November 1, 2007

Fellow Warriors,

Did you hear the victory bell tolling Tuesday night?  Congratulations to the Lady Warriors for their first round victory in the state playoffs – it was a fun night all around.  One parent from Lake Mary commented to me after the game that we have the best crowd and school spirit they have seen.  I think my favorite part was watching the grammar school students leave the pep rally under the arch formed by the volleyball team just for them!  The Athletics Department told me that a number of you folks called to volunteer to serve – that is awesome!  The next game is Tuesday night, November 6 against Warner Christian (Daytona Beach) the #1 ranked school in the state.

I love it, we get to see students broaden their horizons by cross-cultural experiences – it is good to get out in the world.  Tomorrow, four SRCS students leave to work at a mission’s conference in Tokyo, Japan.  Please pray for them (and their families) while they are gone.  The four students are:  Rachael Dumas, Lindsey O’Quinn, Alexa Massullo, and Keisuke Idota.  I am proud of our students for wanting to serve the Kingdom this way.

We are making progress toward improving school safety and security.  In the next few weeks, we will begin “lock down” drills.  This is our procedure for keeping students and staff as safe as possible in the event of a serious issue.  Teachers will be speaking with their students about this before we practice.  Other notable progress includes revised emergency plans and procedures and I expect to review plans for a new fence line.  In the meantime, please remember to slow down on campus, watch for students, park in parking spaces only (not crosswalks or yellow striped areas), and don’t drop off your students in the traffic flow.  There is no SRCS supervision for students before 7:45 a.m. and after 3:30 p.m.

I am already hearing lots of good things about Mr. Worthington’s work – glad he is on the team.  Glad that we have the services of Charles Gardner and Brook Julias to tend to our technology issues – and do we have issues.

For those who sat through the fingerprinting ordeal this week – thanks for volunteering and being patient.

Last week I spoke with Dr. Shawn Brower, high school principal at Chattanooga Christian School (he is a former headmaster at Orangewood) to learn about the revival among students, parents, and even some faculty at that school.  I was excited to hear about how God is working through the students there and am praying for Him to visit us as well.

Blessings,

Joel