MANSFIELD HIGH SCHOOL (MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS)

'Mansfield High School' (MHS) is a four year, comprehensive public high school located in Mansfield, Massachusetts. MHS is the only high school in the Mansfield Public Schools system and it serves 1,315 students in grades nine though twelve.[2]

Contents

Mission statement

Administration

Principal

Assistant Principals

Academics

Faculty

Graduation requirements

Courses

Levels

Advanced placement

Notable courses

Grading

Class rank

Athletics

Eligibility

External links

References

Mission statement

According to Mansfield High School's website, their mission is to, "...promote the intellectual, aesthetic, emotional, physical, and social development of our students..."[3] To do this, Mansfield High School has designed a "broad-based curriculum" and has "a dedicated faculty and staff" to promote each students' development across each of the five areas previously mentioned.[4] The combination of an effectively focused curriculum and a faculty devoted to teaching the students allows each student "to become [a] lifelong learner who can contribute to our ever changing society."[5]

Administration

Mansfield High School is administered by a principal and three assistant principals.[6]

Principal

:Mr. William Farrington, Jr. was hired for the start of the 2006 school year as an interim replacement for Mrs. Brenda Hodges, who received a promotion to Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Applications are being accepted for the position through November 10, 2006.[7]

Assistant Principals

:Mansfield high school has three assistant principals to help meet the demands of its students.
:'Ms. Cynthia Davis' - Hired Fall 2005.
:'Mrs. Kerri Sankey' - Began teaching art in the Jordan / Jackson Elementary School, eventually to become the head of the art department. However for the 2006 – 2007 school year, Sankey was offered and accepted the position of assistant principal.
:'Mr. David Farinella' - Mr. Farinella has been the head of the guidance department for many years, however now he is both the department head and an assistant principal.

Academics

Faculty

Mansfield High School (2005 – 2006) employs 83 teachers with 71 teaching within the eight core academic departments.[8] This leads to an overall student to teacher ratio of 15.7 to 1, which is slightly higher than the 13.2 to 1 state-wide student to teacher ratio.[9] Below is a list of the current (2006 – 2007) department chairpersons. To contact any of them simply send an e-mail to their firstname.lastname@mansfieldschools.com.[10]
:'Business' – Patricia Guerrini
:'English' – Cynthia Carli
:'Fine Arts' – Scott Brigante
:'Foreign Language' – Leslie Gildersleeve
:'Mathematics' – Christine Kalinowski
:'Science' – James Perry
:'Social Studies' – William Hocking
:'Wellness' – Joseph Russo

Graduation requirements

For the current graduating class, the Class of 2007, students are required to complete and pass courses totaling 130 credits. Thirty of those must be passed during the students’ senior year. In addition to credit requirements, students must also pass the state-required MCAS exam. There are also departmental requirements for graduation, listed below.[11]
:'English' – Students must take and pass four English courses usually consisting of English 9, English 10, English 11, and English 12. However in place of English 11 and English 12 students may opt to take AP English to obtain college credit.
:'Mathematics' – Students must take and pass three Mathematics courses in order to graduate, although many students take four courses. Most students usually take geometry, algebra II, pre-calculus, and calculus. However students may opt to take AP Calculus to obtain college credit.
:'Social Studies' – Students must take and pass three Social Studies courses in order to graduate. There are a wide variety of courses to choose from in this department, however many students usually take Western Civilization I and II, and U.S. History to meet this requirement. However many students take AP U.S. History to obtain college credit.
:'Science' – Students must take and pass three science courses during their tenure at Mansfield High School in order to graduate. Many students take biology, chemistry, and physics to meet this requirement. Also, students may opt to take AP Physics or AP Biology to obtain college credit.
:'Physical Education' – Students must take and pass two physical education classes to meet the graduation requirements. This usually consists of two gym classes’ freshman and sophomore years, although students may now use sports participation as a means of meeting the requirement.

Courses

Mansfield High School offers a wide variety of courses, in addition to the so called “core” classes. In addition, its girls are way hotter than those of surrounding towns. Standard classes in English, Math, Social Studies, Foreign Language, and Science are offered, but that is just the tip of the ice berg. In every department there are courses that go above and beyond helping to not only gain the interest of students, but to teach them real life skills for college and every day living. Also, MHS has a set of advanced placement courses that allow students to begin their college education while still receiving high school credit. Below is a list of the advanced placement, and most notable courses.

