Remember To Do Your Part

This may be new information for most parents, but beginning this year all high school teachers will enter grades through Pinnacle. The result is that grades are available electronically to students and parents at all times. The middle schools have been providing feedback in this manner for a couple of years, so many of you may already be accustomed to this type of access.

I encourage you to check your son or daughter's grades at regular intervals. We will no longer send interim reports to the home because access through Pinnacle is more timely and provides much greater detail.

To access Pinnacle/Parent Connect go to www.gpschools.org and click on the top center portion of the page for Pinnacle, Parent & Student Connect. Make your selection using your assigned PIN and PASSWORD. There are two viewing opportunities for internet monitoring: Parent Connect and Pinnacle. In order for you to take advantage of these viewers, once you have successfully logged in to Parent Connect, you must provide the district with a current email address. Please be sure to enter this information into Parent Connect by using the account menu item (top, right-hand side of Parent Connect screen).

To access electronic gradebook information, select Pinnacle. For Pinnacle, remember to select South High at drop-down window. To view attendance, schedule, demographic, cafeteria debit balances, click on Parent Connect.

Please note: Parents have their own PINs and passwords for Parent Connect. Students and parents share the same log-in and password for Pinnacle. It is the student ID number and network log-in password. If you don’t know your child’s ID number and password, please ask them to share this information with you. In the meantime, the district is in the process of mailing Pins and Passwords to all families. Please look for this information during the week of 9/22.

The first marking period ends on Friday, October 31. That means that October 3rd would normally serve as the midpoint of the first quarter. Grades entered by that date would provide the data leading to an interim report. Use this place in time to determine if your son or daugher's progress is where you feel it should be.

On the other hand, one drawback of this type of access is that parents may "hover" over every single grade and overreact to a missing or late assignment. When in doubt, please contact the teacher via email to get a more ocmplete picture.

I wish you well as you monitor this type of grade reporting, and I believe it has the potential of making us more effective. After all, "knowledge is power".

It's Been A Grand Start

As we're finishing the first full week of the school year, there are several thoughts going through my head about the time we've spent together so far.

The first is of the ribbon cutting for the new pool facility this past Sunday. I was surprised to see approximately 400 people attend the event. However, I believe that nearly all of them left impressed with the features of the new building.

The girls' swim team will actually have their first practice later this afternoon with the first meet scheduled for next Tuesday, September 16. Although it has been more than 30 years without a "home" swim meet, this facility will serve our needs for decades into the future.

The first eight days with our students have also been very productive. They have been enthusiastic and most compliant. When I step into classrooms, they are on-task and engaged. At lunch they are chatty and energized, but that is exactly what you would expect of high school students on their break.

I also want to personally thank Dr. Steve Minnick, the Director of Medical Education at St. John's Hospital. Over the summer, in partnership with Biology teacher, James Adams, a job shadowing experience was established for approximately 25 South students. However, this wasn't your typical job shadowing experience.

These students accompanied physicians, surgeons, and interns three days a week over four weeks. They were in surgical rooms for C-sections, tumor removals, and a leg amputation. They followed physicians on rounds with their patients, and sat in meetings with the pathology department. As I spoke with the students about the experience, it struck me that this could only happen in Grosse Pointe. We are blessed with an excellent medical facility within minutes of our community, and former and current parents that operate that facility. This experience was a life-changer for some of these students, and they will be forever grateful to the staff at St. John's for making them feel so welcome.

I have also been part of meetings with members of the Mothers' Club. The biggest event that was discussed is the Auction that will be held next spring. The date is March 14th and the location is Lockmoor Country Club. They have a big goal in mind, to the tune of $80,000 that will likely be earmarked for building technology.

We desperately need upgrades to our technology. I believe we are at a tipping point when students of other districts will have advantages over South students because of technology available to them. We must keep up. Just as the new pool will be a great marketing tool to keep and draw more families, we must think of our technological capacity in a similar manner. The access to technology will supplement what is already an extremely well developed curriculum and dedicated teachers.

Place the date on your calendar of March 14 for the Auction. The format of this one will be different in that the majority of it will be held online. People from across the world can bid on the auction items. As the date draws nearer we will need you to reach out and touch alumni and supporters of South (and the High) to maximize its success.

Here's hoping the next few weeks are as successful as the first two.

News On The Calendar

I realize this is just the Friday before the start of the school year, but I wanted to give you information about the next big Holiday vacation. We have an unusual calendar this school year. Students are scheduled to be IN SCHOOL on Monday and Tuesday, December 22-23.

During most years, those would be days of vacation to lengthen the Holiday break. However, in order to meet the state mandate of 1,098 hours of instruction and still end the school year during the second week of June, those two days of instruction are necessary.

I am providing early notice to seek your cooperation regarding the attendance of your sons and daughters. We must have 75% attendance on any scheduled school day in order for it to "count" toward the state audit. If we were to fall short of the mandated hours, the only recourse is to reduce other scheduled vacations or remain in school longer into the month of June. I don't believe either case is desirable for students.

Now that we are into the Labor Day weekend, the start of the school year is imminent. We are more than ready for the staff to arrive on Tuesday and students on Wednesday. We look forward to another great year with our students at South.

Minor Changes for 2008-09

I can tell the school year is about ready to start because I see more students and adults every day. The building looks great already, with a significant amount of fresh wax creating a real shine on the floors.

I want to give you just a couple of updates. During the school day, we lock nearly all of the exit doors after the day has begun. We use the cutoff time of 8:15 to give students a chance to enter prior to being locked out. After that time, there are only two doors open to the main building.

