SWHS Principal's Weekly updates for August 27th

Welcome back!  

Tomorrow is the first day back to school! All students should report to their homerooms. Homerooms will be posted in various locations. Freshmen should look for their homeroom on the walls of the Freshmen Gym. Upperclassmen should look down the main hallway. When the 8:35 bell rings, students will report to their homeroom where each student will receive their most updated schedule. As a reminder, with the ongoing fluctuation of enrollment, there are chances that schedules may have altered from just a few days ago and can still later all the way up to the 10th day of school. We appreciate your understanding as we work with these daily changes.  

As a reminder, if you need more guidance with your schedule, feel free to contact the assigned counselor. Counseling responsibilities are now alphabetically assigned in grades 10-12.

9th grade will all have Ms. Compton

A-D  - Ms. Graves

E-L - Mr.  Hawkins

M-R - Mrs. Richards

S-Z - Mrs. Hudgens 

All grade levels except for the senior class must be in complete dress code starting tomorrow. The dress code is found on the website if you need clarification. Seniors have spirit week. Seniors will be allowed to follow these themes... Monday, Hawaiian/Tie Dye, Tuesday, Senior Queen, Wednesday - Neon Pink shirt slogan with We're kind of a B19 Deal!", Thursday, Swat/Camouflage, Friday, SW Spirit shirt or class shirt (these can be homemade this week). 9th, 10th and 11th graders can wear homemade class shirts on Friday as well. Typically, homemade shirts are not allowed within the dress code expectations, however, we are making an exception this Friday. This Friday, we also have a PTSA Jean Day. If you have purchased one of the PTSA jean day bracelets OR signed up for PTSA as a student, you should have a jean band Bracelet and therefore can wear jeans on Friday as well. At no time, should jeans have rips, shreds, holes, etc. As we start the year, failure to work with our dress code will result in the requirement to change clothes, calling home, as well as possibly receiving other consequences.

If you are needing transportation AM or PM stops, please visit the GCS transportation website and look up the bus stop locator. This will guide you to the morning and afternoon stops and times. Please be patient in the first week as delays are common in the beginning of the school year. 

If you are driving, please be mindful that traffic coming in and out of the school is much heavier than normal. If your child has the opportunity to ride the bus, we encourage you to take advantage of that to assist us with the flow of traffic. Student pick up and drop off should always be in the front of the school. For safety reasons, the back lot by the gym should be kept to teacher and student movement and parking during the day. Athlete pick up and drop off can resume in the athletics parking lot. Thank you for assisting us with this request.  

Parent assist attendance and grade monitoring will be up and running on 9/11 the 11^th day of school. The reason for this delay, is to ensure we have all schedule changes in the system.Please reach out to your child's teachers if you have any inquiries about their grades.

To register for an account go to Powerschool under the Parent tab on SWHS website site.

If you had an account, try your old password first,  if it doesn’t work click on “forgot my password”. If all fails and you need assistance, email clinek2@gcsnc.com

Starting tomorrow, any students arriving before 8:10 should either report to the freshmen gym if they are 9th graders or wait in the front atrium if they are upperclassmen. Obviously there are exceptions to this such as being in Jazz Band zero block, meeting with teachers for tutorials, clubs, etc. Please understand that our staff do not start their day until 8:15. Thank you for understanding this additional measure we put in place for the safety of all individuals who arrive to our campus. Additionally, one of the magnetic doors will be activated starting tomorrow. All visitors must still check in with either attendance of the main office. Thank you again for understanding the importance of this process.  

As a reminder, all students should have already started their summer reading. Students will be tested in the first couple weeks of school. If a student has English in their 2nd semester, they can still get their test out of the way during the beginning of the first semester. All he/she needs to do is to reach out to their 2nd semester teacher. Summer reading lists for all grade levels can be found under the students tab on the SWHS website. https://www.gcsnc.com/southwest_guilford_high

In regards to Safety and security, one of our two main entrances have now been installed with magnetic door locks with surveillance. We are anticipating the other install over the next month. We are also expecting a pilot program for a student identification card system as well as a visitor monitoring system. We will keep everyone updated as we receive these programs in place. Thank you for working with these changes and understanding that these measures are being put in place to increase the level of safety and security at SWHS.
Also, 

As it relates to athletic schedules, please visit the SWHS Athletics page at www.cowboysports.org and contact Coach Christman with any athletics concerns.

Monday, August 27
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
4:00 PM Womens Varsity Golf Glenn Home 
4:30 PM Womens Varsity Tennis East Forsyth High School Away

Tuesday, August 28
3:30 PM Womens Varsity Golf Tri-Meet w/ Ragsdale and HP Central Home 
4:30 PM Womens Junior Varsity Tennis High Point Christian Academy Home 
5:00 PM Coed Varsity Cross Country 2018 Guilford County Cross Country Championship Home 
5:00 PM Womens Junior Varsity Volleyball Parkland High School Away 
5:30 PM Mens Junior Varsity Soccer Ragsdale High School Home 
6:30 PM Womens Varsity Volleyball Parkland High School Away 
7:00 PM Mens Varsity Soccer Ragsdale High School Home

Wednesday, August 29
4:30 PM Womens Varsity Tennis Mount Tabor High School Away 
7:00 PM Mens Junior Varsity Football High Point Central High School Home

Thursday, August 30 
4:30 PM Womens Varsity Tennis Asheboro High School Home 
5:00 PM Womens Junior Varsity Volleyball Mount Tabor High School Away 
5:30 PM Mens Junior Varsity Soccer Ronald Reagan High School Away 
6:30 PM Womens Varsity Volleyball Mount Tabor High School Away 
7:00 PM Mens Varsity Soccer Ronald Reagan High School Away 
7:30 PM Mens Varsity Football High Point Central High School Away 

Friday, August 31 
No Athletics

Remember, you are always able to access this message on our school website under School News and titled Principal's Weekly Updates or on Facebook and Twitter and soon, Instagram. Please follow Southwest High School at SouthwestGHS for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! This is a great way for us to communicate and stay connected. 

We are... Southwest!