leads a team of students that compete in a competition called, "We the People." These students have worked extremely hard and competed in Hunstville today in a competition. They did wonderfully and represented Ardmore High School wonderfully. We know they will continue to improve. A special thanks to Mr. Lewis for his hard work and dedication and for going above and beyond the call of duty to provide learning opportunities to our students.

Thanksgiving

The faculty and staff of Ardmore High School would like to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving Holiday. We all have so much to be thankful for, and we hope everyone takes a moment to reflect upon their life. To quote H.U. Westermayer, "Pilgrims make seven times more graves than huts; no American have ever been more impoverished but have set aside a day of Thanksgiving."

Hunter's Highlights

This has been a busy week at Ardmore High School with a lot of things happening. Our clubs met this week so students were able to meet with students having similar interest. Many of our clubs perform community service and our students learn how to become better citizens. We also had various team and group pictures made during the week.

Our Central Office Support Team (COST) visited our school this week to monitor our implementation of our Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP). Teachers have done a great deal of work to implement our plan in order to better serve our students. Everything we do is directed toward the goal of improving student performance. Our visit was very positive finding all of our teachers properly implementing our CIP.

Congratulations to Brenda Morrow for being selected MS Teacher of the Year. Once a month our students vote for the Teacher of the Year on their way to lunch. All of our teachers do a great job, but it is always good to recognize the teachers students select as going above and beyond the call of duty.

Basketball is in full swing with all of our teams having played several games. Our teams are playing great and we know the wins will continue to pile up. All the coaches and players have been working very hard for a long time and their hard work is paying off.
The newsletter isn't sent out every week because we try and update events as they happen by using the school blog and by using twitter. Please feel free to check these to website frequently to get the latest "happenings" at Ardmore High School. The web address for the blog is http://www.ardmorehighschool.blogspot.com/ and go to www.twitter.com/ardmorehs to follow our school on twitter.

CIP Walk-Through

Alabama schools have a Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) in order to help improve student achievement. Periodically, "walk-throughs" are conducted to determine whether or not the CIP is being implemented. Ardmore recently conducted one of its walk-throughs and we found that teachers are consistently implementing school improvement ideas as stated in the CIP. This is evidence of what we already know; Ardmore is a GREAT school!

DEAR/Mentoring

Ardmore High School students will be Dropping Everything And Reading Tuesday. The ability to read is fundamental to learning. Mark Twain has said, "Those who don't read have no advantage over those who can not read." We set aside a brief period of time regularly to allow students to read. Teachers may read as well, setting a good example for students. During this time our staff mentors also meet with some at-risk students to hopefully help all our students stay in school and graduate.

MS Basketball

Congratulations to our JV girls, JV boys, and varsity girls for defeating East Limestone Friday night. Our MS teams play at home tonight against West Limestone with game time at 6:00.

Veteran's Day

As most of you know school will not be in session Wednesday, November 11, 2009 in observance of Veteran's Day. We all owe a huge debt to our Veterans and we certainly want to honor them.

Let us all take time out to remember their sacrifice.

Lockdown Procedure

I want to thank all the parents and students for their patience during our lockdown event on Friday. I want you to know that there was never any reason to believe our students were in any danger, but we wanted to error on the side of caution. We received word that a bank in town experienced an attempted robbery and the armed suspect left the scene in an undetermined direction. We thought it prudent to go into our lockdown procedure until further details were given. Thank you again for your patience, as you know when we are in lockdown nobody may pick up any students from school. Thanks for all of your support of Ardmore High School.

New Region/Area Alignments

The AHSAA has released the new region and area alignments for the next two years. You may visit http://www.ahsaa.com/ to see all the changes.

TIp-Off Tournament

Our MS boys and girls will play at West Limestone on Saturday, Novemeber 6 at West Limestone. The girls play at 1:30 followed by the boy's game.

Blood Drive

Remember to come by and give the gift of life at our Fall Blood Drive.

Tip-Off Victories

Our boys and girls MS teams both won their opening game and both play Thursday at West Limestone in the Tip-Off Tourn. Our girls play first at 6:15 to be followed by the boys game. Both of our teams play the West Limestone Wildcats. Good luck Tigers!

Tip-Off Tournament

Basketball season begins Monday night, November 2nd with our MS Boy’s team playing at West Limestone vs Clements beginning at 6:15. Our MS Girl’s play at 7:30 vs. Clements.

