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2/4/10 FFA is an incredibly large part
of FHS under the guiding hand of Rebel Smith. The FFA organization reinvented
itself about 15 years ago to reach more students. While there is still a huge
agricultural aspect to the organization, most of what they do is focused on
21st century skills. Our students participate in contests at the
District, Regional and State levels. Results form last night’s district FFA
Contest (1st and 2nd place move on to Regionals): CREED SPEAKING Graciela Sanchez – GOLD 1st
PREPARED PUBLIC SPEAKING Abby Spickerman
– GOLD – 1st Deliah Kiester – BRONZE – 3rd EXTEMPORANEOUS PUBLIC SPEAKING Jason Smith – GOLD – 1st
Rachel DeKryger
– SILVER – 2nd David Flynn – SILVER – 3rd
JOB INTERVIEW Caitlin Pell – GOLD – 1st
Morgan Proctor – GOLD 2nd
Megan Dickinson – GOLD PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE – GOLD Sarah Smith Ryan Silvernail McKenze Supernaw T.J. Davis Scott Flynn Max Kempf Brooke Zeldenrust Travis Bennett Calvin Crowley GREENHAND CONDUCT OF MEETINGS –
GOLD Mary Sovinkski Deanna Runions Jessica Pell Lexa Hettinger Bobbi Jones Brittney Pekel Kendra Alt Congratulations to all the participants! 2/3/10 We are nearing “Bid Day” for the new school. We hope to move the package forward in March. That will be an exciting time. Right now, the school is under budget by a little bit but we won’t officially know until we unseal the bids. My fingers are crossed. Our science department will grace the front cover of the Muskegon Chronicle today. You can find a link below. Scott Panozzo has poured his heart into the forensics class and it has paid big dividends. The kids absolutely love the class and most importantly, they learn a lot about scientific study. I appreciate his dedication to the class as well as his persistence in writing grants to fund the class. http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/02/hands-on_science_program_expan.html 1/25/10 Phones are out again today. The last two weeks of winter weather have been wonderful…I am not a fan of snow and love the thoughts of spring being around the corner. Mid-Winter went very well and the kids all seemed to get home safe. The new school design is about 99% completed and the design is being rolled out in its “final” status. There will be another round of community participation forums just like we have held during the design process. I am surprised that the architects were able to stick as close to the community’s suggestions as they did. I am very happy that everybody that wanted to help in the process was able to do just that. I like the idea of the public forums. They are risky in that you never know what to expect but our community really brought some good ideas to the table. If you have questions or want to see the materials that were chosen, you can stop by the High School Office as they will be on display (after tomorrow) for a month or so. 1/11/10 Conferences are tonight and Wednesday night from 4:30-7:00. We hope to see you there. Now for an absurd topic: No Pants Parties. The title is pretty self explanatory but just to be clear, they are parties where pants are optional. I’ve learned that two other area schools are starting to deal with this issue and that may mean that we could be dealing with them in the future. Apparently, a few years ago on the west coast, these types of parties started springing up at colleges. They have since traveled up and down the age ladder and have landed in high schools. The two schools that I referred to are dealing with them primarily for alcohol reasons but coupled with that issue is the no pants piece and the massive amount of pictures taken at these parties. Those pictures end up on the internet and depending on ages of the people involved and the content, may be a violation of law. All of these issues with the kids and sexuality etc. just unnerve me so much. Kids just don’t know what they are doing and when alcohol is added to the mix, really bad things occur that can last a lifetime. We have been having some issues with our pool chemistry. I am glad to say that as of this morning, things are running much better. The pool will still be closed for a day or so to bring all of the chemicals in line but the pool deck is actually bearable. I am very optimistic that our pool issues are behind us. Conferences are on
Monday and Wednesday of next week, not Monday and Tuesday. Sorry for the
confusion. 1/6/10 A new year! It is great to have the kids back in school. Over break, I ran across a site that seems pretty good for people who are concerned about teenagers “sexting.” It is located at: http://www.ncpc.org/resources/files/pdf/internet-safety/NCPC-FactSheet2.pdf It provides some good topics to review with teenagers. I know it is a tough subject and I can appreciate the uneasy feeling to approaching this topic with your teenager. We’ve had only two issues with this type of thing this year but it is devastating to the students involved. Parent Teacher Conferences are next week Monday and Wednesday from 4:30-7:00. We hope to see you there. The new school is progressing well. We are optimistically looking forward to the budget update. I have had some “inside” knowledge that things are looking pretty good. The construction management team will update us in the near future. I’ll let you know where we stand after they let me know officially. 12/18/09 The school is filled with the Christmas Spirit today. Lots of community activities like caroling and helping students in the lower grade levels are going on today. It is great to see the students out in the community using the skills they have learned in the classroom. I especially like the Spanish Christmas Caroling. That is just great practice! The office will be shut down for the next couple of weeks but I will be in and out on most days (weather dependent) if you need something. We held our last design planning committee meeting last night. We were presented with some more details about the new school and asked for input on various designs. It is hard to believe that we are this far along and moving into the “construction” portion of the process. I appreciate all of the people who have worked on the planning committee. Their work has given us great direction as we continue to build our new high school. 12/14/09 This week is filled with music activities. Tonight is
orchestra, Tuesday is choir, and Thursday is band. All of those events are
performed at the Last Friday night I had a great time watching Jon Berry and the FHS Orchestra. It was an awesome event. I thought our kids performed amazingly well considering that they didn’t have any monitors to hear themselves. I had a chance to speak to the band members and they were very impressed with the students. 12/1/09 We are experiencing wide spread problems with our telephones, voice mail, and e-mail at the high school. All of those functions are disabled internally but we are still able to receive external calls. If you left a message, either e-mail or voice mail, we will not be able to access it for some time. The telephone company and technology department is working on it right now. 11/30/09 It seems odd that the school year is now 1/3 done. It seems even odder that we are now in the Christmas push. This is always the hardest time for time for me out of the year. I see a lot of pain in the students and it is usually caused from things I can't fix.. These next three weeks bring an enormous amount of stress to our impoverished student’s lives. Those students see the excitement and joy in other students and have some difficulties with the season. That can also be said of the student’s who have lost loved ones. Those things are pretty tough to deal with at any age, let alone during adolescence. We have had a very quiet start to the new trimester. There have been very few students who needed schedule adjustments. Winter sports begin tonight with the girl’s basketball
team travelling to Alec Beattie made All-State in football. That is very cool for our football program and school. I got bored over the weekend (my wife always looks forward to Mondays!) and started messing around with a new project for home basketball games. I am giving it a test run tonight. You’ll have to attend a “big” game to see what I came up with. 11/23/09 It is hard to believe that we are almost 1/3 through the school year! We wrapped up our fall sports over the weekend with Destiny Noordyke competing at the state swimming competition. This week we have exams with a half day on Wednesday. I stop by the general shop classes quite often to see the kids working. Some of their projects are nearing completion and are looking great. Mr. Tank really has taught his students a tremendous amount of skills while creating a tangible result. I received word today that the further $127 reduction was a “done deal.” Both houses are out of session now and there is no hope for an emergency session. I went to a Principal’s meeting last week for the Lakes 8 Conference. Every other school is experiencing the same issues with regard to economics. It will be an interesting Spring. Facebook sure has been causing us a lot of issues. Today another issue was brought to school because of a Facebook exchange over the weekend. It is amazing what a double edged sword Facebook is. I use it quite a bit to connect with former students and it is very cool to keep in contact with people who live all over the world. The other side of the sword is when it is used as a way to target the kid down the street. We have had quite a few bullying, harassing, and fighting issues this year. It is very eye opening to read what students are putting on the internet. It is also surprising to look at the time of day when these messages are sent. It is not uncommon for messages to be sent after 1:00 am. I found out the other day that many students have double Facebook accounts. One for their parents to see (in case parents want look into their child’s account) and another one that their parent’s will never know about. I never would have thought about that reality. 11/16/09 Well deer season is upon us and we have quite a few gone today. I hope the hunters are successful. I’m not a hunter but come from a long line of them and married into a family that are big hunters. I killed a bird one time and I still feel bad about that! I know it isn’t a very manly thing to admit but it’s the truth. I do fish and I have no idea how that doesn’t bother me. The health department has notified us that they will be holding an H1N1 clinic with about 600 doses of vaccine on Nov. 24, 3-7:00 p.m. at NCCS. On the news last week, they reported that the spring outbreak was predicted as being as bad as the fall outbreak. We are still tracking our numbers but our attendance rate has not had a significant decrease in two weeks now. On Friday of last week we were still at 93%. 11/3/09 The flu has made its way to the high school. While the elementary schools are recovering and increasing their attendance rates, the high school is starting to decline. This progression is fairly typical. The little ones get hit first and then the high school kids get it a week or two later. The girls volleyball team won
