1. Have Grades, Will Travel

This year, the administration plans to enforce more accountability regarding academic eligibility to travel for extracurricular events in hopes of motivating busy students to stay on top of their workload by putting academics first.

To attend a sporting event for their team, or a trip for a class or extracurricular group such as choir or band, students must be in sufficient academic standing and be passing all of their classes.

“This is meant to be a flashlight, not a hammer. We’re trying to help students stay on track and guide them, not punish them,” Principal Tom Albertson said.

Students will be able to attend any trips once they have rectified any problematic grades.

2. Detention Makeover 

Tardies, truancies, etc. will now all fall under the umbrella of ARP, or Academic Recovery Program.

In the past, a truancy or a tardy would land you in lunch detention, but now, students will be assigned ARP minutes, which can be served at different times to best suit students’ schedule.

ARP minutes can be fulfilled before school, during lunch, or after school on some days, and can even be satisfied by an access visit, with teacher approval.

“The idea is that you still have to serve these in a timely fashion, but you now have the choice of how you do it,” Dickinson said.

If a student sustains too many ARP minutes, they may be restricted from attending some school-wide events such as the Homecoming dance until they’ve served their time.

3. Limiting Foul Language 

Students can expect a crackdown on profanity in the halls this year thanks to an end-of-the-year survey of teachers that revealed a common concern regarding the amount of foul language in the halls of SHS.

More teachers are slated to be positioned outside of their classrooms during their prep periods and in passing periods to listen for any inappropriate language and correct it.

First offenses will be met with verbal correction from the teacher, but will be a warning. More derogatory language and repeated incidents can be met with lunch detention, as well as other punishments.

“We just want to clean up the language a bit, and make sure it’s all school appropriate,” Dickinson said.

4. Freshman Guidance 

Incoming freshmen will be welcomed this year by a new program designed to ensure that everyone makes the transition from middle to high school smoothly: an orientation course led by a team of freshmen teachers.

Led by Educational Assistant and freshman teacher Mike Martz, the course will be available on schoology and will be introduced in the first few weeks of school.

There will be some designated time for students to work on the course during school, but also some work that will need to be completed at home.

The grade that students earn on the quizzes in the course will be reflected in their Health grade, a freshman required course.