SOCIAL MEDIA SAFETY

On November 15th, Louisa County's Commonwealth's Attorney Rusty McGuire and Senator Tom Garrett came to Louisa County High School to speak with our students regarding the appropriate use of social media sites and what can happen when these sites are not used appropriately.  During their presentation, Mr. McGuire and Senator Garrett spoke about recent cases across the nation where students had been bullied using social media, incidents where words exchanged through social media caused a fight which lead to several arrests, and the fact that individuals can face criminal charges based on what they write on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. 

I would ask that you please help keep these social media sites a safe place for all by monitoring what your child is posting on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Vine, and Instagram.  As we told the students, these sites are a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, but, if used incorrectly, can lead to significant problems, both for those posting and those who read the posts.  The following suggestions for keeping teens safe on social media were posted by the USA.GOV website:

1. Keep your child’s profile private so that only family and people you know see photos, important dates and other information.

2. Make sure they’re not posting personal details, including phone numbers, home address, and the name of their school or Social Security number.

3. Only allow them to publish photos and videos that don’t jeopardize their safety or their integrity.

4. Make sure they choose a strong password that can’t be guessed, and that it gets changed every three months.

5. Never allow them to accept friend requests from people they don’t know.

6. Keep an open dialogue with your children. Ask them to let you know if they’ve received private messages from a stranger, or from someone at school who is teasing, harassing or threatening them. Those could be signs of cyber-bullying or even a sexual predator.

SOURCE:  http://blog.usa.gov/post/60075400004/six-tips-for-keeping-teens-safe-on-social-media

If you feel that your child is being harassed or bullied by another student through social media, or if you feel that something is happening through social media that could manifest itself at school, please feel free to call LCHS and speak to an administrator.  We will take the necessary steps to ensure that these types of incidents do not impact the learning environment at LCHS.

 

As always, thank you for visiting my blog.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 540-894-5436 or at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us. 

October is Here!

October is here and things are busy at LCHS. Our athletic teams have been competing and doing well.  Speaking of LCHS athletics, congratulations to the LCHS Golf team.  They made the regional championships for the first time in school history!  Our Fine Arts department held their annual Fall Fine Arts Recital last week and everyone did a wonderful job.  Our band, choral, theater, and art students did a fantastic job in  showcasing their talents.  And, our CTE department represented LCHS well at the State Fair.  Our students won many prizes, including several first place finishes.  And, this is just the beginning of October!

We do have several events coming up at LCHS.  These upcoming events include:

October 11 - End of the 1st Nine Weeks
October 14 - Teacher Workday
October 16 - LCHS Democracy Day
October 18 - Report cards sent home
October 22 and 23 - SOL Writing Tests
October 23 - Parent/Teacher Conference Night

Please be sure to check out our calendar for more events.  Our calendar can be found at www.louisalions.com.

As always, thank you for your continued support of LCHS. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.  I can be reached at 540-894-5436 or at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us. 

LCHS IS OFF TO A GREAT START IN 2013-2014

I hope that everyone is enjoying their Labor Day weekend!  We are almost three weeks into the school year and we have had a great start at LCHS. 

In the last few weeks we have had a few milestones at LCHS.  First, work has begun on the new high school building.  The construction company has been working hard prepping the site and you can see that progress is being made.  If you haven't had a chance, take a look at the pictures on the bottom of our home page to see some of the work they have done.

We held our Fall Academic Awards ceremony on August 22nd.  At this ceremony, we recognized many of our students for their accomplishments in their classes, on their SOL and AP tests, and for earning perfect attendance last year.  Congratulations to all of these students for their hard work and dedication.

Last week, we also had the first home athletic competition in our new gym.  Our junior varsity and varsity volleyball teams played at LCHS for the first time in two years.  Both teams set the bar high by winning their games.  Great job ladies!

We do have a few events coming up at LCHS:

1.  Underclassmen school pictures will be taken on September 4th.  If you did not receive an order form, please contact the main office. 

