The deadline for senior parents to turn in the guest sign up sheet form for graduation has been extended to Friday, May 7th! AND Reminder: Prom tickets must be bought by this Friday, May 7. There will be no tickets available after this date. $33 for a couple, $18 for a single.
This message is regarding bus 14. There’s a tree down on Davis Road and Kelly is waiting for it to be cleared out. If your child rides bus 14 and is not home yet they will be home as soon as the tree is moved.
Reminder: Any student who plans to participate in College Credit Plus through Shawnee State University for the 2021-22 school year, must apply by the May 1st deadline. This is for students who are currently participating at Shawnee and will be participating for the first time. Shawnee State University requires that all students apply every year.
Flowers just in time for Mother’s Day!If you would like to order call the high school office and give us your name, how many you would like to order and what colors! 740-493-2514 All proceeds benefit Western students!
Career fair at the Pike County Fairgrounds. May 19th from 5pm-7pm!
Debbie is running approximately 15 to 18 minutes late. She’s on her way now.
Debbie Scarbrough‘s bus 17 will be running late this morning. She’s on her way to pick up another bus now. Not exactly sure how late she will be but it will be at least a half hour later than normal. She is coming but will just be late. I will send a message as soon as she’s on the road
We are sending home all students at 12o’clock today.
Here is the link to the updated district events calendar. These shouldn't change much but if there are any changes to the district calendar those changes will be reflected on this calendar.
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/embed?src=westernlocalstudents.com_gj501imhjp6vdibi8ajk5fhp24@group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York
Attention Seniors!
Reminder: Any student who plans to participate in College Credit Plus through Shawnee State University for the 2021-22 school year, must apply by the May 1st deadline. This is for students who are currently participating at Shawnee and will be participating for the first time . Shawnee State University requires that all students apply every year.
Reminder: May 21 is our academic awards day for all students grades 8 through 12 and eighth grade graduation at 9:30 AM.
You’re invited!
Please join us in congratulating our new National Junior High Honor Society inductees!
JH Baseball updated 4/20
Fall sports sign-ups have started as of today for jr.high volleyball, high school volleyball, jr. high cross country, high school cross country, jr. high football, high school football, jr. high golf, high school golf, jr. high soccer & high school soccer. Sign-ups are in the high school office.
Any student who plans to participate in college credit plus through Shawnee state university next school year needs to apply online by May 1, 2021.
Reminder: All 3rd-6th grade blended learners are required to report tomorrow, Friday April 16th for English state testing.
Please arrive by 8:15 to the elementary office.
Graduation 2021
In regards to graduation I feel like I need to explain a few things. We have spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how to get the maximum amount of people in our gym while following the governor’s guidelines for graduation. Here are the rules that we are mandated to follow.
• Limit attendance or seating capacity to allow for social distancing, or hold multiple, smaller events in larger spaces. The maximum number of people permitted in an indoor venue with fixed seating is 25% of capacity.
• If seating is limited, ensure family members of student participants are given priority. Hold the event outdoors if possible.
• If held indoors, maximize ventilation by opening doors and windows and through other means. (Indoor facilities are expected to employ filtration of MERV 13 or higher as soon as practicably possible.)
• Choose a location that limits seating and allows for social distancing to keep groups of students and staff at least 3 feet apart and groups of guests at least 6 feet apart.
• Use touchless ticketing/access methods. If not possible, install physical barriers between attendees and door staff.
• Develop a pathway that allows for physical distancing when attendees move from parking, to the door, and to their seats, or from place to place during the event.
• Require attendees to wash or sanitize hands when entering the venue and provide hand-washing and/or sanitizing stations throughout venue. Ensure sanitizer products meet guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Our total seating capacity is 2360. 25% of that is 590. After subtracting the actual graduates and required staff members from that number there are a maximum of 500 total seats left. This equates to 8.3 seats per graduate which obviously must be reduced to 8. The reason that we stated that each graduate gets 6 guests is because we wanted to get a base number. We asked each graduate to list the 6 people who they feel “must” see them graduate. You may ask why we didn’t just start out with 8? Here’s the simple answer – if we said 8 then everyone would’ve brought 8 people even if some of those wouldn’t make the “must see me graduate” list. We want every graduate to get their most “important” people at the graduation but we don’t really want everyone just filling seats because they are available. We are basically taking the same approach we used for athletic events. We gave each athlete a certain number of tickets. We then divided any extra space among the kids so hopefully everyone who really wanted to be there could be. That ensured that it was both fair and practical.
I can assure you that we will not have empty seats at the graduation. After everyone chooses their six we will check to see how many total seats we have left. Some students may not even have six. That will allow us to give more tickets to those graduates who need them. Our expectation is that everyone will get 8 seats but, again, we didn’t want kids just trying to fill seats. Of course, what each graduate does with the original 6 tickets is up to them. We don’t care. Hopefully, after the original 6 tickets are allotted we will have at least two more tickets per graduate. It’s possible that there could even be 3 extra tickets for those who need them. The gym will be filled to maximum capacity allowable by the governor’s mandate. I’ve spoken with the health director and he has approved our plan.
Moving graduation outside isn’t an option because we don’t have a stadium. Schools who do have stadiums are still limiting the number to inside capacity to allow for weather issues. We are using every inch of space that we have. When we are required to follow these guidelines it severely limits capacity. Believe me, I understand the desire to have all of your family there for graduation. I think by now most of you know that we will always do whatever we can to accommodate our graduates. This is the plan that allows the maximum number of attendees to watch graduation yet still follow the guideline of the ODH and ODE. Not following those isn’t an option for us. I have talked with the three other county schools. We are giving at least as many as one other school and more than two of our county schools. Our graduates will receive as many or more tickets than any other graduates in Pike County and probably more than any school in our area. This is the best solution in a very imperfect situation.
Having it outside isn’t an option for us for multiple reasons. The first reason is that we don’t have outside seating. If we use cars like last year the number of attendees will certainly be less than we are offering now. If we have bad weather then we have put ourselves in an avoidable situation. Planning an outside graduation is a nightmare when the weather is a factor. Last year we did it out of necessity. Again, having it outside doesn’t increase the number of graduates. One of our county schools is having it outside but limiting the number to what will fit inside if they have to move it inside due to weather. Having graduates and parents potentially sit in the rain, wind, or even lightning when we have a gym that will safely hold 590 people isn’t responsible on our part. If we had a lightning situation we wouldn’t even be able to have the ceremony. If we had it outside and had great weather and were seated in chairs in the parking lot no one would be able to see anything.
I hope everyone realizes that we have spent hours planning, making phone calls, setting up chairs and literally measuring how many seats we can fit in the gym safely. The number of 6 was made as a worst-case scenario. We expect it to be more but it didn’t make sense to go above that initially for the above mentioned reasons. We actually expect it to be closer to 8 but if it’s going to be 9 it made more sense to tell you that officially when we know rather than giving possible numbers. After we get the initial 6 guests we will quickly know exactly how many available seats we have left and we can let you know so you can plan accordingly. We didn’t receive the governor’s guidelines until the evening of April 7th. We’ve had 5 days since then to completely develop our plan and get the information out to parents and students.
If you have questions please let me know. I’ll be happy to clear up any concerns or answer any questions you may have.
Brock
Attention seniors and parents of seniors! This information was mailed out to you regarding graduation. Please return the form included in the letter by May 3. This is a very important form that we need back in order to plan graduation. Thank you!
