This week’s athlete of the week is senior girls weightlifter, Felicia Leamard. Felicia has been in the program since it began last year and has been a leader since day one. She recently crushed her former school record, benching 170 lbs. on senior night and lifting 145 lbs. in clean and jerk. Her positive attitude and daily desire to improve has been infectious with the team and has helped establish a positive team culture focused on growth and competition.
Students will be a part of special instruction from Jan. 8-Jan. 15 on topics focused on Mental Well Being. Attached are the Course Outlines for the Mental Health Basics/Alcohol Education/Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention course sessions that students will be having in classes for the next six days. Per a state mandate, all students must receive education in these areas and the MCSD has selected programs from Everfi for teachers to utilize through lesson presentations and discussions. As you can see by the outline, the focus is on knowledge, coping skills and making good decisions for overall good mental health. The format for delivery is that one session a day will take place in the classrooms in the following format: Mental Health Basics Jan. 8- 2nd period, Jan. 9 – 3rd period, Jan. 10-4th period; Alcohol Educations sessions Jan. 13 – 5th period, Jan. 14 – 6th period; Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Jan. 15 – 7th period. These sessions are all delivered by certified teachers and we have counselors available if students need to talk or need support for any reason. WE MUST VALIDATE THAT ALL STUDENTS HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED IN ALL SESSIONS, therefore, we suggest students that do not have a class attend the session of the day in the library during their open period. Any student absent for any reason will be required to be pulled into a make-up session. If parents have any questions, please direct them to Amber Acevedo at amber.acevedo@keysschools.com. Below are the Hotlines and our school level Text Tip number is 305-432-3311 where students can anonymously report concerns about friends or potential dangerous situations.
FOR SCHOOL NEWSLETTERS: OUR SCHOOL’S SECURITY IS BEING ENHANCED THANKS TO OUR NEW RAPTOR SCREENING SYSTEM We are excited to introduce our new “Raptor Technology” to our school family. Raptor is the next tool that will be put in place to heighten security measures that keep our students, faculty and staff safe. Basically, Raptor is a “NEW” volunteer and visitor management tool the Monroe County School District will use to screen visitors and volunteers as they enter our schools. As a valued part of our community, you can expect to see the new Raptor kiosk in our front office beginning in January, 2020. Once the system is in place, here’s what you need to know. Upon entering our school, all visitors and volunteers will need to perform a brief initial check-in that includes swiping your government issued identification card and briefly reviewing your personal data (name, address, purpose of your visit). Once registered the Raptor system quickly performs security checks on all visitors, volunteers and contractors each time a visit to the school is made. Once a visitor is cleared by the Raptor system, a visitor badge is printed that includes a photo as well as the individual’s name, date, time of entry, and campus destination. This new technology provides an extra layer of security, in addition to the background checks conducted on volunteers and contractors during the application process. It’s a hi-tech replacement to the District’s legacy system that will provide increased security to our schools. And using Raptor, school administration and District leadership will now have a more accurate head count of who’s on campus at all times in case of an emergency. This new technology allows recognition both locally at the school and at the District level of who’s in our schools, when they are there, why and where. “We’re excited to be incorporating Raptor in our school. And using it, we look forward to serving our students and school family better.
Being in class every day is very important to student success and sense of continuity. If you think missing a class or day here and there doesn’t have an impact, take a look at the research below. Attendance is a major key to academic success so please make every effort to ensure students are at school every day.
Students who receive off campus privileges will have those privileges revoked if they do not attend school regularly. Attendance checks will occur at progress report time and at the end of every quarter. If a student is deemed chronically absent; missing 10% or more of school, they will lose off campus privileges until the next attendance check. Students who do not have off campus privileges, typically students under the age of 16 (sophomore/freshmen), will receive school consequences, parent notification and possible referral to truancy court.
Safety is first at KWHS and we have taken several steps to ensure our campus is safe. Our SRO, Officer Del Cid, is on campus from start to finish of each school day with additional officers on campus during lunch. The extra police are there to build relationships, mentor the students and help to maintain a safe environment. Staff are throughout the campus at supervision stations during the day and we ask all visitors to check in at the office for clearance. The gates on campus are locked at 7:45 and reopened before school is out with the front gate the main entrance point. Students have been through an Active Threat presentation to help them make decisions should they ever face such a situation at school or anywhere. This presentation is available for viewing by parents on our website. We have practiced fire drills and lock down drills as well as spent a day dedicated to character education lessons, all in an effort to promote a healthy, positive, safe environment for our students to be their best. Our See Something, Say Something campaign urges students to tell an adult on campus if they hear, see or suspect something that is suspicious, doesn’t seem right or if they are concerned about a person’s well-being. The Text Tip number for anonymous reporting is 305-432-3311.
