This past Friday, not only did the football team secure yet another milestone in their Regional victory over Troy, but during the day we held our first Veteran's Salute. This was a passion project for me that I have been toying with for the past two years and ran with this year. Now with two Honor flight trips under my belt, it was time to get the students involved with putting together a proper veteran's salute. I have been to many school based veterans day events and they all always had the same problem, they were put together by people who had no clue how to put together a military ceremony. Luckily now I have had several staff and students that have attended HF9 and 10 with me that have a feeling of connection with these vets that were ready to run with this idea I had. When Jen Buck said she would like for FFA to do a flag folding ceremony I just let her and Mr. Lierz run with it. Then came Taylor Bosley and MaKinley Mulroy wanting to do their parts along with Mrs. Cormier's drama class. I was so excited that so many wanted to take part in this program. we put it out there and then the last few pieced I needed was for Mr. Moore to get his band in tip top shape for the medley as well as get me a trumpet player tuned up for TAPs. Sprinkle in Mrs. Sides and Nancy Sipes musical talents. Something which i have very little of, and you have a Veteran's Salute.

The only thing missing was the veterans, which I just sent out the beacon to my fellow vets and they showed up in spades. All in all we had 40 veterans come to the assembly and participated in varying degrees. Before the assembly, we held a meet and greet with the students where they got a chance to interact with the students and answer questions they had. While we only had allocated a half hour to this portion of the day, I kind of wish I had allocated more time to this as the students were getting a great deal of meaningful information from the veterans. Something I speak to often is how incredible our student body is at this school and they proved me right yet again Friday morning.

"Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind" The Doctor

From the first day to the last day, It's a great day to be a COBRA!

Derek E. Smith

• YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED THE TABLE SET BEFORE YOU. IT IS FILLED WITH SYMBOLISM. I WILL EXPLAIN.

• THIS TABLE IS SET FOR OUR PRISONERS OF WAR AND THOSE MISSING IN ACTION -- FROM ALL WARS.

• THEY ARE NOT WITH US TODAY. THEIR CHAIRS ARE EMPTY, BUT SAVED FOR THEIR HOPED RETURN. LET US REMEMBER THEIR ABSENCE.

• LET US REMEMBER THE MEN AND WOMEN PRISONERS OF WAR FROM ALL BRANCHES OF SERVICE THAT ARE TOO OFTEN FORGOTTEN. LET US REMEMBER THEM.
• THE TABLE CLOTH IS WHITE, SYMBOLIZING THE PURITY OF THEIR INTENTIONS TO RESPOND TO THEIR COUNTRY'S CALL TO ARMS -- SO THAT THEIR CHILDREN COULD REMAIN FREE. REMEMBER.
• THE LONE CANDLE SYMBOLIZES THE FRAILTY OF A PRISONER ALONE, TRYING TO STAND UP AGAINST HIS OPPRESSORS. REMEMBER.
• THE BLACK RIBBON ON THE CANDLE REMINDS US OF THOSE WHO WILL NOT BE COMING HOME. REMEMBER
• THE SINGLE ROSE REMINDS US OF THE LOVED ONES AND FAMILIES OF OUR COMRADES IN ARMS WHO KEEP THE FAITH AND AWAIT THEIR RETURN. REMEMBER
• A SLICE OF LEMON IS ON THE BREAD PLATE TO REMIND US OF THEIR BITTER FATE -- IF WE DO NOT BRING THEM HOME. REMEMBER
• THERE IS SALT ON THE PLATE, SYMBOLIC OF THE FAMILY'S TEARS AS THEY WAIT AND REMEMBER.
• THE GLASSES ARE INVERTED. THEY CANNOT TOAST WITH US TONIGHT --MAYBE TOMORROW, IF WE REMEMBER.
• THE YELLOW RIBBON TIED TO THE FLOWER REPRESENTS THE ONE THAT WAS WORN BY THOUSANDS WHO AWAITED THEIR RETURN. REMEMBER
• THE FADED PICTURE ON THE TABLE IS A REMINDER THAT THEY ARE MISSED VERY MUCH AND ARE REMEMBERED BY THEIR FAMILIES. REMEMBER.
• AS WE LOOK UPON THIS EMPTY TABLE, DO NOT REMEMBER GHOSTS FROM THE PAST, REMEMBER OUR COMRADES.
• REMEMBER THOSE WHOM WE DEPENDED ON IN BATTLE. THEY DEPEND ON US TO BRING THEM HOME. REMEMBER OUR FRIENDS. THEY ARE THE ONES WE LOVE -- WHO LOVE LIFE AND FREEDOM AS WE DO. THEY WILL REMEMBER WHAT WE DO. PLEASE HONOR AND REMEMBER THEM.

When Nancy Sipes said she would be willing to play the piano for the Veteran's Salute, I had no idea what I was in for. I also had no idea what an "American Medley" was going to entail. Cards on the table, the piano (up there with bagpipes) is like my guilty pleasure instrument to listen to. I can listen to someone that can play a piano for hours. When she started, I was loving every second of it....then Lee Greenwood started and I was blown away! I recorded her playing from backstage, but I can't put it on youtube because I am basically sniffling through the whole thing. For those of you who don't already know, Nancy is one of my favorite humans already and when she played this medley she went up several rungs on the list. Not to mention she did this on her Birthday!

the 24 most haunting notes to every veteran are those of TAPS. Not only is it the bugle call that plays to end the day, it has been played at every memorial ceremony, dedication, and military program you have ever attended. Probably more notably, it will be the final bugle call before we are laid to rest.

