Lassiter’s Liberator

Week beginning November 25, 2007

Hello, dear friends of education! I hope that all of you had an enjoyable and tasty Thanksgiving holiday with your family and friends! It is truly amazing that our academic and calendar year is zipping by so quickly! As I was preparing our staff newsletter, I noted that we only have 19 more instructional days, and it will be time for our annual winter/holiday break! Before you know it, it will be time for semester exams, and the beginning of a new semester. With that, we’ll count down the days until spring break, prom, our annual May Day celebration, and then BAM-graduation 2008! As we always advise each other and our students: Slow down and enjoy the very best days of your life! The same goes for you, too!

Last week at Southern Lee was a good one, even though it was abbreviated. As I reported to you in the last edition, we had a very exciting and real Civics lesson in our school affecting our 9th graders. We experienced a tie for the office of freshman vice-president, and we felt like what better way to teach our students about the electoral process than to have an “issues forum” involving the candidates in front of the electorate, and then conduct the required and necessary run-off election. The students LOVED it, and were very receptive to the idea. In the end, Mr. Garrison Lutz was elected freshman class vice-president, and our 342 9th graders took away a very valuable lesson that will carry over well into their adult lives!

We also celebrated History Day at Southern Lee last week. History Day is an annual program sponsored by our Social Studies Department, and all students who are enrolled in World History (9th graders) and United States History (11th graders) were able to choose a figure in history, research about them, and “dress the part.” It was VERY REFRESHING to see the high level of participation AND to hear the students be able to go into considerable depth about their character of choice.

Southern Lee High School also hosted the North Carolina Department of Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler on Monday evening, November 19. Mr. Troxler visited with us in Mrs. Womack’s Agricultural Education classroom, and then took a tour of our Greenhouse. Members of the Southern Lee and Lee County High School FFA were on hand, and the students were outstanding hosts and asked some very good questions.

We are very pleased to announce that we have added two new Cavaliers to our faculty! Mr. Vincent Hunt will join our teaching family as a math teacher! Mr. Hunt joins us from Durham, North Carolina, and he will teach Geometry, Algebra, and Technical Math. We will also welcome Mrs. Laura Newman to our faculty, as she will join the Arts Education department. Mrs. Newman is currently teaching in the Moore County Schools, and will join our faculty in mid-December. We are still on the recruiting trail for one more math teacher and two special education teachers, so if YOU know someone, PLEASE have them to contact me and I can point them in the right direction!

Let’s go back a couple of weeks. As you may recall, November 13-16 was American Education Week, and we had all sorts of celebrations and observations at Southern Lee. Among the things that we did was our monthly (and required) school-wide writing activity called Drop Everything and Write activity, or “DEW” date. The purpose of these “DEW” dates is to help our students to become outstanding writers, as all students in grades 9-12 are accountable for quality writing during their high school career:

Freshmen will be required to write term papers in their English classes and will have to write a research paper in partial fulfillment of their Graduation Project they must complete in order to graduate from the Public Schools of North Carolina.
Sophomores, in addition to the aforementioned requirement applicable to freshmen, must take and score a level 3 or higher on the North Carolina Writing Test for Grade 10 that is administered the first Tuesday in March.
Juniors must write a term paper for their English 11 class, as well as complete any additional writing assignments for their other classes. On top of that, the “new” SAT has a writing component on it that colleges/universities use to assess the prospective student’s communication and higher-order thinking skills.
Seniors must write college admission essays, fill out applications to the college/university/school of their choice, and must be able to communicate effectively in writing on job applications.

We at Southern Lee believe that it is OUR job and responsibility to help our students to enhance and sharpen their writing skills, and their participation in the monthly “DEW” activity is a step in that direction.

The November “DEW” activity was to write a letter of thanks to an educator who has had a significant and positive impact on the student’s life thus far in their academic career. This exercise was well-received by our students, and we promised them that if they wished, the letter they wrote would make its way to its intended recipient. To date, we have sent over 200 letters to teachers in and out of North Carolina!

Well, enough about the past at Southern Lee. Let’s swing to the upcoming week!

Academic progress reports were distributed to students on November 19-20, and some may come home this week to give you and your student an idea of where they stand academically and what can be done to solidify their performance and standing in class. We have been running our after-school tutorial sessions, and I am meeting with department chairs this week to discuss rescheduling our after-school tutorials to feature certain classes/subjects meeting on set days of the week. Further, we will kick up the intensity a notch as we approach final exams (January 14-18), and we will offer after-school tutorials/exam review sessions beginning January 3, 2008.

