August 31, 2010

 

Dear Parents,

 

As we come up on a Labor Day weekend, I am so proud that our students and teachers have had a very productive four weeks of school. Isn’t that amazing? Four weeks of school before Labor Day! From time to time I hear opinions that schools shouldn’t start before Labor Day. To be sure, it is a hot time to be running a school operation, and there are challenges. But, there are many disadvantages that students experience when they are out of the classroom for several weeks or a couple of months. Not only are they not learning and not going forward, but research and experience indicate that they are going backwards and digressing in reading and math. Thus, I am a proponent of shorter summers balanced by holidays sprinkled in throughout the year.

 

We all know that, in our economy, we are not just dealing with the fact that American students are competing against other American students for scholarships and, ultimately, jobs. Instead, our students are competing against students internationally, and, in many ways, our students are getting outworked by students in many other countries. To combat this, we want our students to be pushed and learn how to work hard, establish priorities, and compete. I hope this information sheds some light on why our school year is structured as it is. Over time, I predict that you will see this trend of shorter summers continue so that our students can excel.

 

A few announcements:

-         Our Great American magazine sales fundraiser has gone very well this year. Thank you for your support. I am extending the deadline to make a final push. Our original deadline was to be tomorrow. I am pushing that date back to next Tuesday, Sept. 7. And now for the good part: any child who turns in 3 additional sales will earn…you guessed it..a casual day to be celebrated on Friday, Sept. 10! Let’s make one more push and make this the best magazine fundraiser on record here at North Delta.

 

-         Everyone is invited to district softball action today (Tuesday, Aug. 31) at our beautiful softball facility. We will host Indianola, with junior varsity beginning at 5 and the varsity game beginning about 6:15 p.m. Our girls are 13-4-1 on the season and hoping to get to 6-0 in the district if we can beat Indianola tonight. Come out and enjoy a hamburger and support our talented student athletes.

 

-         Our football team travels to Lee Academy in Clarksdale this Friday night, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. If you can’t go, catch the broadcast of the game on Kool 107. Junior high football is off this week.

 

Thank you,

 

John Howell Jr.

Headmaster