South County High School Late Edition

From The Principal


Family,

I figure that you probably are thinking that I forgot about you since there was nothing from me in the 6:30pm New You Choose.  But the truth of the matter is that I was just testing you to see if you missed me. Some of you will find that funny, and that is good enough for me.

Well we are through the month of September and we are still plugging along. I have seen noteworthy growth in our students and the unity that they present; not only as friends, but also as learning colleagues in the classroom. The visits that the administrators are making have born out conversations around increased collaboration, and a display of more student voice. That increase in student voice is only a sign that we are bringing more experiences into the learning, and also students finding the lessons being more relevant to them, which results in more student engagement.

We are also through another class orientation. Our Junior class received their presentation from the professional school counseling staff, and are now better prepared as they become ever closer to graduation and the next steps beyond that awesome day.  If your Junior child has come home with any questions he/she has not been able to get answers to concerning the tasks he/she should be focused on heading toward their 2021 commencement date, please have them have a personal conversation with their counselor, or reach out to them yourself.  But I strongly encourage having them advocate for themselves first.  This is really all about them growing up a little. 

South County High School experienced our first fender bender of the school year involving a student and an adult during arrival time. I am sharing this with you because it is so very important that not only are we all driving carefully at all times, but also that we are modeling good driving habits in their presence. We have some established traffic patterns for dropping off students in the morning, specifically when leaving the campus. We ask that at all exits, that no car make a left-hand turn when leaving campus. Not only does it create a traffic jam, it requires that the car cross lanes of traffic; traffic involving our young not so experienced drivers. Please take care of yourselves and each other.  

Unfortunately, we are not staffed with enough safety and security personnel to supervise all of the areas.  I have gotten offers from a couple of you to assist with supervision of  our Kiss and Ride and exits.  I am getting to the point where I am ready to take you up on  your offers.  If you are still interested, pleae reach out to me and I will put you in contact with Mr. Gamble, our Safety and Security specialist to work out a plan to incorporate you into our safety plans.  

I had the pleasure of hanging out with a great group of young ladies on Wednesday evening at the South County Field Hockey Senior Night. It was great to see and hear about their experiences through high school and how much they care for the sport and one another. I was so very proud of them as they represented themselves, their team, and their families, and then went on to blank West Springfield HS 3 – nil. Keep it up ladies!

I wanted to give a huge shout out to our PTSO parents for successfully putting on our annual Club Day this week. Students from a few of our signature student clubs got to put on display what their clubs are all about. What was just as astounding, were the numbers of students that signed up to be a part of their great work. The activities department will follow up with another Club Day that will feature every club we have approved in the school. This is in support of our third school improvement plan goal to ensure that every student is involved in some sort of activity to have them connected to the school in a way that is outside of their every-day class schedule.

Well that is all that I have for you this week. Please take time to check in with your students to find out what they are learning in school. Not only does this help to keep you informed, it also provides them with an opportunity (although they might not call it an opportunity) to reflect on their school day/week. It is also can serve as a form of “quick study” as they recall facts and activities they were a part of. And finally, if something comes up in the conversation that just doesn’t sound right, reach out to an administrator and share that with us. We do appreciate you being a part of this team and Family. Have a great rest of the weekend. #OneStallion

Gary