Dear Pickerington Tiger Community - Letter #13

Dear Pickerington Tiger Community – Letter #13

Happy New Year Pickerington Tigers!  Where has the year gone!  We are now into 2010 and only days away from finishing the first semester.  As I write this letter, Pickerington Local Schools are on a 2-Hour delay.  This is a great time to remind you to constantly check your local news updates in the morning for the most up to date information.  Many of you have signed up for PLSD text updates from your cellular service provider.  Keep in mind that when PLSD decides to delay the start of school or cancel school altogether, the district notifies the news media, both television and radio, and the cellular providers.  With some providers, the text alerts come very late, which is a function of your provider and not PLSD.  Your best bet for the quickest information is to either tune in to the local news stations or you can follow the district on Twitter @PLSD where up to the minute updates are provided.

As I’ve stated, January 21 marks the end of the first semester.  Aside from being only a 3-day week, the schedule of each day is amended to account for student exams.  In my next letter, I will share the schedule for the exams and reiterate the importance of doing well on each test.  The start of second semester also begins the scheduling process for the 2010-2011 school year.  In our effort to encourage students to include more rigorous coursework in their schedule, I will be calling upon you in the near future to take a hard look at the requests your students will be making for next year.  As I have often times shared, we have made impressive academic gains at Central in the OGT, ACT, and Honor Roll numbers in the last three years and are hoping to increase our enrollment and diversity next year in Honors and AP classes by 10%.

December also brought many traditional holiday events to our school.  All areas of our music program held holiday concerts prior to the break.  The PHSC Chorale performed their holiday program over 20 times for area schools and organizations.  Student Council adopted four families in need and provided heart warming and welcoming relief to those families for the holidays.  Several groups and clubs combined to contribute thousands of canned good items to the local food pantry, and this year PHSC started a new tradition of having a Door Decorating Contest where the class with the best decorated classroom door received a complimentary breakfast. 

As we come out of the Winter Break, I want to share how proud we all should be of the Pickerington Central Marching Tigers.  As most of you know, the band marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City in November.  Over the break, the band also traveled to Los Angeles to march in the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena.  I was fortunate enough to have been able to travel with the band and can tell you from first-hand experience that our band is truly regarded nationally as one of the top high school bands in the United States.  The weather was gorgeous and the students represented themselves, PHSC and the Pickerington Community at all times with the highest level of class and character.  The Marching Tigers are one of only two high school bands in history that have been talented enough to march in both the Macy’s and Tournament of Roses parades in the same year.  It was also a thrill for the students to perform “Beautiful Ohio” along side The Ohio State University, Ohio University and Ohio School for the Blind marching bands all together on the same field.  The students had a great time at Disneyland and looked sharp marching down Colorado Boulevard on January 1 once again representing Pickerington before an international audience.  The response I received from not only the hotel staff, but also parade organizers and casual bystanders about our band were incredible.  Kudos to Mr. Sewell and his staff and parent chaperones for organizing such an incredible experience for our students.  I would also like to say a special thank you to Glenda England for all of her efforts in making sure that everything went according to plan.

Finally, this Thursday, January 7 is the day PHSC will be administering the H1N1 Flu vaccination in the gymnasium to those students who have previously turned in the permission slip allowing them to be vaccinated.  Only those students with permission slips and staff will be permitted to receive the vaccination, as our supply is limited.  We should be concluded with the procedure by midday.

I hope each of you had a joyous holiday season and welcome back!

Sincerely,

M. Scott Reeves

Principal, PHS Central

If you BELIEVE you can ACHIEVE you will SUCCEED