Welcome Back

 

Welcome back to all of you returning to Pekin, and a special welcome to everyone just joining us. I am excited about the upcoming school year and my new position.  For those who do not know me, I have been here at Pekin for the last 10 years.  I live close to school with my wonderful wife and daughter.  I am a Captain in the Iowa National Guard with twenty years of service.  I fully believe that I was put on this earth to be a productive citizen and serve my community, state and nation. 

 

I am calling on every student to be a good leader this year, and I am going to help celebrate leadership traits. Each of the letters of the word leadership stands for something I expect to see.  I have expanded it from last year and added a few more values. 

 

“L” is for “learning.” That is our business and our priority here. Teachers are co-learners. Everyone is an active learner.

 

“E” is for “enthusiasm.” Students, this is your life. What you do now greatly impacts your future. We are looking for enthusiasm not just from the students, but from everyone here at Pekin; the faculty, the staff, the administration.  Enthusiasm from all of us can make this one fantastic year. 

 

“A” is for “attitude.” Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. On a rough day, stop and be thankful for what you have.

 

“D” is for “discipline.”   “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.” Exercise self-discipline, because if you don’t it has to be imposed.

 

“E” is for “excellence.”  We have a responsibility to be the best we can be. I personally think that each one of us has been given at least one special gift and its our duty/responsibility to develop these gifts. 

 

“R” is for “reliable.”  When you tell someone that you are going to do something, do it.

 

“S” is for “support.” We cannot achieve and succeed here without support. We are in this together, and if we work together, we will enjoy this time together a great deal more.

 

“H” is for “honor” Make honor a matter of daily living —develop the habit of being honorable, and solidify that habit with every value choice you make. Honor is a matter of carrying out, acting, and living the values of learning, enthusiasm, attitude, discipline, excellence, respect, support, integrity and personal courage in everything we do.

 

“I” is for “integrity” Do what is right, legally and morally.  Be willing to do what is right even when no one is looking.  It is our "moral compass" an inner voice.

 

“P” is for “personal courage” Our ability to face fear or adversity, both physical and moral courage. Have the personal courage to make our school a safe and enjoyable place for everyone here.  

 

These are our values.  If we live by them, we will be successful.  Let them help guide us through life.

 

Each student will be receiving a Student Planner in English class on the first day of school.   This planner contains the Student Handbook. Students and parents should familiarize themselves with school policies. The planner also contains hall passes and a number of useful study tools. Students need to hang onto their planner and keep it intact. Right now I am going to highlight several items in the handbook for you.

 

Right at the front of the handbook are Pekin’s Essential Learning Goals. These are our goals for all Pekin students, what we want students to be able to BE, KNOW, and DO.

 

Pekin Community Schools  Essential Learning Goals:

 

Quality Person

• Interpersonal Skills
• Self-discipline
• Character
• Wellness

 

Quality Producer

• Timely
• Accurate
• Presentable
• Organized
• Responsible

 

 

 Self-directed Learner

• Uses Resources
• Has Goals
• Is Self-Aware
• Is Intrinsically Motivated

 

 

Collaborative Worker

• Leadership
• Communication
• Responsibility
• Accountability

(in working with others)

  

Attendance

 

Let me emphasize a few expectations that we have for attendance and learning here. First of all, students need to be here. Poor attendance is a leading factor in academic problems and the number one reason students are reassigned to an alternative setting. It is very important that if a student is gone for a legitimate reason, such as illness, an appointment, family vacation, etc. that they follow the steps to get the absence excused. A parent should call the school before 10:00  A.M. The student should also bring a note from a parent/guardian explaining the absence when they return to school. Students need to do both of these things so their absence is not counted unexcused.  The student should get an admit from the office when they return to school.

 

If a student has to leave during the school day, they must have parental permission and must sign out. If they don’t follow this process, the absence will be unexcused, and they will have to make up school time outside of school hours. Be aware that three unexcused tardies to school also count as an unexcused absence. Students do not want to have unexcused absences. Besides detention time, they do not get time to make up work after unexcused absences. If they accumulate 7 unexcused absences, the school can report them as truant to the county attorney, drop them from classes, or reassign them to alternative school.

When they are here they need to get to class on time, too. If they get three tardies in one class in a semester, they will get a two-hour detention. There is a detention for every tardy after the third one, too.  Really if they are here on time, giving a good effort, doing their work and treating others right, their high school years will be trouble-free, and they will learn a great deal.

 

Cell Phones – Students need to keep them in their car, gym locker, hallway locker or do not bring them.  If parents need to contact their child, they will need to call the office. 

 

Lockers Rooms- The locker rooms will be locked at 8:30each day.  They will be unlocked for P.E. and then relocked during class.  Large bags, students will need to plan accordingly by leaving it in their car or down size.  The locker rooms will not be unlocked because a student forgot something in your bag. 

 

Lunchroom - Students will stay in the lunchroom for their 20 minute lunch period.   Students will not be allowed to go to the gym during lunch.  All food will be consumed in the lunch room. 

 

Activities

I encourage students to get involved in at least one extracurricular activity or club, too. Extracurriculars are a great outlet for teenagers and help make school more fun by making them more connected. Be sure students understand the Good Conduct Policy and Academic Eligibility (No Pass/No Play) rules for participation.

 

If students do have bad habits, like smoking or drinking, I would encourage students to replace them with good habits.  This would help our students both now and in the future.  However if a student chooses to keep their bad habits they need keep them far away from the school. Tobacco, alcohol, or drug possession or use is going to get the law involved, parents called, and a suspension or expulsion. Theft and fighting are going to get students suspended. Foul language is not going to be tolerated. Students will conduct themselves as young adults focused on learning and treat each other decently, too.

 

Bullying

 

Page 9 of your handbook outlines the school’s bullying and harassment policy. Basically, if someone is bothering student, the student should ask him/her to stop. If he/she doe not respect their request and the behavior continues, talk to the Mrs. Harms or me. If the harassment continues after that, there will be disciplinary consequences. If a first incident is severe, there will be no warning before discipline measures. 

 

Academics

 

I will mention just a couple of more policy items. First, student do not engage in academic dishonesty. I understand some students see nothing wrong with cheating on homework or plagiarizing a paper. They’re wrong. Students are here to see what they can do and learn and how they can grow, not to steal someone else’s work. Teachers will let students know what their individual policies are on cheating, but generally someone cheating will fail the assignment or test. In college it is not unusual to fail the whole course or even get kicked out of school for academic dishonesty.

 

Finally, students must use the planner. Not only is it the student’s passbook, but it also has great learning resources in it. Students should be using it to get organized, writing assignments down. Students should bring their planner and a free reading book to every class.

 

I am not going to go through every rule and penalty.  Students know what is appropriate and what is expected. 

 

I love what I do as do all the teachers here at Pekin.  If you have a question, please ask a teacher or myself, we are here to help our students be successful.    How can we help them reach their goal in life? 

 

Listen up and take an interest here: If a student does not graduate, they will earn an average of $19,000 a year. Getting a high school diploma takes a person to an average of $27,000 a year. Four-year college graduates earn an average of $51,000 a year. Advanced degrees go beyond that. It’s not all about money, but those numbers should get our student’s attention. What students do here on a daily basis is important. They should be trying to learn everything they can to benefit themselves in the future. 

 

Let’s all have an outstanding school year! 

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