As we head into the first full week of school, I want to first thank you for a wonderful start to the school year last week. On day 1, we started by having the opportunity to come together as a school district and celebrate Opening Day with our t eme of “All Systems Go...Panther UP!” Mrs. Lisa Rose and Mrs. Juli Link worked very hard to ensure the high school embodied that theme, designing matching shirts for all high school teachers to wear in order to demonstrate unification on day 1.

Mrs. Rose was also able to direct and produce a short film starring some of our staff members from not only the high school in particular, but also from across the district. As with anything Mrs. Rose does, the film went above and beyond expectation and it was a major hit! I have linked that video below for anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to see it yet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y0J_c2Wwpkufgz2aizNQB8Yng0hH8SuZ/view

As if Opening Day wasn’t exciting enough, we also hosted Open House last Monday afternoon. We operated on a staggered schedule with each graduating class scheduled in a different time block in order to limit crowds. Not only did we accomplish this goal, but we also were able to better serve each class of students as the limited crowds gave everyone a better opportunity to receive assistance, meet staff, and tour the building.

Wednesday was officially blast off as we welcomed all of our Panthers back into the building for the first day of school. Everyone, students and adults, did a wonderful job of masking up as Governor Beshear had signed an Executive Order on Tuesday making masks mandatory. I was so happy to see us realize as a school that if the worst thing we had to do was wear a mask in order to be together, then we could #PantherUP and do that!

As we head into this first full week of school, expectations will be enforced more strictly, instruction will ramp up to a traditional pace, and we will be off and running into the ‘21-22 school year full force. We are definitely #AllSystemsGo, so I hope this weekend has provided all Panthers an opportunity to recharge their batteries.