Check out today's daily announcement video for some of Mr. Bestor's thoughts about Duke, and so much more!

See what you can do to make a difference in someone's day today. It's as easy as this... think about someone who has influenced your life... think about letting them know! Email, face-to-face conversation, snail mail... anything! It WILL make a difference!

Feb. 17, 1870 - Congress passed a resolution readmitting Mississippi on condition that it would never change its constitution to disenfranchise blacks.

Thurgood Marshall was an American civil rights activist with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. He is remembered as a lawyer who had one of the highest rates of success before the Supreme Court and the principal counsel in a number of landmark court cases. Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the high court.

Marshall was born on July 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland, the great-grandson of a slave. His father, William Marshall, a railroad porter, instilled in him an appreciation of the Constitution at an early age. When young Marshall got in trouble at school he was required to memorize sections of the US Constitution. His mother, Norma Arica Williams, an elementary school teacher for 25 years, placed great emphasis on his overall scholarship.

Marshall grew up in Baltimore, graduating from Frederick Douglass High School in the city in 1925 and from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1930. Marshall, who had decided to become an attorney, was rejected by the University of Maryland School of Law in 1930 because of his race. He instead entered Howard University Law School, graduating in 1933. After initially setting up a private practice in Baltimore, in 1934 began his long history with the NAACP. He won his first major legal victory as an NAACP lawyer the following year on behalf of Donald Gaines Murray, a black student, who like Marshall was also denied admission to the University of Maryland Law School. With that victory, Marshall now realized the courts could be a powerful weapon against racial discrimination.

Marshall’s most famous case was the legal challenge on behalf of Linda Brown and twelve other plaintiffs that would result in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954. Here the high court struck down an earlier Supreme Court’s 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, declaring that “separate but equal” public education was unconstitutional. Numerous legal scholars contend that this ruling was one of the most important and far-reaching in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court and of the nation.

President John F. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1961. With this appointment, Marshall began his career as a jurist. On June 13, 1967, President Lyndon Baines Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court. He was confirmed as an Associate Justice by the United States Senate by a vote of 69-11 on August 30, 1967.

Marshall served on the high court for the next twenty-four years, compiling a liberal human rights record that included strong support for the civil rights of people of color and for constitutional protection of individual rights, especially the rights of criminal suspects against the government.

Justice Marshall also worked closely with Justice William Brennan in helping to craft the Roe v. Wade Decision of 1973 which supported abortion rights. He also opposed the death penalty. In 1972, Marshall argued in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was, in all circumstances, unconstitutional.

During his years on the Court Marshall was often called the silent revolutionary who viewed the United States Constitution as an evolving shield of freedom. In a 1987 speech he gave for the bicentennial celebration of the United States Constitution, Marshall claimed the government the founding fathers devised was defective from the start; requiring several amendments, a Civil War, and major social transformations to attain the Constitutional guarantees and respect for freedoms and individual rights that the nation holds as fundamental today.

Justice Thurgood Marshall retired from the Court in 1991 and died in 1993 in Bethesda, Maryland of heart failure at the age of 84.

Remember to check out KM's Unity Club’s posting about past and present black leaders on their Instagram story! Follow @kmhs_unity_club on Instagram.

Calling all community members and students! Unity Club is throwing a virtual movie night on February 21 at 6:00 pm to watch The Hate U Give. The Hate U Give is a movie that looks at police brutality in America through a Black teen, Starr Carter, eyes. Unity Club will also be having a discussion night on February 24th at 6:00 pm to have a group conversation about the movie. You can also watch the movie on your own and join the discussion if you prefer. If you're interested, sign up here.

Lasers, does KM got talent? This year’s Variety Show is looking for talent to compete in a fully virtual event! Singing? Dancing? Yodeling? All skills are welcome and the 1st-3rd place winners will receive cash prizes!

If you are interested in being a talent act, contact Linnea Hietala (hietlin@kmsd.edu) or Sylvia LaGalbo (lagasyl@kmsd.edu) with your name, grade, and a short description of your talent.

Talent acts will be pre-recorded and the event will premiere on Friday, March 5th!

Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors: Reminder that the portal to enter 2021-2022 course requests will close at 3:00 p.m. on THIS SUNDAY, February 21. All selections must be finalized by this date. School counselors will be available for you if you have any questions. You can book an appointment or email them.

Congratulations to the Girls Ski Team with an impressive 6th place finish at State! Great Teamwork by Kiera C., Ella W., Gloria T., Nicole W., Megan R., Flynn G., and Penelope W.. Individually: Gloria T. took 7th in Slalom and 13th Overall. Ella W. was a medalist in the Giant Slalom and also finished 6th in Super G event.

The boys took 16th overall at State with solid team finishes by Hudson K., John M., Simon P., Michael W., Cole T., and Dillon S.

Congratulations on a great season! #KMProud

The high school baseball program is having open gyms every Tuesday night starting at 6:30 pm in the middle gym. Pitchers and catchers will report on April 12th and tryouts will be on April 19th and 20th. Times for tryouts will be announced later. If you are planning on coming to pitchers and catchers practice or tryouts please make sure you send your contact information to Coach Karvala at karvalak@kmsd.edu

No events

Please make sure you are bringing your own masks to school, and wearing them properly!

Be sure to follow your classroom cleaning expectations to help us all stay as safe as possible!

Our bubblers are turned off, but the refill stations are still on. Remember to bring your reusable water bottles to stay hydrated!

Please remember to wear your student ID every day, and at all times while you are in school. It is very important that you use those IDs (examples: lunchroom, signing in and out, etc.) so we reduce any unnecessary contact.

Please stay 6 feet or more apart, and do NOT leave your Advisory to seek face-to-face help, instead, use google meet to work with your teachers.

Hold the delivered pickles, hold the lettuce, anything outside the school cafeteria or your home-prepared meal does upset us.

Parents/guardians and students are asked not to bring/deliver food or beverages from any outside commercially prepared eating establishments to school to be consumed by students during their regular mealtimes, or any school hours.

It is noted in the student handbook that food from area restaurants will not be accepted during the school day. In addition, in our August 14, 2020 campus welcome back letter, we mentioned “Special food deliveries will not be allowed during the school day. Special deliveries sent to the school will be sent back with the person delivering the food, and will not be accepted or delivered to the student. When a parent/guardian needs to drop off a delivery for a student, the parent/guardian must communicate that to the student. Students will not be called down to the office to pick up their delivery. They will be required to pick it up during passing time or during their lunch break. Students will be required to turn the product over to office staff for disposal upon entering the building and will then be sent to class.