Ruess Roundup - October 2, 2024
October 2, 2024
Homecoming festivities are in full swing this week. Please encourage your students to participate and have fun during this week celebrating getting to be a Festus Tiger! The theme this year is “Disney.” Each building has activities planned and ending the week with the Homecoming Day Parade on Friday, Oct. 4th at 1 pm. That evening at Tiger Stadium will be the Homecoming game where our Festus Tigers will host North County, kick off will be at 7 pm. Of course, prior to the game the National Honor Society will host the annual Chili Supper from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in the High School Cafeteria. An induction ceremony and reception inside the lobby of the High School will begin approximately 5:30 pm. We will induct our 31st Hall of Fame member Capt. Thomas Hoffmann. Capt. Hoffmann is a 1978 graduate of Festus High School. The Board of Education will present a formal resolution to him as part of the on the field pre-game activities at approximately 6:40 pm. The public is invited to attend both events.
Since September 5th, Courage2Report has received multiple anonymous reports of threats made against schools in Missouri and nationwide. Unfortunately, a trend we have seen over the last two weeks is many of these school shooting and bomb threats are being communicated through suicide or crisis help chat lines and are being passed along to law enforcement, SROs, and school administration. To date, these threats have been non-credible. We continue to treat all threats as credible and follow our protocols until it can be determined the threat has no validity. Our steps are as follows:
- Treat the threat as initially credible
- Engage law enforcement to determine what resources are needed to ensure safety
- Gather as much information about the threat as possible
- Modify our initial response based on further information
- Resolve the threat
- Communicate with families when appropriate throughout the incident and when the emergency has been resolved.
As I have mentioned many times in my monthly newsletters, safety is paramount in our daily routines. We have safety protocols, crisis communications plan, and continued dialogue about safety and security. We do need your help. Please take time to speak to your children about the severity of these types of threats. They are taken seriously and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It is not a joke nor will the situation be taken lightly. Encourage them – if they See Something Say Something to a trusted adult, not reshare it on social media.
Part of our Crisis Communication plan includes communication to you about what you can expect in the event of an emergency. You can read that letter here.
Today, October 2nd is recognized as National Custodian and Maintenance Day. Every educator knows it: Schools would literally fall apart if it weren’t for the custodial staff. They keep our school running every single day (even when your latest craft project involves major glitter spills), giving students clean and tidy spaces to learn and grow. While we think they deserve to be celebrated every single day, National Custodian Day is the one day the calendar set aside just for them. I am so appreciative of the daily efforts of our custodial/maintenance staff.
Red Ribbon Week is also in October. This year it is observed during the week of Oct. 23rd and the theme is “Life is a movie, Live Drug Free” Red Ribbon Week is the largest drug-abuse prevention campaign in the United States. Red Ribbon serves as a catalyst to mobilize communities to educate youth and encourage participation in drug prevention activities.
