Creek Connector
February Edition
Our mission is to prepare our students to succeed in a global society through a quality education.
Creek Connector
Happy Second Semester!!! We have had a great start to 2nd semester and I'd like to take a moment to thank you all for partnering for success for each of our students. This is an exciting time at The Creek and we are all geared up for our new semester. For seniors, this is the last semester of high school. For freshmen, we are moving closer to being sophomores and are more comfortable with high school life. For all of us, it is a time of high energy and anticipation.
We are working to diversify our communication tools to ensure that we can communicate important information across multiple platforms to help us to navigate The Creek successfully and to stay connected. This monthly newsletter is the newest addition to our communication toolkit. Each month, information will be included in the Creek Connector that is pertinent to #CreekLife and that helps us to be #CreekStrong. In this inaugural edition of the Creek Connector, I have included some important tidbits related to our 2nd semester kickoff. Have a memorable and successful 2nd semester!
Attendance - Be Present for Your Future!
Regular attendance is a part of the foundation of school success. Our very own ECC (Executive Class Council) created the slogan for The Creek that represents our vision for attendance. Please ensure that your scholar attends school every day and that they arrive on time. Please encourage them to arrive at each of their classes on time as well. If your child has to be absent, please reach out to our Attendance Secretary, Mrs. Sewer to submit absentee notes or to communicate about absences. Her email address is monicae.sewer@cms.k12.nc.us.
We have updated our tardy policy for the 2nd semester. The focus of the updated policy is to encourage students to arrive to school and class on time. It also helps to provide interventions along with consequences to help support regular school attendance. The policy is located in the letter below. The letter will also be posted on our Website and will be emailed out to families through our Connect 5 system early next week.
Dear Maverick Families:
In order to fulfill the purpose of our mission statement and prepare our students to succeed in a global society through a quality education we must be able to maximize instructional minutes. Tardies are a major disruption to the learning environment for both the student and teacher.
When students are tardy to class they miss valuable information that is key to the lesson of the day. At MCHS we view on-time attendance to class as a priority and thank you for your support in ensuring that your child is making maximum use of instructional time.
School begins at 7:15 am. Beginning the day promptly is important and demonstrates commitment to success.
Students arriving to 1st block class after 7:15 a.m. are required to report to our lock-out location. Arrival time of late buses will either be announced or excused passes will be issued to students. Students who are late to school due to unusual circumstances must be signed in by the parent or guardian. Students who are tardy during blocks 2-4 must report to the lockout station and receive a late pass as well.
The following consequences for tardies become effective January 29, 2020
1st-Administrative Warning
2nd- Parent contact Via Connect-Ed
3rd- 30 minute lunch detention (served for 2 days 15 minutes each day) and parent phone call.
(Tuesday - D200) (Wednesday - D204)
4th- 1 Hour Community Service after school
5th- 1 day of ISS +Parent letter
*6th – 1 day of ISS and placement on 365 loss of privileges.
* ISS for tardies will be served every Thursday
*Any student with 6 or more tardies will be assigned consequences for attendance violation. Attendance violation is subject to 1-2 days of OSS.
*Students who have accumulated more than 6 tardies in a quarter will have the following privileges revoked for nine (9) weeks:
A. Parking Passes ineligible to receive a parking pass or parking pass revoked
B. Attendance of extracurricular activities
C. Participation in extracurricular activities
D. Participation in in-school extracurricular activities
The Principal and the administrative staff has the right to substitute an alternative disciplinary intervention for repeated offenders.
Registration Information
A Connect 5 message was sent out last week regarding registration. The following is the message that was sent. Please review the important information that was shared regarding 2020-2021 registration:
Registration presents a significant opportunity for parents and students to engage in crucial conversations about areas of academic need, goal setting, course selections, personal interests and progress towards graduation. In order to support parents and students with preparation for the registration process, please note the following key dates and resources that will be made available to guide your discussions at home. ·
- On 1/27/2020, registration cards were sent home with students. Parents were encouraged to review registration cards with their child and to actively support students with selecting courses. If you need more detailed instructions on how to complete registration cards, please see Mallard Creek’s Webpage for a video that walks you through the paper card. (the video is also attached to the bottom of this newsletter)
- On 1/30/2020, students had protected time in homeroom to begin the process of entering their initial course selections into PowerSchool. Please note the paper registration card mirrors the registration platform in PowerSchool. The window for student entries into PowerSchool will remain open until 2/3/2020.
- On 1/31/2020, all paper registration cards were collected by 1st block teachers.