last night and will face In the coming weeks, you’ll start hearing about a new community service day at FHS. The staff and I were presented with a community service idea from Tressa Wenk. The staff overwhelmingly supported the idea. The plan is to take one day out of our calendar and perform community and environmental projects. The goal is to teach students about community responsibility and being good stewards of our environment. We hope for it to become an annual project. 10/20/09 I appreciate all of the emails on the dress code subject. The vast majority of responses that I have received advised letting parents set the standard. That gives me a good idea of where our FHS Packer parents stand. Lots of talk about H1N1 in schools. Currently, the Health Department is encouraging schools to remain open during this outbreak of flu. We had a large group of students absent yesterday but not even close to the 25% of the schools that closed. We have asked our custodians to pay special attention to “community surfaces” and to be liberal with disinfectant. Understandably, there is a lot of fear over this pandemic. The budget…I hate to even speak about this as it is such a political issue but it is permeating schools. Yesterday, Governor Granholm signed the school aid bill knowing that the school aid budget was short even with the $165 reduction. You can see the memo from the Treasury department here: http://www.masb.org/Portals/0/pdf/School%20Aid%20Fund%20Memo.pdf . In response to the legislature not passing new revenue legislation, she has said that the largest earning districts (some receive more than $4000 more per student than we do) will be significantly reduced. You can see the foundation allowance per student here: http://www.msbo.org/services/biz/2009/hfa_conf_distimpact0910.pdf . I warn you, you may be a little upset after seeing how much other districts receive per student. The foundation allowance was created during Proposal A to fund higher earning districts at what they were at when Prop A passed. The reason this is important is that the districts Governor Granholm is targeting for a larger reduction are primarily Republican strongholds. I believe her goal is to make the Republicans deal on tax increases in order to protect their schools’ funding. The Republicans are saying that those schools will simply loose their funding. Pretty tough talk from both sides of the aisle. 10/16/09 I’m looking for some input on the subject of dances and dress codes. Currently, we don’t have a dress code at dances because formal wear often comes with a backless, strapless, etc. design. There are very short designs and there are designs that are longer but with a very high slit. (I am certainly not a fashion consultant and have difficulty dressing myself in the morning let alone commenting on the styles of today.) With that being said, I have heard a few parents comment on how short the styles have become and that the school should enforce a dress code at dances. I am more than happy to enforce a dress code at formal dances but it is a slippery slope. I have always looked at formal dances as more of a “family rules” night. What I mean by that is for the vast majority of parents, formal dances are special events. Pictures are often taken with moms and dads. The parents certainly know what their child is wearing and I would hate to have a family spend hundreds of dollars only to be refused at the door. On the other hand maybe parents don’t know what their children are wearing. Maybe we have reached the point where we need a dress code. We could send a letter home detailing the rules but I would still have a bunch of people showing up in outfits that are against the rules. What are your thoughts? People have been asking about the following dates: May 1 – Prom – Fruitport Golf Club June 3rd – Mandatory graduation practice – All graduating seniors must be present from 11:30 – 5:30 June 6th – Graduation 2:00 pm at the varsity football field 10/6/09 Pam Stenzel came in today to speak about abstinence and the danger of sex. I was pleasantly surprised at the student’s reaction. I spoke with about 10 different groups of students today and all but one of the groups really enjoyed the presentation. Pam’s presentation style was “straight talk” oriented with humor mixed in. I was most surprised at the staff. Many staff members came down to tell me that Pam’s presentation was the best they had ever seen in their years of education. I thought the presentation was informative and entertaining. Women’s Volleyball is home tonight. Our second installment of PT conferences for fall is tomorrow from 3:30-6:00. 10/5/09 We have a very busy schedule this week. Today, October 5th and on Wednesday, October 7th we will have our first parent-teacher conferences of the year. Conferences will be held in the multi-purpose room from 5 – 7:30 on the 5th and from 3:30 – 6:00 on the 7th (this is a change by ½ hour from what has been printed due to a negotiated change in the school calendar). On October 6th we will have a special presentation for the entire high school entitled “Sex Has a Price Tag” by Pam Stenzel. “Pam has traveled worldwide, speaking in person to over 500,000 young people each year about issues of sexuality and the importance of abstinence - her videos are viewed by millions worldwide.” Pam is sponsored by The American Decency Association. If you would like to have your child removed from the program, please call the high school office at 924-5300. We will be happy to provide an alternative setting for your child. 10/1/09 The fall weather hit us hard this morning. We are having some issues with our HVAC system in the upstairs rooms. Rooms are between 57 and 62° . That is way to cold for students to learn effectively. Maintenance is looking into the issue right now. Parent’s night for swimming is tonight. We concluded our staff meetings with the architects yesterday. Things are rapidly progressing on the new building. 9/23/09 I can’t believe it is Wednesday already! Homecoming is this week and the days are flying by. It is so cool to see so many of our kids participating in spirit week. I hope we can continue with that spirit during our “Pink Out” game versus Montague in a few weeks. The students asked me to get a pink dyed mohawk if they raise $1500 and wear the mohawk to the game. At first they wanted me to shave my head but I thought that idea was pretty old…I don’t think a pink mohawk has been done before (at least by a principal) so that seemed better. Friday’s football game will be played against Fruitport. The Homecoming dance will be on Saturday night beginning at 8:30. I was finally able to attend a soccer game last night. The new school meetings have dominated my after school schedule. I’m not complaining but I do miss seeing the kids play in their sports. That is a small price to pay for a new school so I will gladly take the deal! I was finally able to a soccer game last night. It was nice to see the guys play with such intensity. They have had a rough season but they are getting better. Parent-Teacher conferences are on October 5th (5-7:30) and October 7 (3:30-6:00). Those times are ½ hour less than what is printed in the school calendar. We had to submit out calendar information prior to our teacher’s contract being finished. As a result of the negotiating process, p-t conference times were reduced. I hope we are able to contact everybody as I know many families (including mine) live by that calendar. It is kind of funny to think of how many families go through the exact same process of “checking the calendar” before making plans. My parents still do even though now it is for their grandchildren’s events. The district has been informed that we need to prepare for a substantial roll back of state education dollars. We are all kind of holding our breath. It appears like a $218 roll back, tech education dollars, and a cancellation of the Michigan Promise is on the floor of congress right now. 9/16/09 As always, the days of school seem to fly by. We have had a very smooth start to the year with almost no issues. That is great! Throughout this week, I have been interviewing 72 our new Freshmen who may have struggled a bit in Middle School. I wanted to hear about how things were going for them and how they were adjusting to high school. The vast majority of them said that high school wasn’t as “scary” as they thought. They also said that they felt like they “fit in.” Even though grades, data, and ACT scores dominate the life of principals, we love to hear that our kids feel welcome. For many of the students, I reviewed their failing grades and MEAP scores from Middle School. Those conversations were very open and gave me some valuable information. The real goal was to give some of our former struggling students a connection to the principal and to offer a boost to their academic frame of mind. 9/8/09 The first day of school!!! Things have been very smooth
today with schedules, bussing, and lockers. We had an issue with lighting and
power earlier today but that is to be expected. It introduced the Freshmen to
life at Fire drill day is scheduled for Sept. 21. We run each class through the fire drill procedures so if you happen to drive by and see students in the parking lot, everything is fine. I walked into a class today and they were doing introductions. It was a “getting to know you” activity that many of our teachers use to make connections with the kids. In this particular activity, the teacher was asking questions. A student asked me to participate and share. After I quickly went over my answers another student suggested I put it on the blog. I said I would (I was a little taken aback with the knowledge that a student actually was following the blog.) Questions are in bold, answers are normal. Favorite Food: Hamburgers and greasy French fries Favorite Activity: Being with my family Favorite Sport/Activity: Hockey…Go Wings!!! Baseball is a close second. There were a few more general questions like the above. Person/People you would most like to meet: Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson Person or People who have helped you most in life: Wife, Mom, Dad, Ms. Werner, Brother Mark, John Fazer Hero: My mom and dad. They have never had any possessions or money to speak of but they have lived the true American Dream…not the American Dream that is the rags to riches story but the true American Dream: where your kids are successful and better off than you. A moment when you were proud: Birth of my children, wedding, the passing of the school bond A moment when you were sad: The deaths of my Uncle Jerry, Uncle Max, Uncle Bill, Aunt Gert, Uncle Bud, Grandpa and Grandma. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t miss them and think about them. They were my family members but when I became an adult, they became my best friends. Goal in life: I want to be a good dad, good husband, good son, good brother, good teacher, and a good man. This type of activity is a very good way for our teachers to make connections with students and to unite the class together. There aren’t any right or wrong answers and there must be complete respect for everybody’s ideas. Questions always start out in general and universal terms. As a teacher, you can sense the more anxious or quieter students in the class. You use these questions to give those students a voice. It is also a place where students are shown what they have in common with one another. As you go deeper into the questions, they get more personal. As soon as we share personal information with a group, you are more likely to feel closer to the group. It also establishes a “family” like atmosphere in the classroom. We all have proud days, we all have sad days and we all share in life’s ups and downs. As long as the teacher stays in control of the atmosphere, this activity can immediately break down class, cultural and economic barriers. After that, the class moves into the establishment of rules. It is amazing how quickly students create and follow the rules once they have established trust. After the first day, the teacher uses very quick “getting to know you activities” to further the trusting environment and establish connections with the students. All of this is aimed at the most influential factor of achievement that a school has in its control: a positive, personal relationship between the student and the teacher. We can’t control what occurs outside our walls but we can use our relationships with our students to increase their knowledge, abilities, and achievement. 9/3/09 We have been swamped with new enrollees over the past weeks. The counseling office is doing their best to keep up with the volume of people. I believe that appointments have now pushed into Wednesday of next week. We have had a couple of calls regarding President Obama’s speech on Tuesday. We do not intend to make the speech a school wide event. While our social studies and language arts teachers may watch the speech as part of their curriculum, I do not think it fits into the curriculum of any other subjects. I doubt that many of our teachers, besides government, will have the necessary time on the first day to participate in the event. The teachers that do watch the speech understand my directive to keep politics out of the classroom unless it is part of the Michigan Curriculum. 8/27/09 Last night we held Freshmen orientation. We tried to make the event light and positive. We hope the students felt a little more relaxed about coming to the high school. I am very happy that so many of our staff members were able to make it. I am very sorry that our lighting system failed us. I would like to say that those situations are unusual at the high school but they are not. We have those issues quite often and most of our students just tolerate the inconveniences. When those things occur, I always worry about our special needs students. To them, it isn’t an inconvenience: it is a major obstacle. All of our fall sports are underway. Football opens up at Kingsley tomorrow evening. The freshmen volleyball team has already added to the trophy collection by bringing home the championship trophy to the Lakewood Invitational. The new high school is rapidly coming together. It is an
