Today’s Project Wisdom thought deals with the issue of dress code. I would ask that students listen carefully so that dress does not become a disciplinary issue.
This is school, essentially your workplace and mine. It is not the beach. It’s not a backyard barbecue. And yet, now that good weather is here, some students are dressing so casually that one would think they’re headed for a day at the pool.
I would draw your attention to just three sections of our dress code. Do a self-assessment. Is what you are wearing today appropriate to the standards set in our dress code?
Section 1: “Extremely brief garments, for example: tube tops, net tops, halter tops, spaghetti straps, front or back plunging necklines and see through garments, are not appropriate.”
Section 2: “Clothing should be appropriately sized to provide coverage in both front and back. Midriffs should be covered at all times.”
Section 3 “Shorts and skirts should reach mid thigh.”
If you think that dress codes are unique to schools, they are not. Most corporations and businesses have stated or implied dress codes. Many restaurants and businesses will refuse service to customers not properly dressed. And I’m betting that many of your parents have definite ideas about what you can and cannot wear out in public.
As an adult, you will spend time each day at the closet deciding what is, or what is not, appropriate to be worn for the day. Where you will be going, what you will be doing and whom you will be meeting will all impact your decision. And when occasionally you make the wrong choice, you will feel awkward and out of place.
Last night at the choral concert everyone looked great…much more dressed up than usual. Today we expect a more casual look. At Friday’s dance, perhaps even a more casual look. And this weekend at home, well…I leave that to you.
Please take the time to consider how you are dressing at school. If you have doubts about an outfit, you probably shouldn’t wear it. If a staff member tells you it’s not appropriate, you should definitely not wear it again. If in doubt, ask a parent.
Cool but professional…that’s the look that school demands during this spell of warm weather.
With something to think about, make it a great day…or not. The choice is yours.
Project Wisdom Thought (4/13/10)
Today’s Project Wisdom thought deals with new rules of communication in the cyber age.
Until as recently as a hundred years ago, when people communicated with one another it was face-to-face, by letter, or via messenger. Most communication required travel across town or even more slowly….by mail. It could take months to communicate across an ocean.
And there were rules that governed these communications. Letter writing was considered something of an art form. Speaking was best done with civility and grace.
For the last hundred years, the telephone has greatly sped communication. But still, rules and laws govern those telephone conversation and listening has become perhaps more important than talking.
Our ancestors could not have imagined the world that we live in today, where we can communicate instantly with people around the globe by cell phone, by text or online.
Unfortunately, it seems that many who have this capability are not necessarily equipped with the maturity to use that technology properly. Here at OHMS, over the past year, I have personally read many poisonous, hateful text messages sent by students. I have seen hurtful Facebook and MySpace postings and even seen websites designed solely to humiliate others.
It seems to me that many who would not necessarily speak harshly to someone else face-to face have no problem being mean when hiding behind a cell phone or computer keyboard.
My role in all this is complicated. I do not wish to be put into the role of cyber policeman but, as a person in a position of authority, I cannot sit idly by and not support those students who are victims of cyber bullying. So, in that regard, expect consequences and expect that your parents will be called if you engage in such behavior.
Just as we have rules of citizenship in our communities and nation, there are rules of citizenship in the cyber world. These rules require that we act with character online just as we are expected to do in real life.
It’s been said that “Character is what you do when no one is looking” . . . and that is often the case when we are online. Being a good cybercitizen is the right thing to do for yourself and for others because everyone wins when we are respectful, honest, and fair with one another.
With something to think about, make it a great day…or not. The choice is yours.
Cell Phone Policy (3/29/10)
Cell phone use has quickly become one of our biggest distractions. Last Friday, three phones went off during just one class period. On the same day, another student earned her fourth cell phone violation of the year. Above and beyond the class disruption, more than an hour of administrative time was wasted dealing with these episodes and four parents had to be inconvenienced to come to school to pick their child's confiscated phone.
Please understand that there is absolutely no reason why a student needs to have a phone during school hours. It could be argued that they don't need phones at all. We have a phone available in the main office for student use. Every classroom has a phone and most teachers allow students to use those phones ocassionally. We are always happy to deliver important messages from parents to students here in the office.
Please read the cell phone policy below and then review it with your child. We do not wish to have to discipline students for this issue and will not have to do so if they just follow the policy.
Students are reminded that cell phone use is not allowed during the school day including text messaging and taking photographs. Phones are to be turned off and kept out of sight. Students who need to use their phone to place an essential call, check a text message or check voice mail, need to get a pass to the main office, guidance office or health office and do so there.
