Happy New Year!
With the start of Semester 2 comes the excitement and reality that we are midway through this school year. Semester 1 Report Cards have been distributed and honor roll students congratulated. Basketball, swimming, wrestling, and gymnastics teams are in full swing. Musical rehearsals are going strong for next month’s production. Seniors that have made college decisions are continuing plans for their next steps, while others are still stressing over college applications and decisions to be made. Juniors have started their countdown toward Grade 12, and our Sophomores and Freshmen are (hopefully) off to a very good start in the new marking period.
One of the realities of school life for Concordia’s students is that a number of their classes change teachers in the new semester. To assist in building and renewing vital relationships, Concordia will host Parent-Teacher Conferences on Thursday, February 2 beginning at 6:30 PM. This is a new event to the school calendar and a favorable response by parents and teachers to meet early in the second semester. A series of brief presentations for Parents will concurrently be held by our Administrators and Guidance Counselors focused upon topics of college planning, understanding the digital footprint of your teenager, and strategies for supervising technology use at home.
At this time of the school year we also look ahead with course selections for next school year. Concordia Lutheran High School will use a new daily time schedule in the 2017-18 school year. The basis for the new schedule will allow students to enroll in eight courses per semester and provide a longer time period when meeting as a class. Concordia’s current schedule limits enrollment to seven courses that meet daily for an average of 47 minutes. A result of the current schedule is that many students take a summer course in order to join multiple fine arts classes at Concordia, or complete off-campus courses at IPFW or the Fort Wayne Career Academy (formerly Anthis).
Next school year, most classes will meet for 60 minutes or 80 minutes per period, two times per week, with a third class meeting every week for a shorter period of time. The new schedule will designate office hours when teachers are available to meet with individual and small groups of students about class matters. Clubs and activities are also given time in the new schedule to meet during the school day, allowing groups such as NHS, Student Council, and Honors Academy to regularly meet, and provide an opportunity for new clubs and activities to be offered at Concordia.
Chapel worship as an entire community will be immediately followed by Koinonia (small group fellowship) in next year’s schedule. As the second semester of this school year progresses, teachers and administrators will be working on planning and adapting courses and curriculum for next school year’s schedule. The new schedule and time-table will be released to students and parents later this semester.
Go Concordia!
Patrick Frerking.
Principal