Welcome to the 2019-20 School Year!  We are starting to get things ready for your student’s return (or arrival) to Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé.  It is certainly my hope that as you receive this letter you and your family have had some restful time, enjoying the summer months. 

Our first order of business is to welcome several new teachers to our staff !  Joining us this year are Jasmine James and Chris Heidemann from Floyd Dryden.  They will be teaching Science/Math and Business/Chef respectively.  We are also welcoming Amy Lloyd from Dzantiki Heeni, as our new English Language Arts teacher.  Rounding out the hiring flurry, we are welcoming JDHS graduates Chris Hinkley and Matt Smith into our Engineering/Autos and English Learners/Interventionist positions.  These new team members have been in and out all summer, making sure that they are ready to go when you all arrive.

Some of our time over the summer included working with our leadership team on this year’s school action planning.  As expected, we are continuing our work on increasing our daily attendance rates and our annual graduation rates as well as working to decrease what is known as our chronic truancy rate.  As you read the school-to-home communications this year, you will see references to our work in these school improvement areas.  We will also reference our student achievement goals, which continue to address reading, writing, math and academic grit.  Our specific goals are designed to be measurable, focused and relevant to our improvement school-wide.  Our growth as a school, and as a learning community, is paramount for us and your role as a partner is critical.  As we move through the start of school and into the academic year please do not hesitate to email questions, concerns and any feedback you believe will help support our efforts.  Your student is why we are here!

As always please prioritize the upcoming start-of-school events, including 

Orientation days (August 6^th, 7^th and 8^th), 

Freshman First Day (August 13th),

the first day of school (August 19^th) and our 

Open House evening (August 28^th).  We encourage you to 

visit our school website, 

your student’s PowerSchool page and to 

watch for emails so that you can

stay connected throughout the year with their learning experience.