Forest Hills High School Parents Newsletter

“Parents can only give good advice or put

them on the right path, but the final forming of

a person’s character lies in their own hands”

Anne Frank

A Message from the Parent Coordinator

Welcome to the 2018-2019 school year! We thank you for making Forest Hills High School your school of

choice! The vision of Forest Hills High School is to equip every graduating student with the behaviors that

produce productive citizens. Our school offers engaging coursework, educational clubs, tutoring services and

sports teams. Each student that walks through the halls of Forest Hills High School are supported by a team

of professional educators, guidance counselors and deans. Our goal is to work with each student and en-

courage them to graduate with acceptance to an institution of higher learning, an industry endorsement that

will ensure their future success.

Parent Involvement

Our student's progress continues to be successful when parent's are involved. We strive to provide every

student, with the tools needed to have a positive and enriching future. For a successful school year, active

parents are key to strengthening the school's progress, and ensures that they are educationally successful

Upcoming Events

09/16 Spirit Week - Pajama Day

09/17 College Visit - Drexel University - Period 8 Room 218

PA Meetings @ 7pm

College Visit - SUNY College at Geneseo - Period 7 Room 218

09/18 College Visit - Boston University - Period 7 Room 218

College Visit - Stanford University - Period 8 Room 218

09/20 College Visit - American University - Period 7 Room 218

09/20 College Visit - Hamilton University - Period 8 Room 218

09/21 High School Fair - Springfield Gardens

Important Information

We have an announcement regard-

ing securing personal belongings in

lockers and thefts.

Historically, around this time of the year students have lost items from lockers, back packs, and locker rooms. Many times misplaced items are quickly found, picked up by well-meaning friends, or identified in the lost in found.

Unfortunately, students do not always recover their lost items. Sometimes items are stolen. From what we un-derstand, all stolen items have been set down frequently on locker room benches and floors. If you find your-self a victim of a theft, report it to the main office immediately by providing a detailed description of the item, where it was last seen, and any other perti-nent information.

To keep your belongings safe, please

lock your valuables when not in direct

possession. Do not bring excessive

or unnecessary belongings to school,

especially significant amounts of

cash.

Happening at Forest Hills

Lunch forms will be distributed to all the

students. Please insure to submit complet-

ed Lunch forms

(see Parent Coordinator room 138)

Check your pupil path daily to see if any

changes have been made to your schedule

Incoming freshmen

C.A.S.E. Academy is an exciting program

at Forest Hills High School in partnership

with Commonpoint Queens @ Central

Queens. C.A.S.E. Academy is designed to

help students transition to High School by

providing the skills and tools as well as

support needed to be successful in High

School and beyond ( For more infor-

mation, please visit school website)

Save the date for the PA meeting next

Tuesday at 7pm at the school.

Class of 2020! Run for Senior Government

Are you interested in helping Mrs. Grant

our Senior Advisor make your senior year

the best year ever! Run for a position on

the senior government for the class of

2020!

Lunch period is not a “free period” and

student must go to the cafeteria or library

during lunch period. There is no wandering

the halls or going on errands

See something? Say something. Let’s be

vigilant for the safety of us all.

Students must sign-out when leaving a

class room and sign-in when they return

in the sign in/out binder.

Dear Forest Hills High School,

I want to thank the many students, parents, and staff members who have smiled at me and welcomed me to the Forest Hills High School community during the past few weeks that I have been Interim-Acting Principal. Your welcome has eased my transition, afforded me an opportunity to hear and forget your names (sorry Aaliyah and Angel!), and educated me about the many opportunities for student and pro-fessional growth that exist here. Not only have I felt “Ranger Pride” within the walls of the school, but also, I have encountered its spirit throughout the city. My Austin Street barber, a former student, cele-brated Mr. Abramov. A Queens Assistant Principal and a former student celebrated Mr. Kratzer. One day in July when I was in Manhattan, one of Chancellor Carranza’s executives celebrated Ms. Sanchez.

In August, I had a long conversation with Councilmember Koslowitz of District 29, herself a parent of multiple graduates from Forest Hills High School. She helped me to better understand the unifying role that our school has played as both a neighborhood and borough beacon. Additionally, during our con-versation she explained the significant financial and political support she is willing to commit to the continued improvement of the school during the 2019-20 school year.

A new school year brings new opportunities for members of a school community. For teachers, there are opportunities to learn new materials and different strategies for engaging students in content. Op-portunities for rethinking, recalibrating and adjusting for continued success. All teachers are eager to involve, engage and excite students about the materials and regularly work to improve their craft. For parents, we will have college information sessions and workshops that will help transition their student from high school to a college and career setting. For students, every September brings a new begin-ning. Find the thing that gets you interested. Work to develop the best skill set possible. Build a pro-ductive transcript that will help set you up for future successes.

As you may have noticed, high school is hard. We are here to help you. We are here to help you devel-op the content knowledge you need. We are here to help you develop the personal skills that will pick you up when you are down or help you push through the challenge. September gets a bad rap for inter-rupting our summer. September also means working towards being a better pupil and a better profes-sional.

