Kim McDaniel is principal of RussellvilleJr/Sr High School. She writes a weekly newsletter to parents who have requested receiving it. This is her first of the 2014-15 school year.

I am super excited and look forward to our first full week of school. We had three great days to start our year off last week and we anticipate more great experiences such as those throughout this school year. 

We recognized our seniors who have already been declared college or career ready, students who had perfect attendance, students who scored a 3 or higher on their AP exams last spring, students who scored an A or B on their EOC exams last spring and students who had no office referrals for last year. Those names were put into a drawing box for four $25 gift card giveaways. We also recognized students who are involved in our new SEAL (Students Excelling in Accelerated Learning) program this year.

We also had some great entertainment provided by RHS and RMS Cheerleaders, a faculty vs. student dance off and a faculty vs. student "Shake Your Tail Feather" competition. Our final competition paired grade level teams for a Russellville Jr/Sr High School Trivia Challenge.

One of our main goals is to recognize and celebrate student/teacher successes as often and as frequently as we can. Our students and staff work diligently every day to make our school a better place to be and we want to honor their efforts. We plan to honor a student of the month for each grade level, to host reward celebrations of perfect attendance and behavior monthly and to celebrate academic successes with pep rallies and other high excitement events! 

We want all of our students to become college and/or career ready by the time they are ready to graduate. We intend to do this by ensuring that our students have safe, civil and productive classroom environments in which learning can occur. If we focus on improving attendance, behavior and academics, we can accomplish this goal and ultimately impact our community by helping to create graduates who are ready to be successful in higher learning or who are ready to join the workforce.

Some of you have middle school students and you wonder how this impacts those students--honestly, they are at the most important and pivotal point in this process. I spoke with the middle school students Wednesday morning and shared with them how now is the time, as a sixth grader for example, to start preparing for the end of their high school journey!! We will have more activities planned throughout the year, for both parents and students, that will help our middle school students understand the potential career opportunities they will have available to them as they begin their high school careers. As parents and caregivers, you may be asking--what can I do to help ensure my child is college or career ready:

1. ATTENDANCE--Make sure students are here unless they are truly sick. Try to schedule appointments so that their school is not impacted. One thing I know for sure is this--high quality learning cannot occur when students miss frequently.

2. Promote their academic studies by establishing a culture of importance--question students on what they learned today, monitor their homework by establishing consistent blocks of time in which students are expected to complete school assignments.

3. Get involved with all aspects of the school--we welcome you into our school community and want you to know that we acknowledge how important your involvement is with your child.  Another key element is to communicate regularly with the school about factors or events that you feel would be pertinent to your child's success.  We may not have all the answers, but we will certainly help you locate individuals or agencies who do have the answers.

Finally, we believe that our students deserve the absolute very best and we will strive daily to ensure that we are providing them with the very best!