Welcome Back LHS Students

LHS is gearing up for opening day on Tuesday, September 6. This is the first day of school across the district. There will be a lot of changes for our students and parents this fall as we undertake our 58 million dollar construction project. We apologize for all of the changes happening in such a short amount of time but the bid process has taken much more time due to the rising costs of materials and inflation. The project went back to bid again in July and was approved under budget in August. In this newsletter you will find detailed information about changes to bus drop off, parent drop off, student parking and changes to the hallway traffic inside the high school. We've also created a video that we've linked here to help families navigate through these changes. If you have any questions, please don't hesistate to reach out to our office staff at 845-3880.

See you soon!

Dan Mesyar

Principal

Ludington High School

With the start of the new school year, construction has started at the high school. The new parent drop off will be from the front of the high school front doors to the south and around the block on Anderson street. Busses will no longer be using the normal bus loop at LHS. Do to construction, they will now be lined up along Washington Avenue from the bus turnaround all the way back to the front entrance to the high school.

For our student drivers, they will no longer be able to enter into the back parking lot behind Hawley gym. This will be off limits this school year. Students will drive and enter from either Franklin street or Russell street. There will be a one-way entrance and one-way exit out of the temporary parking area. This will accommodate 125 student parking spots.

This is new for us and we ask that everyone is patient the first few days. Sometimes change is hard and we are doing our best to provide information to you as soon as it becomes available to us. We've linked several videos that we believe will be helpful for parents and students. The first video describes the new bus lineup for drop off and pick up.

Students will report to their homeroom on the first day of school. Those locations are posted throughout the school building. There will be adults in the hallway to make sure all students get to their homeroom. During that time, students will get their new student iPads, student schedules, and lunch time procedures. It is important that all students attend homeroom on the first day of school. During the first week of school, there will be grade level class meetings to go over school expectations, safety information, and important reminders.

Class Meeting Schedule - locations TBA at school

Wednesday, September 7th, 8:00am-9:00am------- 9th grade class meeting

Thursday, September 8th, 8:00am-9:15am----------- 12th grade class meeting

Thursday, September 9th, 12:25pm-1:30pm--------- 10th grade class meeting

Friday, September 10th, 8:00am-8:40am ---------------11th grade class meeting

We are excited that we have nearly 100 students taking classes at the career tech center this year. Our students are able to get intense training in a variety of programs offered through the CTE partnership.

There will be no CTE on our first day of school. Students who attend CTE will be allowed to do homework in our cafeteria. Families may decide to sign out their student and they would be allowed to go home during that time period.

On Wednesday, September 7th, all CTE students will need to ride the LHS bus to the tech center. Students who wish to transport themselves will get a parent approval transportation slip from the tech program. Once it is signed by a parent and LHS administrator, those students may drive themselves to and from the college daily.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the main office at 845-3880.

Ludington High School was recognized by US News and World Report as one of America's best high schools for the 6th year in a row. This is a huge point of pride for our students, staff, and community. Our students outperform the state and national average on the SAT and PSAT tests. This award looks at what opportunities schools give students. LHS is a full comprehensive high school that offers rich elective programing along with 9 rigorous Advanced Placement classes. Our goal is for students to be college, career, and or job ready when they leave LHS. High school has changed dramatically since my days as an LHS student in the 1990's. We offer an individualized education and are proud to partner with each family. We will continue to evaluate the data to get better each and every year for our students of LHS.

We are excited to announce the start of a new parent advisory committee. This group will meet monthly and tackle topics that are important to students and parents of high school age students. If you are interested, please email secretary Jennie Vandervest.

jvandervest@lasd.net or call the main office at 231-845-3880

She will sign you up and get you information on the meeting schedule. Our goal is to provide as much information on high school to the parents and guardians of LHS.

Important School Policy Reminders

Hello students and families. We just wrapped up the past two days of professional development with staff. One topic of emphasis was a more uniform understanding and enforcement of our student handbook policies. Here are the top policies we will be emphasizing to start the year:

-”...Research on college students suggests that the mere presence of a cell phone can impair learning during a lecture. The study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior (2018), found cell phones tended to reduce attention and memory — even when they weren’t [being] used (Just having your cell phone in your possession can impair your learning, study suggests).” To protect learning and student safety we are renewing our emphasis on the LHS handbook policy on cell phones. Cell phones may be used before school, between classes, during lunch and after school. In extenuating circumstances, students can ask staff to go in the hall or to the office to use their phone. Otherwise, during class time, in classrooms or in the hallways, students are not allowed to use cell phones. If staff see or hear a phone during class time, it will be confiscated and turned over to the assistant principal. Mr. Forsberg will talk to the student and contact parents to discuss consequences. Multiple infractions will result in progressive consequences. Refusal to hand over the phone to a requesting staff member will result in a one-day suspension. Further refusal to turn the phone over to an administrator will result in a 5-day suspension. If parents have an urgent need to get in touch with their students, please contact the main office 231-845-3880 and we will get your student or get a message to them.

-Hats, hoods, and bandanas are not allowed to be worn in the building at any time. This is a school safety recommendation from local law enforcement and Michigan State Police.

-Staff will mark tardies more consistently. Teachers will communicate to students when they are marked tardy. The first two tardies per class will only result in warnings. The third tardy, and beyond, will trigger progressive consequences and communication home. Our community believes being on time is an important skill and our tardy policy reflects this belief.

-Student hall pass use will be monitored to increase the amount of time students spend in class receiving instruction. To begin the year, teachers will use sign-out/sign-in sheets to track hall pass use. Several weeks into the first trimester, we will be implementing the e-hallpass system. This digital hall pass system will utilize student iPads. E-hall pass will allow us to track when, for how long and how often students are out of class. This will help us improve student safety and increase instructional time.

7:00am-3:00pm

Feel free to call us at 231-845-3880