Dear Parents:
It is hard to believe that we are half way through 3rd quarter. In a few short weeks, we will be in the midst of CSAP testing. It is vitally important for your children to have excellent attendance so that they can be better prepared for not only CSAP, but also for their academic success. There is an obvious and direct correlation between regular attendance and academic success. Please make every attempt to schedule all appointments for your children outside of the school day. It is also very important for your children to arrive at school on time. We are having several students arrive at school after first period has begun. This is very disruptive to the learning environment for all the children.
On a different note, we have some exciting new changes to share with you regarding our end-of-year awards ceremony. Our faculty has met to discuss ways that we can honor our students’ successes in a smaller venue and also honor more students who have demonstrated success in both their academics and citizenship. We shared these ideas with our Panther Parent group and they were excited and receptive to the changes. A summary of the changes are as follows:
- We will have separate 6th, 7th and 8th grade programs.
- These award programs will be held during the school day in our gymnasium.
- The 6th and 7th grade awards programs will be held on Tuesday, May 18, and the
8th grade program will be held on Wednesday, May 19.
- May 19th will be a special day for 8th graders. The day will be filled with special events.
Ideas we are exploring are an 8th grade dance or an 8th grade field trip.
- We are changing the 8th grade Head Boy/Head Girl Award to a Student Leadership Award. This award will be given to the top 5% (academic) of our 8th grade students who have not had a major referral in their 8th grade year. These students will receive a special, individual plaque and a group plaque will be placed in our school in honor of them. We are excited about this change because more students can be recognized for their leadership in our school.
Finally, it is with great pleasure that I share with you that an eighth-grade student, Joshua French, took first place in the American History Essay contest! This is a national contest which began with the NSDAR (National Society Daughters of the American Revolution) in 1957. Joshua is our chapter winner (Centennial State Chapter). His essay will be forwarded to the state level where it will be judged by March 15th and we will be notified if he will win state or not. The state winner is forwarded to the national level and is judged prior to our meeting in Washington, D. C. in July. The national winners are invited to our Continental Congress. Congratulations, Joshua!
If you would like to know more about DAR, the public web site is www.dar.org.
Sincerely,
Arnold Jahnke
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