Hello Bulldog Families,
The events of the past 2 weeks or so, including and since the horrific murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, have been heartbreaking, staggering, and infuriating. The violence that included and has followed his homicide, in many cases overshadowing the peaceful protests that were taking place, has been challenging to watch and to try to attempt to understand and process. Personally, I struggle with finding the adjectives to describe everything that I have watched and felt, and there is no escaping the constant recycling of news and the replaying of the most violent acts against others. I felt it important to reach out to both our staff and families to address these recent events and also extend information to you about the plans we have for addressing the important issues regarding race and other aspects of diversity that face us locally and as a nation.
Prior to the stopping of in-person learning in late March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Nicole Rummel, our Director of Instruction, the principals of each of our buildings, myself and others on our Leadership Team, had put together a fairly extensive plan for diversity training for our staff. This was to start with the early release day in April, and extend into this next school year. We are partnering with the University of Illinois to facilitate these trainings and conversations. Those plans have only been temporarily delayed—we will get back on track with everything. However, I know that everyone understands that the pandemic, and the extensive planning that took place and still continues related to COVID-19, has taken precedence over pretty much everything else in our school district since mid-March.
Over the past two years, the Mahomet-Seymour Schools has invested our time and resources into training our staff in regard to restorative practices at the high school level, and responsive classroom training at the PreK-8th grade levels. This has laid a foundation for future diversity trainings and conversations. These practices are rooted in research surrounding social justice, equity, inclusiveness and community building. In addition to the future trainings for our staff, we have planned several meetings with parents, and the formation of a district wide diversity committee, as well as taking a deeper dive to closely examine our curriculum and curricular materials.
We have important work to do in this area so we can support and provide an inclusive, warm, safe and caring environment for every student we serve in our district, as well as for all staff members. Obviously, our entire country has work to do, as evidenced by so many different events—so in that regard, Mahomet-Seymour is not different than most other places. Public schools are uniquely and powerfully positioned to make a positive impact and bring about change by choosing to address, talk about, and most importantly, listen to issues of race, justice and equity. But, it can and likely will be more challenging and difficult for us to talk about race as a majority-white school district and community. That doesn’t mean we should back away from this. There will be questions about the necessity of such conversations, why time is being devoted to it, and for other people, they will want to move faster and get more done, and for others, a desire to stick with the status quo. This is a process and a journey in which we must invest for the well being of our students, staff and community. For us, our approach has been to address not only racism and racial diversity, but other issues of diversity that we see in our students and community as well – sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, faith, ethnicity, etc.
I also want to take the opportunity to address the fact that we have a School Resource Officer (SRO) within our schools, because the conversations in our nation recently have centered around the unlawful and horrible actions of some law enforcement personnel. I am very proud and happy that our Board of Education supported and made the decision to move ahead with placing a SRO in our schools in June of 2018, and I am beyond thrilled that our SRO is Officer Bill Ward. We were the only school district in the county, at that time, without a SRO. I have known Officer Ward for many years and he is the right person and officer for this position—because the position of a SRO is about relationship building. I’ve worked in the M-S Schools for a long time and we have had a positive, collaborative, working relationship with the Mahomet Police Department, and that continues. Our law enforcement officers are challenged each and every day in their jobs with incredibly difficult scenarios and situations. Back in 2018, I met and talked with some of our staff members and parents who were concerned about adding an SRO to our schools, acknowledging the fact that not all of our students and families have had positive relationships with law enforcement. I appreciated, greatly, the candid and forthright conversations we had about that topic and these concerns are valid. I have felt totally supportive and comfortable with having an SRO because of 1) the person who occupies the position, Officer Bill Ward, and 2) because of the following, which comes directly out of the Mission Statement contained in our Intergovernmental Agreement with the Village of Mahomet regarding our SRO:
will establish a trusting channel of communication with students, parents and teachers.
will serve as a positive role model to instill in students; good moral standards, good judgment, respect for other students and a sincere concern for the school community.
will promote citizen awareness of the law to enable students to become better informed and effective citizens, while empowering students with the knowledge of law enforcement efforts and obligations regarding enforcement, as well as, consequences for violations of the law.
will serve as a confidential source of counseling for students and parents/families concerning law-related problems they face as well as providing information on community resources available to them.
