WHS Principal Updates School Committee on Start of School Year

By Adam Swift

Winthrop High School is off to a good start to the new school year, according to WHS Principal Matt Crombie.

Crombie updated the School Committee on the latest happenings at the high school during Tuesday night’s meeting. Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard said the administration updates to the committee are part of an increased effort to keep the community and the committee in the loop on what’s going on in the schools.

“My leadership team has expressed an interest in being able to come into the committee and give them some highlights and updates,” said Howard. “I plan on moving forward at least once a month with bringing in an administrator or a person to be announced to fill the committee in and give the community a little bit more than we have been giving in our School Committee meetings.”

Crombie began his mini-presentation with the latest enrollment figures at WHS.

“Our enrollment this year is at 595, an increase of 33 students from last year,” said Crombie.

The senior class is at 135 students, the junior class at 136, the sophomore class at 153, and the freshman class at 164.

“So we are smaller at the top and bigger at the bottom, which is a little bit different than it has been over the past couple of years,” said Crombie.

The school has also welcomed 14 new international students for the current year, he added.

Crombie said there are still three open positions at the high school, two long-term ELA substitutes and one long-term adjustment counselor substitute.

“Academically, we are midway through the first quarter, and quarter one report cards will be distributed during the second week of November,” said Crombie.

The students of the term awards ceremony for the first term will also take place around that time.

“That’s where each one of our teachers gets to nominate one student and recognize them for outstanding achievement in their class,” Crombie said. “Our honor roll will also be coming out then and will be publicly posted in the Transcript and on the school website.”

This year, there are 11 AP course offerings and 208 students taking at least one AP course.

Crombie noted that there was a recent college fair with about 50 colleges and universities represented, and that guidance counselors are helping seniors with the college application process.

Athletically, Crombie said there are 206 students participating in a total of nine fall sports. He added that there was also a recent club and activity fair, and that the school’s clubs and extracurricular activities are up and running.