465 points of light...

Doing the right thing cannot be overstated.  A normal week at Harrisburg High School with the labyrinth of procedure and regulation deemed obligatory to govern the business of education, necessitates the stereotypical "trip to the office".  Any given day, behavior issues can dot an office schedule or fill it.  An atypical day, upsetting the norm, generally produces more turbulence and common usurping of school rule.  So -  when Mr. Rollinger was duty-bound in another part of the building, it was time to clear my schedule in anticipation of ombudsmanship for the complications of teen life that was sure to come my way. But... the crickets chirped in the office.  Like the old Maytag repairman, there was just nothing to fix.  A day of kids dressed, auctioned-students doing who knows what, the excitement and suckers of Homecoming, and all that goes with it...yet, NOT ONE OFFICE REFERRAL?  It startled me and should not have...32 school days on this job, a few more in employment, and... one precipitous day that should make every parent of every Harrisburg student provide whatever is your standard means of showing your pride, approval and redress of each of your sons and daughters.  They make doing the right thing so universal it becomes the ordinary.  They deserve your overt pleasure at their action - but even more than that, they deserve your trust and the respect of the young adults they show themselves to be.   So, 465 of them came to school on a Thursday, and not one of them made a poor decision.  Where else can that happen?  Nowhere.

465 points of light all week.  At Coronation, ten honored royalty members, spying our hearing- and vision-impaired student in the corner by himself and all ten walking over to have a conversation with him.  On Tuesday at the auction, good-natured ribbing of all the auction-ees and the assistance of seniors to freshman all day in conversation and action.  Uninhibited displays of student talent all week with spirited support of an entire student body at Mr. HHS and mini-olympics.  Hundreds of thank you's and thousands of smiles.  Great weather and loud cheering at parades and under the lights.  A dance of fury and fun and "I See You" from the Avatar thing, I have to figure out, I guess.  And at the end of this week - a Homecoming Queen dancing with a freshman who had never danced a dance in his life - something not only he will never forget, but something that will carry him just a little farther than he ever imagined.  465 points of light.  They will blind us if we let them.  How about we let them?

They call her "Rebbie" and somehow she landed here.  Lucky for us...all week long, I just kept asking myself,  "..where would we be without her?"  And, now, even though it is not immediate, I can't help thinking, "...how can we ever replace her?"  With so much care and undying devotion to student and school, she prepares and prods and produces a week so incredibly orchestrated, so positive in culture and so influencing of our students taking heavy measures of pride in this school.  The model she presents of hard work and patience and continued sensitivity to every student, even as we get bigger and bigger...she leaves her students breathless, her colleagues thankful, her community the better for her presence and work.  It was 12:18 on a Friday night(Saturday morning), and the students she leads flew to her like the moth to the flame after helping clean up the school at the end of an extraordinary but exhausting week, and yet they did not look fatigued as their leader addressed them. They looked as they always do when around her, uplifted by some magic wind.   She told them how much they meant to her, how much they had done for the school and so many.  And as she spoke, unconsciously they moved closer and nearer to her - demonstrative respect, admiration, pure faith in this veteran English instructor and staff leader and indispensable part of our kids' lives.  We need so many Mrs. Rebnord's and yet there is only one.  I don't want to think any more of the vacuum she will leave when she decides it is time to explore much deserved other things, we just need to be so grateful and stand in humble awe of her effort and transforming success.  Like those students after the dance, I stand continually transfixed...admiring a teacher immortal in all she has touched.  I can't call her "Rebbie", it doesn't fit my antiquated sense of value, but all you have to do is hear the affection and deference in that word from any colleague, student now or student past, and you know you are in the shadow of greatness, a life built without pretense or a single care that is not directed to another.  It was superhero week, Mrs. Rebnord.  And a fitting end to the week, at 12:30 AM, at the end of the week, the real superhero was the last one to walk out of the building.

PS - Mrs. Rebnord - "Nice Bike."


Bryce's Schroeder's family understands the pain of tragedy and the miracles that can make us stronger.  Below is a poignant thank you from the Schroeder family.

The Odds Are….

The Odds Are… You will never be notified that your 13 year old son was involved in a motor vehicle accident and suffered traumatic brain injuries, and that your 15 year old son was driving the car.  You will probably never have a doctor look you and your wife in your eyes and state that he does not expect your 13 year old son to live.  You will never hear how your 15 year old son held his brother in his arms until the EMT’s arrived, and later find out that his actions were very instrumental in his brother’s survival.