- On 2/4/2020, school counselors will begin 1:1 student registration meetings during 1st block. This process will ensure that all students receive individual time to discuss scheduling needs, as well as to receive advisement about their progress towards meeting graduation requirements. ·
- On 3/24/2020, school counselors will finalize all one-to-one student registration meetings and Mallard Creek’s registration process will officially end for the 2020-2021 academic year. ·
If you have additional questions about how to prepare for the registration process, please visit Mallard Creek’s website to find:
1. A schedule of key registration dates
2. PDF copies of registration cards for each grade level
3. A PDF handout prepared by school counselors, which addresses frequently asked questions, and
4. A video presentation that provides a complete overview of the registration process ·
In closing, Mallard Creek teachers and staff would like to thank you in advance for taking valuable time at home to discuss your child’s needs and goals for the upcoming academic year. ·
Safety Updates
- We conduct monthly fire drills at different times of the day. Students move with their class away from the building and we call the classes back into the building once we have fully cleared the building.
- We conduct periodic lock down drills. We observe our responses to help continually improve our process. We conducted one three weeks ago and the staff and students executed the drill wonderfully. Students should follow the instructions of their teachers during lock downs and we encourage them to be silent throughout the lock down. We will send out voice and email messages as soon as possible during those times.
- If your child drives to school, please encourage them to follow parking pass policies. The student with the parking pass should be the only people in the car unless a sibling or someone else rides to school with them.
- Student drivers should not be leaving campus during the day unless they are early release students or have permission from you to leave early for an appointment. Students should not leave during the day to pickup lunch and certainly should not carry other students off campus to do so. Students are at risk of losing their parking pass privileges if they do.
- If students have early release, they should leave campus within 10 minutes of the end of their last class.
- Students should attend all classes daily and arrive on time. Students who are skipping classes in the halls are not in the best location in case of emergency. Please continue to promote regular attendance.
Student Services Superstars
Our student services team is an amazing team of professionals who provide a range of support for our students. They are advocates for our students and provide invaluable resources for the success of our students and our school program. Below is a link to their Web page, which can also be accessed from our school Website.
http://mchsstudentservices.weebly.com/
Below is a list of our student services staff members. Our counselors support students across grade levels by alpha last name bands. Feel free to contact them at any time in order to collaborate for your scholar's success.
Last Name Counselor Name
A-Ca S. Harris
Cb-Ga C. Jones
Gb-Ka C. Payne
Kb-Na K. Soulier
Nb-Sh S. Portlock
Si-Z L. Stewart-Ayers
Social Worker R. Brown
College Advisor T. Tamrat
Registrar K. Palmieri
Guidance Secretary L. Watson
Career Development Coordinator (CDC) R. White
Creek Conversations
HERO
Mallard Creek High values character and positive decision making of our students. This year, we purchased a positive behavior system, HERO, to be able to award students for doing the right thing, identify behaviors to improve and to assist with our tardy pass process. We have just begun using the program and are in the beginning phases of implementation. We invite you to download the app to be able to view the positive points that your scholar has been assigned and to view any tardy or other behavior activity. A flier will be sent home to parents with report cards that has a unique code that you can use to download the app and access your scholar's information. Below is a link to what the flier will look like. We will continue to talk about HERO and the updates of our implementation throughout this year and as we begin the next school year. Again, we are in the beginning phase of implementation, but we are excited about the possibilities for positive behavior reinforcement.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rYfT3Bi7oTtfrf5ZTO3x1D71tH8eU2_i/view?usp=sharing
I'm also including the HERO Website if you would like additional information about the product. https://www.herok12.com/
Key January/February Dates (as of 1/25/2020)
1/27 - 1st Day of 3rd Quarter (homeroom for all students)
1/28 - Student safety meetings - by alpha student groups beginning at 7:30 am
1/28 - Basketball Games home vs. Lake Norman 3:30 pm
1/31 - Basketball Games home vs West Charlotte 3:30 pm
1/31 - Swim Regional Meet
2/4 - PTSA Meeting 6:30 pm Front Office Lobby - Please join us!!!!
2/4 - Report Cards sent home
2/4 - Basketball games away vs Hopewell 3:30 pm
2/4-8 - Wrestling State Duals
2/5 - National Signing Day event - Auditorium 9:00 pm
2/5 - Indoor Track at POB
2/6 - Mid Year Graduation - Bojangles Coliseum 4:00 pm
2/7 - Basketball Games home vs. North Meck 3:30 pm
2/7 - State Championship Swimming
2/11 - Basketball Games home vs Hough 3:30 pm
2/12 - Creek Conversations 2:30 pm and 6:00 pm Media Center - PD Room
2/14 - Basketball Games @ Mooresville 3:30 pm
2/14-15 - Wrestling Regional Playoffs
2/15 - State Indoor Track Meet
2/17 - Workday (No school for students)
2/19 - SLT meeting 4:30 pm Media Center
2/20 - Rising Freshman Night 6:00 pm
2/20 - 22 - Wrestling State Tournament
2/26 - Basketball Playoffs begin tba
Important Links
www.facebook.com/Mallardcreekhs
@MallardCreekHS
@CreekConnect (community partners and alumni specifically)
www.cmsathleticzone.com/mallardcreek
https://schools.cms.k12.nc.us/mallardcreekHS/Pages/Guidance.aspx