As the month of February begins, I would like to share some of the events and happening from JHS. The first semester has ended and second semester classes are underway. A number of recent events have taken place including plays, staff training, and school meetings.
The drama department has followed up the successful presentation of the Christmas Carol with The Big Sandy, another play written and directed by Mike Hesford. The JHS drama department recently had two showings at the high school and also performed at the State Thespian Festival in Missoula. It was a great show and again highlighted the talents of students and staff. Special thanks to the Woods and Art departments for set design, construction, and painting.
Recently, the entire JHS staff participated in an active shooter training in-service. Jefferson County Law Enforcement with the help of others provided a day of training regarding the response to an active shooter event. Self defense and strategies were demonstrated during the first half of training and that was followed up with simulated scenarios within the school building.
The first two Olweus Bullying Prevention program small group sessions were held with all JHS students. These group meetings will occur twice a month during 8th period. Each small group has two adult facilitators and is guided by curriculum from the Olweus program. The first meetings were successful and I look forward to the progress of the program in addressing bullying.
Recently, Boulder Elementary and Jefferson High School were awarded a Literacy Grant through the Montana Office of Public Instruction. This grant will provide financial support to address areas of student need regarding literacy across all curriculum areas. A big thank you goes out to the elementary school staff that gathered all the required data and created the grant. Students throughout both districts will greatly benefit from the grant.
The winter sports programs continue to move through the season with basketball having a couple of weeks of conference play followed by districts. The wrestling program just competed in the divisional meet in Columbus with qualifiers advancing to the state All-Class meet in Billings. The wrestling program experienced great growth this year which was coupled with a lot of success and new milestones met. Congratulations to a great year and good luck to all state qualifiers.
Finally, I would like to thank the Jefferson County road crews and Harlow’s for their efforts in keeping the roads cleared during the winter season and safely transporting the students. It is good to know every effort is taken to keep county roads plowed and sanded. Numerous buses travel these roads morning, evening and night providing safe student transportation.
Go, Panthers!