Levels

:'Advanced Placement' – Offers students the ability to earn college credit. These courses are more difficult and require more dedication than the average high school course. Advanced Placement (AP) courses culminate with an exam administered by the College Board which determines how much credit the student receives.[12]
:'Honors' – These courses contain challenging material designed for the motivated student. They are more difficult that the standard College Preparatory classes.[13]
:'College Preparatory' – These courses prepare students for traditional college level education.[14]
:'Comprehensive' – These courses are designed to prepare students for junior (two-year) college or work after high school.[15]

Advanced placement

Mansfield High School offers advanced placement courses in English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, Calculus, Biology, Physics, U.S. History, Computer Science, Spanish, French, and Studio Art.[16] However each student can take at most five advanced placement courses during their stay at MHS.

Notable courses

Below is a list of the notable courses offered to Mansfield High School students. For a complete course listing, please see Mansfield High School's Program of Studies.
:'English' – Research in the 21st Century, Media Studies, Public Speaking and Debate, Film as Literature, Journalism, Creative Writing, and Personal Reading.
:'Social Studies' – Conflicts in Modern Society, Asian Studies, and American Rights in Action.
:'Mathematics' – Mansfield High School is the first public high school in the northeast to offer an engineering course; Introduction to Engineering.
:'Science' – Environmental Issues
:'Art' – Introduction to Art History, and Art in Technology.
:'Academic Learning Center' – This course gives knowledgeable students the opportunity to help fellow students where they need more help.
:'Teaching Assistant' – Students help prepare classroom materials and aid in instructional material.

Grading

Students at Mansfield High School are graded on a 0-100 scale, where an A is 90-100, a B is 80-89, a C is 70-79, a D is 65-69, and anything below a 65 is considered failing. Students are awarded credit for each successful passing of a course, however if a student is absent from the course too many times, credits may be deducted.[17]

Class rank

Class rank is determined by calculating a student’s course-weighed grade point average over an extended 4.0 scale. Rank is calculated once a year, with the rank calculated after a students sixth semester (junior year) being reported to colleges. Valedictorian and Salutatorian are determined by calculating class rank after the completion of a seventh semester.
Rank is calculated by first converting a final grade to the 4.0 scale, then weighting it depending on what level each course taken is at. That average is then multiplied by the number of credits a student earned and then divided by the total number of possible credits for the course. This result is the students’ weighted GPA. This process is repeated for each class and then the sum of all class GPAs are averaged to result in an overall GPA. It is possible to get over a 4.0 GPA once weighting of the student's final grade has occurred.[18]

Athletics

Mansfield High School offers athletic programs in the fall, winter, and spring. All sports have junior varsity and varsity levels and the heavily participated sports have a freshman level as well. Mansfield sports teams are known as the hornets and uniforms are colored green, white, and silver. In recent years, the athletic complexes around MHS have been revamped, and an artificial turf football field was put in along with a rubber track, dubbed Alumni Field. A new baseball complex was constructed in 2005, it is across the street in front of the Jordan Jackson Elementary school, the facility is among the best in eastern Massachusetts. The Football and baseball teams are among the state's most successful. The football team has held the Hockomock League Champion title for the past four years, and the baseball team repeated as Hockomock League Champs this year.
'Director': Margaret Conaty
'Secretary': Nancy Kitchen
Below is a list of the programs and the seasons when they are held.
:'Fall' – Cheerleading, Cross Country, Field Hockey, Football, Golf, Soccer, and Volleyball.
:'Winter' – Basketball, Cheerleading, Gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Indoor Track, Swimming, and Wrestling[19].
:'Spring' – Baseball, Softball, Lacrosse, Tennis, and Track and Field.
:Note: Field Hockey, Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Baseball, and Softball have freshman level teams.

Eligibility

★ Proof of a physical every thirteen months.

★ Each year athletes must complete the parental consent and emergency contact forms.

★ Academic eligibility – each athlete must have passed three of his or her last four classes, if not the athlete is no longer eligible to participate in the athletic program and must regain eligibility.[20]

External links

★ Mansfield High School

★ Mansfield, MA

References

★ Mansfield High School. "High School Staff." October 30, 2006.

★ Mansfield High School. "Mansfield High School." October 29, 2006.

★ Mansfield High School. "Mansfield High School Profile." October 29, 2006.

★ Mansfield High School. "Principals." October 30, 2006.

★ Mansfield High School. "Student Handbook." October 30. 2006.

★ Mansfield High School, Guidance Department. "Graduation Requirements." October 30, 2006.

★ Mansfield Public Schools. "Mansfield High School: Principal." October 29, 2006.

★ Massachusetts Department of Education. "Mansfield High Enrollment / Indicators." October 30, 2005.