We encourage everyone to wear Red, White, and Blue tomorrow Tuesday, November 10th in honor of our Veterans Day Assembly tomorrow!
Basketball season is here and that means its time for our annual Green and White Night! Please join us Friday, November 20th! The Fundraiser Dinner will run from 6p-7p! It will be Spaghetti with meat sauce or Spaghetti with alfredo sauce OR you can get just buttered noodles! The dinner also comes with garlic bread, dessert, and a drink for $10! Then about 7:15 PM we will start the introductions of the teams with some fun entertainment for you! Come out and support Basketball Season in Latham!
This message is for parents of WHS Student Council members! Our Century Resources Fundraiser is being delivered Tuesday, November 10th ! All they can tell me is it will be between 8A-5P! I will keep parents updated with another message like this when I have more information! I will be at the school until 7P that evening for pick ups! If your child has multiple boxes they won't be able to take it on the bus and will need picked up! If you have any questions, call the High School for Mrs. Wessel! Thank you!
Bus number one will be running a few minutes late this morning. There's a tree down on Beach Flats and Tara had trouble getting turned around so she is running 10 to 15 minutes late. Thanks.
Just a reminder that there is no school tomorrow for students. It is a staff professional development day, and the general election is being held in the community building in the back parking lot.
We are not running Green Ridge tomorrow because of the road construction. Teresa will pick up the Red Bridge and McCoy kids 15 minutes later than normal.
We will be splitting bus 18 this evening. Students who live on grassy Fork all the way up to Mount Zion will ride Donna's bus. Cassie will take the tater knob kids home in the van. The rest of Brandis' kids will ride Marvin's bus. Marvin students will arrive home a little later than normal.
We did have another threat call this morning. We will be having school as scheduled We are following the protocol in accordance with recommendations from all levels of law-enforcement. We will check the building and grounds to ensure everyone safety. Thank you.
Picture retake day is scheduled for November 4th! This is district wide!
This is a reminder for WHS student council and high school cheerleaders! Fundraiser forms and money are due by 8 AM tomorrow Tuesday, October 20th! They were actually due this morning, but Mrs. Wessel is giving them an extra day to turn them in! Please bring them straight to her in the morning! Thank you!
Events to mark your calendars for in the next few months!
I want to make sure to keep everyone in the loop on any information with these threats we're all dealing with. Tomorrow all of the county superintendents are meeting with the sheriffs department and the FBI to try to figure out if there's something that we can do. In reality, I don't know that there's going to be a quick solution because there are lots of schools dealing with the same thing, but I want everyone to know that we are all working to put an end to this craziness.
I'm not very good at accepting that we are at the mercy of someone who wants to cause panic and disruption in our schools. However, there is one thing we can do. I'm asking each of you to pray for our school and all of the county schools that these threats would end. It's tough enough being a kid and parent today without having to worry about these kinds of things. Our kids deserve to have a good school experience so I'm coveting your prayers for all of the kids in our area. We will let the FBI and law-enforcement do their thing and we will do ours! Praying for a regular old Thursday tomorrow.
Now that I've had time to evaluate this morning I wanted to apologize for not communicating better about what we were doing. I also should've moved the buses off-site. I didn't because by the time the buses got here we had already checked most of the unlocked, unsecured areas and both gyms (closest places to the parking lots) By unlocked and unsecured I mean every place besides classrooms. We immediately checked the gyms and cafeterias. The high school hallways were locked behind gates. As soon as the call came in we immediately started checking any place that wasn't locked. We have the ability to lock those room every night so moving forward all rooms will be locked including the gyms, etc. Before students came in we physically checked those rooms and reviewed surveillance video of every locker and checked to see if any doors were accessed.
We are meeting with the FBI tomorrow afternoon so we all are on the same page. It was my decision to have school today after we knew the building was secure. We had 2 deputies on site along with our people. It was also my decision to keep the buses here because I had personally checked those rooms in the high school and JH gym and other staff members checked the elementary while Mr. Fields was checking all cameras in hallways. I checked those places closest to the bus parking area first but I still should've moved the buses. Any criticism falls directly on me for that decision.
In retrospect I should've sent the buses off-site. I knew that we would have lots of parents coming to pick kids up so I was trying to allow parents to get their kids in the most efficient way possible. All county schools received threats this morning at the same time.
I know that a statement was made about schools becoming complacent as we get more of these and I understand that sentiment. That could easily happen. However, I assure you that we will take every threat seriously and follow the same protocol whether it's the 2nd or 50th threat. After this morning we have a very clear understanding of how to quickly and safely use technology and physical checks to ensure that your kids and our staff are safe.
We are meeting with the FBI tomorrow afternoon so we all are on the same page. It was my decision to have school today after we knew the building was secure. We had 2 deputies on site along with our people. It was also my decision to keep the buses here because I had personally checked those rooms in the high school and JH gym and other staff members checked the elementary while Mr. Fields was checking all cameras in hallways. I checked those places closest to the bus parking area first but I still should've moved the buses. Any criticism falls directly on me for that decision.
In retrospect I should've sent the buses off-site. I knew that we would have lots of parents coming to pick kids up so I was trying to allow parents to get their kids in the most efficient way possible. All county schools received threats this morning at the same time.
I know that a statement was made about schools becoming complacent as we get more of these and I understand that sentiment. That could easily happen. However, I assure you that we will take every threat seriously and follow the same protocol whether it's the 2nd or 50th threat. After this morning we have a very clear understanding of how to quickly and safely use technology and physical checks to ensure that your kids and our staff are safe.
We have followed our protocol and checked the building physically and my camera and we've had the sheriff's department here on site advising us and checking with us. We're going to allow staff and students in the building this time we will meet today just to prepare for the possibility of the same thing happening again.
We received a bomb threat this morning as it eastern. We're following our protocols and we have all students out of the building currently and we are holding the buses. We are sweeping the building, checking lockers, locker rooms, and all classrooms, and we will notify all parents whenever the building is clear and students were able to come in.
Reminder to all Juniors and Seniors going on the career field trip tomorrow to bring your form if you haven’t already. We will leave by 8:30.
Western Local Board of Education meeting 10/12 @ 6pm in the Richard Walls Boardroom.
Teresa McMillin - Bus 21 will not be driving.
David Cox - Bus 23 will take Green Ridge home.
Jimmy Cox - Bus 11 will be taking Red Bridge Road
David Cox - Bus 23 will take Green Ridge home.
Jimmy Cox - Bus 11 will be taking Red Bridge Road
We will be double routing for Debbie Scarbrough this afternoon. Penny will run her own route and then come back to get Debbie's kids as quickly as she can. Debbie's students will be dropped off approximately 40 minutes later than normal. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Junior High and High School Stronger Together Spirit Week! 10/5 - 10/9