2.  Senior make-up portraits will be taken on September 5th and 6th.  Be sure to sign up for an appointment time in the main office.

3.  First nine week interims will be distributed to students on September 11th. 

 

4.  Our fall sports teams are in full swing.  Be sure to check out the calendar on the LCHS Athletics page for the full schedule.  Come out and support our student athletes as they represent LC!

As always, thank you for your support of Louisa County High School.  If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact us at 540-894-5436.

Welcome to the 2013-2014 School Year

Well, believe it or not, the start of the 2013-2014 school year is only a few short days away.  It seems as though the summer flew by!  Everyone at LCHS has been working hard to get ready for the new year and we are all excited about the start of school. 

I would like to thank everyone for coming to the Open House on Friday.  While the weather was a bit hot and sticky, it was great to see so many students and parents.  I hope that everyone had a good time meeting their teachers, enjoyed a hot dog, and got the information they needed to have a great start to the new year.  I want to say thank you to the FFA and to the LCMS PTA for cooking the hot dogs on Friday.  They were delicious!

In case you haven't heard, LCHS has a new gym!  It is located behind the middle school, right next to our new tennis courts.  The new gym has already been used for practices and for our freshman Kick-Off Day.  Our PE teachers are excited about using it for their classes and we are planning on having volleyball and basketball games at LCHS for the first time in two years.  Thanks to everyone who worked to make this happen.

Speaking of new buildings, the groundbreaking for the new LCHS is scheduled for August 21st at 6:00 pm.  It has been a long journey over the last two years and this is another huge step in getting LCHS back to normal.  If you haven't seen the plans for the new building, please be sure to check them out by following the link below:

http://louisacounty.va.schoolwebpages.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=26889&linkid=nav-menu-original-4-1&cms_mode=view


As always, thank you for your support of LCHS.  If you need anything, please feel free to call us at 540-894-5436 or email me at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us.

May is Here!

As I sit down to write this blog entry, we are less than 3 weeks until graduation.  I know that it is a cliché, but the year has certainly flown by.  While summer is just around the corner, we do have a busy month ahead of us.  I thought I would use this blog to highlight a few of the upcoming events at LCHS.

May 6th - May 15th

AP Testing

May 13th - May 16th

SOL Testing    

May 17th

Senior Picnic - Lake Anna State Park

May 19th

Baccalaureate - Mineral Baptist Church (Please note that this is a new location.) - 4:00 pm

May 20th

Underclassman Awards Ceremony - LCMS - 9:00 am

May 20th and May 21st

Senior Exams

May 22nd

Senior Awards Day - LCMS - 8:30 am

Senior Awards Night - LCMS - 7:00 pm

May 23rd and May 24th

Underclassman Exams

May 24th

Graduation Practice - 8:30 am - LCHS

Graduation - LCHS Stadium - 6:30 pm

May 25th

Graduation (rain date) - LCHS at 10:00 am or JPJ at 1:00 pm

This is just a partial list of events we have coming up in May.  Many of our clubs have end of the year celebrations planned and our teams are continuing to play games.  Please be sure to check our website for a full calendar of events. 

As always, I want to thank you for your support of LCHS.  If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact me.  I can be reached smithte@lcps.k12.va.us or at 540-894-5436.

Spring?

Even though the temperature outside doesn’t feel like it right now, spring is here. We have made it through the winter with a few more snow days than we would have liked, but warmer temperatures are on the way. Believe it or not, summer is just around the corner.

While summer is not too far off, we are still working to address the issues caused by the snow days. As you know, in order to make up the time we missed, our school day now begins at 7:55 am and ends at 3:35 pm. Also, Friday, May 24^th is now a 1:00 pm dismissal day. This schedule permits us to make up much of the missed instructional time prior to SOL testing.

