Grade Letter 12/3/2015

Hello All,

I am getting great feedback about the text message today. I wanted to answer questions in mass. I have shut down football related activities in lieu of the guys getting academic support after school. Like all of you I want our young men to do their absolute best in all areas of their lives. As a coach I realize the influence I have on our young men. What better message can I send to our guys when I see A/B intelligence and intellect getting frivolous C’s. I have spoken to a number of the guys and they are in fact working very hard, but some of them are not and they have settled with, “Coach I am passing.” Quite frankly as a teacher/coach and a parent that is just not acceptable.  The staff here at Hickman High School is excellent. Teachers are available to support your son academically before and after school. There is question I have asked the players over and over, “Is this your best effort?” In some cases it is and I respect the effort. However in some cases that effort is minimal or the answer is “But coach, I am passing though.” This is a young team, 60% of this team are freshman and sophomores. These are great kids and many of them are very smart. I want to and will continue to reiterate the importance of academics every moment they are near me. As parents you would not accept anything but their absolute best effort. We all remember a difficult subject. We also remember how hard we had to work in that class and the feeling of accomplishing a hard earned grade. Finally, there have been reports of behavior that has been called anything from “immature” to “distracting”. As I said I will address this with those individuals. I have also encouraged their teachers to contact home. For those kids that may need to stay after school to receive academic help, I am here Monday through Thursday until 6:30 if a ride home is needed. Grades will be sent home tomorrow. I encourage you to sit down with your son and pose that same question. Again if I or my staff can be of any service let me know. My coaches teach everything from Social Studies to Math. We will begin workouts again in January and you will receive information concerning that in the coming weeks.

Coach Monroe