Greetings LHN Families,

Hoping this finds you well and enjoying this awesome weekend after the most unique back-to-school in our time. It was great having the students return to the building on Wednesday and Thursday. It was great having face-to-face education once again. We learned many things over the past 5 months, mostly regarding the importance of face-to-face education.  

As you are aware, we spent a great deal of time and effort this summer developing a plan to make LHN a safe place to go to school while our country is in the grips of a global pandemic. Now that the students are back in the building, we are able to see firsthand how our plans are working and identify where improvements need to take place. On Thursday morning, we identified an issue that needs addressing. While we realize that our students enjoy being around each other and haven’t seen each other at school all spring and summer long, this becomes problematic when they cluster in close proximity. We observed this right away Thursday morning in the atrium and in the parking lot. We made immediate adjustments in supervision and the expectations of the students. Friday morning the distancing was much improved in the parking lot and especially in the atrium.  

Keep in mind that we are requiring students to sit in distanced seating in the atrium, café, and gym while they wait for their first class to start. Please remind your student that the adults in the building will be vigilant in moving them along to find a seat in one of the designated areas, which also includes their desk in the first hour. I can’t stress this enough. The staff enjoys being welcoming and pleasant at the beginning of the school year, but I will be instructing faculty and staff to be consistently firm and demanding as we address this issue. It pains me to do this, but there is too much on the line. We can’t do this without your support. We can’t do this without cooperation with the student body. 

Thank you for taking time out or your weekend to read this. Please have a conversation with your student about the importance of keeping space between themselves, especially during the less structured times of the day like before and after school. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Let your student know that as they hear us leading them with a little more conviction, it is for our safety and the importance of face-to-face education. Let them know that we still love them. 

In the event that you missed it, you can still find the information released earlier this summer about our safe return to school on our webpage.  

John Reincke

PRINCIPAL