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It will be back to school at Sibley East Public School next week.

Classes resume Tuesday, September 4 for students in Grades 7-12.

Elementary parent teacher conferences will be held September 4 and 5. School resumes for Sibley East Elementary students on Thursday, September 6.

SIBLEY EAST ELEMENTARY

Classroom libraries for all elementary grades and nonfiction science books to correspond with the state math standards are among the new items at Sibley East Elementary this year, according to Principal Mari Lu Martens.

Other new items at Sibley East Elementary this year are Foss Science Kits, hands-on science curriculum; and an additional development reading assessment for students in Grades 4 – 6, to measure reading comprehension.

There are three new elementary teachers this year. They are Danielle Austin and Chelsea Drew, Kindergarten teachers at Gaylord, and Kristine Culligan, second grade teacher at Gaylord.

Sibley East will have five sections of Kindergarten this year, with three sections at the Gaylord campus and two sections at the Arlington campus.

Goals for the school year are to use data to ensure all students are meeting proficiency as measured by the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment, implement and align Minnesota Math standards and analyze the work and develop assessments in the classroom, and to maintain a positive school culture and develop perceptions from all stakeholders.

Projected enrollment at Sibley East Elementary, as of August 27, is 304 at the Arlington campus and 335 at the Gaylord campus.

Projected enrollment at the Arlington campus per grade is as follows: Kindergarten – 49, Grade 1 – 29, Grade 2 – 45, Grade 3 – 44, Grade 4 – 47, Grade 5 – 48, and Grade 6 – 33.

Projected enrollment at the Gaylord campus per grade is as follows: Kindergarten – 56, Grade 1 – 41, Grade 2 – 45, Grade 3 – 32, Grade 4 – 48, Grade 5 – 46, Grade 6 – 56.

SIBLEY EAST JUNIOR HIGH

Enrollment is expected to be down slightly at Sibley East Junior High School. As of August 23, enrollment is projected to be 293 students, down from 315 last year. Enrollment by grade is Grade 7 – 97, Grade 8 – 89, and Grade 9 – 107.

On the first day of school, students will follow their normal class schedule. The student handbook will be discussed throughout the day.

An expanded homeroom advisor/advisee program and two new faculty members are among the “new” features at Sibley East Junior High School this year, according to Principal Steve Harter.

As part of the advisor/advisee program, students spend 14 minutes at homeroom between first and second hour class. During that time, the teacher will be able to provide students with more personal attention and to be more empathetic with what the students are going through that day, Harter explained.

Two new faculty members will be working at Sibley East Junior High. Tammy Rechtzigel will be teaching Spanish, replacing Rod Nelson who retired. Former Sibley East Elementary teacher Molly Raske will be teaching English for Grades 7 and 8, replacing Dan Hislop who retired.

Sibley East Junior High has a cell phone policy this year. Under the new policy, cell phones are not permitted at the school. If students need to use a cell phone to reach parents, an employer, etc., they may leave the cell phone in the office when they enter school.

Students found with cell phones in their possession will have the cell phone confiscated and their parents will have to come to school to pick it up. In addition, students will be assigned detention, according to the Junior High discipline policy.

SIBLEY EAST SENIOR HIGH

Sibley East Senior High will begin the school year with an assembly. Following the assembly, break-out sessions will be held when students will receive their schedules and Homecoming plans will be discussed. An abbreviated schedule will be followed starting at 10 a.m.

Enrollment is projected to be 302 students in Grades 10-12. The re are 106 students in Grade 10, 102 in Grade 11, and 94 in Grade 12.

Jamie Knutson will serve as the new counselor at the Senior High School. Lynn O’Brien has been moved from the Senior High to the Gaylord campus to work with testing and assessments. Chad Dose, who had served as a special education teacher at the Gaylord campus, has now been reassigned to the Arlington campus.

Principal Jim Swanson said the only class offering change this year is that the anatomy/physiology class is now a full year offering instead of a semester.

Several new policies will take effect at the Senior High School this year.

Cell phones are not allowed in the classrooms at Sibley East Senior High School. Cell phones are to be left in the lockers or at home.

If a student brings a cell phone to class, the new policy states that it will be taken from the student and brought to the office. Parents will have to pick up the phone after school.

A second offense will result in detention, the phone will be taken away and brought to the office, and the parents will have to pick it up.

The detention policy has also been changed. Detention will be offered Tuesday and Thursday until 5 p.m. There will be mandatory attendance required or students will have suspension the following day, and still have to make up detention.

Sibley East has also changed its attendance policy. In the past, students were allowed 10 days of unexcused absences without penalty. Now students with unexcused absences will be held accountable by their grades in the class, Swanson said.

Revisions were also made to the school dress code. According to the policy, dress and grooming should not disrupt the learning climate of the schools. The bottom of the blouses and shirts must touch the top of the skirt, shorts or jean waistband. Clothing advertising or displaying chemicals, alcohol or obscene language are prohibited. Other rules are:

1. No holes are allowed in clothing above the knee. Only patches that are intended for mending are allowed to cover holes.

2. Leggings under skirts are allowed with skirts of socially acceptable length. Shorts and skirts alone must always be below the fingertips when the person stands and rests their arms at their side.

3. Tops must have a wide strap of at least one inch in width. No spaghetti straps, tube tops or halter tops are allowed unless worn with a wide strap top. If a lacy see-through top is worn, tops worn underneath need to meet the above requirements. Low-cut tops must have another shirt worn underneath them. No cleavage is to be seen when the person is standing up with a person looking directly at them.

4. Jeans, skirts, etc. must be worn so that no undergarments are visible.

5. Chains of any type are not to be worn with clothing.

6. Caps, headbands, and scarfs are to remain off in the building once school begins. They may be worn when going back outside.

First offense will result in a warning and the student will change clothes immediately. Further offenses will result in detention per occurrence.

Sibley East is hosting seven exchange students this year. They are from China, Korea, Brazil, Germany, and Switzerland.