Wildcat Pride                                 September 6 , 2017
In This Issue
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Welcome to the start of the 2017-2018 school year! Things got off to a quick start - last week was staff development (we got a new school picture) and open houses across the district. It was great to see you! CLHS welcomed the Class of 2021 (gulp) with a rousing show of support. You can check out all the pictures from day one - be prepared for cuteness overload! We've got a lot going on, so check out Facebook, Twitter, and our new improved website.

Link Crew Gives 9th Graders a Helping Hand


With school starting this week, it means Link Crew was on hand to greet and welcome the class of 2021 to Chisago Lakes High School and make sure they were set up for a successful first year.  The Link Crew program is in its 10th year  and helps smooth the transition from middle school to high school by pairing freshman with a junior or senior to assist them all year.  Current upperclassmen applied to be part of Link Crew last spring and received 16 hours of training to prepare them for orientation.  The leaders use a variety of techniques from activities, games, personal stories, campus tours, and good old fashioned fun to build a genuine relationship with their freshmen.  Throughout the school year, freshmen and their Link Leaders can navigate the school year together as they are in the same PAWZ for 18 minutes per day.  Orientation day came and went with all of the necessary pomp and a new batch of freshmen made their first memories at CLHS.  Here's to another good year as we welcome our newest Wildcat freshmen. 
Staying Connected with the Wildcats
                  
If there's one thing we know at the beginning of a school year, it's a crazy, busy time! We use a multitude of ways to keep in touch with our students, families, staff, and community. We've launched a new website that we hope you'll find user-friendly and informative. As with many big changes, there are still some glitches to be worked through. If you find something missing or not working on the website, please let us know.

You can find the new district website at www.isd2144.org 


Wondering how the building projects are coming along?


As part of the district-wide staff development day, staff got a look at the plans for two of the big building projects. While it is still early days, quite a bit happened over the summer. Each of the major building projects - the Community Center and the new elementary - had a core planning group that met several times. The group included parents, teachers, coaches, administrators, and other community members. The groups took field trips to visit other facilities in their efforts to come up with the criteria that would drive our new building projects.  From here, the core groups will make way for user groups that will look at specific uses within the allotted square footage for the buildings. The bidding process will begin this fall, and groundbreaking next spring. 

On the Calendar:

September 11: Little Wildcats Preschool starts M/W/F classes
September 12: Little Wildcats Preschool starts T/Th classes

September 20: District Reception in honor of Joe Thimm from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the district office boardroom - Join us to say congratulations to the superintendent on his retirement and enjoy some cake and punch.

September 21: School Board Meeting in the district office boardroom at 6:30 p.m.

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