Principal's Message - May 10, 2024

Hello ThunderHawk families, 

Our first full week of May is in the books, our seniors have had their final official day, and we are gearing up for the final full week of school next week. We are thankful for the tremendous job that our students continue to do in meeting our expectations that we refer to as #theEASTway. We talk to our students about expecting more from themselves and doing the little things that can set us apart from every other high school, and it is not always comfortable and it certainly is not easy. But greatness is not easy either, and it is our hope that our families continue to partner with us in reinforcing that same message with all of our students to finish the year in a fabulous manner! 

Senior/Graduation Update

Today we had our final official senior meeting with the Thunderhawk Class of 2024, and the first thing that we did was compliment them on who they have been this year. We also reinforced the importance of maintaining and finishing in a manner that keeps their stellar legacy intact. Next week is a fun but busy week, and we do have important work to do. We will send our final Senior Update next Wednesday with more detailed information about the Graduation Ceremony.

What we shared with them today was the information they need for Tuesday’s Senior Car Show and Parade of Graduates and Wednesday’s Graduation Practice and Senior Picnic. We also provided a great deal of information about Graduation itself, but the most important takeaway from today was that all seniors must attend and participate in Graduation Practice in order to participate in the actual ceremony on Friday. It is our most critical goal to provide thorough details to our seniors and families so that they are never in a situation where anyone can every say “We did not know!” All of the details provided to seniors today are in the following slide show: Final Senior Meeting 2024

Lastly, while this is also included in the slide show notes, we want to remind all senior families that tickets are required to enter the Cintas Center, and we will be closing the request form today at 3 PM. For the families that have reached out to us regarding changes, we have made those adjustments and we will respond to your emails with a confirmation - we have just not had a chance to send those replies as of this time!

 

Underclass Awards on Wednesday, May 15

On Wednesday, we will host our Underclass Awards ceremony in the Main Campus Gymnasium at 1:30 PM - East Freshman will be holding a separate ceremony. 

This is a shift from our practice for past years of making this an evening event. Spring is an extremely busy time in the lives of families with school-aged children, and in the past few years our attendance for the evening event has been around 35%, meaning that only 35% of our students are being recognized publicly. By moving this to the day, we will be able to avoid nearly all conflicts and will be able to recognize nearly all of our students - we do realize that unfortunately we will have a few who are unable to attend due to AP testing. This change also greatly supports our custodial and maintenance teams who have the tremendous task of setting up and tearing down our gymnasium multiple times, and it keeps our facilities from being shut down multiple times to teams and groups that need the gym. We have chosen this day to take advantage of the gym already being set up for Graduation Practice.

We understand that this means that some parents will not be able to attend due to work schedules, so we will be livestreaming the event. We will share that link in a separate email next week. Lastly, we will allow families who are able to attend to do so - we have no idea about seating for the event as we have never done it in this manner! However, we will figure it out on this day and learn from it, and we are excited to be able to celebrate nearly all of our sophomores and juniors. Invitations have been sent to students who are being recognized, and we will make sure that students who are unable to attend receive their awards.

 

Final Exams for Underclassmen

Final exams will begin for sophomores and juniors on Tuesday, May 21. The schedule is included in a link below. One reminder regarding exams - students are not permitted to take exams early without documentation of a medical situation that would not permit a student to attend school during exam days. For students with an excused absence from school during exams, these arrangements will need to be made through the administration office, and unless it is a medical situation, students will have to come into school within the first two weeks of summer break in order to make up an exam. 

2023-24 Second Semester Main Campus Exam Schedule

One reminder note about exams for students who took Spring End of Course tests - just before we administered those tests, we announced that we were piloting an incentive program in which we would allow students who performed at or above their expected performance level based upon the metrics provided to us by the state from prior assessments and from our own Pre-Test assessments to be exempted from Final Exams this spring. We will begin receiving those data points next week, and teachers will be communicating with their students about whether or not they have qualified to be exempted. 

The most challenging subject area that we will face regarding this incentive will be in the area of English/Language Arts II as we will not officially receive the results until Monday, May 20, and our students take their 7th Period exam on Tuesday, May 21. We will develop a way for 7th period English teachers to communicate with their students Monday afternoon/evening regarding Tuesday’s exam, and we will have all other English/Honors English 10 teachers confirm results and exemptions on Tuesday when they attend their classes. We encourage all students to continue to prepare for exams so that they are not caught off guard in the event that they have to take an exam. 

We understand this process is somewhat messy but we wanted to try something that encourages students to give their best efforts on these important assessments. Our mindset regarding this is that all students are expected to take these exams, and this incentive may provide an unexpected reward of not having to do so. Finally, even if students qualify for an exemption, they are welcome to take an exam if they believe it might help them raise their grade. 

 

Have a great weekend, 

Rob Burnside
Lakota East High School Principal