After almost nine years of serving the students and staff at Millbrook High School Assistant Principal Matt Fisher’s last day was January 9.  Mr. Fisher was celebrated with a Matt Fisher Day whereby we declared this his day and encouraged parents, students, and staff to drop by and wish him well on his new assignment.  Mr. Fisher is known for his phenomenal relationships with students and is respected and admired by all who know him.  We will miss Mr. Fisher and want him to know once a Wildcat always a Wildcat!

Other changes at Millbrook include the ending of our trial PLUS period.  We are now in the process of surveying random staff, students, and parents to get feedback on this program.  Assistant Principal Elaine Rogers is leading this process, contact her at arogers@wcpss.net if you’d like to comment and haven’t been randomly selected.  Our first semester final exams will be January 17 and 18 with our new (second) semester beginning January 23.  Our guidance counselors have been busy making changes and correcting student schedules.  Before the holiday break all students were given an opportunity to request a schedule change.  On Thursday, January 25 at 7:00 p.m. in our auditorium fifty-four seniors will be participating in our mid-year graduation ceremony.  Our Superintendent Dr. Del Burns is the graduation speaker.  To those of you who will be graduating early and leaving for college, military, or work we want you to always remember you contributed to the Millbrook legacy and we will miss you.
“Once a Wildcat always a Wildcat”

Best Wishes,
Dana King

What is a Lockdown?  What is a Lockout?

Safety is a priority at our school.  We have taken steps to help our teachers, students, and community be better prepared in case of an emergency.  You may have heard school staff refer to lockdown or may have visited school during a lockdown drill.

What is a lockdown?

Schools may go into lockdown after conferencing with WCPSS Security staff and/or local law enforcement.  When law enforcement officials determine events they are investigating in the community near a school warrant, they notify WCPSS Security staff and the school and may recommend a community lockdown.

In a community lockdown, all exterior doors of the school are locked and no one is allowed to enter or exit the building until the all-clear announcement is given.  The school operates “business as usual” with the exception of no outside activities.

A higher-level lockdown is used when an intruder is thought to be on campus.  This is a code-red lockdown.  Procedures are similar to the community lockdown.  In addition, classroom doors are locked, lights are turned off and students are moved to a safe place within the classroom.

We conduct drills so that faculty, students and our community are familiar with these procedures.  By working with our law enforcement agency and WCPSS Security staff on drills at our school, we can better prepare our students, faculty, and staff for the unexpected.  It is important for our students, parents, and staff to see that we are vigilant and have well-established and well-practiced procedures in place during the time of an emergency.

What is a lockout?

A lockout has nothing to do with safety but everything to do with students getting to class on time.  For lockouts, we announce over the public address system (PA) that teachers close and lock their doors.  Any student who is not in class and who does not have a pass is brought into the cafeteria and assigned a detention.

We had out first lockdown drill in November and our first lockout was November 21, 2006.  Though these two activities are infrequent both are important to achieving excellence in education.

Dana King