Hunter's Highlights

It has been a great week at Ardmore High School! Our football team recently finished their season and we want to congratulate Coach Brown and the team for their hard work and dedication. I want to also thank our band and cheerleaders for all they do to make Friday nights a fun time at Ardmore. Basketball season is right around the corner and we are looking forward to a great year!

In a continuing effort to keep everyone informed about what is happening at Ardmore High School, we have a new tool with which to communicate up-to-date information. Ardmore High School now has an official “Twitter” account. You can get the latest updates of sporting events, weather situations, and many other types of updates by becoming a follower of us on Twitter. Go to www.twitter.com/ardmorehs to become a follower. If you do not currently have a twitter account you must first become a member to become a follower of Ardmore High School.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 is Parenting Day. We will be conducting parent conferences from 1:00p.m.-3:00 p.m. on this day. Please send the form your students brought home to schedule a conference with teachers. Information may also be obtained from the website if your child didn’t make it home with the forms. We are looking forward to hearing from all of you.

The Ardmore Diamond Club will be having its annual Draw Down & Dinner on Saturday night, November 21, 2009 in the Ardmore High School Cafeteria beginning at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $100 and include a great dinner and the chance to win prizes including the grand prize of $3000. The money goes to help support our baseball program. Look forward to seeing you there!

Tiger Tip-Off Night presented by First National Bank will be Tuesday, November 10th at 6:00 in the Ardmore High School Gym. All players, parents, family members, and the Ardmore community are invited. Pep rally and player introductions will begin at 7:00.

First National Bank Tip-Off Night

Tiger Tip-Off Night presented by First National Bank will be Tuesday, November 10th at 6:00 in the Ardmore High School Gym. All players, parents, family members, and the Ardmore community are invited. Pep rally and player introductions will begin at 7:00.

Draw Down and Dinner

The Ardmore Diamond Club will be having its annual Draw Down & Dinner on Saturday night, November 21, 2009 in the Ardmore High School Cafeteria beginning at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $100 and include a great dinner and the chance to win prizes including the grand prize of $3000. The money goes to help support our baseball program. Look forward to seeing you there!

Storytelling Festival

Our 6th Grade will be attending the Storytelling Festival in Athens Thursday morning. We will leave immediately following announcements in order to be there for the 9:00 show. I know our students will enjoy listening to the "yarns."

Friday Night's Game

Due to inclement weather Friday night's football game has been changed to Thursday night. I know this is an inconvenience to many of you, but we feel this is in the best interest of our students. The game will begin at 7:00 p.m Thursday, October 29, 2009

Parenting Day

We are looking forward to another great Parenting Day where parents have the opportunity to come and meet with their student's teachers from 1:00 p.m. till 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3. Teachers will be available from 1:00 till 7:00. We want to thank you in advance for making plans to attend Parenting Day! The forms may be downloaded from the school website.

Announcements

A great way to keep up with what is going on at Ardmore is to read the daily announcements. This is a great idea for parents and for teachers and students who may have not been able to hear announcements. You will find them posted daily on our website.

Football Win

Our football team won their first game of the season Friday night, defeating the Red Devils from Lawrence County in an exciting game. Our players and coaches are to be commended for the great effort.

Yearbooks

The last day to buy a yearbook is Friday, October 23, 2009. So please don't let the opportunity pass you by.

Hunter's Highlights

This has been a great week at Ardmore High School. Report cards went out today, Friday, October 16, 2009 which is the first week of the second nine week grading period. It is hard to believe the school year is one quarter of the way complete. Students have been working hard and Christmas Break will be here before we know it.

Congratulations to the parents, students and teachers of Ardmore High School for winning the Academic Trophy for Limestone County. Ardmore has won this trophy for 8 out the last 10 years. The award is based upon standardized test scores and results of the county Scholar's Bowl competition.

Our Yearbooks have been on sale for several weeks and will continue through October 23. The price of yearbooks this year is $55 so please don’t forget to order yours today. We are having a poster contest to kick off the book fair. The poster is an advertisement for the book fair and students need to be sure to include their name and first period teacher on the back of the poster.

Our volleyball team ended their season this week due to a loss in the area tournament. Our girls have played hard and had a very successful season. Coach Martin and the team are to be congratulated on a great season. Our MS football team concludes its season Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 1:00 versus Clements. The game will be played at East Limestone’s stadium and gates open at 12:00. Please note the youth football league has games preceding the MS games.

