The Burke
Report

Attention students and parents of students that drive to school…We have moved our Vehicle Registration Form online, and it can be found and filled out by clicking here.  You must fill one of these out each year, so please do so if you are planning on driving to school for the 08-09 school year.  Thank you.�

It is June 10th, 2008, and I am sorting through the tornado that is my office.  After Prom, ASB elections, end of the year parties, yearbooks, last day of school, the Humanities building, senior project presentations, the Varsity Sports banquet, the senior brunch and graduation, I have a lot of debris to sort through.  I did a horrible job of posting on my blog in the last weeks, and the above list is the primary reason why.  Thank you for your comments, and I look forward to another year of blogging.  Please forward your suggestions to me about what you would like to hear about at rburke@overlake.org.  Here are a couple of things to look forward to in the coming year:

• Retreats in the US will move to September 18th and 19th and will follow a similar make up as in the past.  More info will be available in August about each grade level.
• Varsity sports start a week later next year as the first day of practice will be August 25th
• Discipline update:  In the last months of school, things picked up.  There were a few instances of disrespect on Project Week that were uncharacteristic of Overlake students.  Plagiarism continues to be the most frequent infraction to occur.  We had 4 instances of service hours that were falsely reported.  Yes, we do check!  Overall, I am overwhelmed by the behavior of our kids.  They are an example for other kids, and they often police themselves.  If you are interested in discipline at a more systemic level, please do not hesitate to contact me, I am always willing to talk about our campus, and the dynamics that are alive here. 

Thank you to the kids and parents for a wonderful year, I will miss the class of 08, and I look forward to my sophomore year as the Dean of Students!

Today the entire Upper School minus the 12th graders that are preparing to leave the nest will head up to the Fulton Performing Arts Center to hear speeches from their peers running for ASB office.  All in all, there are twelve kids bold enough to get up in front of the entire school and share their thoughts on what could help improve student life.  At Overlake, there are four executive offices that need to be filled:  President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer and Social Coordinator.  These four offices oversee a multitude of different tasks that help to keep the Overlake student body informed and active.  After the speeches are delivered, students will have four days to campaign, and all students running have produced a one page platform statement that will be on display in the school newspaper as well as posted on campus for students to review.  After that four days, all the students will go back up to Fulton, and we will hold a question and answer session that will last approximately 45 minutes.  In this session, students will be expected to speak about how they might tackle some of the issues that are important to students.  Next, students will vote online and the officers will be selected.  This format does mark a change from the past.  In the past, there was no question and answer period, and there were no platform pages for students to review.  The purpose of those added pieces is to help students become informed, and increase the likelihood that they will vote based off of platform and not popularity.  More info to come…

Last week, I blogged about the trepidation that I had regarding the issues high school girls face.  This week, I want to highlight some of the issues that boys face, as well as some of the resources that I have found helpful.  While I felt somewhat unprepared to work with female students, I have 9 years of experience working with male students, not to mention that I have my own life experience to draw upon.  Even with that experience, I realize that things are changing for boys.  Without overwhelming you with statistics, here are few that are noteworthy:

• College enrollment is about 60% girls and 40% boys in many popular colleges and as of the year 2000 was 44% boys and 56% girls if you look at college enrollment nationally. (Center for Educational Statistics)
• Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with/as AD/HD, learning disabilities, emotionally disturbed. (Center for Educational Statistics) 
• Boys are more likely to drop out of high school and less likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than girls. (Center for Educational Statistics)
• Since 1970, the male (age 17-24) suicide rate has increased 29% and the female suicide rate, for the same age, has decreased 29%.  Males, in that age range, are 5.8 times more likely to commit suicide than females.(Center for Health Statistics) 

The list goes on.  Boys are literally behind in every category.  So what is going on?  How can we continue to support the programs and mindset that has led to more equal opportunity for girls and women as well as pay attention to the issues that today’s young men are facing?  Here are some resources to check out: 

1. I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression by Terrance Real   
2. Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys by Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson
3. Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood by William Pollack

The purpose of this blog is not to try solve these problems or provide solutions but rather to peak your attention and curiosity about the young adults in your home.  How are they doing? How do you know? What do you do, if the answer to either of those questions is “I don’t know”?  In relation to boys, clearly something is occurring in our culture that is creating difficulty for boys, and as a father of a boy, I hope we can open the dialogue about these issues.  If you feel like commenting on this blog, feel free to email me at rburke@overlake.org .  I look forward to the discussion.