Friday morning, we had planned to play taps toward the end of the program followed by a moment of silence. Then Ethan Gullotta played TAPS. That might be the most haunting rendition of TAPs I have ever heard. You could feel the level of emotion in the room as those 24 notes played. He so expertly delivered on that song that I feel comfortable speaking for my fellow veterans, and everyone else in the room, were all shaken to the core.

Speaking of Honor Flight, we have been ramping up on next years honor flight. i have sent out the guardian applications to students. HF11 will go to DC November 10/11 2025 and we have already started our first big fundraiser. The cooks have started the Pies of Honor for this year. You can fill out the attached google form to order your pie.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeo3XyfRVRozFgMJnIGKSyPCtDlB82estF088A0W8PgXa0mPg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Or if you just would like to donate to the cause. you can send a check to the high school to the jackson heights honor flight.

or those of you that are tech savy. you can venmo to @Jackson-Heights-Honor-Flight

Monday:Veterans Day

• FFA Leadership School @ Holton

• MS Girls Basketball @ ACCMS 4:30
  

• School Board Meeting 7:00 pm

Tuesday:

• Career Fair/Adulting Day (All High School Students) @ RV and Holton 8:00-11:30
• Scholars Bowl @ Valley Falls High School 4:00

• ASVAB Testing

• District Tornado Drill @ 1:00 pm

• MS Girls Basketball @ St .Benedict 4:30

Friday:

• HS Varsity Sectionals Football Vs Rossville @ Home 7:00

Saturday

• NA

Over the past two weeks, Ms. Visocsky and Mrs. Alley have been working with students to introduce the new Individual Plan of Study and College/Career and Life Readiness (CCLR) program that we will be using moving forward. This program is called Naviance. I am excited for the rollout of this program as it has nigh unto limitless resources for students. For seniors, there is College and career resources such as college and scholarship searches as well as the ability to apply directly through the program. There is also ACT prep course work on here as well as aptitude resources and career exploration tools. Students will begin working through coursework with this program this week, but will also be able to utilize the tools available here long after graduation. Below you can see the Demo site and explore a bit for yourselves.

Recently, I have had requests from community members for the protocols for how we handle bed bugs and been asked why we don’t do public announcements when we have a bed bug discovered in the building. After discussing with Nurse Teri and Mr. Howard, I wanted to put this together to let everyone know what we do when we discover a bed bug and also enlighten everyone on why we don’t panic when a hitchhiker shows up from home.

To hit the second point first, we do not panic because it is actually incredibly difficult to infest a school. Bed bugs are aptly named. They like to reside in bedding and beds or plush surfaces. They are also nocturnal with their activity. This is why the tell tale sign we look for of infestation on a student when we discover them is bite marks as these frequently happen at night when an individual is sleeping. This is why other spaces such as hospitals, hospice spaces, and hotels are incredibly susceptible to infestation. Not only because these are locations with lots of beds, but they also involve a lot of laying in said beds around the clock. Schools however, are largely ambulatory spaces. We are on the move frequently throughout the day. There are also no beds. The only plush items are an occasional couch or bean bag chairs which can be individually sanitized. We also technically evacuate the building nightly for our custodial staff to clean and sanitize. The biggest takeaway for readers is that one should not panic.

However, we do strictly adhere to the EPA guidelines for schools with regard to bed bug control. When a bug is discovered, we preserve it for expert identification. We then trace back to the point of origin. If we find it on a student specifically, we will check their bags and belongings, and discretely contact their family and give guidance and support for how treatment at home needs to be handled. As we are a small school, these matters are sensitive.

We even go beyond the protocols. In instances where we feel the need due to the amount we predict were brought from home, we have done full spray downs of the building over weekends with a pesticide that works similar to how flea treatment works on your dog. If the bed bug comes in contact with it, then it will die. These treatments are good for 6 months and we plan on automatically redoing it again in six months just to maintain vigilance.

Here are the EPA guidelines for parents regarding bed bugs: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-07/documents/bed-bug-guidance-for-parents.pdf

Here are the EPA guidelines for schools:

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-07/documents/bed-bug-guidance-for-school-administrators-teachers-staff.pdf

The veteran's salute served as our First Friday event this month. However, next month marks the time for the second quarter house games. things are heating up and its about to get real.

Some spotlight students in each house this week were:

House Corn Fed Cobra: Jace Doyle For his work on the flag folding ceremony as well as helping during family literacy night.

House Gold Rush: Sabrina Streeter For her very emotional reading during the POW/MIA table ceremony portion of the Veterans Salute. Also Ethan Gullotta for this haunting playing of TAPS during the closing of the ceremony.

House Snake Kingz: Kade Holliday For helping to clean up the stage area to prepare for the veterans salute.

House Triple G: Titan Eisenbarth For helping out with family literacy night

As always, one of my favorite traditions at our school is the local VFW and American Legion bringing the American Flag up so we can come together as a nation. Uniforms and schools don't matter when we are holding that flag. Every time we do this, I am blown away by seeing cheerleaders, players, and fans from both sides of the field come together for this. We are just Americans being proud of our nation.

This picture was provided to be by Emma Butler. She asked if I would use one she sent me, and I wanted to wait for the right time to use this one. This is the right time.

It's a great day to be a Cobra!!

Email: derek.smith@jhcobras.net

Website: jhcobras.net
Location: 12692 266th Rd Holton, KS 66436
Phone: (785)248-4386
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jackson.Heights.USD335

https://www.citylinktv.com/channel/cobra

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a0QJd_3uUnHcCppNy4KIttr-i_TO_Q1QcxSKC8PZaHo/edit