Update ~ August 17-21, 2015

As we get ready to kick off another season of CHS sports, I thought I would share an amazing bit of trivia:
Each year, we have about 158 athletic events/games at CHS.  Our Athletic Director/Athletic Trainer, Eric Freas has been at Coconino for 21 years.  Of those 21 years, Eric has only missed three games, and that is three total games including all levels; Frosh, J.V. & Varsity. That means he has worked 3,315 games. True dedication, just think of all of the student athletes that Eric has impacted. Thank you Eric, you are a remarkable Athletic Trainer and A.D. Panther Pride through and through...And here we go again with another year of Coconino High school Athletics.  Go Panthers!
To access our 2015-16 athletic calendar you can go to our website and click on schedule star or click Schedule Star here. User name is chs@fusd1.org and Password is panthers.

CHS Spirit
A special thank you to our Student Council for organizing our kick off pep rally. Thanks also to our Band & Orchestra and Dance & Cheer for providing the great entertainment and exciting energy to help kick off the school year. When you see these students, please thank them for their enthusiasm in helping to promote school spirit and pride.

Reminders...
The key to implementation and enforcement of any school wide policy is consistency.  At CHS we follow a three tiered system that includes all of us.  As the "honeymoon" phase of a new school year begins to fade it is critical to continue to work together to maintain a positive learning environment at CHS. Please read the reminders below.

Electronic Device Policy
Thank you everyone for posting and explaining the new traffic light/Electronic device policy. It appears students are well aware of the new policy. The key to the success of the policy is to use the poster to inform students about appropriate use of electronic devices in each classroom. Please remember to change the cell phone marker to the correct color.

Hallways
If it is necessary for a student to leave your class during instruction, you must issue a Hall Pass.  Hall passes should be used sparingly and used for emergencies and urgent needs only.  Also, please refrain from issuing hall passes during the first ten minutes of class.

Dress code
Each new school year brings unique celebrations and unique challenges. One challenge that is not unique to this school year, is enforcing the dress code.  Please find below an email from a CHS teacher.

Hi Stacie,

I'm sure this might get old, but it's my annual dress code check-in! I have already told my students "it's on" from day one, and thanks to active enforcement, have had a full week of zero infractions. Yaaaay!

Is admin doing it, too? I assume y'all were, because I heard you say yesterday that you stopped because students complained it was too hot. But then that makes me wonder if we're sticking with it this year. My thinking is that a district-wide code is not student-negotiable, so I'm just nervous that opening any cracks means the whole thing falls apart pretty quick. After all, if adolescents are universally good at anything, it's finding cracks and prying them open. Question the dominant paradigm!

Sorry to be repetitive and a bit dramatic, but this has been an issue for me since I started at Coco, since I often end up being one of maybe 20 teachers that truly enforce. And that's no fun, for me or my students! 

My response regarding the dress code: Yes, admin is indeed enforcing the dress code.  Please read the dress code policy in your teacher handbook.  Should you have a student in need of a change of attire, you can send students (with a pass) to the nurses office,  have the student call home for a parent to bring a change of clothes, or as is often the case,  ask the student if he/she has appropriate clothing at school.  It takes a village, we're in this together.
If a student has repeated infractions of any policy, please utilize the Responsible Thinking Room (RTR in room 400b).  The RTR is open and ready for busienss.

Pathways
If you are planning to begin calling students for intervention during pathways remember the students will need to have a pre-issued pass to leave Study Hall period.  Students should not leave your classroom to go to another classroom during study hall without a pre-issued pass.

Faculty Meeting
We will have a faculty meeting this Tuesday, August 18 2:45pm in the Mini-theater. The topics for the meeting are: Preparation for Open House (8/20), Accessing IEP information and important information about our English Language Learners (ELLs).  See you there!

Grading and Reporting
The feedback you provided following Dr. Guskey's presentation was very helpful.  Of the responses submitted 99% were in favor of learning more about the ideas presented by Dr. Gusky on August 4. Many had questions about the direction we are headed as a district with respect to reforming our grading policies at FUSD and whether or not we would be changing the 60%, 20%, 20% system. I plan to share the results of our CHS reflection survey and pose these questions at tomorrow's Administrative Council Meeting. I'll keep you posted.

Press On!  Panther Strong! Have a great week!

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