The Odds Are…You will never have a group of friends step up and support you and your family in so many ways that you cannot begin to list all their good deeds.  You will never know how so many friends where with you within minutes, not hours, of the accident and spent nights and weeks with you and your family.

The Odds Are…You will never have a Poker Run, a rummage sale, a free will offering, a silent auction, all put on for the benefit of your son.  You will never be a part of a school district where the teachers, administration, coaching staff and the student body helped raise funds along with local business to help support your family while your wife is on a leave of absence. You will never receive anonymous gift cards, support cards, and other donations from people you will you never meet.

The Odds Are…You will not be on a first name bases with an amazing group of medical staff, including nurses, neurologist, therapists, surgeons, and other specialists.  You will never understand and appreciate the quality of our local volunteer EMT’s and how their actions literally helped save your son’s live.  You will never work for an employer whose understanding management enabled a father to work from his son’s hospital bedside for weeks.

The Odds Are…You will never hear about the wonderful actions of this amazing community and its people in any media outlet.  You will never be as humbled as our family has been over the past months with the unwavering caring and support that Harrisburg and the surrounding communities has brought to us.

The Odds Are… We will never be able to thank each and every one of you for all that you have done for our family.  Lately however…we like defying the odds!!!!

Thank you!!!

The Schroeder’s

 Life on the berm is odd and wonderful.  Middle School kids doing what adolescents have to do, moving in packs and flipping glances at the other gender, pushing a friend around a bit, bursts of energy and wide-eyed astonishment at what someone is wearing or saying.  Mid-elementary kids tentatively talking and still anxiously looking around for affirmation and their parents.   Cheering after a play when they are aware, staring in awe when they are not.  Toddlers taking shaky step, rolling around and away, climbing and clinging and crying.  It is quite a night on the berm.  At Harrisburg football games, the administrative team regulates the berms and all of that activity.  Last week, the poll question asked readers to respond - whether students should be allowed to play and run and tackle, etc. at activities.  Sixty percent no, 40 percent yes.  As I admitted last week, I love letting the kids play - it is part of a rite of passage for us.  But, we just can't do it at Harrisburg.  With over 2200 students, 1700 hundred of them middle school and lower, we just don't have the capacity to keep them all safe.  In just a few years we will be 2500-3000 students.  We are becoming one of the largest schools in the state.   Last night, a fifth grader walked by me covered in blood.  I mentioned last week the young man that almost fell 20 feet to the track and the young man who lost a kidney at one of our conference schools.  The reality is this:  something terrible is going to happen and we are all going to wonder why we didn't do something.  So we have.  The playing and running just have to cease and parents, I need your help.  Thanks so much to all of you who did help last night.  Thanks to Mr. Holbeck for his considerate messages.  Thanks to Mr. Brown for getting the signs and to all the administrators for helping regulate.  We just have to...as much as my nostalgia of my own youth whims for the old days of "kill the carrier" and dreams of being on the big field by playing next to it on Friday nights...we just can't do it any more.  The days of small crowds where everyone knows your name, they are gone.  As much as I would like to stop time and watch my third-grade son learning the toughness and confidence gained in scoring a touchdown in the shadows just past the end zones - it is over.  We just can't.   If there is another solution, don't hesitate to write or call.  But for now, respect the signs and keep our kids safe and unharmed.

Reminder...Parent/Principal Community  forum at the high school commons, Monday, Oct. 18th - 7:00 PM.

Events at Harrisburg High this week....

Monday - no school

                 4:15 - JV football vs. Vermillion - Home

Tuesday - No school for students - In-service for teachers and some staff

                 4:00 - Quiz Bowl at Brookings

                 5:00 - Volleyball vs. Dell Rapids - Home

Wednesday - SENIORS - cap and gown ordering - lunch 

                      6:30 - School Board Meeting - Liberty 

Thursday - 2:30 - SSR and TAP

                  4:00 - Novice Oral Interp. at Sioux Falls

                  4:15 - 9th football at Lincoln

                  5:00 - Volleyball vs. West Central - Home

Friday - 2:30 - SSR and TAP

                  3:00 - Region Cross Country at Lennox

                  7:00 - Football at Luverne, MN

Saturday - 8:00 AM - Saturday School

                 8:00 - Oral Interp. at Sioux Falls

                 4:00 - Volleyball vs. Garretson - Home


EIGHT SCHOOL DAYS UNTIL THE END OF THE QUARTER!!!!!!!  Check your grades!!!!!