amazing process. If you want to take part in the process please join us at
one of our community forums. You can find the dates on the _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5/26/09 Wow, time is flying by. We are meeting with architects today and tomorrow as a high school staff. This new building is an amazing process. We are in the thick of graduation season. Graduation
practice is this Thursday and Baccalaureate is Thursday evening at 7:00 at 5/14/09 A new All of that means that marijuana being used right now is nearly 3 times more potent than that of a generation ago. Couple that fact with the idea that many of our children don’t believe marijuana has any dangerous or long term effects and we have a major problem. I think this new study will do more harm than good because I think that when children get a hold of this information about the potency, it will become more of a badge of honor than a deterrent. The fact is we don’t completely understand the effects of marijuana use on the human body especially when it is consumed as an adolescent. We are just now getting a clearer picture with studies being conducted on the 1970s generation. Who knows what effects tripling the drug will have on today’s youth? What we have learned from the 70s generation is that there are massive and life altering effects on the human body. The heart and brain effects are bad enough but now research has uncovered massive psychological implications that occur later in life: schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies. Scientists are sorting through whether or not marijuana use leads to these effects or whether marijuana users all share a disposition to common psychological disorders. Neither finding sounds good. Kids do listen to parents on subjects like drugs. They also follow a parent’s example. Kids don’t like to admit that they listen and watch what their parents do but kids do. Many choose not to show it around their parents but the message still sinks in. We know that providing kids with excuses like “my dad can smell dope a mile a way and he will not let me do anything for a year if he finds out, and he will find out” or “ my mom already knows what kids can do and will take away everything I own” works. They work because the child has an excuse to “save face” with their friends. The ultimate goal would be for the child to choose other friends but they first have to have the courage to say “no” before they can move on to more positive friends. Adolescence is a tough, tough road. We’ve all been there but the road seems to get tougher each year. Kids don’t like to admit this but they want to hear their parent’s beliefs on drugs and other difficult topics. It does work and it is one of the few things that do work to keep kids off drugs. 5/13/09 B A couple of young ladies came down and made a convincing argument to allow small purses. While I don’t agree with their arguments, I do respect the fact that they took it upon themselves to democratically and respectfully pursue the issue. I did agree to allow purses/bags equal or less than 12x12” in class. Anything larger will be considered a bag and will not be allowed. This is a temporary measure for this year only and we will address it in greater detail next year. I am only agreeing for the last month of school to this compromise. The girls seemed happy with the compromise so I think we’ll live happily ever after…at least until next year. The result is that the big bulky bags will no longer be an issue. We’ve had a few security issues the last month with them and my eyes have been opened. Things were getting stolen out of them in class and it was a mess. With that being said, I do understand that we are late in the year for a large change so I decided a compromise was in order. 5/13/09 We are having some issues with backpacks and purses again. They have slowly come back to epidemic proportions. I just went over the intercom and told the students and staff that no bags, including purses, were allowed in class. It represents a significant safety issue and we just can’t afford any safety issues because we want to have bags in classes. We also have a space issue in many classes and if bags are allowed, moving up and down the aisles is nearly impossible in some classes when bags are present. Many of the girls have said that they have emergencies but our lockers are never more than 3 or 4 minutes away at the longest stretch so emergencies should not be a concern. I completely understand that many of the girls will hate me for a few days but I am willing to pay that price if it means the school will be a little safer. 5/7/09 More good news! We just received our bi-annual drug use and at-risk behavior report and we have had a wholesale decrease in every category! I don’t believe I have ever seen such a dramatic decrease. The full report will be available in the administration office within the next month if you want to read it. I spend most weekday nights away from my family and that
is to be expected as a principal. I’ve had to do so many times, just as
everybody else has had to do, serving on the Future of Fremont committee.
Wednesday morning, I woke up to go to school and was met by my 6 year old
son. He attends There have been lots of questions about the new school. We’ll begin to develop a design team over the next couple of weeks. Dr. K, Ryan Ergang, Jim Hieftje and I will begin to meet with the architects and construction management team next week. We’ll work on a timeline and make sure everybody is on the same page. We want to move cautiously but steadily to capitalize on the current economic conditions. I can’t believe how much press the idea that we weren’t including a gym got in the community. What a bizarre rumor. I’ve heard from a number of people that they voted against the bond because they believed that the school wasn’t going to have a gym in it. I have no idea how that idea started but it will have a competition gym in it. It is kind of humorous considering the bond passed. Had it failed…not so funny. If people have questions, please urge them to give me a call. I may not know the answer, but I’ll find somebody who does. Electrical issues are still plaguing us. We are chasing gremlins in the walls as one socket in an outlet will work one day while the other one works the next day. Very confusing to deal with. We’ve also had some massive heating issues in the classrooms. One of our rooms was up to 94 degrees yesterday. I can tell you that learning is effectively shut down in a classroom over 80 degrees. It is back under control today. The maintenance guys were right on the issue but once a class gets that hot, it takes a cool evening to lower the temperature. Back packs are creeping back into classes lately. We just reminded students that bags are not allowed in class. Some of the girls are upset because they carry purses but I contend there is no reason to carry any bag during school. Lockers are always within 4 minutes of travel so emergencies are always handled immediately. The bags represent a significant safety issue for schools. Anything and everything can be concealed in bags and every safety organization urges schools to limit bag use. 5/6/09 I almost forgot! Our environmental science class will be doing some mock disasters over the next couple of days. If you see police cars or ambulances, don’t worry. We are just giving the students a simulation. 5/6/09 What an unbelievable couple of days we have had in Packer
land. Getting the bond approved was awesome. I have never been a part of
something like that bond effort in my life. I am so proud of the effort the
Future of Fremont committee put forth. 4/30/09 Dan Moon, one of the We have been struggling with cell phones in the high school. We have had a number of incidents throughout the year but nothing like the last month. Cheating, texting in class, “sexting,” bullying, inappropriate pictures, unauthorized videos, etc. have all reared their heads lately. I can handle the texting in class and even some of the cheating but the other stuff has just went way beyond what we should be dealing with in school. I am considering a new rule for next year that bans all cell phone usage from bell to bell. I can’t say the last couple of months hasn’t been educational. I’ve learned a ton about tracking down telephone numbers, recovery of deleted texts, search warrants and seemingly every conceivable legal issue surrounding cell phones. It would be a little more justifiable if the issues were stemming from things occurring at school, but the vast majority of time, they are carryover problems from the nights and weekends. I spoke to the other Lakes 8 principals and a few of my other principal friends and we seem to be dealing with the same issue: how to use this powerful technology, harness its positive benefits and limit the negative effects. If you have an opinion on this let me know. 4/28/09 This morning we were met with the news of last night’s accident involving one of our current students and a number of our former students. It sounds like everybody is going to be o.k. in the long run. These types of things sure do remind you how precious life is. I just received news that there may be 2 cases of swine
flu in Justin Hughes just received a very nice plaque from Governor Granholm honoring his Eagle Scout status. That is a very cool accomplishment. 4/27/09 Prom was uneventful. I can’t tell you how that makes me feel. I don’t know of any issues with any of our students Saturday or Sunday so that is great news. Today, the news is filled with swine flu. The CDC just
said that we are up to 40 cases in the I don’t know if we’ll get our baseball and softball kids to Manistee today. I think this could be our first rain out. I just hope it is called before we get our kids on the road. We have a motivational speaker coming in on Wednesday and our Talent Show is this Friday. Mrs. Gardenour has spent an enormous amount of time organizing both events. The students should be pretty impressed with both presentations. 4/24/09 We had a good talk with the seniors yesterday about graduation practice and Prom. I know people are getting tired of hearing this but mandatory practice is on Thursday, May 28, 2009 from 11:30 – 5:00. No student will be allowed to walk if they miss the entire practice. We talked about the dangers of drinking and Prom. I also shared my story with the kids about seeing the dangers of drinking and driving. A man was killed in my front yard because he was drinking and driving. It was a horrible, horrible day that has stuck with me for the last 20 years. I can still see that accident in my mind all these years later. I tried to convey my concern for the students and my hope that they make positive choices. 4/20/09 We have had a fairly odd start to Prom week. We have been blowing circuit breakers right and left over the past couple of months but nothing like today. We are having blown breakers in weird places like the staff work room. Maintenance is looking into the matter. Prom is this weekend. I have officially started to lose sleep. I woke up last night at 4:00 am and couldn’t get back to sleep because I was worrying about the dangers of “after prom.” Disasters seem to strike on that night will regularity. I hope our kids (and all kids) are extra safe on that night. Mr. Kober came back from the National Robotics Competition today with a 3rd place finish for the Robotics team. Great job to the kids and advisors! Tomorrow evening (April 21), The HOPE PROJECT will be