In establishing this agreement, the first bullet point was of paramount importance to Police Chief Mike Metzler, Officer Bill Ward, myself and our Board of Education, and it remains so. The mission of the position of the SRO is not about enforcement, but about building relationships.
I value and deeply appreciate everything that our staff does for our students each and every day—how they are taught, supported, cared for, encouraged, laughed with—the list is long! Engaging in difficult discussions about race, or racism, or discrimination isn’t done in an effort to place blame—it’s done to create awareness, listen, reflect upon the experiences of others who experience life differently than you or I might, and talk about how we can address bias, inequity, and issues related to discrimination. Sometimes, there can be a lack of awareness that there are problems that exist in these areas, so candid and sometimes hard conversations and discussions in public school settings to bring about change are always important, but perhaps never more so than now. The well being, safety, dignity and education of all of our students is, as superintendent, my top priority.
Be well and stay safe.
Very sincerely,
Dr. Lindsey A. Hall
Superintendent of Schools
Great progress on the fieldhouse renovation! Love the orange beams.
Please join us for a virtual concert from our Mahomet-Seymour Jr. High School Bands, starting at 7:00 p.m.;
https://youtu.be/sEw0sqzxEbg
Starting immediately, Mahomet AreaYouth Club will offer free sack lunches for ALL KIDS!! These will be available for pick up from 11am-12pm every weekday at MAYC. Pick up will be at the Club, at 700 W. Main St. in Mahomet, in the parking lot, just pull in for no-contact pick up. Every youth under 18 is eligible, no paperwork, no restrictions, no questions. This is possible because of a summer meal program through the Champaign Urbana Public Health District.
To the brave Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in serving our country, on Memorial Day 2020, we say thank you.
Celebrating the Class of 2020!
Celebrating the Class of 2020!
Tonight we celebrated the Class of 2020 with a parade through the Mahomet-Seymour HS parking lot. Thank you MSHS staff, Team Difanis, Cornbelt FD, and Mahomet PD for making it a great evening!!
Party has started at MS High School!!! #AllBulldogs
"Central IL Loves Our Teachers" was funded through generous donations from our community--today each employee of the M-S Schools received a gift bag as a thank you. Appreciate all who organized this, donated and gave out bags today--thank YOU! It was a wonderful way to bring our year to a close and know that the work of our amazing staff is appreciated.
Progress on the Fieldhouse renovation project at Mahomet-Seymour HS.
Tonight, starting at 6pm, there will be a Mahomet-Seymour Board of Education Meeting. We will be streaming live on Youtube. https://youtu.be/JDJUA96yRV0
Good morning Bulldog Nation and congratulations to the Class of 2020!
Gearing up for graduation.
Check out this virtual art gallery from our MSJH Art Students and teacher Mrs. Nicole Kelly. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSFMyddOZdtxibZolSHuNppDrkDdi3Ntc_qV_3RK0V0nf8VJ8VxFdSmrEFaJAycyQP7O2l0tiyWsK7q/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=60000
It's Teacher Appreciation Week! Here is a short video of thanks from our central office administrators. Our heartfelt thanks & gratitude to our teachers & entire staff--you are amazing, go above and beyond & have shown such dedication especially in the past 8 weeks!
https://youtu.be/uCOqVn8W-ME
There is a Mahomet-Seymour Board of Education Reorganizational Meeting tonight at 7pm. We are streaming live on Youtube. https://youtu.be/vI9mWUL8-yw
Seniors, we hope these signs for your yards brightened your days. We are proud of you--Congratulations!! #Classof2020 #AllBulldogs
The librarians and library staff miss you! These 8 women are responsible for providing books, other print and online materials, and learning experiences for ALL 3200+ students in the M-S district. Between us, we know every kid—and we miss them all!
Kindergarten Roundup has moved online. If you have not already completed pre-registration, please complete the form linked below no later than May 29th. This will allow Middletown Prairie Elementary to contact you with instructions for enrolling your kindergartener for the 2020-2021 school year. If you have any questions regarding the form or the enrollment process, contact Denise Reese at dreese@ms.k12.il.us.
https://forms.gle/8YbJVRFtvVayaSjT7