This policy is included in the OHMS Student/Parent Handbook and has been announced over the public address system many times during the school year. We are confident that students are well aware of this policy.
The cell phone policy was written to decrease interruptions to the school day and to eliminate potential abuses such as cheating, phone harassment, cyber bullying and the taking of embarrassing photographs. The policy was purposely written so as not to ban cell phone use, as there are many valid reasons in today’s world for students to carry phones.
When a student is found to have violated the policy, the phone will be confiscated and may be claimed later by a parent in the main office. A late detention will be assigned. A second offense will result in the assignment of two late detentions. A third offense will result in an out of school suspension and the loss of the privilege of bringing a phone to school for the remainder of the school year.
We do reserve the right to check the phone history of students who have violated the policy to determine how and when the phone has been used.
Questions or concerns in regard to this policy may be directed to an administrator at 426-3400.
Archived messages follow.
Preparing for the New York State Assessments (3/2/10)
All OHMS students will take the NYS English/Language Arts Assessment the last week of April and the NYS Mathematics Assessment the first week of May. Like them or not, these one shot, high stakes tests have become important measures of student achievement and even more important indicators of school success.
One of the weaknesses of these tests, in my mind, is that they are graded on a four point rubric. Students receiving a level four are considered to have reached "mastery", those with a level three are considered "passing" and those at levels one or two still have work to do. And...these four levels are actually based upon student raw scores, with each having a range of correct responses. In other words, not all threes are equal and not all twos are equal. Some students may fall into a higher range of a particular level and others a lower range.
Hence, a student at level three might consider themselves to be in good shape when in fact they may have a barely passing score. Conversely, a student at level two may be only one question away from a passing level three. While we worry about all student results, we particularly worry about these students on the cusp. We want to assure that they have every opportunity to do their best on the assessments.
To that end, we invited over 200 students in ELA and math to participate in a series of review/prep classes to be held during Instructional Assistance period (IA) the next seven weeks. While many of these invited students sit comfortably in the mid-three level range, we want to make sure that they stay there, or perhaps, improve. Teachers have prepared lessons to help familiarize their students with the format of the assessments and to practice some basic concepts that they are liable to encounter.
This is the second year that we have run this program. Last year we monitored the program carefully and collected data about student outcomes. It came as little surprise to us that most students who regularly participated improved their scores and a good percentage improved a level.
The key was regular attendance at the IA sessions. Those students who attended faithfully generally achieved the greatest improvement. Those who missed multiple sessions seemed not to benefit much. Beyond the benefit of additional instructional time, part of my thinking is that students who committed to additional study time became more invested in the tests. Their confidence levels seem to have been boosted as well.
I am both pleased and proud that so many of our students have volunteered to make this extra effort and I appreciate parents who have supported this initiative by encouraging their children to participate. Many thanks to the teachers who have made the extra effort to bring these sessions to their students.
If there are any problems that you encounter during this next seven weeks of review sessions, please contact me. I will make every effort to address and resolve those problems.
The Homework Habit 10/14/09
Now five weeks into the school year and students have settled into a comfortable routine. Most are doing well but some are showing signs that they've slipped a bit. One of the earliest signs you may see is the appearance in your mailbox of the dreaded "Homework Notice" that teachers send when a student does not complete an assignment. One notice may be a fluke but if notices start coming with regularity, they signal a serious problem. Left unresolved, that problem will likely result in poor grades or, even worse, the development of the unwanted habit of ignoring one's responsibilities.
It should be understood that there is no way students can have the kind of academic success that they, or their parents, expect unless they make it a habit to complete all homework assignments well and on time. It is also important to understand that for many, independent homework completion doesn't just happen. Rather, it is a positive habit developed through consistent expectation and training.
So what is the purpose for homework and how important is it anyway? Among the many benefits of homework are:
providing students an opportunity to independently practice skills presented and developed in the classroom.
identifying for teachers those students who have mastered particular skills and those who need additional instruction.
extending time that students are productively engaged in thinking and learning.
helping students prepare for upcoming tests and quizzes.
providing opportunities for students to learn and demonstrate organizational skills necessary to complete a task independently.
providing students the opportunity to demonstrate that they are responsible individuals who can meet deadlines and fulfill obligations.
improved levels of achievement.
setting the stage for success during the next lesson.
providing students with a sense of ownership in the educational process.
