Letter from the Superintendent - September 2016
It’s a great thing to be able to watch our students participate in extracurricular activities. One of the difficulties that we face as a school, however, is having unsupervised children “on the roam” during games and creating issues that eventually cause problems for fans. It is very important to remember that parents or guardians are responsible for children before, during and after games. Of course kids can go to the restroom or concession stand during games. They should, however, be there to watch the game with their parent or guardian and be near them at all times. Being on the opposing teams’ side, wandering away from the field or out of the gym is not OK. Kids need to be with their parents/guardians, unless they are old enough to be a student manager, be in the band, or working in the concession stand. It will soon be dark for all contests and having young kids wandering by themselves is not a good idea. Let’s be safe, responsible and allow all of our fans watch the contests without being distracted by unsupervised children. Playing a game of football in the dark away from parental supervision is not a good idea, either. That’s usually where a child gets hurt or an argument ensues that no one needs. Football is a dangerous activity with pads and officials controlling the game.
It appears that we are off to a great school year and we will be heading towards making great strides academically. Right now it looks like there is a very good chance that the 11th grade will no longer take the NeSA tests to measure academic progress and it will be replaced by the ACT test. The ACT is very challenging, but for many schools and scholarships it is the primary determining factor. Up until this time the ACT was an option, and students who were not going to college or were perhaps going to a two-year school were not required to take it. This will all change. Many college-bound students take it several times. A student must be well-prepared and do as best as they can. Just one or two points can make a difference of tens of thousands of dollars down the road. The scores can range from 0 to 36, and a student needs a 20 to be admitted to the University of Nebraska system. At Southwest we use an ACT preparation program devised by John Baylor, an ACT guru who knows many of the ways one can improve their score. Tell your child to take this course seriously, because we have seen increases as high as six points after taking the Baylor preparation course. Taking tough classes throughout high school helps with the test, as well. Ask Mr. Loshbaugh for registration or other ACT questions. The required session will be this spring.
Sincerely,
R. Todd Porter
Superintendent