Cougar Connection
An Update from your Mankato East Administration Team
January 3, 2022
Welcome Back
Students,
We hope you enjoyed a relaxing and rejuvenating break from school. We have about three weeks until the end of Semester 1. Let's make a strong finish! If your grades aren't what you would like them to be, you still have time to finish your work and bring those grades up. Communicate with your teachers. Put your best effort into each of your classes. Finish strong.
Building Safety
You may have noticed that before the break, we put signs on all the exterior doors. The signs on the outside of the doors tell any visitors that the school building is locked from 8:45 am until 3:35 pm, it says that visitors or late-arriving students need to enter the building through Door 1.
The sign on the inside of the doors is for students. This sign reminds you that you are NOT allowed to open the exterior doors to let anyone, even your friends, into our building for any reason. It also tells you that the doors are monitored by video camera and, if you open the door during 'locked hours', disciplinary action will result.
Why is this a big deal?
Students, you might think that you are helping out a friend by letting them in a side door so they don't have to walk around the building---but you jeopardize the safety of everyone by doing so. We don't know where someone has been while they were out of the building. We don't know what they are bringing back to the building. Letting people into the side doors violates the safety measures we have in place for your (and everyone else's) protection. We have all seen/heard far too many news stories about instances of violence in schools that were the result of lax security. It is a sad reality that we have to think this way and that we have to plan for the worst-case scenarios. However, that is the reality.
As principals, we need to ensure that everyone in our building is accounted for -which is another reason we make such a big deal about attendance- AND that everyone here is safe to be here.
If you open a security-locked side door to let someone into our building during the school day, you are violating the safety plan of our building, which is very serious. This action could result in suspension from school.
Upcoming Schedule Changes
Monday, January 17, 2022, is the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. There is NO SCHOOL that day.
On Thursday, January 20, 2022, and Friday, January 21, 2022, we will run a special bell schedule for a final opportunity to improve grades.
These two days will be reserved for students who are either failing classes and need time to work with teachers to bring their grades up, or for students who wish to improve their grades. Students in good standing will not be required to report to school.
We will send more information about our bell schedule and open campus rules for these two days soon. For now, families and students just need to be aware that there will be a different schedule for those few days and that we'll follow an 'open campus' plan for lunch and study halls on those two days.
Monday, January 24, 2022, is a NO SCHOOL day for teacher in-service.