Teachers work hard to help establish successful homework routines. They go over assignment expectations with students, write the assignments on the board, ask the students to write the asignments in their planners, post the assignment on their websites and often give students a chance to start the assignment and ask questions before the class period ends.
Students can help themselves by making it a habit to write their homework in their planner and make sure to take home any materials necessary to complete those assignments. They should take advantage of given class time to start an assignment and should use study hall time wisely. At home they should arrange a place and time, free of distractions, to focus on homework.
Parents can help establish good homework routines by taking an interest in the homework their children have been assigned and by helping provide a place and time to do that work. When homework completion becomes a problem, parents can help by increasing their focus on the problem. In this regard, they should consider:
checking their child's planner daily to make sure that assignments are being written down legibly and completely. That which is not written will surely be forgotten.
checking that what is written in the planner matches what is posted on each teacher's website. To do this, visit the district website.
examining homework already completed to check for quality and completeness. Homework done poorly is not much better than homework not done at all.
checking to make sure that the child has brought home everything necessary to complete the assignments. An evening drive back to the middle school may help develop this habit.
monitoring the homework period to make sure time is used wisely. This does not mean sitting next to your child pushing them along. That strategy will only lead to a power stuggle and frustration.
helping the child develop a routine to make sure that the completed work makes it back to class. This may be as simple as having them neatly pack thir bookbag and then leave it by the door to grab on the way to the bus in the morning.
positive reinforcement when the child makes good effort and is cooperative, or perhaps the loss of a privilege when they do not.
checking ParentPortal to monitor grades on a regular basis.
consistent monitoring until improvement is seen and then a gradual decrease of scrutiny until the child demonstrates indepence and homework sucess.
Some level of monitoring of homework is important. Ideally, that means just looking over graded assignments and monitoring academic progress. But perhaps it means contacting the teacher or guidance counselor if too much time is being spent on homework or if your child is resistive of your support.
We see again and again that children who complete heir assignments reliably and well experience school success while those who do not, struggle academically. It is probably safe to say that students who invest time and effort in completing their assignments are more invested in the educational experience. And that investment leads directly to increased achievement.
9/11/09 The entire student body viewed President Obama's address to America's school children over the classroom presentation stations the first week of school. We found his comments to be inspiring and encouraging for faculty and students. His message echoed ones the faculty deliver all the time, but, coming from a sitting president at the start of a new school year, were more powerful and relevant. The text of that speech follows.
Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.
I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.
I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.
Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, Buster."
So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.
I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.
I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.
And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn.
And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn.
But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
President Barack Obama
Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009
6/10/09 Message regarding the importance of reading...
Today’s Project Wisdom thought deals with the importance of finding the time to read.
Recently I have heard that some think our policy that students read twenty minutes of each study hall period is somehow difficult and not all that important. Well, as your principal, I believe it is critical.
When I was young, about the only distraction we had was television and most parents didn’t allow much of that most days. There were many fewer summer sports leagues, no computers, no video games and cell phones were not even a dream yet. Everyone read regularly.
It was not unusual to see students read at a rate of one to two books a week and maybe thirty or forty over the summer. All this reading had the effect of developing skilled readers, and those reader gained a great deal of knowledge about history and the world around them…perhaps more than they learned in school.
The fact is that today many students don’t read nearly enough to improve reading fluency, develop an appreciation for reading and increase their fund of knowledge about the world around them. Quite honestly, those who do not read regularly will eventually find themselves at a severe disadvantage in the career world.
In today’s busy, technology filled world there just doesn’t seem to be time for reading. We must make the time to develop reading skills and a love for reading. The twenty-minute rule is an effort to find some of that time, but it alone is not enough.
This summer resolve to make time for reading. Make regular visits to the library and to bookstores. Set aside undistracted time each day to spend with a good book. It doesn’t matter so much what you read, more that you read. Become a wiser, more well-rounded and knowledgeable person as a result.
With something to think about, make it a great day…or not. The choice is yours.
4/30/09 Message regarding the Swine Flu...
Good morning. Most of you are aware of the Swine Flu outbreak, now widely reported in the news, that started in Mexico and which now seems to be spreading. Both the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control have classified this flu outbreak as a pandemic. A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that spreads through populations across a large region… for instance a continent, or even worldwide. And because people have not developed natural immunity to a pandemic disease, the disease can spread easily from person to person.
It is much too early for us to become fearful about this Swine Flu outbreak, but it is certainly not too early for us to take some basic precautions to lessen the chances of becoming sick and possibly spreading flu to others. Here are some basic things we should all be doing.
• We need to wash our hands frequently. Washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds is ideal.