presenting a forum on child exploitation at 4/13/09 It sure is great to have the kids back today. This place seems so empty without them here. The weekend mail brought some great news. One of our students, Jessica Edwards is going to be honored by the Department of Education for outstanding work in her auto tech classes. We also received the official notification from Governor Granholm that Audrey Jansma was selected to the All-State Orchestra. They sent a beautiful certificate in a frame. We also were notified that our Robotics team took first place at regional and will now go to the national competition. Cliff Somers continues to make a remarkable progress. It may not be out of the question for him to return to normal teaching/coaching duties by the end of the month. Amazing. On a personal note, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary the other day. While my family was at the restaurant, I couldn’t help but think how lucky I was that my parents stuck together. Life was never easy for them or for the family. They couldn’t give us much of anything except their love and their work ethic. That was enough. 4/2/09 Today was a very fun day. It started with me getting to drive a big John Deere tractor owned by Aaron and Leslie Bennett. I appreciate their trust in my very poor tractor driving skills. It was a lot of fun and I am very thankful for the opportunity the Bennett’s gave me. The kids had a great time with the pedal race, hay toss and the cookout. The tractor drivers also did a tractor parade for the elementary students. Rebel Smith did a great job organizing this very fun day. I have visions of making this event bigger in the future…John Bull mentioned the idea of a “Farmer Olympics” and I really like the idea. Our problem is that we are space limited in what we can do here at the high school. If we make it bigger, then we probably have to look at the Middle School for space and then that takes away from the high school event…anyway…enough of those thoughts on next year and back to enjoying today! It was really fun and I even wore jeans. I think every student in the school noticed and made a comment…”Yes, I do wear jeans,” was my reply about 200 times today. On an even better note, we hear that Cliff Somers is doing very well after surgery. 3/31/09 Tractor Day is Thursday. I’ll be driving in one of my many tractors (located at the Bennett farm…I let Aaron borrow them for 364 days of the year). I really like Tractor Day. It takes me back to growing up on the pig farm. I learned the best lessons of my life on the farm. I made a mistake on the prom letter I sent to parents…even principals make mistakes…The letter should say that prom is going to be held at Moss Ridge in Ravenna…not Fruitport. Fruitport was last year. Spring Break is rapidly approaching and we are getting closer to short shorts and short shirt season. Please remind your student to dress appropriately for school. 3/30/09 Cliff Somers is doing much, much better. He is awaiting surgery on his carotid artery which will repair the issue that caused the stroke. He is in very good spirits but tires quickly. We have parent-teacher conferences tonight from 5:00 – 8:00 pm. Our telephones are down…again. We have no idea how long until they return. 3/26/09 Early this morning we received an awful telephone call
concerning one of our teachers: Cliff Somers. While he was running today, he
suffered a stroke in the parking lot of 3/23/09 I met today with a company that rents graduation gowns instead of selling them. The gowns are much thicker and much better looking than the disposable gowns that the students purchase. Especially with our current white gowns, the material is see through and just doesn’t look professional. I really liked the idea that the rentals are less expensive and we would be saving landfills from 200 gowns every year. Students would still keep their caps and tassels but the gowns would be sent back to the company. I’ll be giving this some serious thought for next year’s graduation. Conferences are right around the corner: Monday, March 30, 5:00-8:00 Wednesday, April 1, 3:30-6:30 Typically, these conferences are very sparsely attended so if you want to speak with a teacher, this would be an opportune time….How’s that for a sales pitch? We hope to see your there. 3/19/09 We are finishing up with the MME retakes this week. It is a good feeling to completely end this task. Now we begin the seemingly long wait for the results. The weather has put most of our spring sports outside. That is great to see. I love coming to work and seeing the “XX days until opening day for baseball” season banner. At first, I didn’t know if I really wanted it out there but now I think it is very cool. 3/12/09 Ahhh… The MME is now complete. What a relief. Three days of testing is a lot to ask of our students and staff. The bubbling gives the student a case of the dizzy eyes. During the ACT, teachers are not allowed to read any material, use any technology or consume any food or drink or wear pants that cause excessive noise (that is my favorite one). The teachers walked out like zombies. The student took the test seriously and we will begin awarding prizes tomorrow. Thanks to the parents for encouraging your student to do their best. We received a very nice letter from our basketball officials from last night’s boy’s game. They complimented the parents, fans, and athletes on a very positive game. That is good to hear. It was a difficult season. The line between being supportive and being a distraction is tough to determine for all of us sometimes. 3/9/09 MME testing begins at 8:00 am in the morning for juniors. School will not be in session for the rest of the district with the exception of seniors who need to attend college and tech classes out at NCRESA. 3/3/09 So I was wrong yesterday…the entire girls bowling team
qualified for the state tournament as a team! That is great. The girl’s
basketball team played last night and defeated There have been a few changes in the delivery of these notes. I am now in charge of getting them out so I hope this works. It will be my first solo attempt! Exam Schedule is: Wednesday: 3rd hour Thursday: 1st and 2nd Hours Friday: 4th and 5th Hours MME begins on Tuesday, March
10...We kick off the testing system with the ACT. Please encourage your
junior level student to get lots of rest the night before and to eat a healthy
breakfast. We offer breakfast for any junior who wants a good free meal. 3/2/09 Ahhh!!! I am always happy to see February go into the history books. March just feels better for some reason…even if it doesn’t feel any warmer. We had a great weekend in Packer land. Alicia Brummel and Britney Nadeau finished 1-2 in their bowling divisional sending them and Melissa Morgan to the state tournament. On the boy’s side, Alex Harmon qualified for the state tournament. Caleb Rought, Mike Dunbar, Brad Jones, Jordan Graham, and Hunter Blake all qualified for the wrestling state tournament. The boy’s swim team had 7 top 10 finishes in their conference meet. Our robotics team took home a 1st place in best designed robot and a 2nd place overall in their weekend tournament. There are lots of smiling faces around the school today! 2/27/09 We held our first 9th grade orientation last night. I am guessing that about 150 people attended. Our goal was to get students to begin thinking about high school and graduation as early as possible. I appreciate everybody taking the time to attend. Our robotics team is off to 2/25/09 We pre-registered our juniors for the MME today. That took about two hours of bubbling in circles. By the end of that experience, the students were a little cross-eyed. We will be giving away prizes again this year. We use the money that we get from the water and diet pop we sell in school to fund the prizes. My reasoning is that the kids buy the beverages, they should reap the rewards. We also included another category this year for the students who score “at college level.” Basically, anybody who earns a 23 on the ACT will qualify for an additional drawing. The kids seemed pretty excited. Our winter sports seasons are wrapping up their regular seasons this week. Many tournaments have started already or will start next week. We are averaging about 6 ill teachers this week per day. The flu has hit our staff pretty hard. The kids have been very good with the subs. 2/19/09 Today we had the first of our state mandated lock down drills. Everything went well for the most part but we did have a few classes that caused some concern. The whole point of the drill is to teach students to be out of sight from the hallway. It is pretty difficult for many of our teachers due to their small class size but we practice the drill to make sure we find the weak spots. It is a day that I dread due to the seriousness of the drill and thinking about the reasons why we have to have this type of drill. The girls are home tonight and our Close-Up students leave
this Sunday for Our band and choir had an awesome concert Tuesday night. It was a lot of music and all of it was all good…I even knew a couple of the songs! 2/17/09 Yesterday, we had a “Commitment to Graduation” ceremony for the Class of 2012. We had the student sign a vinyl banner if they were truly committed to graduating on time. We then handed out green bracelets with the same message. Our goal is get the kids to think about graduating as early as possible. We will put the banner up in the MPR or the gym (I haven’t decided where we will get the biggest impact) and we will have special raffle days for students who are wearing the green bracelets. I thought the program went very well and I appreciate Jostens for helping us send the message home to our students. Jostens paid for the very professional banner and bracelets. 2/12/09 Last night the varsity girl’s basketball game was
unbelievable. The Please don’t forget that our theater is performing tonight through Saturday at the Dogwood. 2/6/09 In the face of horrible sportsmanship, our student section responded with pride and positive sportsmanship. I am extremely proud of our students for not responding in a negative manner and showing extreme patience tonight. I will be speaking to the other school and making sure our thoughts are delivered. I am sorry to say that our team lost but our students won their pride. 2/5/09 Well our Newaygo game was disappointing. Our student
section will be working hard to only provide positive support from this point
forward. We will be having a short assembly tomorrow to review our
expectations and provide some guidelines. 1/29/09 B The drug dogs were in today and found very little which is good news. We had a non-violent lock down while the dogs searched the campus and parking lots. We did have a couple of students come forward and admit their possession prior to having their car “hit on” by the dog. We always respect the act of responsibility even if we dislike the action that leads to accepting responsibility. 1/29/09 A very nice article is on the Harvard web site about a former student here at FHS: Dan Jones. I’d link to it but my computer is struggling with an update now. I’ll post it later. I’m thinking about creating a student advisory team for the Principal. We’ve had one before but it dissolved some time ago. I like the idea of getting student input in a social manner. I’ve been talking to a few other schools and there are some very good examples. Something to explore in the near future. There have been lots of questions about the school mascot since its unveiling a few games ago. The idea started last year with the student council. They wanted a symbol of their school spirit. The students came back to it again this year with even more support. A couple of school spirit leaders and student council members started looking through catalogues to find the right character. The settled on the wolf costume because of the wolf and pack association. They then picked a costume that was cartoonish enough to make it fun for the little kids. Our students inside the costume have been very entertaining, outgoing and respectful. I couldn’t ask for a better representation of school spirit. 1/27/09 Reports from last night’s basketball game were not very
