January ramblings from a cluttered mind

• Since early December, we’ve been working hard on preparations for registration season.  I’ve met with nearly all the departments in the high school.  During these meetings we’ve strategized who should teach what next year, whether or not we split grades into two sections or three, and discussions on how to get more electives and college courses into the registration booklet. We’ve also conducted an interest survey with our 8th-11th grade students to better understand what new classes they’d like to see added to our registration booklet.

• One exciting new class we’ll be offering will be a two-hour Building Trades class.  This class will be returning to a day where we used to build garages, houses, sheds, and other on-site projects!  Mr. Matt Buysse will be looking for 10-15 students who are interested in construction (or other hands-on careers) after graduation.  A committee will be formed and will accept/decline project requests from community members.  The goal of the class will be to provide our students with a real world job site experience.  New dugouts for the baseball field (the one by the old tennis courts behind the school) will be one of the first projects this class will tackle next fall.  There will be information sent out to the community regarding project requests sometime this summer! 

• This year’s freshman class will have a brand new college offering available when they are seniors!  Mr. Darren Clausen is going back to get his Master’s Degree in Chemistry and will be able to offer a college chemistry class for the 2020-2021 school year!  My goal is to be able to offer college credits in all four core subject areas (Social Studies, English, Math, and Science).

• The new lights on the building (Monroe Street) give it a whole new look at night!  I knew it was dark, but now I realize just HOW dark it was in front of the building.  The parking lot and 5th Street/Jackson Street will be done this spring when the ground thaws.

•  We recently had a “Code Yellow” here at school.  When a code yellow is in place, it simply means that we want to keep the hallways clear of students so the administration/E-Team can deal with an emergency (usually medical).  Typically, it seems like we have one or two of these a year.  

Spring is on the way!  If you ever have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me here at school and I'll do my best to help!  

Jeremy W. Frie
High School Principal

Hello and Happy 2018!

It’s important that students have consistent attendance here at school.  However, I fully understand that from time to time, children get sick.  When your child is sick or is absent due to an appointment/other reasons and can’t come to school, it’s extremely important to report the absence to our high school secretary.  If we don’t hear from you by 8:30, we start calling all the phone numbers we have on file for you and if we don’t get an answer, we have to send law enforcement to your house to do a welfare check.  We don’t like having to do this, however, it’s our job to make sure all of our students are accounted for.  Note:  If the police do a welfare check, you aren’t in trouble.  We just want to verify that your child is safe and that parents are informed of their child's whereabouts!  

We don't know if a kid is in the ditch because of icy roads, is home sick, or is skipping school if we can't talk to his/her parents. Being excellent at communicating with each other is vital when it comes to attendance/child safety!

 

Here is an excerpt from school board policy:  

Excused Absences / Tardies

To be considered an excused absence, the student’s parent or legal guardian will be asked to verify, in writing or by phone, the reason for the student’s absence from school. Any anticipated absence from school requires written or verbal notice from the parent/guardian on the day of the absence. Parents are to call the high school secretary (507-872-6175) or extension 1100 by 8:30am. An e-mail, and/or voicemail are also an acceptable form of communication. A note from a physician or a licensed mental health professional stating that the student cannot attend school is also a valid excuse.