On the athletic front, our winter sports season is underway, with our wrestling team hosting and doing quite well in our inaugural and annual Cavalier Wrestling Classic. Our basketball teams will be in action this week, with the JV Cavaliers hosting the Garner High School Trojans on Tuesday at 4:00 at Southern Lee. The varsity Cavaliers will be at Garner High School on Tuesday, and will make their home debut on Friday, November 30, as they host the Lee County High School Yellow Jackets.

We are also VERY proud to announce that our gymnastics, swimming, and indoor track teams (yes, indoor track!) will begin competition very soon. As always, check www.southernleecavs.com for schedules, announcements, and results!

Well, a certain Southern Lee student is looking over my shoulder telling me that I’ve written too much for one person to read at one sitting, so I’ll stop here! As always, however, YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME AT SOUTHERN LEE TO VISIT WITH US! Simply come into the main office and ask for me or one of the administrators. We will sign you in as a visitor, supply you with a guest pass, and we can walk the halls, sit in the lunches, observe some classes, and check out the building and grounds together!

You know, Friday, November 30 would be a GREAT DAY for you to come! That’s the day we’re having our second annual “Slam-O-Rama” student vs. faculty volleyball game and pep rally at 2 p.m.

Hope to see YOU!

Week beginning November 18, 2007

Good Sunday evening, Southern Lee High School cyber-visitors! I am pleased to return to blogging after a one-week hiatus caused by a nasty flu bug that put me on my backside for a little over 1 week. All is well now, and it’s back to the Liberator Blog for us all!

It has been a pretty good week for us at Southern Lee, as we were able to recommend 1 art teacher and 1 math teacher for approval to our board of education. We are hopeful that our new teachers can begin in early-December, and spend 1 month serving our students before the semester ends. We are still searching for 1 additional math teacher and 2 special education teachers, so if you know someone with a math or special education background, send them our way!

We also celebrated and observed American Education Week last week, and as you may have noted in the Sanford Herald, the students and staff really got into some of the activities. On Wednesday, November 14, we had Deborah Bolden, Jennifer Nance, Shakeila Strickland, and Arthur Wilson, II serve as “Principals for a Day.” They had the unique opportunity to see the school from the adult/administrative side, and I must say that they did an outstanding job in helping to keep the school running smoothly.

On Thursday, November 15, we hosted about 130 parents in our school for our third-annual National Parental Involvement Day, and we inducted 22 new members into the Southern Lee High School Chapter of the National Honor Society.

Our final activity was our monthly “DEW” activity that was an open letter of thanks to an educator. “DEW” stands for Drop Everything and Write, and it is a school-wide activity. It was very cool to see 1,159 students engaged in writing letters to that certain educator that they wanted to thank for helping them to get to where they are today. I have promised our students that I would ensure that their letters made it to their special teacher if they so desired.

This week is an abbreviated week, given the start of the holiday is Wednesday, November 21. We do have some activities at school I need for you to be aware of, however:

Progress reports will be distributed to all students on Monday, November 19 and Tuesday, November 20, 2007.
Mr. Chris Wieczorek, Herff-Jones Representative, will be here at Southern Lee on Monday, November 19 and Tuesday, November 20 taking orders from our Juniors for their class rings. Mr. Wieczorek and his staff will also host a Parent Information Night from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in our Dining Hall to help parents and students navigate through the ordering and purchase process.
The Freshman Class will have a special assembly during second period on Monday, November 19 to have a “Discussion of the Issues” between vice-presidential candidates Garrison Lutz and Carmen McIver. The two candidates finished tied in the popular vote, making a run-off election necessary. The candidates will present a short speech to their peers, and the freshmen will convene in homeroom on Tuesday, November 20 and cast their vote to determine who the best candidate is based upon their position on the issues.
After-school tutorials have started at Southern Lee High School, and these tutorials are designed to assist students who are at-risk of academic failure. I have asked our teachers to recommend students for tutorials, and to notify students and their parents either through telephone calls, comments on the progress reports, or a combination of the two. The tutorials run from 3:15-4:30, and are available for a host of classes.

