Smith’s Shoutout’s
Faculty/Staff Shoutout
For the second issue of The Laker Review, CCHS principal Steve Smith recognizes, with one of his famous shoutouts, front office secretary Monica Marshall. Of the school’s secretary, Smith states, “Mrs. Marshall is an astounding person to work with. Her job description here at Calloway County High School is indescribable.” According to Smith, Mrs. Marshall is not just the front office secretary, but she is “a part-time nurse, a part-time therapist, the attendance clerk, a part-time guidance counselor, an office manager, and the substitute coordinator”. Everyone that works with Mrs. Monica realizes she is an outstanding member of our school, and colleagues like Smith feel, “She is very underappreciated for all that she does.” Students and staff alike are, “. . . just glad she is with us day in and day out.”
Culture Building Shoutout
Assistant principal Mr. Love recently started a school-wide initiative which asks teachers who see students doing kind or charitable things in the hallways to send the office an email with the student's name and what they did. This movement to “just be a good human,” according to Mr. Love, has been met with much participation. Recognizing students for good behavior and rewarding them for kindness has reinforced a more positive culture. Another initiative coming soon is for a “rewards block” for last year's test scores. This rewards block will be on each Friday over the course of one month, and each grade level will get to participate on assigned Fridays. There is a chance for there to be music, kick ball, volleyball, and even videogames in the cafeteria or the gym these days.
Student Performance Shoutout
Calloway County School District placed within the top four schools in the region in every major category in test scores from last year, along with top two in many other categories. In Smith’s words, “We were placed inside the top twenty-five percent of schools in the state of Kentucky. With ratings that high, I am proud to be teaching and working in this school district.”
Parent and Student Participation Shoutout
Along with test scores being up, participation has been quite high. In staggering numbers, there were around five times as many parents at parent teacher conferences than there has been in recent years. Of course, it is tough to tell whether attendance is due to the incentives of winning a Chromebook or just overall parents wanting to be more involved this year since it is the first “normal” year outside of Covid-19.
Involvement Shoutout
Another thing growing this year is the attendance of students at Lakers for Christ, which had about 50 students attending their first session this year. Additionally, Mr. Smith is proud of the effort that students are putting into clubs and extracurricular activities this year and encourages those who have not joined a club to join one.