Regardless of the temperature, spring is always a busy time at LCHS. Our spring sports teams have been hard at work and each team is looking forward to a great season. Be sure to check out the link on the LCHS Athletics website for a complete schedule. Our arts programs have been busy as well. The annual LCPS Arts Festival was held on Saturday and it was a great event as always. Also, the LCHS Musical Theater Ensemble presented “Godspell” this weekend. (If you missed this weekend’s performances, they will be doing a final show on Friday, March 29^th in the LCMS Forum.) And, our students and teachers continue to work diligently to get ready for the SOL tests coming up in May. Even though the year is coming to a close, everyone at LCHS is still working hard to maintain our tradition of excellence in classroom, on the athletic field, and in our extracurricular activities.

Also, don’t forget that we will be having our Parent-Teacher Conference Night on Wednesday, April 10^th from 3:45 pm to 7:00 pm. This is a great opportunity for you to meet with your child’s teachers to discuss his or her progress during the 3^rd nine weeks. I hope to see everyone there.

As always, I would like to thank you for your support of Louisa County High School. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 540-894-5436 or by email at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us.

The Misuse of Prescription Medications

Earlier this week, Corporal Clay Hart, the LCHS School Resource Officer, spoke to our students about the misuse of prescription medications.  During his talk, he informed the students about the various dangers of this misuse.  The students were told that they could not only face school and legal consequences, but that these medications can cause significant health issues when used inappropriately.  Corporal Hart shared stories from his experiences as a deputy sheriff of instances where the misuse of prescription medications led to tragic consequences.  Far too often, teenagers feel that prescription medications are "safe" to misuse.  Because of this misconception, we wanted to ensure that our students were aware of the dangers and had the information they needed to make the right decisions.   

If you have not done so, I ask you to please talk with your child about this topic.  As we frequently tell our students, making the right choices is the key to success.  It requires everyone in the community - teachers, parents, administrators, and community members - to work with our students to ensure that they do make the right choices.

As always, I want to thank you for your continued support of LCHS.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 540-894-5436 or at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us.  

2013 Is Off To A Great Start!

Since this is my first post of the New Year, please let me start by saying that I hope everyone had a great holiday and that everyone has a wonderful 2013.  So far, 2013 is shaping up to be a great year at LCHS.

I wanted to thank everyone for a great end to the first semester.  Our SOL and CTE credentialing testing went well and the results we have gotten back are looking great.  As of today, we still have not gotten back SOL scores for the Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry, and English: Reading tests.  As these were all new tests this year, the scores tend to take longer to get back.  As soon as we do get them, we will calculate grades for these courses and send home updated report cards for those students in these classes.

I also wanted to let everyone know that we are continuing to address the issues caused by the earthquake.  Just before Winter Break, our Automotive, Building Trades, and Culinary Arts classes moved into their new facilities.  These new classrooms are much closer to what we had before the earthquake and our teachers and students are excited about their new spaces.  I want to thank everyone who worked hard to make these new facilities possible.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, LCHS will begin the full implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program this semester.  This program is designed to reduce existing bullying problems among students, to prevent the development of new problems, and to achieve better peer relations at school.  A major component of this program are class meetings.  During these meetings, students will discuss bullying, the impacts of bullying, and appropriate ways individuals can stop bullying.  Holding these meetings will require us to change our ROAR Block schedule slightly.  When ROAR Block begins on January 23rd, all students will be expected to be in first period by 8:07 am on Thursdays.  On Thursdays, students will have first period at the beginning of the day.  The last 30 minutes of the block will be used for either Olweus Class Meetings or club meetings. 

In case you haven’t heard, we have set the date for graduation for the Class of 2013.  The graduation ceremony will be held on Friday, May 24^th at 6:30 pm in the LCHS Stadium.  Should the weather not cooperate, we will hold the ceremony on Saturday, May 25th either at the LCHS Stadium or at a rain site.  While we have been working diligently over the last several months to secure a rain site, as of now, we have not been able to do so.  Once we have a site, we will get that information out to our seniors and their families as quickly as possible.

As always, I would like to thank everyone for their continued support of LCHS.  If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  I can be reached at smithte@lcps.k12.va.us or at 540-894-5436.