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Dear Commander Families,
Apologies in advance for the length of this message. The content is critical, so please read the message in its entirety.
Many of you may have heard that our Supt. Dr. Marrero called a mental health day for all staff and students to provide us with the time we need to reflect, heal, and be with loved ones. This means that all DPS school activities and events are canceled for tomorrow, but the baseball game and Commander Cup are still on for Saturday.
I also want to take this opportunity to update you on the status of the East staff members: one of the staff members who was injured during the incident at East High School yesterday has been released from the hospital and the other staff member is in stable condition…thank God! The student who was involved in the incident was found deceased last night. Students and families, this act of violence is extremely saddening and unbelievably troubling; you have a RIGHT to feel safe when attending school and when sending your children to school.
You may have noticed an immediate measure taken by DPS and DPD is to reinstate School Resource Officers in all DPS schools from now until the end of the school year. I’d like to welcome our School Resource Officer John Avila back to Kennedy. He is extremely experienced and a valued member of our community. In addition to DPS’s measure, we as a school will be implementing the following policies immediately upon return from Spring Break:
All students must wear their student ID while entering the building, and have it on their person throughout the school day.
If you have lost your ID, please be prepared to check in at the main office when you arrive back at school on 4/4 to reprint your ID. The first reprint is free, but you will be charged $5 for each additional reprint. Lanyards are on sale in the treasurer’s office for $5 but are not required.
All students must enter through the main entrance (at Brown & Lamar)or the student lot entrance prior to 7:30. Once the school day begins at 7:30 all entrances other than the main entrance will be locked; therefore, if you arrive late to school or during school hours, you will be required to walk around to the front entrance and enter through the main lobby and office with your ID visible.
As shared in previous Family Communicators, the JFK social workers have been pushing into all science classes to teach drug prevention education programming. In light of the tragedy at East High School, John F. Kennedy staff felt it was imperative to also discuss school safety as part of our presentation to the students. The JFK Social Workers presented the “Say Something” Curriculum provided by the Sandy Hook Promise which educates students on ways they can keep themselves, their peers and their larger school community safe. In addition to this curriculum, JFK social workers also shared local resources available to students. HERE is a link to the presentation and to learn more about the programming the Sandy Hook Promise offers for school safety, HERE is the Link to Safety Presentation provided today.
PARENTS and GUARDIANS, you may have heard from your student that there is a social media page called JFK.Confessions. This page has created a platform for cyberbullying and needs to be shut down. Unfortunately, the school’s hands are tied when it comes to shutting down content on social media. Therefore, we are encouraging our students to report the page in order for Instagram to shut it down. Additionally, students, please let us know if there are students who are being bullied through this platform so that we can connect with the students and attempt to address the bullying.
PSAT/SAT Super Test Week is the second week after Spring Break. Please see the dates below. Attendance is required unless you have formally opted out, which requires paperwork submitted to the school and CDE. Please reach out to our Assessment Lead, Gayla Power (gpower@dpsk12.net), if you have any questions. We must hit 95% participation otherwise our School Performance Framework status will drop a band.
Stay safe and take time to rest and unwind, Commanders. We will see you on the 4th for a Green day. Have a Commander Kind of Spring Break!
Tiffany Almon, Proud and Grateful Principal
She, her, hers, and why they matter tiffany_almon@dpsk12.net
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