Students in grades 9-12 have selected Mr. Lewis as their HS Teacher of the Month. Congratulations Mr. Lewis! Mr. Lewis has been teaching History, Government and Economics to our juniors and seniors for seven years. He has also taught dual enrollment History classes for four years.

Our Beta Club will play the cheerleaders in the annual PowderPuff Football Game next Friday, October 23, 2009 at 2:00. We are looking forward to this yearly clash of the titans.

Academic Trophy

Congratulations to the parents, students and teachers of Ardmore High School for winning the Academic Trophy for Limestone County. Ardmore has won this trophy for 8 out the last 10 years. The award is based upon standardized test scores and results of the county Scholar's Bowl competition.

Report Cards

Report cards go out 1st period Friday, October 16, 2009.

Hunter's Highlights

It has been another good week at Ardmore High School. The students have been taking nine weeks test this week. Teachers and students have been working extremely hard to prepare and we are confident it will pay off for the students.

Our JV volleyball team placed second in the Limestone County Tournament held this week. Our varsity volleyball team plays at Brooks High School versus Lawrence County Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 2:30. Students wishing to attend the game must bring a note from home to check out at 1:00 and bring a ticket stub back Wednesday. Students that do this will not be counted absent. Our volleyball team has had a great season and we look forward to it continuing.

Of course the big thing on everybody’s mind is Fall Break. School is out Friday, October 9th and Monday October 12th. We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable fall break and is ready to come back and have a strong finish to the semester.

Brooks Football Game

Due to the threat of bad weather Friday night, our football game against Brooks has been changed to Thursday night, Oct. 8. I apologize for any inconvenience this short notice may cause, but we felt like it was in the best interest of our students to make this change.

Volleyball Team

Our volleyball team played wonderfully and placed third in the county tournament. The volleyball team is peaking at area tournament time. Good luck girls!

Band Competition

Our band recently received all superior ratings at their contest held in Hartselle. Way to go Tiger Band!

Hunter's Highlights

This has been a wonderful week at Ardmore High School as our students work hard to prepare for next weeks nine weeks exams. Periods 1, 3, 5, and 7 will test on Wednesday, Oct. 7 and periods 2, 4, and 6 will test on Thursday, Oct. 8. Of course we will be out of school on Friday, Oct. 9 and Monday Oct. 12.

Ms. Emily Savoie was selected as Ardmore High School's Teacher of the Year. Ms. Savoie is a wonderful teacher and works hard for the students of Ardmore. Ms. Savoie, in addition to being an outstanding English teacher, serves as yearbook sponsor, helps with the prom, coordinates senior orders, and coordinates homecoming just to name a few activities. We are all very proud of Ms. Savoie.

Our Tiger Marching Band will compete in their first competition of the year this Saturday, Oct. 3 at Hartselle. Good luck to our band and we know they will represent us well.

Our fall sports are wide open with the volleyball county tournament upon us and the Area Tournament right around the corner. Football continues to work hard and represent Ardmore with class and dignity. Our first year cross country team is doing great and Coach Morrow is to be complemented on starting the program from scratch. Our cheerleaders do a wonderful job helping to promote school spirit.

We have a lot to be proud of at Ardmore and we hope everyone will continue to support the school and all of its activities. Ardmore definitely has a "family feel" and we want to continue to work together to make a great place even better.

In-School Volleyball Game

Our volleyball plays East Limestone Thursday, October 1st beginning at 2:00. Our student body will be allowed to watch the game and the price of admission is only $2.00, however, adult admission prices will still be $4.00.

Hunter's Highlights

The big story of the week has been the Alabama High School Graduation Exam. Students and teachers (and principals) all seem glad that testing is over and life can go back to normal. It is a major undertaking and it could not be done with out the efforts of many staff members. A special thanks goes to Ms. Kirk for all of her hard work in manking testing successful.

Ms. Martin's class was doing an AMSTI experiment the other day as are other math and science teachers at Armdore. AMSTI is a program that will hopefully help improve our already good science and math instruction.

Seniors will be taking their group picture Monday and it is also make-up picture day. If a student was absent on picture day he/she may get their picture taken on Monday. Parents please remember to send back the money for your child's picture. They will only be young once so please remember to purchase the school day pictures.

Fall sports season continues to be in full swing. Volleyball, football, cheerleading, band and our newest sport cross country are all having busy seasons. Ms. Brenda Morrow is our new cross country coach and our team has done awesome, especially for the first year to compete. We are hoping this will grow into a track program for our Spring runners.