positive in regards to our student section. From what I have been told, we
got a little out of hand last night and need to bring back a more positive
student section. The last thing we want is for a negative perception to be
placed on our student section and 1/20/09 Many of our students watched President Obama take office today. It was an historic event that many of our students will remember forever. It will be interesting to see how President Obama handles the position and the microscope placed on his decisions. What an enormous job under normal conditions but given our economy, war, financial industry, auto industry, etc. it will be unfathomable. Many classrooms were focused on the inauguration as it applied to their classes today. Discussions ranged from “honeymoon” period duration to world response. Students seemed very interested and were volunteering many answers. 1/16/09 Wow, it was cold this morning. My furnace and water heater went out in the middle of the night last night. I am sure it is due to a gas regulator issue or I have an awful bad luck streak going. It sure made me appreciate a warm place which a lot of families don’t have. I was able to bundle up my children and send them to their grandparents while my wife awaited the gas company (I know, I should have been the person to stay behind but my wife understands that school comes first unless it is a major emergency…honest, she’s o.k. with it). Back to the warm place…many of our students don’t have those basic necessities which makes learning pretty tough when you have those kind of worries. If you know somebody who is struggling with basic necessities, please let us know so we can try to help. 1/12/09 We had the FFD, FPD, and EMTs here this morning. We had a student have a seizure and lose consciousness. I just returned from the hospital and the student is doing fine. 1/7/09 A new year has arrived! After having 18 days off of school in a row, most of the kids were ready to get back to school. I know I certainly was. The roads are still slipper so please remind your student to be careful on the roads. We have had a couple of late buses but nothing to out of the ordinary. Parent-Teacher Conferences are next week, Jan. 12 (5:00-8:00 pm) and Jan. 14 (3:30 – 6:30). 12/18/08 Well, I didn’t think I would have to update the notes this soon…We have a major flood in our metal shop due to a heating coil bursting. I would estimate at least an inch of water is standing on the floor. We are now draining the system and have the flooding under control. All power to both shops has been turned off and the students are safe in the drafting room. I am so glad this happened today instead of over the weekend. It would have been really bad over the weekend. Never a dull moment. 12/18/08 Another snow storm is headed our way…probably a little too late for the student’s liking. It sounds like we are only going to have a few inches on the ground for the morning drive. In Principal’s language, that means good news. The band performed a couple of nights ago and they were great. Tonight, choir takes center stage to complete the music trio of performances. It sounds like we are having a break just in time…lots of students are sick with colds. A little down time should help the spread of the nasty flu bug. If I don’t update this blog tomorrow, have a very Merry Christmas, a happy New Year and a safe couple of weeks! 12/16/08 The Orchestra Concert was amazing last night. I can not believe how well the students played…especially considering the high school only had 9 days to prepare. I could have listened to them all night! The students are getting a little antsy with Christmas coming up. Around this time of year, the teenagers turn their clocks back a bit…they seem to transform back to wide eyed little kids anxious for Christmas. It is cool. 12/11/08 Back from the weekend…or the snow days that is. The kids seem to really enjoy being back at school. Most of the students I talked to were tired of being inside for two days. We spoke to the freshmen boys about sexual harassment today. We met with the boys for 15 minutes and just tried to get them to understand that they are growing up and some things are taken differently as a young man than they were when they were boys. The kids seemed to understand and asked questions at the end of the meeting. I encouraged them to restrain themselves if they think the action might offend a member of the opposite sex. We’ll have another meeting with the girls next week. Our purpose is to head off any potential problems before they occur. With the sex offender list and criminal sexual conduct labels, we are just scared of a student ruining their life with an impulsive action. 12/8/08 How about that weekend snow pile?! Wow! I can’t believe how quickly 14 inches fell. I also can’t believe how long it took me to dig out from the storm. It is a bad sign when you step out into the walkway and the snow goes over your boots. We are supposed to get another blast of snow tonight and tomorrow. All the kids are asking about a snow day already. I don’t make that decision. I do enjoy teasing the kids about the possibility of a snow day though. We are getting the winter sports and activities seasons off and rolling. We have home basketball and wrestling events this week and next week is filled with choir, band and orchestra. I love the Christmas concerts! 12/4/08 We have entered cold and flu season here at the high school. Coughing and sneezing can be heard in every class. Many of our teachers and support staff are also sick. I had the flu a week ago followed by the rest of my family…not fun. My dad has been lucky enough to have the flu twice this year already. I hope we don’t have a flu epidemic like other schools have had this year. That is a battle that I just don’t want to fight. Please encourage your student to dress in layers. Our temperatures fluctuate greatly in the high school and it is critical to learning for students to be comfortable. Christmas is right around the corner. Please make sure that you engrave your student’s electronic gifts if your student will bring them to school. Ipods are our number one most stolen item in school. Without identification, they are impossible to track down. 11/24/08 Well, I hope winter isn’t here to stay yet but it is starting to look like it. The snow is coming down pretty good and it is close to December… I always worry about our kids on the roads. Young drivers and slippery roads never mix well together. Add cell phones, ipods, and friends in the car and it gets even worse. Please urge your children to go slow and be careful. They may not seem like they are listening but studies show that your opinions and your concerns are remembered by teenagers. Thanksgiving is this week and I only have four days to prepare for the complete emotional and psychological let down by the Lions. At least next Sunday will be more positive for me…the Lions won’t be on television. This is exam week and I am sure the students will be glad for a 4 day break. 11/21/08 This week went quickly! Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I can tell because all I hear about is “Black Friday.” We are having some issues with our handicapped parking after school. We are asking that parents who have handicapped permits for themselves refrain from parking in the handicapped parking spaces if they do not have to get out of their vehicles. While it is certainly legal for the parents to park in those spaces, we are having difficulty getting handicapped students into their parent’s vehicles. Please only park in those handicapped spaces if you need to enter the building or you need to pick up a handicapped child. In many cases, the child is already self-conscious about their situation and having to have the principal and another student lift them over the curb or walk them to their car in front of other students is very disconcerting. Thank you for your consideration of our students at FHS. 11/18/08 We have had our first student accident today. The roads are pretty slippery and we always run into issues with the weather. I have driven out to numerous student accidents and each time, my heart stops when I see the wrecks. As winter begins, I live in fear of these accidents. We know that statistically, a bus is the safest place for students and we want to encourage students to ride the bus. Please remember that a student is absent after 5 minutes of being late for a class. We have to record it this way for liability reasons. If the roads are slippery, please encourage your child to leave extra early. 11/14/08 Yesterday we had an eventful day. First, we began the
remodeling of the 21st Century Room. I can’t wait until it is up
and running. Secondly, we had a dog in our school not once, not twice, not
even three times but four times. It would run in a door whenever somebody
would open one of the doors. The first time, it was pretty funny but it got
old real fast. I would chase it away from one area only to be outwitted by it
coming in one of the other entrances. Finally, I chased it away for good but
it was a blow to the self esteem to be outwitted by a dog. Finally, last
night saw the culmination of the girl’s volleyball season. The girls lost to
Fruitport in If you haven’t seen the 11/11/08 On this past Saturday, Destiny Noordyk qualified for the state swimming meet! That is so cool. Tonight the girls volleyball team
will play in Another exciting piece of news is that we will be working on the 21st Century Room beginning tomorrow. We hope it will be completed by the end of next week. I can’t wait to see it in action! This room will change how instruction is delivered and how students process new information. 11/7/08 Last night the girls volleyball
team advanced to the finals of their district. They will play for the
championship, tomorrow at 12:00 in Big Rapids. We will also have the girls
swim team in Good news about the school store. We will be doing some
serious reworking of the “Picket Fence” and the Athletic Department. We will
move the Athletic Department into the Picket Fence and add a school store to
that office. That way, people will be able to purchase 11/5/08 Last night the girls volleyball team travelled to Big
Rapids to take on Girls swimming will be at Spring Lake’s unbelievable aquatic center on Friday in their regional. We are hoping that we have a bunch of swimmers move on in the state meet. Hope to see you there! 10/31/08 Just wanted to let everybody know that two new clubs have formed here at the high school. We now have a conservation club under the leadership of Mark Wyn and a peace club under Theresa Caliguri. Students who are interested in either club may ask them for more information. 10/30/08 Part 2 Just after writing the last entry, we had a student have a seizure. The police, fire department, and EMTs arrived on the scene. The student regained consciousness prior to the hospital transport and is doing better. No other injuries were reported. Thank you to the fire, police and EMTs for getting here so quickly. 10/30/08 I got home from a facilities meeting last night just in time to watch the end of the World Series. Watching that event takes me right back to being a child and dreaming of playing Major League baseball (The only things that prevented me from doing so were a lack of talent, strength, size, speed, and knowledge…other than those things, I was pretty close). It is an amazing event. You end up watching the childhood dreams of adult men come true before your eyes and the unbearable heart break of those men who came so close. I would argue that high school sports are no different for its participants. From volleyball to basketball, and everything in between, the same emotions fill the hearts of our student athletes. The lessons that come from winning and losing and playing as a team are invaluable experiences. I wouldn’t trade my memories of those experiences for anything. 10/28/08 I am really proud of our Boys and Girls Cross Country