On behalf of the Southern Lee High School family, I wish to extend to each of you a very joyous Thanksgiving holiday, and I am looking forward to chatting with you once again in the next edition of the Lassiter’s Liberator Blog! As always, YOU ARE WELCOME IN OUR SCHOOL, and it doesn’t take a special event like National Parental Involvement Day for you to come. Just come on in, check in at the Main Office by signing in as a visitor. Let them know I invited you, and I’ll come from wherever I am, get a visitor’s pass to you, and we can walk the halls, visit classrooms, and do and see everything your students do and see and experience.

Just come on to 2301 Tramway Road and consider yourselves at home!

HDL

Week beginning November 5, 2007

Welcome to Southern Lee’s cyber hot-spot! After a one-week hiatus, the Liberator Blog returns with a few hot topics for conversation, thought, and hopefully, ACTION. We ushered in the month with a new character education trait, which is: INTEGRITY. All this month, we will highlight what integrity means through thought and action in our character education initiatives.

First, the nine-week grading period ended on October 26, 2007 and the first cycle of report cards will be issued to students on Tuesday, November 6, 2007. We have been speaking with our students about doing their absolute best on all of their academic assignments and evaluations, and I am encouraged by the few names I have received of students who were not successful in passing all four of their classes during the first grading period. When your student brings their report card home, attached to it will be a letter from me that will discuss our after-school tutorial opportunities, and inviting you to come to Southern Lee High School on Thursday, November 15, 2007 for our third annual Parental Involvement-Visitation Day from 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. We will need YOUR CONTINUED support in ALL of our endeavors to help make us successful in everything that we do here at Southern Lee.

In line with the after-school tutorials, here are the subjects that will be offered for after-school tutorials (the schedule will be set by the instructor/tutor, and these tutorial services are at no charge to the student):

Algebra 1: Diane Premo and Zoretta French
Algebra 2: Michael Friedman and Robert Scott
Advanced Mathematics: Michael Friedman and Robert Scott
Geometry: Charity Brewer
Technical Math: Charity Brewer
Biology: Donna Ansted
Chemistry: Julie Randolph
Physical Science: Cindy Tuttle
English 9: Chris Dossenbach
English 10: Chris Dossenbach
United States History: Bill Bivans and Trisha Furrie
Civics and Economics: Chris Denison and Crystal Jastzabski
Spanish-TBD
French-Donna Rogers
Exceptional Children: Mary Frist
English as Second Language: Deborah Wilkes-Santana

The target beginning date of our tutorial program will be Tuesday, November 13, 2007, and the program will end on Friday, January 11, 2008. It is our belief that if students who are not performing up to expectation, or who require supplemental instructional services, stay after school and participate in these FREE sessions WITH TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED, it’s no telling how successful they can be!

Second, I need four teachers! We began the school year 2 teachers short in our Exceptional Children’s department, and since the beginning of the year, we have lost two math teachers. We have searched high and low in North Carolina, across the southeastern United States, and even stretched our search into the Midwest. Our needs have been posted on internet sites, and through word of mouth. I am asking if YOU know of a licensed math teacher and licensed special educators who would love to work in Orange and Blue Country, please turn them on to me!

Third, we have applied for a couple of distinctions based upon some plans that we have put into place at Southern Lee AND some innovations that were once ideas but that are now practices. The deadlines for these distinctions have passed, and we are awaiting notification regarding our applications. I will let you know how our school is regarded when I receive notification.

Fourth, our student-athletes and coaches are doing some really good things. Take a look at this:

Women’s Golf Team: Finished 7th in the state 1A/2A/3A Golf tournament recently. Mrs. Tammy Batten is the head coach of these ladies.
Men’s Soccer Team: Claimed 2nd place in the Cape Fear Valley 3A Conference, and advanced to the second round of the state 3A soccer playoffs. Mr. Jason Burman is the head coach of these young men.
Cross Country: Keely Wood finished 66th in the state of North Carolina among 3A competitors. Mrs. Trisha Furrie is the cross country head coach.
Football: Finished the regular season 6-5, and will enter the first round of the state 3A playoffs vs. South Johnston on Friday night, November 9. Mr. Bryan Lee is the head football coach.

We are very excited about how well our students performed in their athletic and extra-curricular endeavors thus far this year, and we are expecting big things from our winter and spring sports programs, too!

Finally, I just want to say THANK YOU.

Have a good week!