A message from Principal Casperson

As I write this we are rapidly approaching the end of the 3rd quarter.  We have completed phase one of our course selection process for the upcoming school year and we have less than 25% of the current school year remaining.  Time is a funny thing, isn’t it?  While the days may feel long, the months seem to be flying by.  In the 4th quarter we will see a flurry of spring sports, we will host the statewide Alaska Association of Student Government (AASG) conference, and graduation will sneak right up on us for the Class of 2026. 



Heading into the 4th quarter our hope is that your student(s) are thriving academically and that they have more than settled into their student habits and school routines.  Our first semester data pull showed all four cohorts (freshmen through seniors) with high credit tallies.  The 9th grade class is leading the way with 73% of their membership at or above the target of 3 credits after one semester.  Our seniors are the “lowest” at 63%, but we know that there is wiggle room with needing only 23 credits to graduate (we still use the 21 credits as the metric for this).  The bottom line for schools is that students off track (behind) on credits in their first semester are already in queue as at-risk.  We would encourage you, as partners in this process, to keep the conversation going at home.  The value of earned credits at the high school level directly correlates to the receipt of a high school diploma.  



In the Activities world we have a number of celebrations and they are all firsts for our school!  Our basketball cheer squad returned from California just a couple of weeks ago as National champions, bringing home with them a number of large trophies and smiles that stretch from ear to ear.  We are also celebrating JDHS as the Battle of the Books state champions, having bested 24 other teams for those first time ever accolades.  At the state Drama Debate and Forensics meet two Juneau teams made it to the final debate, resulting in a co-first place win for Juneau.  Activities participation has a direct connection to school success for students of all ages.  What a joy it is to celebrate some of these firsts for just a handful of our highly engaged students in a myriad of extracurriculars.  As spring sports roll out we look forward to additional celebrations for our Crimson Bears.