teams. Both will be going to the state meet in Lots of sick kids have been coming down to the office. The weather seems to bring a lot of that on. I am currently observing quite a few teachers. I often do walkthroughs but this is the time of year when the students will see me in the classrooms for extended periods of time with my notebook. 10/24/08 As marching band season draws to a close, I just wanted to say how proud I am of their performance. It was an awesome year for the band and they have a ton of trophies to prove it. Numerous Division I rankings (which for us non-band people, that is the best score), best in show and many other awards. Great job band! 10/23/08 Today is MEAP day for our 9th graders. It
amazes me to see the logistics involved in a test and overwhelms me to think
about the massive amount of tests the state conducts. The shipping expense
alone would be astronomical, let alone the man power in scoring and printing
costs. Don’t get me wrong, I think we have to test our students to get an
idea of how we are doing…it is just overwhelming to think of the all the
things that go into testing. I appreciate our counselors working very hard to
make sure our testing occurs without irregularities. A good ball park figure
would be around 40 hours of counselor time for the MEAP and well over 200
hours (both counselors, 6 key teacher leaders, 12 teacher team members, and both
principals) go into the ACT/Michigan Merit Exam. I wonder how long it will be
before the state completely converts to a computerized system? I would think
that in the near future, the state will have the capability to go completely
on-line. I also think that it would save millions of dollars (paper,
shipping, boxes, manpower) and an enormous amount of time for the 550 local
school districts in 10/14/08 The Fremont Police Department, Fremont Fire Department and Gerber EMTs responded to a call at the high school today for a student who had an emergency due to a preexisting condition. We are very concerned for the student and his family. Our teaching staff went way beyond their duties to assist in this matter. No other students had issues and no other incident occurred that required emergency personnel. 10/13/08 Homecoming went very well last weekend. The game was exciting, the court looked beautiful, the assembly was great, the parade was well organized and there weren’t any issues at the dance…all in all, a great series of events. Thank you to all of the students and adults who made this event possible and positive. 10/10/08 One of my favorite days is upon us: Homecoming. The parade starts at 6:00 tonight at the school. Our student body has really come to school dressed in style this week. Today, we are at about 90% red and white which is unbelievable. This level of school spirit is really amazing. Thank you students for coming out and supporting your school! 9/30/08 Tonight is our first P-T conference and we are excited to see parents. We hope you can make it. For Thursday’s conferences, please plan on parking by the pool as the Harvest Festival will take the majority of our other parking lots. 9/29/08 I apologize for my absence. I have had to undergo some minor ear surgery and that has hampered my reporting. It has also resulted in at least two situations where people thought I was ignoring them. Please do not ever think that I am ignoring you if you call my name. I simply can’t hear and any event in a gym or outdoors reduces my hearing further. I am hopeful that I will regain some of my hearing in the coming weeks but only time will tell. In the mean time, my left ear is the good ear so just make sure you yell into that one! Parent-Teacher conferences are on Tuesday and Thursday of this week. People have asked why we moved it to Tuesday and Thursday and the answer is because Wednesday is opening day for bow hunting. Many of our parents and students enjoy that sport and we did not want to put anybody in a tough situation. We know that the harvest festival is this Thursday and we are hoping that parents will attend right after that event. 9/15/08 We are just learning of a huge change with the State of 9/12/08 Yesterday we had a moment of silence for the victims of
9/11. Any time I see footage of that horrible day, it takes me right back to
that moment in time. I was teaching in my 2nd hour Throughout history, there have been events that tie the American people together. In recent times, D-Day and V-Day, landing a man on the moon, the assassinations of JFK and MLK, the space shuttle disasters, Oklahoma City, Columbine, and 9/11 have all had a collective impact on the American people. Those memories live on in our minds as if they happened yesterday. 9/10/08 We are seeing a dramatic change in the delivery of instruction in the high school. Many of our teachers attended an 8 day workshop on exceptional teaching strategies. The outcome of the workshop is higher achieving, more interested, and more attentive students. After the first week, all I can say is “wow!” Our teachers are working very hard in their classrooms and developing fantastic lessons. 9/9/08 Last week was a great week. Everybody was excited to be back in school and have a fresh start. It feels so good to have the kids back in the building! The building always feels so empty when the kids aren’t here. 8/26/08 What a summer!!! We have packed a lot of technology into the high school in a short amount of time. Mr. Moon’s class was doubled, the servers and switches were all upgraded, and the 21st century room will be a reality in a very short time. Last night we had a packed house for Freshmen orientation. That is great. We love to have parents involved. 6/2/08 Yesterday we held graduation. Everything went well. I
thought the Ashley, Mark, A rumor to clear-up: no students missed walking at graduation due to community service. 5/21/08 Last night the Honor’s evening was held at the Dogwood. It was very well attended and the students looked great in their gowns. Today, we had the honors assembly and it was very nice. The seniors dressed up and Roger Zinnecker was the master of ceremonies. The students were extremely well behaved and very respectful. I couldn’t have asked for a better audience. 5/14/08 Tomorrow, May 15 at around 1:55 we will have our second
state mandated lockdown procedure. This lockdown will be conducted during a
passing time to “create a real life simulation” as directed by the state of Last night I attended the orchestra concert and it was wonderful to see so many talented students perform. It was also great to see so many students attend the event to support their friends. I absolutely loved seeing that. When students go out of their way to support one another, it makes my day. The other nice thing was to see so many senior students hug Mrs. Whittle as they said goodbye. That one act demonstrates exactly the experience I want for every student…an individual relationship with each teacher. 5/13/08 Today I attended the Rotarian meeting along with our top 10 students. It was a very nice opportunity to meet with the Rotarians and we appreciate their hospitality. Tonight is a busy evening. We have orchestra, sports physicals, a facility meeting, and home baseball and softball games. With all of our events, May is going fast! 5/9/08 We are actively pursuing new teachers to replace our retiring teachers. Our goal is to have a full staff by the middle of June. It gives the new teachers a chance to stabilize themselves and provides some time for the community to interact with them. We are going though resumes daily and are looking for the best of the best. Rebel Without a Cause is playing at the Dogwood this weekend. Come on out and enjoy Fremont Theater’s Spring production. 5/7/08 Lots of colds are going around. The off and on weather brings them on this time of the year. Every classroom I have visited today seems to be filled with coughs. We just received some pamphlets for parents on the topic of underage drinking prevention. If you would like one, please stop by the office. We will also be giving them away at our first conference next year. 5/6/08 Prom was held on Saturday night and it could not have went better. The students were great and the majority of them stayed until the final song. I am very proud of the students and their representation of their school. 5/1/08 The annual talent show was held today and the students performed very well. It is amazing how much talent our school holds. The spectators were very well behaved and it was a great event. 4/29/08 Prom is this Saturday night and the students are getting very excited. After going through almost 20 proms, it never ceases to amaze me at the amount of money spent on the event. I’ve seen many studies that report the average cost of prom per couple is $1000.00. All students will undergo a breathalyzer test upon entering and may receive one when leaving. A uniformed police officer will be present as well as a few off-duty officers. We have also told the students that the police department may choose to bring in their K-9 unit to sniff vehicles. This is all being done to keep prom safe and to give the students an excuse to avoid negative influences. I visited Julie Gardenour’s
class room today and watched her teach the students water survival
techniques. I clearly remember that lesson while I was in her classroom years
ago. It has stuck with me all these years and is one of those “hidden”
lessons at 4/25/08 Wow…the humidity has come early this year! With the heat approaching, we are asking parents to encourage their students to dress appropriately for school. Skirts and shorts are getting shorter as the days get hotter. I realize it is a never ending battle between fashion and school but we want to make sure that students are covered. It sure has been good weather for track, baseball, softball, tennis and golf. It’s great to watch the kids but it is even better to watch them in good weather! Recommending 4/23/08 We
are very proud to announce that 4/17/08 Many people are beginning to ask who is retiring from the high school. Mr. Houston and Mr. Zinnecker are both retiring but will be coming back for a few sections next year. They will also continue to Coach Football and direct theater, respectively. Mr. Goebel is also retiring. Together they have worked over 90 years (almost as many years as Mr. Houston has been alive!!!). We will miss their continual presence. 4/11/08 Thank you for the calls about the sever weather watch. It is a good thing that we had a tornado drill this Wednesday…I am confident that because of that drill, our students and staff will know what to do in a weather emergency. If the tornado watch turns into a warning, we will immediately move the students into a safe location. We are not allowing any classes outside and makings sure that everybody is within communication distance. 4/7/08 The kids are back from spring break looking tanner. Some have already started developing their post spring break cold. Schools usually fight colds for two to three weeks after spring break due to all of the new germs. Prom is right around the corner and students are talking about dresses. I continually think about the kids who can’t afford such an event. We are telling students that if they can’t afford tickets, we will find a way to pay for them. If students are bringing a guest from another school, please make sure the student gets a “dance guest pass” filled out. 3/27/08 It’s tractor day!!! Students were allowed to drive their tractors to school today as part of an FFA event. Over 30 tractors were driven and parked outside the school. Mr. Smith organized the event and it included a cook out. 3/23/08 Coca-Cola has switched FHS over to sugar free products.