The entrances available to the public or late arriving students are entrances E and A. Entrance E is accessed from the S-lot near the old greenhouse. This is the entrance best used by the public because there is a greater chance for parking in the S-lot. Entrance A (under the bridge connecting the main building to the IA building) is best accessed from the Fisher lot, but there is no parking available for the public.

A second change is with ID badges and lanyards. As with any new program, we experienced some growing pains last year, but all in all, it was a very successful implementation. This year we are planning the following:
- Students must wear their ID with a lanyard at all times during the school day, including lunch.
- The ID is to be worn with a lanyard, not clipped to clothing. Students do not have to purchase a school lanyard.
- If a student does not have their ID or lanyard, they are to purchase a new one in the amount of $1 each/$2 total. Students will not be allowed to "charge" the cost of a new ID/lanyard.
- If a student does not have the money, they will be sent to In-School Suspension for the remainder of the day or until a proper ID is secured. They may make a phone call home to have either the money or ID/lanyard brought to school and once received, they will be returned to class.
- If the ID/lanyard is in the locker, the student is to get the ID/lanyard and then proceed to class. I suggest to parents and students that a spare be purchased and kept in the school locker in case the first one turns up missing.
- Disciplinary consequences will be issued for students wearing the ID of another student.

The two changes above have improved our building security significantly. Reducing access to just two entrances and requiring students and staff to wear ID badges have restricted the number of unwanted visitors to our building. Of course, parents are always welcome, but we do want you to enter through the proper entrances.

With the start of school just two weeks away, we are anxious to get started and look forward to what our students will accomplish in '08-09.

Only With A Great Deal Of Help

Just about any day now, each of the homes affiliated with the South community will receive their Fall Registration Packet in preparation for the opening of school. Ironically, this mailing is often referred to as the "Principal's Mailing". In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

Back on July 22, the registration packets were put together here at school. Using one of the classrooms in the new science addition, there were approximately 50 volunteers weaving among the tables picking up flyers that were earmarked for each of the packets. The work began at shortly after 8:00 and ended just before noon. Needless to say, it is a huge undertaking to stuff almost 2,000 packets with all of the requisite information that is sent to the homes.

I have to thank many members of the Mother's Club, and especially the new president, Jane Bashara, for putting together such a strong group of volunteers. In addition, there were several fathers and students involved with this year's mailing.

Please take the time to go through the packet carefully. Each of the flyers has a specific purpose, and we are often asked at a later date about information that was provided in the registration packet.

We are looking forward to another successful year with our South students and parents.

It's Going To Be Very Impressive

One of the joys of the summer of '08 has been watching the progress of the new pool. To those of you that drive by the new structure on Fisher Road, you're only catching a glimpse of what will be one of the real jewels of the South campus. This is going to be a very visible and highly utilized facility that will serve generations of future students.

There has been real progress over the past couple of weeks in the appearance of the facility. For starters, the brick is nearly complete on the exterior of the building. They are placing the limestone on the main entrance this week, with the remainder of the brick soon to follow.

Inside, the hallway terrazzo is being poured as I write this update. The final coat of paint is being applied to entire pool facility, while the auxiliary gym is already complete with paint and just waiting for the floor to be installed. This gym will host countless practices for all levels, and will be used as a performance gym for many of the freshman level sports.

There is a large crew of men placing tile on the pool bottom and they will soon proceed to the pool deck. The locker rooms already have tile on the floor and they will soon start on the walls of that space.

The temporary parking lot that was located in the outfield of the baseball field has been removed and the area is being graded for installation of sod so the field can be restored. This should all be accomplished within the next couple of weeks.

This will be a facility that will make the community very proud. I know that it will be utilized day and night to meet the needs of swimmers throughout the Grosse Pointes. In addition, the building will have a fitness facility located in the lower level that will service all of our student-athletes for years to come.

The target date is still scheduled for Labor Day of this year, but even if the opening is delayed a bit, it will be well worth the wait to get top-notch construction of a first-rate facility. I believe that nearly all of us look forward to the opening of the new natatorium.

So What Do You Do All Summer?

Many people are often surprised when they find out I have little time off over the summer, usually taking just a week in July and a few scattered days elsewhere. I guess they can't imagine what a principal does when there are so few staff and students in the building.

Ironically, activity over the past few days is some of the most important work we do all year. Tim Bearden (North principal) and I, along with a committee of teachers, have interviewed ten teaching candidates over the past two days. In this particular case, we are looking for an English teacher for North H.S. and a science teacher that will travel between the two buildings.

We don't take this process lightly. I've often called it a $2 million investment, because a teacher might average $60K per year and will usually teach more than 30 years.

The process includes an initial paper screening of the large pool of applicants, a first round of interviews to reduce the list even more, and a second round of interviews of those we believe best fit the vacancy. In some cases, there will be a third round of interviews prior to the final recommendation. Then our candidate is sent over to central office for a final interview and subsequent job offer prior to official action by the Board of Education.

Fortunately for us, there are many applicants for the vacancies that arise in Grosse Pointe. For the recent English vacancy, there were almost 150 candidates that applied. Mr. Bearden conducted a first interview with 27 of them, and the larger committee interviewed nine of those candidates. From there, the list was pared down to a select few candidates for a third round of interviews.

Placing a highly qualified and enthusiastic teacher in front of the classroom is the best start we can give our students. From there is takes proper mentoring, collegiality and support from others in the department, and effective evaluation to insure continued success. We are hopeful that with our newly acquired high school teachers we have taken the first big step.