Foxborough High School Principal Dispels Rumors of Uniforms, Pep Rallies and More

It's been a busy start to the school year for new Foxborough High School principal Diana Myers-Pachla, according to several rumors circulating throughout the high school.

In the first few weeks of the 2012-13 school year, Myers-Pachla has required students to wear uniforms and check their cell phones in at the doors of Foxborough High School. She has also banned pep rallies and has changed the seniors’ last day of school from the end of May to the end of June.

Sound too extreme to be true? That's because they are only rumors.

These were just some of the rumors Myers-Pachla "put to bed" at the Sept. 17 Foxborough School Committee meeting as she set the record straight between fact and fiction.

"It was a great start [to the school year]," Myers-Pachla said jokingly. "I was very busy."

Myers-Pachla said she discovered the rumors on Twitter when she became interested in starting an account to share school information with students, families and the community. However, once she started hearing the rumors around the high school she decided to address the inaccuracies publicly to dispel any concerns or misinformation that may have been swirling around town.

Will there be uniforms as part of the dress code at Foxborough High School?

"No, there will be no uniforms," Myers-Pachla said.

How about students being required to check their cell phones at the entrance to Foxborough High School?

"That will not be happening," Myers-Pachla said. "I’m a firm believer that those cell phones are actually computers in the palm of our students’ hands.”

Will there be an end to study halls at the high school?

"That won’t be happening at this point," Myers-Pachla said. "I can’t promise that forever. We do always have to take a look at the time on learning and how we are going to meet the 990 hours the state requires. We don’t have a large amount of students in study halls as it is.”

Are pep rallies no more?

"As far as pep rallies are concerned, I know we do two right now in the building and when I was here we would do three to four pep rallies, so if anything, I think I’m a supporter of rallies when they’re done in that positive sense of celebrating what we have here so there may be a few surprises that I might have up my sleeves for the students this year," Myers-Pachla said.

Are seniors really going to be in school until the end of June?

"No," Myers-Pachla said. "My understanding is on the [Foxborough Public Schools] website there was a calendar students were looking at and didn’t have listed what the seniors' last day for school was so it was an assumption [they would be in session until June]."

Foxborough Superintendent of Schools Debbie Spinelli said the information circulating around is "all rumors and not factually correct." She also confirmed the last day of school for seniors is May 31.

"I don't know what unofficial calendar students were looking at but it says on the schools' website the last day of classes for seniors is May 31," Spinelli said.

The school calendar can be viewed by clicking here.

Myers-Pachla added that in the future, students are more than welcome to stop by her office to ask questions about what's going on at Foxborough High School.

"I just urge people to ask me because I’d be glad to have that conversation about it," Myers-Pachla said.