There will be no 20 oz sports drinks either. This comes from an agreement
between the American Beverage Association and the State of 3/22/08 Conferences are tonight from 5:00-8:00 and Wednesday night from 3:30-6:30. 3/21/08 We had the Pride team in today and I was amazed at their performance. Those students must put an enormous amount of time into practice. The students enjoyed their performance and were surprised to learn that Mr. Z., Mr. Houston, and Mr. Moon will be doing the exact same performance next week…just kidding. 3/18/08 I have spent the better part of the last three weeks researching drug awareness programs and the related research associated with the programs. I found many things that alarmed me. Most of the studies concluded that children had established their drug/alcohol stance (coping mechanisms, rational, etc.) by the 6th or 7th grade! In addition to that finding, most of the studies concluded that the summer between 8th and 9th grade was the time that many, many students begin experimentation/addiction. Those are not good findings. 6th grade seems so young…too young. Using the research, the high school staff is beginning to formulate a plan for how to reach the middle school students when they most need the support. Most of the studies indicate that besides parental involvement, the only way to help students formulate strong anti-drug/alcohol stances is through older student involvement. We will be working with the middle school administration to organize and support the development of our program. We hope to have a basic plan in place for next fall and build on it in the years to come. 3/13/08 Today, we will award the daily ACT prizes for Monday and Tuesday. We will give the big ACT prizes away on Friday. There was a shipping delay due to the IPods (out of stock) but we will go ahead with the awards tomorrow and just give them out when they arrive. Testing has gone very, very well. We are very happy with the students’ effort. 3/10/08 Tomorrow begins the ACT/MEAP testing for juniors. We are awarding prizes through a drawing to students who show acceptable effort and who behave acceptably. All of the money used to purchase these prizes was obtained through sponsorships for this purpose. Here is the form that students will receive tomorrow: In order to
qualify for the daily reward, the student must show acceptable behavior and
acceptable effort on the day of the reward. In order to qualify for the
prizes on day three, the student must show acceptable behavior and acceptable
effort for all three days. Acceptable
behavior is defined as attending the test session, showing up to the session
on time, returning from break on time, being considerate of others, not being
a disturbance, remaining on task and following all school rules. Acceptable
effort is defined as working through the entire exam, giving your best effort
for the duration of the exam, and rechecking your answers if time permits. The teachers in
the room are the first and final judges. There is no appeal. If the teachers believe
that you have shown acceptable behavior and effort for the exam, they will
sign this slip at the end of each day’s session. Student’s Name
___________________________ Day One Teacher
Signature or Mark _________________________ Day Two Teacher
Signature or Mark _________________________ Day Three
Teacher Signature or Mark __________________________ Our goal is to encourage students to do their best and to be present. This test means a lot to many of our students but means a great deal to Fremont Public Schools. We want to make sure that all of our students have a reason to work hard on the tests and we hope that they take it seriously. Prizes will include many gift certificates to stores in the area, a number of digital cameras, IPods and mp3 players and many more items. 3/07/08 What a week! The start of a new trimester always brings a lot of jobs but the start of the third trimester begins the big push for graduation. Seniors begin to take center stage here and it won’t be long before they are walking across the stage. Just a reminder that all class adjustments have concluded and classes are now completely formed. 2/25/08 What a weekend for sports at This week is exam week. We will begin with 1st hour exam on Wednesday. I will be out of the school from Wednesday through Friday for a minor surgical procedure. 2/21/08 Mr. Lienau, a student intern for Mrs. Bahorski, welcomed
U.S. Representative Peter Hookstra into his
classroom today. The students were able to ask Representative Hookstra questions ranging from life in The girls basketball team showed a lot of heart to come from behind to defeat Big Rapids. I brought my son to the game and was able to sit him behind the girl’s bench. My son learned a lot about sports by being near Coach Moon when he spoke to his team during timeouts. After the game, I asked my son, who is five years old, what he learned. He replied, “well Dad, you have to work hard all the time when you play basketball and you have to talk to your teammates to let them know where you are. Hard work and communication: two things my son learned from Mr. Moon in less than 2 minutes. Sports really do teach life lessons…I am now formally inviting Mr. Moon to my home to see if he can teach my son how to pick up his toys so his daddy doesn’t hurt his feet on Transformers in the hallway. 2/18/08 Last Friday night, our students received another compliment from an official for our positive student section. It is great to hear wonderful things about our students. Last Saturday night, I attended the FHS theater production. The play was very well done. It was great to see so many of our current students in attendance. I am sure the actors enjoyed their fellow student’s support. 2/13/08 Last night I had the opportunity to visit the FFA district competition. That entire program has recreated itself and is now a leadership and debate organization which uses the topics in agriculture as a platform. It is very cool to see our students involved with this organization. The girl’s basketball teams swept Fruitport last night in convincing fashion. 2/12/08 Another week, another snow day. UGH!!! There has been a
lot of talk about the high school having to make up time to meet the State of
The power of the internet is an amazing teaching tool. I visited Mr. Panozzo’s class today and he broke up his lecture up with a 3 minute internet video on “water.” It allowed the students to reframe their minds and put the lesson into focus. I hope to add more machines like Scott’s so that every teacher can utilize that type of power. 2/6/08 The snow is coming down again and the kids are a little excited. My prediction is that the snow will stop just in time for us to have school tomorrow…at least I hope. After the sewer problem and multiple electrical issues, the high school only has one day to use before making them up. I visited Rebel Smith’s agriculture class the other day and I was amazed at his ability to plan a quality lesson. There is so much more to ag classes than farming and I learned a lot of things I didn’t know (and I grew up on a pig farm!). He is a solid teacher who really cares about the kids. All evening events and practices are canceled for tonight. 1/31/08 After 2 snow days, it is sure nice to see the kids back in school. The school feels so empty without the kids. We are now just one month away from completing the 2nd trimester. The exam schedule will be the same as the last one and we are encouraging students to begin studying now. Boy’s basketball is home tonight and the Mid-Winter Festival is tomorrow at the girl’s basketball game. Hope to see you there! 1/24/08 The entire high school sends their condolences to the Krystiniak family. May God be with you and grant you peace in your time of need. 1/18/08 I am so happy with our student cheering section. Even when we were losing last night, our section remained positive and encouraging. Two adults approached me last night to comment on how great our cheering section was this year. I am very proud of the kids. Today, I subbed for Mrs. Hunt in statistics class. I absolutely love being in the classroom and after all these years, I still miss it greatly. Each time I sub, I get a chance to make connections with the students and listen to their concerns (in addition to following the sub plans). During those times, I do my best to elicit responses from all the students, especially the quieter ones. Their insight and honesty never ceases to amaze me. 1/15/08 One of our officials said that our student cheering section was the most positive and best cheering section he has ever seen. That is a long way from getting a warning of a technical foul for negative cheering at the first game. I am so happy and proud of our students. 1/14/08 Our parent-teacher raffle was held last Thursday and the winners were Marta Przyrembel and Jordon Harris. Thank you to all of you who participated. This raffle and all other student prizes given away this year were donated by the Coca-Cola corporation. No tax dollars have been spent or will be spent to provide rewards for the students. I spent part of the morning observing Ms. Cook in her Chemical Science class. I was very impressed by not only the lesson but also how the students responded to her prompts. The students clearly knew how to study, how to take a test and what to study. All students were involved and actively engaged. It was nice to see a person (Ms. Cook) get so excited about the table of elements. I am convinced the students in that class understood how the table was constructed and how to use the information on the table. We also had a couple of calls from parents about a fire in the high school. There was no fire in the high school. A student badly burned their popcorn in the multi-purpose room and it smelled (still does as a matter of fact) a lot like something was burning. I’ve done that more times than I care to admit. Boy’s basketball is home tonight. Go Packers! 1/11/08 Tonight the boys basketball teams travel to 1/8/08 Tonight is our final Parent-Teacher conference for the 2nd trimester. We will begin at 3:30 and conclude at 6:30. 1/6/08 Tonight (5-8 pm) and Wednesday (3:30-6:30) we are holding Parent-Teacher conferences. We are having a raffle for parents who attend and will give their student a prize as well. The following directions are going to be given to students third hour today along with a “raffle ticket.” Students, You and your parents can win a prize just by sending
your parents to parent-teacher conferences. Give this raffle ticket to your parents
for parent-teacher conferences held tonight from 5:00 – 8:00 and Wednesday,
February 8, from 3:30 – 6:30. Parents need to hold conferences with the
teachers in at least three of your classes and submit this ticket to the
raffle box (located by the schedule table) during parent-teacher conferences.
