Dear parents / guardians,
Today I have 5 important messages for you, so I apologize in advance for the length of this message.
1) End of Year Pranks
As part of our graduation rehearsal, I had very clear messages to our grade 12 students that I wish to extend to the entire Scarlett community: students and parents. As we get closer to the end of the year, some students in the past have chosen to do “pranks” on the school. One year, the prank involved $30 000 in vandalism, other years police charges had to be laid against a few students, other years we have had to tell students that they would have to go and write their exams at another school as well as having students suspended for the last days of school. I am happy to report that in recent years, the pranks have been mostly in better taste and having a tone of celebrations rather than mindless vandalism, cruelty or mean-spirited actions. I have made it clear to grade 12s and now to all of you that the only pranks that will be tolerated have to meet a few criteria:
No damage to the school building and landscaping
No involvement of animals in any way
No impact on our school caretaking staff
Respectful of the standards in our community
For example, a “Bring your dog to school” prank like the one we have heard circulating would be in violation as we have students allergic to animals, it would likely cause extra work for our caretaking staff and the CBE has strict rules around having animals at school. Gracie, our school therapy dog, is allowed only in certain areas of the school due to students’ allergies and regulations.
Should students really want to do something (and it is OK to choose not to do anything), I invite these students to run their ideas by administrators so we can approve the activities and make sure they are within the guidelines.
I trust our students to use good judgement as they are aware of the possible negative consequences. Depending on the severity of the actions, police charges, having to pay for damages and expulsion may be considered. Perhaps the greatest damage is for any of us to leave for the summer with a bitter taste.
Parents, please have a discussion with your child on this matter and explain the seriousness of the consequences.
2) June 10th is an early dismissal day with students leaving at 12:00. Exams start on Monday 13th but please know that throughout the exam weeks, students can have access to help from their own teachers or other teachers depending on their availability as they are also busy supervising exams. Starting on June 13th and all the way through June 22nd,busses will run in the morning only after which date no busses are provided.
3) From June 14 to June 23rd, HomeLogic will be unavailable. It will reopen on Friday June 24th at 8:00 AM. Please check the marks then as we have reserved Monday June 27th from 9:00 until 12th for you to contact teachers should you wish to appeal any mark. Report Cards will be distributed on Tuesday June 28th.
4) Please remind your child that ALL textbooks have to be returned no later than on the exam days so that we can issue refund cheques and prepare the inventory for September. Thank you for your support with this matter.
5) June 29th is a non-instructional day so no school for students.
That is it for now. I would like to extend best wishes to students as they start their exams.
Happy June everyone!
Sylvie Monfette, Principal