Dear Cougar Students and Parents,
February is filled with happenings! We are celebrating Black History Month, beginning Semester 2 classes and moving into the "Forecasting" season where students are provided opportunities to learn about all of the exciting courses we offer and begin choosing their classes for next year.
In looking towards building class schedules for next year, this past Friday students were shown how to forecast in StudentVue for the 2024-25 school year. If your student was absent for that lesson or needs help with their forecasting please have them login to their Canvas Course “ClassOf202x” page. In student modules on Canvas, they will see “Forecasting for the 2024-25 School Year”. Students can click on “StudentVue Forecasting” and watch the “How to Input Forecasting in StudentVue” video. Over the next few weeks MV Counselors will be meeting individually with students to review forecasting, academic plans, and answer additional questions student might have. Please have your student schedule an appointment with their counselor if they need additional support.
As a reminder, final report cards from Semester 1 are available for students and parents to view by clicking on the "Report Card" tab within StudentVUE/ParentVUE.
Keep reading for more happenings on and off campus this month.
Go Cougars! 🐾
Michael Hicks, Principal
If you want to take an “inside peek” of campus life, you can check out my principal Instagram page here — @mvkicks.with.hicks
February is Black History Month. In Bend-La Pine Schools, it is more than one month. We spend all year studying and celebrating the strengths, accomplishments, and contributions of Black Americans to our shared American history. Check out the activities happening on our campus and encourage your student to participate!
This year our media center created new bookmarks highlighting famous people and matched their talents to books in our library. For example, our bookmark for Jesse Owens recommends the book Letters to a Young Athlete. They also have an amazing book display, and we will be doing book talks all month focused on books with black protagonists. Students can look for our book of the week on Canvas as we feature some of these books, too!
National School Counselor Appreciation
Feb 5-9 was National School Counselor Week. We are fortunate to have incredible counselors with us here at MVHS. THANK YOU to our dedicated school counselors, Mrs. Baldwin, Mrs. Nesbitt, Ms. Moran and Mrs. Hunter for the warmth, kindness, care and support you provide our school community each day! And an extended thank you to all of our support personnel and mental health counselors who make our counseling office a space for kids to get the support they need.
PLEASE READ - Excusing Absences & Releasing Early
Here are some reminders from our Attendance staff on the correct protocol to excuse your student's absence/tardy or call them out to leave early:
- Send student to school with a signed note that includes a release time & reason, or
- Call our Attendance Office at 541-355-4415 to excuse over the phone.
- If you reach the Attendance voicemail, please leave a message that includes your name, your student’s name, and the time you need them released (our staff pull messages and process these release requests promptly every few minutes)
- The Attendance line is available 24 hours per day. If calling outside of our office hours (8:00am-4:00pm) simply leave a message and our team will process your release or excuse request. See pg 7 of the MVHS student and parent handbook for full attendance excuse policy.
- When possible, give our office at least 30 minutes notice to allow time to create and deliver a release slip to your student
- Students will receive a GREEN RELEASE SLIP noting the appropriate excuse time and will show that to a teacher as their ticket out of class. Students will leave to meet parent in parking lot or walk/drive home. Parents do not need to come inside to check their student out.
- Note only a Parent/Guardian is authorized to release a student. Emergency contacts may pick a student up, but the parent/guardian must initiate excusing a student from school.
- Please do not call or text your student asking them to leave class. Students are required to have the GREEN RELEASE SLIP to leave class and their phones should be OFF & AWAY during class time.
Recent Student Highlights
- The Bend FFA: Kicked off FFA Week with their annual community service event, creating safe duck habitats with Bend Ducks Unlimited! 🦆🛶 These nesting tubes provide a predator free space for ducks to lay their eggs. The stands for the tubes are built in the MV metal shop, and every year we refresh the nests with fresh hay.
- MV Theatre: A group of talented competitors recently traveled to the Oregon Regional Thespian Competition at North Salem High School. Senior Emerson Nore ranked in the top 20% as a regional finalist!
- MV Cadets: The program has added six new students for the second semester! At a competition in Yakima, they had four on the podium. Please congratulate the following: Colton Lowe – 6th place, Color Guard Team 2 Commander, Kayla Cashwell – 6th place, Physical Fitness Team 2 Leader, William Moore – 4th place, Armed Drill Down, Nina Nguyen – 5th place, Female Physical Fitness Individual
- Robotics students are working hard to finalize their bot
The Winter Sports season is winding down but our MV Cougars are rising to the top!
- Wrestling sending 16 athletes off to State!
- Swimming competed in State this last weekend. Boys placed 6th and Girls placed 7th!
- Cheer traveled to the State Championship this month and performed extremely well!
GET A PERMIT OR GET A TICKET
A parking permit is required for any vehicle parked on campus. Our security team will be walking the parking lot and begin ticketing vehicles that are parked on campus without a permit sticker.
- Permits are FREE!
- Complete the Permit Form in the Attendance Office
- $25 Fine for Cars Parked On Campus Without a Permit
All About Seniors - Class of 2024
The Class of 2024 Commencement Ceremony will be held on campus at MVHS Jack Harris Stadium located at 2755 NE 27th Street on Saturday, June 8 at 2:00pm. Stay informed about everything happening for your senior this year by bookmarking the Senior Information page of the MVHS website!
Upcoming Deadlines & Important Reminders:
- April 18th : Senior Meeting at 12pm to distribute announcements
2024 Parent Organized Grad Party News:
The graduation party is an all night, drug and alcohol free event for graduating senior students that is organized, funded and staffed by senior parents. This party is not school or district sponsored. Information blow is provided by the parent committee. Please contact this year's parent grad party committee for any and all questions.
The Senior Parent Class of 2024 Grad Party Committee has started planning for our senior party on Saturday, June 8th at the Trampoline Zone and Adventure Park from 8pm to Midnight.
- 2024 Grad Yard Signs and Party Tickets are on sale now! Purchase yours and make donations here: https://mvhsgradparty.square.site/
- Our Biggest Fundraiser is Coming Soon! Purchase a raffle ticket for a chance to win a luxury vacation to Monterey, Nashville or Cancun! Tickets will be on sale soon and are limited. All proceeds directly benefit the Class of 2024 Grad Party.
Questions or Interested In Getting Involved? Contact Us!
BLS Life and Career Readiness Night
Join us at Bend La Pine Schools' Life and Career Readiness Night on March 5th from 6:00-7:30 pm at Caldera High School. This event, welcoming all Bend La Pine Middle and High School students and families, marks the launch of our new college and career-oriented platform, SchoolLinks. Click Here for more details.
- Celebrate Back History Month!
- National Counselor Appreciation
- February 20-23 : National FFA Week
- February 21 : Spring Sports Registrations Due by 3:00 PM
- February 22 : School Bus Driver Appreciation
- February 22 : Middle School CTE Day (8th graders visiting MVHS)
- February 26 : First Mandatory Spring Sports Practice / Athletic Office Closed
- February 29 : Polar Plunge Registration Deadline
- February 29 : Advisory Bell Schedule, holding short assembly during advisory time
- March 4 : 8th Grade Information Night at MVHS
- March 5 : BLS Life and Career Readiness Night, 6pm at Caldera HS. More details here
Check out our weekly MVHS Announcement webpage for continued school announcements.
Be sure to visit the MVHS website and like/follow us on Facebook to keep up to date on what is happening around campus. Go Cougs!