This Week at LPHS: February 26

Good Morning,

Hopefully we will have a "normal" week here at LPHS.  I appreciate everyone's patience while we worked through some difficult times last week.  Please know that we are doing everything in our power when it comes to potential or rumored threats.  If kids are talking about it in your classroom please ask them if they have reported the issue.  Once it has been reported, please know that we are doing everything to investigate and ensure safety.  One thing we can't have is students continue to spread rumors.  If you hear this, please remind students that this often times causes more damage and if the student did not hear or witness any incident themselves, it can constitute bullying behavior if the rumors are not true.  One thing that I am especially cautious about are the rumors starting about kids that are perceived as different. 

With all of that being said and with so much happening, we will have Sergeant Hammerle and some of his co-workers here on Tuesday during our staff meeting time to discuss the ALICE training and our responses to emergencies in the building.  Admin here are working with the board office to finalize plans for how we will communicate this information to our students as well as plans for any potential walkouts in the future. 

That brings us to this week:

Tuesday is an early release day.  We will meet in the library at 1:55 to go over assessment information.  This is especially important because you will have time on Tuesday, March 6 during our PD day to work on wrapping up new curriculum and writing second semester assessments.  At the end of the early release time, we will review ALICE training with the LPPD. 

We will have a tornado drill on Thursday morning at 10:00.  I will make an announcement as we begin to make sure students know we are safe.  Please make sure you are aware of the procedures for your classroom ahead of this drill time. 

On Friday and Saturday, our LPHS Robotics team, lead by Ms. Perry, will be competing at Carlson HS in Gibraltar.  They would love to see you there!

Finally, we have made some updates to the RTC with Mrs. Fry.  Please understand that this process will continue to evolve as we progress in our training.  Information below is in regards to the new RTC referral process.  This room is a good opportunity for our kids to wrap their head around current events in their lives and get back to class successfully.  Thank you for your cooperation!

Two changes are heading your way from the RTC:

The RTC has a new referral form that has already been uploaded into Google Drive under "RTC Referral form."  In addition to the Google Drive version, there are also several copies of the new form in your mailboxes.  Please feel free to send a student to the RTC with a paper version if you aren't at your computer.  The new referral form gives you space to fill out what happened, as well as checkboxes that you can complete to show what has already been tried with the student in the classroom. 

In addition to the new form, we are also adding teacher-student restorative conferences after the student has worked in the RTC.  You will notice a question at the bottom of the new form that asks when the best time is for you to have a restorative conference with the student sent to the RTC.  Every effort will be made to have the teacher-student restorative conferences at the time that is most convenient for the teacher. Tre will bring the student to your room and ask the Restorative Practices questions.  These questions are:

For the student:
What happened?
What were you thinking of at the time?
What have you thought about since?
Who has been affected by what you have done and in what way?
What do you think you need to do to make things right?

For the teacher:
What did you think when you realized what had happened?
What impact has this incident had on you and others?
What has been the hardest thing for you?
What do you think needs to happen to make things right?

Please feel free to email Tre with any questions you have about the RTC.  Thank you for being patient while we work on improving this process to better serve and support you.

This week at LPHS, February 19-23

Happy Monday Everyone!

We don't have a lot going on during the school day this week, but moving forward I want you to make a conscious effort to make sure we are enforcing the rules mentioned in the video sent out on Friday.  I also want you to show the video again at the beginning of your fourth hour on Monday.  This is NOT OPTIONAL.  The video can be found here.  

In addition to these changes, subs will be getting a notice each time they sub in our building regarding some of these safety policies as well as notification about the pass policy.  Please make sure that passes are available in a visible area in your classroom or on your desk for them to be able to use. 

These policies and procedures are absolute musts. 

Finally, we have hired another Intervention staff member, Tricia Hickey, who will be focusing a great deal of her attention on attendance.  She will have her office area in the "Old Attendance" area.  If you see her, please welcome her to LPHS.  She will be taking over some of the attendance duties, primarily as it relates to our most truant of students.  This brings us back to our attendance and tardy policies.  Please make sure that these are accurate.  A student that arrives after the bell is tardy, even if it is first hour.  Please make sure your attendance reflects that. 

I know this is a lot of information and it sounds awfully negative.  I also know that this past week has been hard for many of us that work in a high school on a daily basis to process, myself included.  That being said, these practices are non-negotiable and are for everyone at LPHS's best interest.  I appreciate your support.  As we move forward, please encourage students to talk to the appropriate parties as needed.  We've spent a lot of time this year focused on relationships.  Times like this last week shine a light on just how important each of those relationships actually is. 

Thanks for all you continue to do, thank you for your patience and thank you for the spirit that you come to school with every day.  Our kids are the benefactors and for that I am incredibly grateful! 

See you tomorrow,

Dan

February Adult Food Services Menu

Student Wall of Positivity

Dear staff, We have a staff affirmation/thank you board in each copy room for staff members.  Now we have something similar for our students-

The "Wall of Positivity". Feel free to encourage your students to write something nice about someone else, a thank you note to someone, or something motivational.

The "Wall of Positivity" is located outside the lounge on the second floor.

Tardy Students

One of the issues we are repeatedly trying to focus on at LPHS is student hallway expectations.  The biggest of that is keeping students in the classrooms when they are supposed to be.  To start, I need your help on tardies.  After Christmas break, we started a pass policy and asked for your help on marking tardies accurately.  This still stands and has not been done very accurately.  Please make sure you stay on top of this and it does include first hour for tardies! 

This week at LPHS, February 12-16

I know this is a day late, but I wanted to get some important information out to everyone about this week.  We have a lot going on this week, and a couple more opportunities for you to volunteer and meet the requirement for your two after school events. 

On Tuesday, we have an early release day.  The after school meetings are scheduled for 1:55-3:45.  Departments heads have agendas.  There have been a lot of requests for time to wrap up curriculum and complete assessment writing for second semester.  Along with the agenda items being discussed, this is an opportunity to work on those things as well.  On February 27 and March 6, we will again have time to work on these tasks. 

Wednesday is count day in the State of Michigan.  Toni McCann has put attendance sheets for second hour along with very detailed directions.  This is of critical importance and MUST be followed.  Please make sure that this is done quickly and accurately.  Intervention will pick up the second hour attendance sheets.  Please make sure that sixth hour attendance is done ASAP as the Board Office starts to call for numbers during this hour. 

Our bands will host a Mid-Winter Band Concert on Thursday Evening in the LPHS Auditorium.  The show starts at 7:00 and our kids would love to see you there! 

LPHS will host Cheer Districts on Saturday.  If you are interested and able to help out, please see Don McKenzie. 

Have a great week and thanks for all you do!

This week at LPHS:

I hope that you all enjoyed your long weekend!  The snow day today was certainly a nice surprise!  This week, is a short, but busy one.  

On Tuesday, we will have a PSP meeting in the media center at 2:55.  We also will host our second FAFSA Night on Tuesday evening in the media center.  

Wednesday night is the annual Founder's Day banquet in the LPHS Cafeteria. This is a great event to honor many of the folks that work so hard at LPHS and throughout the district.  

Finally, WIDA Testing will be happening all week.  Your flexibility with this is appreciated.  

Have a great week!