Dear Rosemount High School Community Members,

As we enter our second week of school I would like to give you a quick report from Rosemount High School. I believe we are off to a positive start to the school year. Last Tuesday our faculty welcomed over 2000 students back to school. For the second year in a row we greeted students at the front doors as they arrived.  We ended the first week of school with a pep assembly in the stadium and our welcome back dance on Friday evening.

You may have noticed a few changes as we started the new school year. First, we made changes to the summer mailing. We tried to reduce the amount of resources used on the mailing and simplify it by posting many traditional summer mailing items on our web site rather than sending them to you through the mail. We tried to only provide hard copies of the documents that were most critical to the start of school. All of the other traditional summer mailing documents, we provided electronically. Second, we made changes to Open House. Over the past several years, attendance at Open House has been poor and declining. We tried to improve attendance at Open House by moving it to a date prior to the start of school and offering it the same night as Ninth Grade Orientation. Third, we made changes to the first day of school. Research shows that the transition from middle school to high school is very important for students. Students who enjoy success in ninth grade are highly likely to enjoy success throughout their high school careers. We tried to improve the transition experience for our Ninth Grade Students by giving them the first half day of school on their own. We would like to collect your feedback on each of these changes.   If you are willing to share your thoughts on these changes, please take our survey at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8H1c5SgbLWLFwQvHuKC0VQ_3d_3d

We will use your feedback in our planning for the future. Thank you in advance for taking the time to share your feedback.

I believe our students had a positive first day of school. Our ninth grade students started the day with a class welcome meeting in our Student Center. Their day continued with a series of short meetings as well as shortened versions of each of their classes. Their day concluded with a mini-retreat in our Performing Arts Center. For all of our students we completed many logistical items that in the past have taken up class time over the first few weeks of school. Students had their pictures taken, completed mandatory class meetings where the district’s Student Rights and Responsibility Handbook was reviewed, completed counselor meetings, updated lunch accounts, had class pictures taken, completed a required bus safety drill and attended a homeroom where school start up logistics were reviewed. Our goal was to finish up all of these logistical items so that we could provide students with uninterrupted class time starting with the second day of school. 

I want to point out two new icons on our school’s web page ( www.district196.org/rhs ). We have added an Influenza Like Illness (ILI) icon on our main page.  Use this link to view the latest information our school and district are posting regarding ILI. Look for a list serve from me today highlighting some ILI information I shared with our students over the public address system this morning. We have also added a “Rosemount Confidential” icon. Rosemount Confidential is an anonymous reporting system which allows the reporter to convey information to the Rosemount High School administration and possibly to the school’s resource officer. Reports will be analyzed and may be investigated based on seriousness and merit. Concerned citizens, students, and parents may complete reports.

Like last year, we will start each day of school with the pledge of allegiance. A few days each month, at pledge time, I will address the students with important messages regarding school climate or academics advice. At pledge time last Wednesday I welcomed the students back to school and stressed the importance of building upon the traditions of our school in Academics, Athletics and the Arts. I ended the week with a short statement about working hard together and having fun together. Starting this week, pledge time will also give us the opportunity to talk to the students about our value of the month program. Our September value of the month is “Responsibility”. We will be stressing responsibility with our students throughout the month of September. New this year, Rosemount Elementary School and Rosemount Middle School will stress the same values as Rosemount High School each month. Be sure to discuss the importance of responsibility with your students during the month of September.

Over the past week several parents, teachers and students have commented on the positive tone to start the school year. In the coming weeks we will all want to work together to maintain and build upon that tone. It was great to see so many of you at the all of the events and contests that took place last week! Let’s work together to keep the positive momentum.

Go Irish!

John Wollersheim
Principal