February RBHS BRIDGE Communication
Rock Bridge High School Newsletter: February 5, 2025
Rock Bridge Families,
It's already February! I missed my window to send a January BRIDGE, so I'm sending the February edition early in the month. We want to thank you for a wonderful start to second semester. Specifically, we are grateful for your patience and understanding as we started the semester in AMI. This was new for us and particularly challenging since we'd not had the chance to start the semester in person. We're confident that this process will be much smoother if we experience any more AMI days. Rock Bridge High School teachers have communicated AMI plans to students so all should be prepared moving forward.
Below you will find information about the following.
- RBHS Safety and Security Updates/Reminders
- RBHS Attendance Update
- 2024-2025 RBHS Climate Data
- Rock Bridge High School Annual Performance Report Video Link
- 2025 Courtwarming Information
- RBHS Performing Arts Presents Clue
- Congratulations Hall of Fame Inductee, Coach Towe
- December RBHS BRIDGE Communication Link
- February Calendar
Thank you all for the great start to second semester!
Jacob
I wanted to take a moment to provide an update and reminders of the safety procedures in place at Rock Bridge High School this school year.
Weapons Detection System
We are happy to report that our Building Safety and Security Team is successfully running a student entrance with our weapons detection system at both our north and main entrances.
Student Entrance and Exit
To ensure the integrity of our weapons detection systems, students are only allowed to enter and exit the building before school and during the school day through these locations. Students who intentionally go around these systems will be given school consequences. We know there are doors that are more convenient to enter or exit the building at times, but doing this can put our school at unnecessary risk. Help keep our school safe by only using the north and main entrances and exits.
Locked Classroom Doors
All classroom doors at RBHS are to be closed and locked soon after the start of each class. This prevents unnecessary access to classrooms.
Visitor Entrance Procedures
All RBHS visitors must enter through the main entrance located at the east circle drive. Visitors must present a valid state ID to be allowed entrance to our premises. Only guardians of our students and visitors who have previously scheduled appointments are allowed access to our school during the school day.
The safety of our students, staff, and visitors is our top priority.
The state of Missouri wants all schools to have 90% of students in attendance 90% of the time. Last year, we had approximately 82% of students in attendance 90% of the time. This is up from 79% the year before, and we are proud of this growth. This year we want to raise this number by 3% points moving our overall percentage of students who attend 90% or greater to 85%. Before COVID, our percentage was consistently 87% or better, so we know we can continue to increase this figure.
In the image to the right, you can see the attendance percentages of all our grade levels as of February 4, 2024. In the image below, you can see our overall attendance is 84.4%. This is exactly where it was in late December. This is below our target for the year; however, it is not too late for us to achieve our goal. Our attendance can move back above 85% if we have improved attendance moving forward.
It is critical that students attend every minute of school they are physically able and their health allows. Teaching and learning continue when students are absent, and teachers are not able to appropriately re-create the learning opportunities for students who miss school. There is no substitute for being present in class.
Here is a copy of the letter I emailed on November 18th regarding attendance requirements for AUT and Courtwarming. All 9th, 10th, and 11th graders need to be aware that students with attendance lower than 85% are at risk of losing their AUT for the 2025-26 school year.
In the fall of each year, Columbia Public school seeks input from students, parents and staff through our annual Climate Survey. This year the survey was sent to families and administered to students and staff in October.
Click this link to view a slides presentation of our RBHS 2024-25 Climate Data. You will see that there are 3 years of data for most of the questions in this survey, and there are responses from Staff, Students, and Parents. We were excited to see good growth in the percentage of parents who feel informed about what is going on at RBHS, and we are concerned to see the lower percentage of parents who think the curriculum is challenging and engaging. We've presented this same data to the staff of RBHS, and we will continue working to provide the most engaging and academically challenging environment we are able.
Please review all this data for yourself and look for this survey request next fall. We are better when we hear from you!