Senior Information

The Ardmore High School Website has a new feature. Announcements pertaining to seniors are on the website in the right column. This feature was added as a result from a suggestion from a parent. We are always looking for ways to improve our website so please keep the suggestions coming.

Elementary School Night

Ardmore High School will recognize the future Tigers at Friday night's game against East Limestone. All Cedar Hill and Johnson students will receive a pass for admission to Friday night's game as long as they are accompanied by an adult. The Elementary students will be asked to help us form the spirit line at the game.

Elementary School Night

Friday night's football game vs. East Limestone will be Elementary School Night. Students attending Cedar Hill Elementary and Johnson Elementary schools will receive a pass for admission to the game as long as they are accompanied by an adult.

East Limestone Game

Orginally our game against East was scheduled for Thursday night. However, due to the Graduation exam the game was re-scheduled for Friday night.

Fall Pictures

Fall pictures are in and will be distributed to students very soon. Please send money with your child for the package you would like to purchase. These are precious memories that will be treasured for years.

Spirit Items

Please remember to look over the catalog with spirit items. This is the last week to buy these items and we want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to purchase what they want.

Website

There are many exciting things taking place in the classrooms of Ardmore High School. Please check out our website for some of these activities. We have students participating in hands-on learning activities due to our becoming an AMSTI school and our teachers using differentiated instruction teaching strategies. Our teachers are doing a great job and we know student learning is improving!

Graduation Exam

The Alabama High School Graduation Exam (AHSGE) will be administered at Ardmore High School the week of Sept. 21 - 25. You child should receive notification if they are affected by this testing session. All students testing should try and get a good night's sleep and a good breakfast. Students will not be able to participate in any extracurricular activities the night before they take a test.

Good luck on your testing!

Hunter's Highlights

It has been a great homecoming week here at Ardmore High School. Students have dressed in many "different" ways to celebrate homecoming. It is always a little crazy walking down the halls during homecoming, and everyone seemed to have a great time. The parade was a huge succes thanks to a lot of hard work and effort from a lot of people. The band and cheerleaders put on a wonderful pep rally and we hope to culminate the week with a big victory against Central of Florence Wildcats.

A very special thanks goes out to Ms. Emily Savoie. Some of you may not know that Ms. Savoie coordinates all the events surrounding homecoming. It takes a tremendous amount of hard work and effort and Ms. Savoie always does a wonderful job!

Our sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students have voted for Mr. Defiore as the Teacher of the Month for September. Mr. Defiore teaches 7th and 8th Grade Science Classes. He has a BS in Chemistry Minor in Mathematics from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1976, a BS in Arts and Sciences from Athens State University in 2006, and Teaching certifications in Chemistry and General Science.

Coach Mike Jackson's classes began AMSTI experiments with Metric Measuring. His classes measured volume, mass, and length of various items located around the school and in the science lab. Coach Matin's 6th grade classes have also been doing experiments in science and the students are engaging in many critical thinking activities. Many exciting things are happening in the classrooms of Ardmore High School.

Ardmore First National Bank Advisory Board is a group of 12 students chosen by school officials each year to participate in activities with First National Bank throughout the year. These students have already participated in community activities this year such as: "Kids Day at the Park", "The Sheriff's Rodeo", and "Meet the Tigers". They will be meeting at the bank once a month to discuss finance, accounting, banking, and other business topics. This is a great opportunity for our young people!

State Championship Team

The state championship teams of 1958, 1961, and 1963 will honored before the homecoming game tonight. These men have raised money to purchase three monuments placed in the north end zone. We hope everyone will come out and enjoy a great evening of high school football.

Homecoming 2009

Homecoming 2009 is in full swing. The Homecoming Parade is scheduled for Thursday, September 10th beginning at 4:00 pm. Students are busy building floats for the parade and the festivities have been going strong all week. A pep rally is scheduled for Friday at 2:10, and the culmination of the week's festivities is the football game vs. Central of Florence Friday night at 7:00 p.m. We will be honoring the past state championship teams before the game on Friday so please come early so you won't miss the ceremony.