There will be two sets of winners drawn from the submissions on Friday,
January 11, 2008. The student prize will be a $25.00 gift certificate to Best
Buy and the parent will receive a $25.00 gift certificate to Bill’s
Shop-n-Save. 1/3/08 I just spent about 20 minutes in Ms. Tarala’s
room participating in the class discussion surrounding the topics of empathy
and respect. The discussion formed a double edged sword in my mind. I
listened to the majority of students talk about how they felt the high school
and specifically, their classes were big families. In their minds, they could
say anything to each other and not offend/hurt each other. That is a great
feeling and I am very happy that so many vocal students feel that way. That
is exactly the way I felt growing up here in From pedagogical studies, we know that high school age students are still forming their personalities as they relate to empathy. It was amazing to see the students try to look through the eyes of the disassociated students. Empathy is a powerful tool for parents and educators. A few new studies have shed light on empathy development. One of the abstracts can be found here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFDD1730F931A25754C0A966958260 . I was surprised to see that the amount of time a father spends with their young children was a much stronger predictor than how warm parents were towards their children. 1/2/08 Our first day back was largely uneventful…with the exception of heating issues that seam to be plaguing us this year. I can’t believe we are through Christmas and looking at prom and graduation plans already. Scholarship applications are rolling in and I am thankful to all the students who are asking for a recommendation a few weeks ahead of the deadline. If you see me with my clipboard at the basketball games, odds are I am writing a last minute recommendation. Over Christmas break, I received a letter from the Fremont Area Foundation stating they were moving their scholarship deadline ahead from that of last year’s. Please make sure you review the scholarship deadlines to assure your student the best chance for an award. I would also like to thank everybody who sent the office a Christmas card. It is nice to be remembered and we appreciate your acknowledgement. I enjoyed the treats that people shared during the last days of school and as a result, my belt had to extend into new territory. 12/18/07 This is a new one on me: Sewer problems! I can’t believe we had to close school for plumbing/health reasons. The problem is now remedied, cleaned, and sanitized. Boys Basketball will be at the High School as scheduled. Boys Swimming will be traveling to Hudsonville as scheduled. School will be back in session tomorrow. 12/17/07 Yesterday, I attended the Choir concert. While they didn’t let me sing, I still had a good time. The kids looked like they were having fun and I know Mrs. Homsher was having fun. The Dogwood was packed to the point of standing room only! High School Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on: January 7, 5:00-800 and January 9, 3:30-6:30. This is a great time to meet your child’s teachers and to ask questions. We hope to see you there. 12/14/07 Last night, I attended the district band concert. The kids did an incredible job and Mr. Breza infused a lot of humor in the event. The progression of levels never ceases to amaze me. 12/13/07 I attended the orchestra concert last night and was very impressed and entertained. I could listen to Silent Night and Amazing Grace all day long! As I was sitting in the audience, I couldn’t help but wonder how many combined hours of practice were required by our students to get to that performance level. I am sure it is in the tens of thousands. Last night’s program allowed us to highlight a dynamic program and most importantly, allowed us to recognize our incredible students. 12/10/2007 On 12/6/07 we had our first lockdown for the State of We followed that lockdown with a non-violent lockdown later in the morning. The Newaygo County Sheriff’s department came in with their K-9 narcotics unit to look for illegal drugs. I am happy to say that we did not have any drugs found within the school but did have 3 instances of drugs being found in cars. We will continue to invite the K-9 unit back in throughout the year and will continue to change our search patterns to keep this school free of drugs. 12/5/07 At around 1:30 pm today, we had some issues with our phone message system. Some messages left were not able to be recovered. If you have left a message with the office staff and have not received a call back by the end of the day, please call us back. The issue seems to be resolved now. We will be
having our first “lock down” drill tomorrow during first hour. The Fremont
Police Department will be on hand to conduct the drill. We expect the drill
to take no longer than 30 minutes. This is the first of two lock down drills
which are mandated by the State of
11/30/07 The first snow of the season! With the snow storms coming, I would just like to remind parents to urge their students to ride the school bus. I know it is not “cool” but is much statistically much safer. Another benefit is that the students who ride the school bus are never late or marked absent. If a student drives and is late, those days fall under the attendance policy. 11/20/07 We were notified earlier today that we have had a student test positive for a MRSA infection. This is our first confirmed case in the district. Clearly this case is not the virulent type and all prohibitive measures have been taken. We have ordered the complete cleaning/sanitizing of our athletic facilities, locker rooms and training facilities. We will also be cleaning our classrooms just to make sure the virus does not spread. This work will be completed by the beginning of the school day tomorrow. We are fortunate that we are on the cusp of a long weekend which will give us time to go over the facilities again. Normal precautions that parents can share with their students include:
We will also be sending home informational pamphlets on MRSA with report cards. If you have any questions or concerns, please call the high school office at 924-5300. A couple of parents have called and asked about cancelling school and the like. We have acted on medical advice and even went far beyond recommended precautions so there is no need to close the school. Our custodial staff members have been working from the first notice of this issue and are using chemicals specifically for this issue. For more information, parents may go to www.michigan.gov/mdch 11/19/07 Today is the first day of exams for the 1st trimester. We will finish the week with 2nd and 4th hour exams on Tuesday and 3rd and 5th hour exams on Wednesday. This following is offered by Mrs. Whittle: Chamber
Music Program Offered to Students High
school band and orchestra students are invited to participate in January in
an intensive retreat to advance their musical abilities. Students must sign
up by November 26 with their ensemble and music selected. Ensembles must be quartets or quintets.
Cost is $15 per student. “Studying
chamber music is like turbo-charging the learning process,” said Becky Jansma, coordinator of the Chamber Music Retreat. “The experience is intense and when they
perform, the kids feel such a sense of accomplishment. Chamber music is for small ensembles in
which players perform one to a part, each instrument having equal
importance. There’s no hiding behind
anyone. Everything is exposed so the
students really work. Each ensemble
receives their own coach, so the teacher/student ratio is nearly like a
private lesson.” “And
it’s fun,” adds Jansma, who is bringing in college
music education majors to coach the ensembles. “These future teachers coming from CMU are
not that much older than the students they will be coaching, so the energy
level will be high.” The
highlight of the retreat will be the master class where college faculty will
work with the ensembles. This gives
the students the experience of college-level training. A few ensembles will be chosen to perform
for the master class while the remaining students watch the demonstration. Parents are also invited to observe the
master class. A fundraising dinner
will be provided on-site, and select participating ensembles will play during
the dinner. After dinner the students
will receive free admission to a public concert, and their families will be
given a discount as well. “The
experience of a live performance of professional musicians is so very
beneficial to students of music,” said Jansma.
“I’ve selected some outstanding musicians to perform and asked them to knock
our socks off!” The concert will be at
the Dogwood at 7 pm, January 5th and also at the Grant Fine Arts Center at 7
pm on January 12. Tickets are $10 for
the general public. The
Chamber Music Retreat for Strings will be at the The
Chamber Music Program is made possible by a generous individual donation and
the collaboration of the Newaygo County Council for the Arts, 11/15/07 What an odd feeling it was to walk around the high school and have the halls be so empty. I hope all of our hunters were safe and successful. Classrooms observed today: Mr. Bull, Mr. Moon, Mr. Vissia News: 1. WZZM stopped in to ask about student attendance on the first day of rifle season. 2. Telephones were down momentarily today so if you called and didn’t get an answer, we were having some technical difficulties. 3. Attendance was at around 60% for the day at the high school. 11/13/07 This is the first entry of the Principal’s Blog! Our technology department is working on dressing this format up a bit but until that time, this will be fine. Please understand that these entries will be used for quick communication and are not proof read by anybody except for me. Although I wish I could blame somebody else for mistakes, all of those contained in this blog will be mine alone. My goal is to have at least two entries per week. Classrooms observed today: Mr. Houston, Ms. Cook, Mr. Zinnecker, Mr. Herlein, Mrs. Pumford, Mr. Moon News:
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