HCS Families,

One of our core functions as a public school district is to ready our students for learning beyond high school and the careers/jobs they will hold. Earlier this year, Forbes Magazine published a list of 15 skills that employers are looking for, beyond specific skills for the intended position; as noted in the article, values and cultures of the modern workplace often differ greatly from those of the past." The top 15 skills are: 1). Empathetic listening; 2). Agility, flexibility, and adaptability; 3). "Modern" communication; 4). Emotional intelligence; 5). Creative thinking; 6). Networking skills; 7). Data analysis; 8). Objective self-reflection; 9). Critical thinking; 10). Hybrid/remote teamwork; 11)/ Public speaking; 12). Vulnerability and authenticity; 13). Remote team management; 14). Enthusiasm; and 15). DEI experience.

Creative thinking and critical thinking are two items that principals and I have spent a lot of time working on, and how we might support more opportunities for our students to build these skills. Ironically, we may need to more creative in how we fashion learning experiences for our students, and how we ask them to demonstrate their learning back to us. We know that our students will not have jobs where someone poses a problem to be solved, provides a list of only four choices, and only one of the choices is correct ahead of time. That is a great way to test surface knowledge, but not to produce out-of-the-box options in an ever-changing economic landscape.

These are the types of things that teachers work on together when we have professional learning sessions. In fact, the state requires that we provide 30 hours of such learning time to teachers over the school year. Some we do before the school year begins, some we do as half days during the year, and one time we do it in a full-day session (February 10). All of this time is intentionally planned and implemented to have a direct and meaningful impact on student learning - we appreciate your support and understanding.

I am so proud of our staff, and their desire to grow and learn as professionals. Like your jobs, teaching (and supporting teachers and students) is hard work and change is a constant. None of us can do it alone.

As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Hornet Pride,

Judy

juwalton@harrisonschools.com

989.539.7871

A free holiday meal is available for any Harrison resident on December 23, from 12 noon - 2:00 pm, in the Harrison High School Cafeteria. We do ask that you RSVP by December 16, by contacting the main office in any of our schools.

Coming up next week across our district we will be conducting a lockdown drill. This will take place on Monday, December 12. While sometimes these drills may be unsettling, especially for our younger learners, our goal is to ensure that all students and staff stay current on what to do in an emergency. This drill will be done in conjunction with our local law enforcement officers.

Earlier this week, several of our administrators attended a day-long Behavior Threat Assessment and Management training. This training was conducted through the state police, and provided additional learning around solidifying our processes for gathering and analyzing information, conducting an assessment, interacting with our law enforcement partners, and intervention plans.

We are grateful to the Harrison Sportsmen's Club for providing gift cards for families in need during the holiday season. Two families benefited at Thanksgiving, and two more will benefit at Christmas.

If your child walks to school or you drive them, please take time to read through this section, and discuss with your child as need be -- these our items of concern that our bus drivers have noticed:

• Eventually, snow will be plowed onto the shoulder on Spruce Street, and there will not be adequate safe space for vehicles to line up early for the back lot pick up at Larson without blocking traffic.
• If you are picking up your child at the front of Larson after the buses leave, please do not use the space at the Hive to park. Many students are crossing Spruce Street unaccompanied by an adult, and snow will begin to be piled up there as well. Also, please do not enter the horseshoe at any time buses are there.
• A few students at the high school have been walking out in front of moving buses as some sort of joke, and/or pushing others out in front of them. We will work with students in school to promote safety, and hope that you might have a conversation at home as well.
• At the middle school, please do not drop your child until you are in parking lot area. Then, please encourage your child to look for a safe opportunity to cross the bus drop-off lane.

Basketball Schedule:

• December 9: Girls vs. Pinconning (6:00 pm)
• December 13: Boys vs. Farwell (6:00 pm)
• December 14: Girls at Farwell (6:00 pm)
• December 15: Boys vs. Shepherd (6:00 pm)
• December 16: Girls at Shepherd (6:00 pm)

JPC Bowling Schedule:

• December 10 at Northern Lanes - Sanford/Meridian (1:00 pm)
• December 15 at Beaverton Bowl (6:30 pm)

• December 19 & 20: HS Semester 1 Final Exams

• December 13: MS Band concert (6:30 pm, high school auditorium)

• December 14: 2nd through 5th grade music program (5:30 pm, high school auditorium)

We are searching for:

• 2 Special education paraprofessionals (contact Andrea Andera, aandera@harrisonschools.com)
• Varsity boys baseball coach (contact Brad Carlstrom, bcarlstrom@harrisonschools.com)
• Middle school girls track & field coach (contact Brad Carlstrom, bcarlstrom@harrisonschools.com)

• Larson Elementary, 989.539.3259 (Principal Andrea Andera, aandera@harrisonschools.com, Assistant Principal Sandy Hargraves, shargraves@harrisonschools.com)
• Middle School, 989.539.7194 (Principal Jennifer Thrush, jthrush@harrisonschools.com, Dean of Students Stacey Van Antwerp, svanantwerp@harrisonschools.com)
• High School/Hive, 989.539.7417 (Principal Joe Ashcroft, jjashcroft@harrisonschools.com, Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Brad Carlstrom, bcarlstrom@harrisonschools.com)

COVID-19 protocols for positive cases, staff or student:

• With a positive case, the person must isolate for 5 days and not attend or be in school. In counting those days, the first date of symptoms (or the test, if no symptoms) is day 0.
• The COVID-positive person may return to school on Day 6, assuming symptoms are subsiding. We recommend, but do not require, masking for days 6-10 in school.

We are also attaching a handy resource from public health officials that provides guidance on when to keep a child home from school in a variety of illness-related situations.