Dear Maine East Families,
As I’m sure you’re aware, we have just one week remaining in the semester with winter break following from 12/18/21 through 1/3/22. There have been many reasons for celebration this past semester including the return to in-person instruction, resumption of athletics and activities, record attendance at school events, and getting used to our new facilities!
This semester, we’ve also experienced challenges related to on-time attendance to classes and cell phone distractions during classes - both of which have negative effects on student learning and achievement. When we return to school in January, we will institute some new procedures aimed at minimizing tardiness and class cuts and also to reduce cell phone distractions during classes. More information on this will be provided next week and during the opening days of school in January.
I also want to address the social media threats reported to Maine East these past few weeks. These are disturbing and create a sense of fear and anxiety for all of us. We take any such threats seriously, reporting them immediately to the Park Ridge Police and working in collaboration with the police to ensure safety for all and to try to identify the people who posted them. It is always our goal to provide as much timely information as we can to communicate with families and also to dispel rumors which frequently continue to spin as items are shared and reposted by others on social media. Our goal will always be to inform our community to the best of our ability and to avoid fueling rumors or inciting additional fear and speculation.
Related to this, many people are surprised to learn that there are significant limits on what schools can do about antagonism on social media which almost always occurs outside the school environment. We have very little influence with social media companies who protect user privacy far more carefully than they protect our students. Even when we know who authored a post, we have limits on actions we can take to address behavior that happens outside school. We will continue to do our best to educate students on the impact that their actions have on others and to encourage them to exercise responsible decision making in their use of social media. In the meantime, I encourage families to discuss what their children see and post on social media.
Next week, we will also be celebrating a Winter Spirit Week with dress-up days and some special events during the week - you may see your students headed in in pajamas, flannel, and ugly sweaters throughout the week!
Finally, I would like to encourage parents to attend our next Zoom Parent Advisory Meeting this coming Tuesday, December 14 at 6:00 p.m. I will be joined by Assistant Principals Mike Bender, Nelly Diaz, and Alana Laury to learn a bit about this past semester and some of our plans moving into the new year. Please CLICK HERE to sign up for the Zoom meeting to receive a link to log in.
Best to you all,
Dr. Mike Pressler
