Pete Price, O. Henry Principal, sends out a weekly email with current news about what's happening on our campus. You will find the latest edition along with prior issues on these pages, and you can subscribe here. Also, be sure to check out Pete's Tips for Raising Early Adolescents and Checklist for Success.
Principal’s Paddock
Pete Price, OHMS Principal
Pete Price, O. Henry Principal, sends out a weekly email with current news about what's happening on our campus. You will find the latest edition along with prior issues on these pages, and you can subscribe here. Also, be sure to check out Pete's Tips for Raising Early Adolescents and Checklist for Success.
Honor Roll
Congratulations to the 200 students who earned A Honor Roll and nearly 400 students who earned B Honor Roll for the 1st Six Weeks marking period. We appreciate these students’ hard work and commitment to academic excellence!
Not So Honorable
I mentioned to the student body last week that one student made an extremely poor choice last week. This student brought marijuana to school. I reminded students that bringing drugs like marijuana or alcohol to school is highly inappropriate and illegal. Thankfully, we do not have many instances like this at O. Henry. (Good news: we received information about this situation from other students.…
Last week was awesome:
- For Spirit Week, the kids, teachers, and staff dressed up each day. Over 800 students rocked the house at Tuesday’s Pep Rally. (Only students who had passed all their 1st six weeks classes and received zero discipline referrals were eligible to participate. Rationale: we want to reward–as often as possible–the overwhelming majority of students who make good choices each and every day. On the other hand, if you don’t make good choices at school, you don’t get invited to the celebrations. Tough, but real world.) Thanks to Cheer coaches Ashley Malone and Michael Shackelford for organizing these events.
- On Thursday, our very generous PTA sponsored an appreciation luncheon for our outstanding faculty/staff. We always love these meals! Thanks to PTA volunteer Donna Campbell was organizing the luncheon.
- On Friday, our 6th and 8th graders had a chance to question dozens of parents/community members about their careers. We also had representatives from various public/private high schools and higher education institutions. Although this may be our students’ first experience exploring future occupations, it is an important one. One of our 6th graders was overheard saying to a friend, “I’m going to be a veterinarian when I grow up.” (Interestingly, our guest vet told us that she first wanted to be a vet when she attended her first career fair.) In middle school, we want our students to start thinking about life after high school/college.
Report Cards
You should be receiving your student’s report card soon via US mail, if you haven’t already received it yet. As I have suggested in the past, encourage your student to take ownership of his/her academic performance. If the grades were solid, congratulations! If they were not, your student might need to attend tutorials in the class(es) with low grades. Sometimes it’s simply a case where more/better studying needs to occur at home. Here are some recommendations for studying from one of our former teachers:
Spirit Week (October 15-19)
Monday: Mustache Monday (wear fake mustaches or draw one on your finger)
Tuesday (Homecoming FB Game): Snapbacks (hat) and Tattoos Tuesday
Wednesday: Warning Wednesday (O.…