President's Speech

President Obama is scheduled to address the nation's school children on September 8. We have had calls asking about this event. We are not broadcasting it to the entire school and will leave it up to each teacher to decide whether or not it fits into their class plans. Watching the video is NOT mandatory and alternative arrangements will be made for students not wishing to watch the speech. If you have any questions concerning this event please feel free to contact me. Additional information may be obtained at http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html

Flu Precautions

Parents everywhere are preparing for, or are already involved in, another school year. If you are a parent, you need to add one more item to your back-to-school checklist: what to do if someone in your family gets the flu.
This fall, we not only have to plan for a new version of seasonal influenza, but also for a potentially serious strain, the 2009 H1N1 (or Swine Flu) virus. Scientists believe this virus could worsen with the arrival of a new school year. Being prepared lessens the chances that our students could contract the Swine Flu.
The symptoms of H1N1 are similar to seasonal flu. They could include fever, cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, achiness, headache, chills and fatigue. These are sometimes accompanied by diarrhea and vomiting. Like seasonal flu, H1N1 can be serious for some individuals.
Most precautions for preventing flu are simple and personal. Keep your child at home if they're sick, and begin planning now in the event that your child contracts the flu. No one knows what impact the fall flu season will have until we're in the middle of it. How severe the flu becomes this fall will depend on how seriously each of us takes precautions to reduce the risk .
At the national level, the Food and Drug Administration expects to have a vaccine ready this fall. The Limestone County School System will keep school communities updated with the latest information we receive. If you have questions or concerns contact your healthcare provider or school nurse.

Forms

Many of you may not know that most all of our forms are posted on our website. Please click on forms to access the form you need.

Contact Numbers

While cell phones have tremendously helped schools communicate with parents they have also presented some new issues. It is critical we have up to date contact numbers so we can contact parents in the case of an emergency. Many times people change cell numbers, or run out of minutes on pre-paid phones and we can't contact parents. When there is a change in your contact information please notify us so we can have accurate contact information. Protecting your children is our number one concern and it is vital we are able to contact parents when there are issues with your children. Emergency contacts other than parents are important, but the final authority concerning students is the parent. We have wonderful parents and students and we thank you for your help and understanding in this matter.

Homecoming Events

Believe it or not, due to the football schedule and the testing schedule, Homecoming is right around the corner. All the grades are beginning the process of working on their respective floats. Students are encouraged to donate money, time, expertise or contribute in any way possible to help their grade have the best float! Check the website regularly for the latest updates on homecoming activities. Reminder that daily announcements are listed on the website as well.

Who's Who Pictures Wednesday

Senior Who's Who, class officers, and other similar groups will have their pictures made Wednesday, Sept. 2. Students are encouraged to come dressed appropriately. Faculty pictures will also be taken on this day.

Tuesday Volleyball

Our volleyball will play their first area game Tuesday night at Brooks High School. We invite everyone to come out and support our volleyball team.

Hunter's Highlights

This has been a great week at Ardmore High School. Things have really swung into full gear as the fall sports season cranks up. Our volleyball team has been doing great and have defeated many opponents while looking forward to their area schedule starting next week. The football team opens against Elkmont, which is always and exciting game. Our guys have worked extremely hard and we know the hard work will pay off. We will also get our first look at the Award Winning Tiger Band this Friday during half-time. Our cheerleaders did a wonderful job at the pep rally and know they will help keep our crowd fired up at the games all year long.

Speaking of pep rallies, we had an awesome pep rally and with over 900 students we are very crowded in the gym. It was hard for all the parents to find a place to sit, and we welcome all parents to the pep rallies, but we have a seating chart for our students so we can be accountable for them. Thank you for your patience as we try and find a place for the "parent section", but we must make sure our students are taken care of.

We are excited about this year and look forward to a banner year. It is great to be an Ardmore Tiger!

Pep Rally

We will have a pep rally Friday, August 28, 2009 beginning at 2:10. This is the first pep rally of the year and everyone is really excited. Our volleyball team has started their season and is playing great! The volleyball team plays at Athens Tuesday beginning at 5:30. This is a great time to get involved with the school. We have many wonderful things happening at Ardmore High School.

Friday Summary

This has been a great week at Ardmore High School. The fall sports season is off and running with the volleyball regular season starting and the football jamboree on Friday. Our girl's will be playing in the Athens tournament on Saturday and football opens against Elkmont next week. The Tiger Band will also make its fall debut next week at Elkmont.

Schedule changes are pretty much over and everyone is settling down into their routine and in some ways it seems like we never left. This has been a great start to the school year and we are looking forward to the remainder of the year.

