The Story
The BHS administration is holding class meetings to go over some important school safety topics.
When?
The freshmen and juniors had their meetings last Tuesday and the sophomores and seniors have their meeting tomorrow. These meetings have apparently been scheduled since the beginning of the year and were not intended to line up with the recent tragedy in Michigan.
What was the purpose of this meeting?
The administration is aiming to remind students about some already existing school protocols regarding safety, as well as bring them up to speed on some upcoming changes to BHS’s security.
See Something, Say Something.
This age-old policy encourages community members to speak up and bring anything concerning to a teacher, parent, administrator, or other trusted adult so that they can take proper steps. Mr. Jozokos is known for emphasizing this policy in pretty much every meeting ever, but it did unfortunately have to come into play just last week.
Run-Hide-Fight
The administrators also briefly covered this strategy for what to do in the event that an active shooter does enter the building. This policy will be covered in depth on January 10th during the R2 block – same kind of idea as the presentation that happened in 2019.
Door Alarms
The main focus of the school safety meeting was the implementation of door alarms. Starting on January 1st, every single exterior door in the building will automatically lock at 7:55am. If a door opens after that, a silent alarm will go off triggering text message alerts to the principals and the resource officers. 71% of voters on our Instagram poll (@runawaybulldog) said that it “feels like a prison” rather than a “good safety measure”, but it’s happening regardless.
The Runaway
There’s not a whole lot to joke about when it comes to school safety and hopefully we never have to use these policies.
What to Say…
When you’re desperate for sports…
We’ve been slacking on our winter sports coverage, and this season goes quickly due to the two vacations, and it will be over before we know it and stuck back in the purgatory between seasons. There is a girls basketball home game tonight at 6:30, with another away game in Exeter on Wednesday. They’re currently off to a decent start with a 2-1 record early in the season. Boys basketball is vice-versa, with a home game on Monday and an away game in Exeter on Wednesday. They’ve also started pretty solidly with two wins and one loss. Boys hockey has an away game on Wednesday against Pinkerton; they’ve started strong with a 7-1 victory over Keene on Saturday. Girls hockey has their first game at home on Tuesday. The swim team hosted a home meet at the YMCA in Goffstown and both the boys and girls brought home an assertive victory. Plus, 20 swimmers qualified for states in just their first meet of the season. Wrestling has had a few matches so far, but the results are unclear. Sounds like they might be the bass fishing of the winter. Alpine and gymnastics don’t have their first opportunities for competition until after Christmas. Let the games begin!
When you’re in need of something new…
BHS is adding 13 new courses to their repertoire for future school years. Even though most students will groan at the thought of new classes, the school’s goal is to provide an option for everyone to enjoy. The courses proposed include options in science, FACS, social studies, and art with levels ranging from AP, IB, and advanced classes of current electives.There’s also a mix of year-long and semester-long courses, for those of you with short attention spans. While AP US Government and Politics might sound like a class that is guaranteed to get you featured on the @bhs_caught_ slumped page, Advanced Forensics, US Foreign Policy, or Sports Nutrition might be more in your ballpark. You can find out more info about specific classes here. The board didn’t actually end up voting on anything, but rather pushed it to the January 10th meeting.
When they tried to care about our mental health (sort of)…
In the school board meeting last Monday, the school board deliberated about the district’s mental health, stress, and anxiety goal and the means to achieve it. The board was supposed to be voting on a proposed language change on the document to eliminate a phrase which would allow the school board to enter a family’s home in the event of a situation that called for intervention. Per usual, John Schneller somehow managed to miss the point and focus on the fact that there was not a “red-lined” version (a document showing the changes between the old version of the goal and the new proposed version). Bill Foote hopped on that train as well and they managed to push the vote until the next time the school board meets, which is not until January 10th. Sue Jennato tried to hold her ground and get the boys to vote, firmly explaining that they had everything they needed to vote at the last meeting. Unfortunately, she got shot down and no verdict was reached. Gotta love our productive school board.
Things to Know
Be careful…
COVID cases are still on the rise in the state and district. Wearing a mask might not be a bad idea…
So close, and yet so far…
4 more days until break. You can do it.