Diane forwards this note sent to the Decatur High School community from principal Lauri McKain-Fernandez…

I want to alert you to an issue that took place at school today. Shortly after 10am, it was brought to the administration’s attention that a student was in possession of a gun. Along with the School Resource Officer, I went to the classroom to get the student and did find a firearm. It was not loaded, and though I don’t believe our student body was ever in danger, I do think it is important that you are all aware that this took place. I wanted to be sure that you all heard about this issue directly from me. We have worked on investigating throughout the day and do not have any reason to believe that any of our students were in direct danger. Regardless, this is a serious and difficult issue to deal with as a school community. As always, the Decatur Police Department was very responsive and supportive in this matter.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

DHS principal Lauri McKain-Fernandez forwards this note regarding next week’s DHS Career Awareness Week.

Our Career and Technology Department has spent a lot of time and energy educating our students about the careers and experiences that await them after high school. Next week, the department is hosting our annual Career Awareness Week. Many parents and community members will take part in the events, explaining their career and the training it took to accomplish success in their given field. Please see the events below. The community is welcome to participate, and is in fact, critical to the success of this experience. Please contact Mr. Duane Sprull at [email protected] if you are able to participate.

At the very least, expect to see our students Monday afternoon scouring the city for businesses who are participating in a Scavenger Hunt. If you see teenagers who look lost, please offer your guidance!

I helped organized something like this in college.  While obviously nothing can replace the value of a good, well-rounded education, many students leave high school and college with little idea with what they want to do (unless they’re premed)…in large part because they don’t know what’s out there.  Events like this go a long way in helping to close that massive gap.

The five day schedule can be found after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that a recent proposal to dissolve a third level of social studies at DHS has caused a bit of a controversy.

In a letter to the community on the DHS_GA message board (posted in full after the jump), principal Lauri McKain-Fernandez explains that the intent behind this initiative is to mitigate the extent that students are grouped by academic ability (as this is usually detrimental to poorer performing students). She also gives examples of condensing the math program and applying for AP classes as examples that have been recently taken to disperse the student population more evenly in the past year or so.

The parents meeting discussing this issue will be held on Wednesday, May 7th from 7p-8:30p in the DHS Media Center.

If you plan to attend the meeting, make sure you read Principal McKain-Fenandez’s note first (after the jump). It’s definitely a bit more complicated than “eliminating the honors program”.

Read the rest of this entry »