We have had a lot of excitement today. About two hundred Riverside High School students were here this morning to meet the Washington Center students they will accompany to Special Olympics and PTA folks were here making final preparations for tomorrow’s Walk, Roll and Run, when the City Police advised that we go into full lockdown as a result of a robbery in the area. The lockdown only lasted about 15 minutes, but I was amazed and impressed by how well staff and students, including the 200 plus Riverside students, handled everything. As I walked the halls checking on folks, there was not a sound to be heard or a person to be seen. It really was done well --- no question about it, Washington Center knows how to do a lockdown, and the Riverside kids were great.

We are all excited about tomorrow’s Walk, Roll and Run at Furman. It will begin at 8:30 a.m. near the amphitheater, and Beth Brotherton will be the grand marshal for the event. I hope lots of you will come as you can still register onsite in the morning. 

I also hope you have had a chance to take a look at the spring edition of our school newsletter. It went out this morning in both English and Spanish, and I want to thank Linda Thigpen and Barbara Bingham for their work on this project, as well as Lisa Beth Ramos who did the Spanish translation. 

This week we had students off campus for shopping and bowling, and next week others will similarly be shopping, bowling and even going for a picnic at Conestee Park. Also, our Hollis students visited the zoo on Thursday and were grateful for the sunshine that warmed things up a bit.    

This week we were notified that we have been selected to receive a Rewards for Excellence Award in the Golden Achievement category from the South Carolina Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association. Our entry, Meals and More, featured the PTA sponsored parent training events we had last year. Many thanks to Sharon Russo for her work on this initiative. 

Next week, on Monday, our guests will be students from Beck who chose to raise money for Washington Center’s nature trail as a part of their Spirit Week. We so appreciate their helping us to get our nature trail going and we look forward to giving them a big welcome on Monday. If possible, please have your student wear his or her Special Olympics shirt to school on Monday. 

Members of Greenville Symphony will be here on Wednesday. As part of the symphony’s EdReach program, we are looking forward to having musicians demonstrate the use of various brass instruments. SIC will meet on Wednesday at 1 and PTA will have their Lunch and Learn on Thursday. If you have not registered for the Lunch and Learn, please do so as the topic is an important one for all of our students who will eventually graduate from Washington Center and will be candidates for adult programs in the community.

Next week will also be big because we will be having our own version of Spirit Week. Students will be collecting donations for our PTA’s Walk, Roll and Run and to support Camp Spearhead which serves many of our students during the summer. Each day there will be special activities which will include crazy hat day on Monday, mismatch day on Tuesday, sunglasses day on Wednesday and favorite sport day on Thursday. The culminating event on Friday will be our walk---- or roll--- in our gym for as many as 26 laps. Classes will be competing and building team spirit, and we appreciate the effort that Katherine Gantt has put into making this event a big success.

One more item, those of you who have students in 5^th, 8^th, and 11th grades recently received a parent survey which we need to return to the State Department of Education. Please get those back to us by Wednesday April 13, so we can meet the deadline. Thanks.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and I look forward to seeing many of you at Furman tomorrow.