February 25, 2018

Good evening-

I hope you are enjoying your last evening of vacation and that you found it a restful and rejuvenating week. It was a well deserved break. I loved seeing pictures of the student trips! Our students had amazing, eye-opening experiences. I can not wait to hear all about them.

I am sure that many of you spent some time this past week following the growing movement led by students across the country. I have found it inspiring to watch, and I can tell you it was quite topic of conversation "across the pond" where I spent the week. I imagine students may want to discuss the walk-outs being planned and their feelings about school safety in general.  You are more than welcome to give students space and time to talk.  (Please remember to give students the opportunity to talk without necessarily imposing personal beliefs, as hard as that may be!) You may want to encourage them to talk about the balance between the many issues: mental health, gun laws, and personal responsibility. We continue to hear stories in the front office of students who are reluctant to speak up when they hear a peer say something threatening, about themselves or others.  We have more and more students coming forward though, either directly to us or through you. Let's continue to praise them and remind them that speaking up is helping someone who may be hurting.  We take all student reports seriously.  I came across this article from Teaching Tolerance and hope it is helpful.

Walkouts, Marches and the Desire to 'Do Something': What You Need to Know About Stoneman Douglas Activism

In the near future we will be rolling out the Say Something app, designed by Sandy Hook
Promise.This tool will allow students to anonymously report concerns. We will do a faculty
training before launching the tool with students. If you would like one of us or Officer Muri
or Sgt. Burman to speak to any of your classes please don't hesitate to ask.

Parent-teacher conferences:
As a reminder conferences are scheduled on Wednesday, February 28 from 6-8pm.
Parents have been asked to schedule an appointment (by contacting the Front Office)
if they need to discuss an academic concern or an override request. All faculty must plan
to be present even if your schedule is not full.

Seniors in danger....
It's that time of year that we need to start thinking about students who may be in danger of not graduating.
Please make sure you are having frequent conversations with the student's parents if you are concerned and make sure guidance counselors, Erin, and I are in the loop.


Upcoming events:
March 1- I will participate in the Shadow a Student Challenge.  This year I will be a sophomore female, enrolled in a combination of CP1 & CP2 classes. This is awesome PD-please consider giving it a try!  I'd be happy to find coverage for the day.

March 8- Faculty meeting- 7:10am
                Cross-district Collaboration- 2:15pm- we will be participating in a student collaboration                       event with several area districts.  The topic is Student Agency.  I am sure there will be
                 much to learn and I am excited for our students to talk to students from other schools.

March 26- John Trautwein/Will to Live Foundation will present to the entire student body.  Currently the presentation will take place during F (11-12) & A (9-10) periods although we have not finalized the schedule and are looking at presenting to the whole community during F block.

Finally, an appropriate column as we return to school. I shared this with parents as we left on vacation.
I am so appreciative of the parent who writes this column every week.

Ashland Raises Healthy and Happy Kids:We felt it was appropriate this week to take a break from the iGen summaries and look at warning signs of violence. These are pulled from the Sandy Hook Promise Know the Signs program.

1. A strong fascination or obsession with firearms can be a warning sign.
2. Excessive study of firearms and mass shootings can mean a person is planning violence.
3. Exhibiting excessive over-reactions or aggressive behavior for a seemingly minor reason can signal someone who cannot self-regulate their emotions or control their anger.
4. Low commitment or aspirations toward school, or a sudden change in academic performance can be a sign that someone needs help.
5. Perpetrators of self-harm or violence towards others may be victims of long-term bullying and may have real or perceived feelings of being picked on or persecuted by others.
6. Extreme feelings of isolation or social withdrawal due to real or perceived actions of others can be a sign that someone is suffering.
7. Unsupervised and/or easy access to firearms, or bragging about access to firearms, can be a warning sign.
8. Making overt threats of violence (spoken, written, pictures on social media, videos, gestures) are signs that should not be ignored.

If you are ever worried about anyone, or your children are, please SAY SOMETHING.