• We should use hand sanitizer when available. Here at OHMS, hand sanitizer is available in both lunch lines.
• We should remember to keep our hands away from our faces and avoid touching our mouths, noses, or eyes.
• We should be careful to cover coughs and sneezes with tissues or by coughing into the crook of our elbow. Cough or sneeze into your sleeve, not your hands.
• When we are sick with fevers or other flu-type symptoms, we should stay home so as not to spread sickness to others.
The experts are all telling us that if we follow these few basic practices we will be much less likely to catch or spread any disease.
4/29/09 Project Wisdom regarding Cyberbullying...
Today’s Project Wisdom thought deals with communicating respectfully, and legally, on the web.
What an amazing time in which we live! We can instantly chat with friends anywhere using various forms of technology. We can access information about anything at anytime. These possibilities exist because of remarkable advances made in technology over the last couple of decades.
Unfortunately, there are those who take advantage of these advances and who use technology in inappropriate, hurtful ways. These individuals are often referred to as cyberbullies. They are no different than any other kind of bully. They simply post their insults and putdowns on the web rather than face to face. Unfortunately, their putdowns can hurt even more because they are so much more accessible to be read by everyone.
You do not have to put up this. If you feel that you are the victim of cyberbullying, tell your parent or some other adult. Steps can be taken to end the bullying… a report to the police, for example.
If you have been guilty of posting insult and putdowns, you should think carefully about what you are doing. You are responsible for what you post and you may be held accountable for the things you say. Some cases are actually viewed as crimes. And when a complaint is made, comments can easily be traced back to you.
Bullying is never okay, and should always be taken seriously whether it's at school, on the bus, in the neighborhood or in cyberspace.
With something to think about, make it a great day or not... the choice is yours.
4/7/09 - Mr. Hutson's Address to OHMS Students Over the Public Address System...
Today’s Project Wisdom message may be the most important message that I’ve given and I would ask your complete attention to that message. I apologize if I mispeak but many of my comments are not written down this morning.
Over the last three years, we have listened to many important Project Wisdom messages: messages that deal with important ideas such as empathy, understanding, compassion and tolerance. And I’m sure that most of you have agreed fundamentally with those messages. Most of us strive to be good people and do the right thing. We want to think that as human beings we all feel a shared sense of humanity.
There are, unfortunately, those in our society who continue to judge people on the basis of unimportant and insignificant characteristics such as race, gender, nationality, age or class status. As an American of a certain age, I am beginning to understand a certain bias toward those who are getting older in a youthful society. Speak with your mother, or any other woman, and learn about gender bias. Speak with one of our minority students and learn about racial bias.
These biases are disturbing because continued focus on these superficial items keep us from understanding a basic fundamental of life….that is, that all men and women are equal in their hopes, dreams, feelings and aspirations. Life is short and we all want to enjoy our precious time on the planet and reach our aspirations.
Here at OHMS, I am continually impressed with the generosity, kindness and open mindedness of our students. But recently, I have become aware of a disturbing trend among a few of our students who have been using a very unacceptable, frightening and hateful word here at school. That word, because I cannot bring myself to use it, I will refer to as the N word.
When challenged as to why these students use such a hateful term they try to explain it away by saying that they were not referring directly to anyone in particular, or that they hear the word used all the time in rap music or on the street.
None of that matters to me. I find the N word offensive, racist and totally unacceptable. I do not condone its use in music or on the street. It is my feeling that the N word, and other such words of bias would be better never uttered again in any context. We have come too far in this country to sink back to a time when such vile terminology was widespread. It’s a new era and time to move on.
Please be advised that, from this day on, use of the N word, or any other racial slur directed at any particular group, will result in significant disciplinary consequences. OHMS Is a place of learning and understanding. We have no place for bias here.
To end on a more positive note…As I thought about this matter over the past few days I was reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech in which he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
With something to think about, make it a great day or not… the choice is yours!
School Security
Because of past school tragedies, it's wise to remember that we have security procedures in place at OHMS and we practice those procedures with staff and students regularly. I will not elaborate on those procedures for obvious reasons but I do ask the cooperation of parents and other visitors in following one element of our safety plan.
When visiting OHMS during the school day, only the main entrance will be unlocked and only the main entrance should be used by visitors. Once you enter the buillding, report immediately to one of three locations that adjoin the lobby: the Health Office, the Guidance Office or the Main Office. Please do not move anywhere else in the building without having been issued a visitor's badge at one of those locations.
Principal's Update...
