Fall is Here!
Dr. John-Mark Cain
Lauderdale County School District
Superintendent
It is a beautiful but reminiscent sight to see the leaves change their color. It reminds us about the seasons we all experience in life, and it is no different for schools. The return, the settling in learning new faces, new routines, and new struggles. We are enjoying the cooler Friday nights as we cheer on our football teams and finding more normalcy after dealing with a historic pandemic. With that, our teachers and administrators have to work with focus and intentionality, trying to close the academic gaps created by the disruptive pandemic.
We have invested in bringing in the best professional development teams to help guide us in this process. As a new landscape has developed in education with technology, our teachers are armed with a growth mindset to adapt to the new opportunities available.
Technology is a tool and not a substitute for the human element. With any tool, there are needed safeguards. Our filtering system does a robust job, but we need parents to also actively monitor their child’s devices. Parents, we need your help in regards to proper technology use.
Applications like “tik-tok” and “yik-yak” are challenging students to perform devious acts. These challenges can lifetime negative consequences on a student’s health or educational record. Please have conversations with your child about being smart and not participate in such devious challenges.
As a district, the LCSD will take swift and appropriate action toward any perpetrators who violate our student conduct policies. We will work to educate our students about the pitfalls of such behavior, but it takes both the school and parents working together. The constraints of old are behind us, and we understand that we must adapt to reach our students where they are - and more importantly - where they are going, rather it be college, career, enlistment, or entrepreneurship. The combination of forward-thinking and the support of our stakeholders drives us to become better, to serve more, and to provide a great return on investment.