A Message from MS/HS Principal
Parents/Guardians,
A few items I’d like to make you aware of and encourage you to help us with:
So far, our chronic absenteeism rate is 9%. For a student to qualify as chronically absent, they must have missed 10% of the total school days thus far. Today is Day 54. So, any student who has missed 5.4 days is chronically absent. Last year, our end-of-year number was around 20%. We are improving greatly! Not to mention, half of the 9% can be contributed to factors outside of one’s control (medical, etc.). Please continue to send your kids to school and to encourage them to fight through mild sickness, pains, and anything else one would be expected to fight through the workday with. I’d like to keep us below 10% for the remainder of the year. Let’s see if we can do it.
For parents/guardians of winter sports athletes:
Practices start Monday.
Please make sure your son/daughter has a physical on file.
If a student-athlete has even a suspected concussion, we will follow KSHSAA Concussion Protocol. Once a student-athlete is cleared by a medical professional, they can resume participation. This is non-negotiable.
Any injury that is diagnosed by a doctor and states the student-athlete is out for "x" amount of time; the student-athlete must be cleared by a medical professional before returning to participation.
Dual Sports Contracts do not appear to be necessary for the winter sports session.
Coaches will be required to submit an injury report to the High School Office any time a student-athlete is injured during practice or a game. I will submit a copy of this injury report to the parent/guardian.
The Site Council has created a list of community service opportunities for kids to think about. These are ways our students could help their community: Doniphan County Pet Rescue, Wellness Committee, Kaden’s Kloset, Park Committee, and leaf removal at East Side Apartments. If a student or parent has any interest in any of these subjects, please let me know. We could always use the help!
The Site Council has also discussed the culture of our school. What do we want this to look like? How do we get there? We’d like students to take initiative, handle adversity, and be kind to others. How do we teach these skills? Allowing students to fail? Letting students realize the world continues to turn even if they are sick, injured, sad, etc.? This is a difficult question to answer, and a difficult situation to navigate. We will continue to think about and work towards our goal. I encourage everyone to join us in our endeavors.
On that note, we’ve had some vandalism take place at the school recently (kids etching words into bathroom stalls, etc.). Often times, misconduct like this can go undetected and/or unaddressed because it’s hard to pin down exactly who did it. Please encourage the kids to respect property; their own and that of others. This goes back to the culture piece.
Thank you for your assistance in these matters. This is a big ship to steer, but we can get it where we want it with each other’s help.
Mr. Jeremy Prudden
6-12 Principal