SCHS Student & Parent Weekly Update

Good afternoon,

I hope you are having a relaxing weekend and enjoying the nice weather. This week is Counselor Appreciation Week. Be sure to see the information below and let our counselors know how thankful we are for their support! We were able to send out 1st Semester report cards last Wednesday through the portal. If you did not receive your report card or need a paper copy, please stop by the Counseling Office and they will assist you.

A/B Schedule:

Monday, Feb. 5th - B Day

Tuesday, Feb. 6th - A Day

Wednesday, Feb. 7th - B Day and Early-Out

Thursday, Feb. 8th - A Day

Friday, Feb. 9th - B Day

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." — Dale Carnegie

Teachers are currently selecting students for our Pirate P.R.I.D.E. Positive Referrals for the month of January. Once students are nominated, I will be randomly drawing 15 names and these students will win a free ticket to our upcoming Snocoming Dance on Saturday, February 17th.

Presale tickets for Snowcoming will begin on Myschoolbucks on Monday 2/5 and go through Thursday 2/8. Tickets will be $8. ONLY students who preorder tickets will be able to select music for the dance. A google form for music suggestions will be sent to all students who pre-ordered tickets on Friday the 9th. All other ticket sales will be held on myschoolbucks and in person in front of the auditorium from Feb. 12-15th for a cost of $10. Students who pre-ordered tickets can pick up their tickets at this time, or stop by the week of the dance to Mrs. Reichert or Mrs. Kohr during AIP to get their tickets. Students MUST present their ticket at the door to enter.

As the district recently communicated, a revision has occurred to the calendar on April 8th, 2024 due to the solar eclipse. This change has been made primarily to ensure the safety of our students, as the timing of the eclipse coincides with our regular afternoon dismissal period. For SCHS, this means our Early-Out will move from Wednesday, April 10th to Monday, April 8th. All students will be released at 1:20 p.m. on April 8th. We will have regular school days on Tuesday, April 9th-Friday, April 12th. Please let me know if you have any questions.

As of last week, the district has used all 3 of the traditional snow days built into our school calendar. If we have any other days of school called off for inclement weather, these will be an AMI (Alternative Method of Instruction) day. During an AMI day, the learning occurs at home and counts as a student attendance day. This means we do not have to make-up this day at the end of the school year. There are some key expectations for AMI days I want to clarify for students and parents.

• All students will access their learning on the AMI virtual learning day through Google Meet and content shared through Google Classroom as defined by the teacher. This may also include traditional independent work that the teacher was able to assign ahead of time.
• If you have no home internet access, it is possible a hot spot may be available for check-out. Please see your supervising administrator to inquire.
• At a minimum, teachers will conduct live check-ins with their classes at the beginning of their class time to ensure all students are aware of the expectations and can clarify any questions as needed.
• This means we will follow our regular daily bell schedule for all classes and you would need to check-in with your teacher at the beginning of each block.
• If it is an Early-Out Wednesday or Early Release Day, we will follow the bell schedule for these types of days.
• Please see the bell schedules listed above for reference. I will leave these in all future updates in case they are needed.
• Attendance on AMI days will be counted by the completion of the assignments. If students have technical difficulties or other hardships in completing the work for the day, then the students have up to one week to complete the work assigned.
• If the work is not completed in this timeframe, then the student will be counted as absent.

These are some key points about AMI days. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact your teacher or the main office.

During lunches, please stay in the cafeteria. You are welcome to come up to the Commons to visit the Galley or use the restroom. After you do so, return to the cafeteria. Your lunch period is NOT time to roam around the building. There are classes going on and it is disrupting when there are people in the hallways. PLEASE stay in the cafeteria. If you are found roaming the hallways, you may receive consequences.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has facilitated comprehensive access to Varsity Tutors for all districts within the state. This invaluable educational resource is available to students throughout the 2024-25 school year. Access is seamlessly provided through individual student accounts linked to Clever (https://clever.com/in/stcharlessd), ensuring a streamlined and secure authentication process.

It is important to note that this resource is intended exclusively for student use, and the district does not have the capability to monitor individual progress. Nonetheless, in an effort to enhance user experience, we have implemented a user-friendly single sign-on feature through Clever, simplifying the login process for students.

Parents are encouraged to actively participate in their child's education by assisting them in selecting lessons that cater to their specific needs for additional support. This collaborative approach empowers parents to contribute to their child's academic success, particularly when engaging with the platform from the comfort of home.

Unfortunately, vaping in our restrooms has continued to be an increasing and daily issue at SCHS. As we discussed previously, vape detectors were purchased to help combat this issue. This past week, these detectors were installed in each restroom and are now functioning.

While these detectors will be a great tool to help us recognize when vaping is occurring, we do not believe they will be the ultimate solution. At SCHS, there are a total of 16 bathrooms (8 Boys and 8 Girls) for students to use. We have attempted several initiatives to try to curb the issue, but with this large number of restrooms to cover they have not been successful. When we do enter these restrooms, especially during passing periods, we often find large groups of students (5-10) congregating and not necessarily using the restroom which makes it difficult to pinpoint who has been vaping. SCHS will be making the following changes:

• The only restrooms available for student use will be the Upper Commons, Lower Commons, and Main Gym. All other restrooms will be locked.

• If students are found in a restroom in which it is clear that vaping has occurred, they will be brought to the office, issued a warning, and their parents will be called. If they are found in the restroom again where it is evident vaping has happened, they will be written up for Conduct Prejudicial to Good Order.

• 1st Offense-Warning

• 2nd Offense- Saturday Detention

• 3rd Offense- 1 Day of ISS

• If multiple people are found in a stall together, these students can be searched. At no time should any students being sharing a bathroom stall.

• To prevent those students who are making good choices from receiving consequences for being in a restroom where vaping is or has occurred, they will use the following procedures:

• Immediately return to class to notify the teacher of vaping in the restroom

• Report to the Main Office to notify the secretary or an administrator

• Limits will be set on the number of passes to the Upper Commons, Lower Commons, and Main Gym bathrooms and all other restrooms will be disabled in E-hallpass. We will continue to use the E-hallpass system anytime a student leaves the classroom.

• The vape detectors do feature a tamper alert. If any student is identified as attempting to vandalize or vandalizing the devices, consequences will be issued as stated in the Code of Conduct for Vandalism.

Please understand, we know this may not completely solve the issue, but we do believe it will help us to more effectively address the problem. We do not want to punish the students who are doing the right thing on a daily basis by closing access to additional restrooms because of those who are not making the best choices. But we have to address the fact that we have students who are not only vaping tobacco, but also vaping marijuana in our building. So, while it’s not the best solution, our hope is it is one that will help us to effectively address the issue and the students who are doing this in our building.

We have created a new X (Twitter) account for you to follow to see some of the great academic and Pirate P.R.I.D.E. things happening at SCHS. Please follow us @schspiratepride.

The Pirate P.R.I.D.E Line continues to be an anonymous resource for students to help or seek help with an issue at school. If you would like to report something that has occurred at school the link is below. We appreciate your help keeping SCHS a safe place for everyone.

Pirate P.R.I.D.E Line Link: https://forms.gle/ZXjXBnZU9xGUeLYq5

Let's have a fantastic week and have a good rest of your day! It's a great time to be a Pirate.

Thank you,

Dr. Happel