Dispelling Homecoming Myths and Concerns
Phew! Ms. Kelly’s reminder worked. The dance is on!
- Was Tuesday really the deadline for Homecoming dance forms and money? Surely Ms. Kelly will accept my late forms/money?
- The deadline was a firm one. Mr. Turf turned away a student on Wednesday morning who had missed the deadline. Ms. Kelly also turned away four other students as the day went on. If a student did not submit the completed paperwork, along with the money for the ticket, by Tuesday, he is not attending the Homecoming dance.
- Where did Ms. Kelly get all of those awesome t-shirts?
- From Mr. Turf, of course.
- Why did the senior students receive additional points on their Powderpuff performance?
- One of the judges took off points for a student not memorizing the cheer. There is not a rule that the students must memorize the script; therefore, the 2 points were added back on the final score.
- Why did the seniors grab all of the dodgeballs and sit in the middle of the court during what was to be the match for 3rd and 4th place against the freshmen class?
- The seniors felt that they should be playing for the championship, so they decided to protest the match. Either they would get student government’s attention, and the wrong would be righted, or they would accept 4th place.
- Was the wrong righted?
- Yes, Ms. Kelly recognized that the seniors did not intend to maliciously swap out members from the roster, so she reversed her decision and gave the seniors the opportunity to play for 1st place.
- How are the subjective events judged? How is bias avoided in these judged events?
- There are multiple judges, selected across all four upper school grades, along with representatives from middle school, lower school, administration and staff. The judges complete their rubrics independent of one another and provide a score of 1 (Fair) to 4 (Superior) in five different categories. All of the ballots are added for a total score, which determines the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishes. The completed rubrics may be reviewed at any time.
- If a student believes something unfair has occurred, or someone has cheated, what should he do?
- “Frankly, we [student government] work very hard to make sure it is fair. There has NEVER been this sort of complaining in the past. Because of the number of complaints this year, we are going to create a complaint form to be completed in future years.” Ms. Kelly — So… until the official complaint form has been created, continue to raise your concerns to your class sponsors (12th – Ms. Pitchman, 11th – Ms. Pearson, 10th – Mr. Brennan, 9th – Mr. Rosas) or to send them to The Spartacus, which will follow up on all such complaints or concerns that are articulated.
- Why did a teacher get added to our class Facebook page?
- The official MCDS policy is that all MCDS sponsored or affiliated pages must be approved by an administrator and must have an adult presence. This is not intended to dampen students’ spirit or enthusiasm, but to enable students to participate in informative discussions in a civil manner. While students certainly may have their own private spaces on social networking sites, any site that is created for the purpose of an event/occasion tied to Miami Country Day School must have an adult presence. It will be considered a violation of school rules if a student or group of students willfully violates this policy.