New Gym

If you haven't seen our gym I would like to invite you to a volleyball game. Over the summer a dedicated group of volleyball and basketball parents, players and coaches did a lot of painting. The gym looks awesome and we thank all the volunteers that helpe. While it is impossible to thank everyone, Ms. Karen Tucker has done the artwork in the gym and we are very grateful to her for her hard work! Great job Tigers!

Volleyball

Volleyball season is underway and our girls are doing great. All of our teams defeated Tanner in the first game of the year and we are looking forward to a great year. Coach Martin and the team have worked very hard and we know their hard work will show!

Friday Summary

Today marks the end of the first week of school. It seems to have gone very smoothly and the students, parents and staff of Ardmore High School have done a great job of ensuring a great start to the school year. We are looking for great things this year.

Our Meet the Tigers night was a great success with everyone having the opportunity to hear the wonderful Tiger Band for the first time this year. The football team, volleyball team and cheerleaders were also introduced to the Ardmore community and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Thanks to First National Bank for sponsoring this event.

The Black and Gold intersquad game is scheduled for Friday night, August 14, 2009 beginning at 5:30. We hope everyone can come out and support our team. Admission is $2.00 and concessions will be served.

Schedule Changes

The beginning of school is an exciting time of year. Unfortunately, schedule changes are a part of this time of year. This year due to proration our classroom numbers are high and schedule changes are very difficult. We have had to do some major rearranging in order to try and keep the classroom numbers down. We want to thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

Meet the Tigers

First National Bank will host its annual "Meet the Tigers" night Thursday, August 13 at 6:30. The event will be held at the First National Bank in Ardmore and will recognize fall sports and the Ardmore High School Band. Please come out and meet the Tigers.

Black and Gold Game

The Ardmore High School Football Program will host a "Black and Gold Game" Friday night beginning at 5:30. The varsity and middle school teams will participate in this pre-season scrimmage. Admission will only be $2.00 so come out and support our Tigers and get a look at the 2009-2010 football team.

AYP

Recently, accountability results for the state of Alabama were released and Ardmore High School was listed as “Not making AYP” and also “On School Improvement”. Knowing your child’s school is “On School Improvement” can cause undue stress and concern for parents and community members. The intent of this article is to state the specific reasons for the accountability status for Ardmore High School.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) established a system of accountability for the nation’s public schools. Each school must make what is defined as “Adequate Yearly Progress” or AYP. Schools are measured in many different areas and subgroups to determine their AYP status. Schools must be found proficient in each category for each subgroup in order to make AYP and therefore receive a “Clear” status.

Ardmore High School is on School Improvement due to the Graduation Rate. The manner in which Graduation Rate is calculated has changed from time to time and is different from state to state. A school automatically makes AYP if the graduation rate is above 90 or if the graduation rate improves from one year to the other. The graduation rate for Ardmore High School beginning in 2005 and going through 2008 is as follows: 78%, 77%, 90%, 83.78%. The projected rate for 2009 is 93.08%. A one percent drop from 78 to 77% caused the school to not make AYP and a drop from 90 to 83.78% caused the school to once again not make AYP.

It is worthy of noting that 83.78%, while less than 90, is much higher than many schools that did make AYP. A school can have a graduation rate of 75% and make AYP as long as it is an improvement from the previous year. The system, as it exists, labels a school, such as Ardmore, even though more of its students may graduate than many other schools. Obviously, one student not gradating is too many and we are working diligently to improve everything about our school every year including the graduation rate.

One category should not define a school. Ardmore has an average ACT score of 23 which is above the state and national average. The test scores at Ardmore are consistently above the state average on the SAT and ARMT which are standardized tests used to determine AYP status. When all a person sees is the label “Not Making AYP” or “On School Improvement” other pertinent information can be overlooked. Many other test scores reflect the quality of education received by students at Ardmore. Ardmore students perform excellently on the Alabama High School Graduation Exam and graduates are prepared for their future regardless of what level of higher education they may pursue.

The faculty and staff of Ardmore High School want the parents, community and all stakeholders to understand that the students attending Ardmore High School receive a quality education and they can take pride in their school.

Welcome Back

I would like to welcome back our students and faculty. We are all looking forward to a great year here at Ardmore High School. We have a wonderful staff and an awesome student body. I look forward to working with each and every one of them this year.

We are always looking for new ways to communicate with parents and stakeholders so a blog seemed like a logical place to begin. I will be updating this blog periodically so please follow along with us and you will recieve the most up to date information available concerning Ardmore High School.