Weekly Update from the Secondary School

Dear Parents, 

This week I was reading the news when a particular headline caught my eye. “High schoolers help police round up escaped goat herd in Colorado” reads the headline from the UPI, and it is a tale of uncommon heroism. 

Apparently the goats were being used to trim the grass in a park, and someone tampered with the electric fence allowing the goats to escape. Park Rangers and the City of Boulder Animal Control raced to the scene but despite their best efforts they could not contain the goats. At this point a group of roving teens stopped to assist the officials in the round up and were almost completely successful. I say almost because three goats got away and were later apprehended by a local Middle School teacher.

When I read this article a few thoughts immediately came to mind. First, I am almost positive that the High School kids tampered with the fence in the first place, but that’s not really the important point here. More importantly, I thought that this is absolutely a fantastic metaphor for the kind of lesson I like to see.  

A real world problem was identified, one with imminent relevance. In fact, this problem seems to embody both difficulty AND complexity, and so is a perfect opportunity for growth. Then students collaborated with experts to tackle the problem, which led to an almost complete success, leaving room for improvement. Finally, a teacher was there to wrap up the lesson and point out one or two (or three) things that the students may have missed.

A few logistical items:
 

1. Please note that ALL Secondary will be releasing at 2:30 beginning Thursday of this week. MS parents were communicated this on Wednesday. This is a change only affecting MS students. On Friday the dismissal time is 13:00 for all students.
2. We have noticed that some kids are wearing masks that are VERY loose (slipping off the face loose). Please help us keep our campus safe and ensure that kids come to school wearing masks that fit properly. I mentioned this in the assembly, but if you could reinforce the importance of masks at home, that would be very helpful. 
3. In a related note, excused absences: If your child needs to miss school for any reason, please notify us at [email protected] , as well as all your child’s teachers. Also, please let us know the reason for the absence. This way we can identify the absence as excused. Examples of excused absences include (but are not necessarily limited to): personal illness, family emergencies or religious observances.  

 
For further clarification please refer to the attendance policy in the Secondary Handbook. 
 
Thanks to you all. AISL wouldn’t be the same without you. Have a great, and goat free, weekend!
Dr. Rick Odum