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Schools

MRH High Meet-and-Greet Pairs Families, Faculty

Principal Kevin Grawer hosted the back-to-school at Maplewood Richmond Heights High School on Tuesday night.

There were some enthusiastic families at a back-to-school gathering in the cafeteria Tuesday night.

Christy Scheidt said she was a little nervous, but mostly excited, about her son, Paul Meuser, starting ninth grade at MRH. Paul, who has been in the MRH School District since kindergarten, said he adapts easily to new routines and, importantly, knows when lunchtime happens.

John and Rene Jones attended with their two daughters. Teeha is a freshman volleyball player and Tamara, a junior, is a cheerleader and “track star,” their father said.

Both he and his wife graduated from MRH. They have been married for 16 years and love Maplewood, he said.

“We bleed blue, not purple,” he said, referring to the MRH–rivalry.

Michelle Richardson said she was excited about her son Zaphron starting ninth grade at MRH because he graduated eighth grade from , a private institution in Webster Groves, and “there’s a lot of similarities between the two schools." Both schools emphasize experiential learning, she said.

The night involved a little discussion of needed paperwork but mostly served as a meet-and-greet for families and MRH staff.

“The staff intermingles and eats with the families,” Principal Kevin Grawer said. “We give them their son or daughter’s schedule, then they go around the school talking to staff. It’s a nice night for everybody to get to know each other a little bit.”

After attendees had their fill of salad, pizza and brownies, Grawer introduced himself and assistant principals Mike Maclin and Dr. Deann McCann, then bragged a little.

He said since last year, Algebra 1 end-of-course state test scores have risen by 17 percent, Algebra 2 scores by 30 percent, English 1 scores by 9 percent and English 2 scores by 14 percent.

Meanwhile, office referrals dropped by 14 percent and tardies dropped by 60 percent. He said that school officials are proud of those achievements and that this year, they will work to raise students' composite ACT score.

MRH tech director Dave Grossman told parents about MRH High School's new Twitter feed, as well as its Facebook page and Youtube channel.

After Grawer spoke, he excused the roughly 35 staff members in attendance to leave for their classrooms. Families left soon afterward to walk the MRH halls, just like their students will starting Wednesday.

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