To all students, there is good news as you hit high gear and ditch summer. Your goal of graduating after having had an engaging experience in high school is our goal too. As we share this objective, I look for-ward to collaborating with the various forces that will help you to succeed so that you too, in five or twenty years, will positively share the “Ranger Pride” with someone who reveals they are new to the community. As Ms. Johnson reminds me regularly, we work towards this goal in partnership. I’m proud to be an interim-acting partner on the Forest Hills High School team.

My gratitude to everyone. I look forward to meeting the rest of our students and staff.

Sincerely,

Paul Wilbur

Principal IA

The New York City Department of Education

Forest Hills High School

Paul Wilbur, Principal IA

67-01 110th Street Forest Hills, NY 11375 (718) 268-3137

Dear 2019-20 AP Students and Parents,

Welcome to the start of a new school year! Students enrolled in an AP class will take an AP Exam in May to

qualify for college credit. AP Exams will be administered during the weeks of Monday, May 4th to Friday, May

15th, 2019.

College Board is making several changes to their Advanced Placement program for the 2019-2020 school year.

There is a new timeline for the school year, as well as a new online system that students and teachers must use.

Remember, it is Forest Hills High School’s policy that if you are enrolled in an AP level course, you are required

to take the AP Exam in that subject. As AP students and parents, a few items need to be completed to prepare for

this. I do encourage you to keep a copy of this e-mail for future reference.

Important Changes:

• The recommended deadline to order exams for all AP courses is October 4th, 2019 (instead of March).

• At the start of the 2019-20 school year, all AP students must take time to join their AP class section online. AP

teachers will be provided “join codes” for students to set up their digital accounts.

• Any exam ordered after November 16th through March 13th, 2019 will be charged a $40 fee.

Fees: The exam fee and fee reduction have not changed for the 2019-20 school year. As in the past, fees are based

on how a student is coded after completing the school lunch form. The exam fee is $109, per exam. ($94 per

exam +$15 administration fee). The administration fee is $15 for all students, per exam. This fee covers the cost

of proctors and our testing rental space at Queens College. Students who qualify for a reduced-fee exam will owe

$15. Eligibility for a fee waiver is based on your School Lunch status. In order to see if you qualify for a fee

reduction, you must fill out the school lunch form.

Late and Cancellation Fees: College Board is introducing two new fees. Any exam ordered after November

15th through March 13th, 2019 will be charged a $40 fee. In addition, any unused or canceled exam will incur a

$40 fee, per exam. Should a student not take the exam for any reason after the Nov. 15 or March 13 dates,

parents/students are responsible for the $40 unused/cancellation fee. According to College Board, “students are

more likely to stay engaged in class and tackle challenging topics head-on when they register in the fall, and these

fees ensure that students don’t wait until the last minute to make a decision.”

School Lunch Form: The school lunch form is the only way to identify if a student qualifies for a reduced-fee

exam. Each year, all students and parents must fill out a new school lunch form. The lunch form can be found on

our school website under: “News and Announcements.”

**Please complete the form online by Monday, September 16th, 2019, as our testing department will need

this step to be completed in order to order your AP exams by October 4th, 2019.

Creating a College Board Account:

All AP students must have a College Board Account. This same College Board account log-in is used for PSAT,

SAT and AP, so if you have ever created an account for one of these, you have it done! Please do not create a 2nd

account. ( If you do, it could prevent all of your SAT or AP scores from going to the correct college).

You can create an account or verify that you have an account at www.collegeboard.org. Here are some helpful

hints for setting up your account or verifying the information if you already have an account:

1. Make sure it is the student’s name that is on the account. Sometimes parents create accounts to view

PSAT scores. (You don’t want mom or dad’s name on your AP or SAT scores when you apply to college).

2. If students with existing accounts have trouble recovering their username or password, they will be able

to create an AP 2019-20 interim account.

3. If you have problems with your account, please contact College Board. High Schools are not linked to

them at all, so we cannot help with troubleshooting issues and College Board will not talk to us on your

behalf.

Join Codes:

Teachers will give students a join code for each of their AP classes. Students must use their College Board

username and password and join code to enroll in each of their AP class sections. This join code will give students

and teachers access to the new resources throughout the school year.

These join codes allow students to register for exams. With the new system, AP coordinators will be able to access

rosters of AP students and review, adjust, and submit that information as the school’s exam order.

Services for Students with Accommodations: Students with documented disabilities may require special exam

formats or extended time on the day of their AP exam. Please be advised that if an AP student has an IEP or a

504, the student/parent must fill out the attached SSD Request Form, in order to obtain approval for testing

accommodations. Please be advised that the College Board can take up to 8 weeks to approve accommodations.

All requests must be submitted by 9/13/19. If requests are not processed in a timely fashion, there is a chance the

student will not be approved by the time exams are ordered. Please return your signed Consent for

Accommodations form to our SSD Coordinator, Ms. Snow, in room 217. (See attachment)

If you have any questions, please contact the Testing Coordinator’s Office at (718) 268-3137 x 1146, or by

e-mail at LBruno11@schools.nyc.gov.

Thank You,

Mrs. Bruno

Testing Coordinator