There is so many moving parts at the school right now that it will be hard not to miss something. We had our first First Friday events, fall sports got fully up to speed with wins all over, and we completed our fall MAP testing. As always there is a ton going on and the hallways are figuratively buzzing with excitement.

A major buzz topic this year has been the arrival of so many new students. With adding nearly 50 students to our rosters, the hallways are starting to look a bit more full and classes are growing just as much. I heard several concerns over the summer about absorption of these students into our climate and how the dynamic of the school would shift. Over the past three weeks, I have witnessed something amazing. My primary observation of mass amounts of students is during lunch. In the first week of school, I could walk down the commons and see tables with larger groups of former Wetmore students, or former Holton students. However, by the third week of school I walk down the commons and all I see is Jackson Heights students. I sat at one table this past week just to talk to students and realized as the conversation went on that I was sitting with students from all over the county. There were students from Soldier, Whiting, Netawaka, Circleville, Holton, Onaga, Wetmore, and beyond. It was just a table of Jackson Heights students having lunch and enjoying each others company. The culture of the students at this school is a product of the culture of our community. We are all on the same team with the same mission. Cobra Spirit is strong this year.

As always there is too much for me to just talk about in this opening section so away we go...

Keep on making a difference.

Derek E. Smith

Monday: LABOR DAY NO SCHOOL

JV Football Vs Horton @ Home 6:00 pm /PTO Tailgate at Game

Tuesday:

High School Volleyball Tri @ McLouth 5:00 pm

Wednesday:

SCHOOL PICTURES: Look Sharp

Thursday:

HS/MS Cross Coutnry Meet @ Holton (Banner Creek) 4:00 pm

Middle School Volleyball @ Oskaloosa 4:30 pm

Middle School Football @ Oskaloosa 6:30 pm

Friday:

HS Football Vs Maur Hill @ Home 7:00 pm / Backers Tailgate at Game

Halftime performance by the Cheerleaders

FFA Back to School Dance @ Gym after game. Last 2 hours or until midnight whichever comes first

Saturday:

Varsity Volleyball Tournament @ Frankfort 9:00 am

We had so much fun doing it last year that by George lets do it again!

The car bashing must go on! However, we can't do it alone. If you have a car that you are willing to donate to the cause, please reach out to the High School and we will be most excited.

We have brought back the extended learning opportunity (ELO) this year. ELO will be held Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays this year from 3:30-4:30. Staff will be on hand to assist students with any extra support they may need on these days. Any student may attend ELO for help. However, if students have failing grades, they are required to attend ELO and participate in order to maintain good standing to participate in sports or activities.

One thing this year that is not new, but is being enforced correctly is the board of Education attendance policy. I wanted to take this time to explain the policy a bit better. There are three categories of absences at the high school.

Excused Absence: The Board of Education acknowledges medical conditions (sickness, or doctors appointment) or family emergency as excused absences. A parent/guardian has to call or send a note in order for an absence to be excused. These types of absences are unavoidable and unpredictable. Because of this, student assignments will not be entered into the grade book and be afforded an extra day prior to being due. In powerschool there are three types of excused absence.

Excused: Sick/Family emergency with parent notice

Professional Excused: absence is accompanied by a note from a doctor (does not count towards total absences in the semester).

School excused: school function caused absence. Students are required to get their assignments from teachers prior to the absence. (does not count towards total absences in the semester)

Unexcused Absence with Parent Notice: All other absences that are accompanied by a parent call/note within 24 hours. These are avoidable or planned absences. Students are still permitted to turn in any assignments that they missed while absent, but will need to turn them in on the next class period that they attend class.

Unexcused Absence without Parent Notice: Any absence without a parent call/note within 24 hours of absence. Any assignments due during this type of absence will be given a 0 in the grade book without the opportunity to make up the work. This type of absence is considered cutting class and will result in punitive action.

Regardless of absence, students can accumulate up to 6 absences per semester. After 6 absences in a semester, any further absence will be required to be either a professional or school excused absence to avoid truancy.

If you would like to read further on the attendance policy, please reference the student handbook.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C5TozshGweAJ0whGHMnZIUWrbSDkKTPLPND7Oxr3WCQ/edit?usp=sharing

With us bringing back the school drama program, it might be time to let you know about my history with the Dramatic Arts. I did all the school plays back when I was in school, and when I got into teaching, I took up the drama program as soon as I could. I loved putting on plays with my students. Here is a pic of the cast from my second play, "How I Met Your Mummy". it was a fun play where I had a teacher play the mummy in the production and did a surprise reveal during the curtain call and the crowd loved it. Well he and I got together and decided that I would play the mummy on the night of the last production. We didn't tell the cast and my wife didn't even know. When I took off the bandages at curtain call, my kiddos went wild.

Early on in talks with Mrs. Cormier about putting on a play here I recounted the tale of the last play I was putting on. I was doing a spring production and was entering into tech week and everything was about to go off without a hitch. The date of the play was March 23, 2020. Needless to say we had to shut down production the week of the play and we never got to put it on. The name of that play, "The Butler Did it". So you have no idea how excited I am that Mrs. Cormier decided to put on this play this year. It is a fun production that the students will have a blast putting on. I am very excited that we are getting the drama program back up and running.

Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind.

Email: derek.smith@jhcobras.net
Website: jhcobras.net
Location: 12692 266th Rd Holton, KS 66436
Phone: (785)248-4386
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jackson.Heights.USD335

https://www.citylinktv.com/channel/cobra