Shawnee Mission Public Schools East Lancers 52 Years
Lancer Newsletter Shawnee Mission East High School
January 2011—Published On-line Monthly
Key Dates: 12/16 Odd block (1st block, final exam; blocks 3,5, 7 review) 12/17 2nd block exam - 7:40-9:10 (passing 9:10-9:20) 3rd block exam - 9:20-10:50 (lunch 10:55-11:30; busses leave at 11:37) 12/20 4th block exam - 7:40-9:10 (passing 9:10-9:20) 5th block exam - 9:20-10:50 (lunch 10:55-11:30; busses leave at 11:37) 12/21 6th block exam - 7:40-9:10 (passing 9:10-9:20) 7th block exam - 9:20-10:50 (lunch 10:55-11:30; busses leave at 11:37) 12/22 Winter Break Begins 1/3
School Resumes
1/7
Last Day to Add a Class
1/12
9:00am Parent Principal Coffee
1/12
7:00pm Journalism Showcase
1/17
NO SCHOOL, Martin Luther King Jr Holiday
1/18
LATE START, 9:40am
1/19
10th Grade Enrollment
1/24
11th Grade Enrollment
2/1
7:00pm PTA Meeting
2/7
Spirit Week
2/8
EARLY RELEASE 1:10pm
2/10
Parent-Teacher Evening Conferences
2/11
NO SCHOOL, Conferences
2/12
8:00-10:30pm Sweetheart Dance
2/21
NO SCHOOL, Presidents Day
2/22
LATE START, 9:40am
2/28
Spring Sports Begin
Office Hours The main office at SME is open until 4:00 p.m. each day. The counseling office is open until 3:30 p.m.. Due to changes in staff hours and rotating schedules, not all support staff are here until those times, however. Please call the office to verify if you have a question about hours and availability.
www.smsd.org/schools/smeast
Message from the Principal Bullying At School and Home Is Spreading At Epidemic Proportions For the past several years, the topic of bullying has filled just about every form of media we have at our disposal. The information warns about the dangers of bullying and discusses the physical and emotional impact on the victims. Unfortunately, in some cases students are unable to cope with the continuous pressure, forcing some to even withdraw from the school environment as a whole. Please understand, SME is not immune to this issue. We continue to see increased bullying activity at school- both physical and verbal. The physical form of bullying is dealt with via discipline proceedings following school and Board of Education policy. Even though we attempt to change physical bullying behavior through these steps (and subsequent consequences), we will bypass steps in the continuum if we believe the infraction is much more serious in nature. All physical cases of bullying are reviewed for legal action as well as school action. Parents are always involved with the process. If the behavior is not corrected immediately, then more serious consequences could occur including long-term suspension or even expulsion. Verbal bullying comes in a variety of forms. The most obvious are the words one shares with another person face-to-face which are derogatory, demeaning, intimidating, and/or threatening. The more recent trend of non-verbal bullying is taking place in cyberspace. Technology and social networking through Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging have opened up a whole new dimension of verbal harassment and bullying. Often times, parents are unaware of this form of personal attack. In some cases, the bullying has gone on for so long that when it does become noticeable (as a result of depression, change in friends, change in grades, or lack of participation in school activities) the victim needs serious intervention. Verbal bullying at school can result in consequences similar to physical bullying, especially if it is intimating or threatening in nature. When it comes to non-verbal bullying through cyberspace, parents have to be the ones to get involved and monitor such activity with their student(s). Texting and communicating on social networks such as Facebook requires people to take responsibility in what they say but also in what they do as a follow-up. I think we could all agree not all of our children’s acquaintances have your son’s or daughter’s best interest at heart. Even though these forms of communication call for passwords or permission to allow people access, understand this hard and critical fact – “when you tell one (1) you have told eleven (11).” These last statements are not meant to cause you to mistrust your student(s) or their friends; just be aware negative things can happen with the best of intentions. It is not unusual for us to see cyber-bullying raise its ugly head once students are back in school. In fact, many of the confrontations we see (physically or verbally) at SME started outside the school environment. We urge all parents to talk to their son(s) and daughter(s) about control and responsibility. The world of technology has broadened the scope of communication for everyone on earth, and it has helped make our lives a lot easier in many areas. However, just like anything else we have discovered, the key to using our discovery for the good of mankind will require all of us to be responsible people. If you have a child who is being bullied at school, please give us a call. If you have texting messages or social network messages which can be saved, please do not hesitate to share this information with us. Our mission is for SME to be a school which is a safe place for all students, and we will do all we can to intervene in any bullying situation we have in our school.