A few quick reminders to make project week run smoothly:

1. Please remember to update any medical information on your child’s medical form.  Allergies, medication, etc… are often changed throughout the year, and we (the adults responsible for your children) need to know if they have any specific needs or if needs have changed.
2. Make sure that your Overlake student knows when and where they need to report for the first day.
3. Make sure you double check the list of things to bring, especially if you are traveling and will not be coming home at night. 
4. Bring something to write with.  You never know what you may learn, and you will want to be able to record your thoughts or experiences. 
5. Take pictures.  You will enjoy them later.
6. Get as much fun and learning out of the week as you can.  Overlake is one of the few schools offering a week like this, and it is a very special chance to learn and connect with a different group of kids. 

I wanted to write a quick note to clarify some questions that continue to come up around attendance at school.  As you all know, Gerald Buhaly has instituted a new attendance policy regarding extended absences that families know about ahead of time.  The purpose of that policy is to encourage families to clear those absences with Gerald before assuming that they will be excused.  Parents have responded to this new policy by letting us know with far greater frequency when they are going to be taking their child out of school for extended periods of time.  This has been very helpful for us as well as teachers that like to know this information in advance.  What seems to be more confusing is day to day attendance reporting.  Every day we have a short list of students that have missed class that day without an excuse.  Each day I send an email to those parents letting them know that their students have missed class and have been marked unexcused.  What follows is about 99% of those students get excused by their parents for legitimate reasons.  Very rarely, I will find out that a student didn’t have permission to be gone from class, and then that is dealt with as a disciplinary matter.  For the most part, the biggest concern is that when students are going to miss school for any legitimate reason (sick, appointment, dentist, orthodontist, etc…), they need parents to call and excuse them before they sign out.  There are three ways to do that:

1. email Margaret Lynch at mlynch@overlake.org
2. call Margaret Lynch at ext. 690
3. call the attendance line at ext. 703

I appreciate your help in this matter, and please give me a call at ext. 691 or email me at rburke@overlake.org if you have any questions. 

This Thursday is US Service Day, and we are very excited about our program this year.  As you may know, we hired Chris Berry as our Service Learning Coordinator, and she has brought some exciting new additions to our Service Day program.  One of the key additions has been themes for each grade: 

If you don’t count Project Week, our seniors have 25 days of school left.  Looking ahead, you can come out and support our seniors playing sports, watch them deliver their project presentations in late May or come watch them graduate in June.  When you see them around town or on campus, wish them well, and remember to let them know that school isn’t done yet.  We still have three weeks of class, AP exams and Founder’s Day.

One of the scariest parts of becoming the Dean of Students this year was thinking about whether or not I was going to be prepared to meet the needs of our female students.  I have had many years of experience working with teenage boys and the issues they present to schools and families, but I have had less experience working with girls.  Thanks to some key support from parents in our community, I started with three books:

1. Meeting at the Crossroads: Women’s Psychology and Girls’ Development by Lyn Mikel Brown and Carol Gilligan
2. Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls by Rachel Simmons
3. Promise You Won’t Freak Out: A Teenager Tells Her Mom the Truth About Boys, Booze, Body Piercing and Other.. by Doris Fuller and Natalie Fuller

With a four year old daughter of my own at home, the way that our world influences girls has been a topic of interest around my own dinner table.  I recently came across a website that was highlighting a project that is promoting self confidence and self acceptance for girls who are living with the every day influences of American culture.  This is an important topic, so check it out, and I look forward to hearing what you think.  The project is called I am Beautiful, and you can click here to check out the materials and website.  If you have comments that you would like to share with me, you can email me at rburke@overlake.org. 

The Overlake Boys’ Lacrosse team travelled North on Saturday and Sunday to participate in the North County Invitational including teams from all over the state.  Teams from every corner came to play each other in a great opportunity to test out new starters, and finalize rosters.  Several Division II powerhouses flexed their seasonal muscles in Overlake and Stadium, and other up and coming teams had a chance to bond.  One thing is certain, the level of Lacrosse here is much higher than year’s past.

Pete White, tournament director was, “thrilled with the level of play, and the atmosphere,” while other coaches commented on the value of pre-season play focused on getting ready for the season.  Coach Henry Valentine had this to say about his team winning the tourney, “I was happy we started putting some things together, playing games like this does more than any practice can do- it’s trial by fire.”  Most importantly, this served as a great opportunity to play, and Snohomish played both their teams in each game, rotating some 40 players through to get experience.  Hale broght only the younger guys for their team, and Bainbridge brought a tenacious JV Squad to play.

The Invitational supported two formats: JV and Varsity to help coaches move players back and forth as well as finding the right pieces to make the teams work.  I was impressed with the passion of the players and parents- it is obvious Lacrosse will easily root up close to the border.

Tournament Champion - OVERLAKE

 Overlake went 5-0 during the tournament, beating Stadium (4-1) 6-4 in the championship game.  Overlake was up 4-1 at halftime, Stadium came back and tied it up 4-4 in the third quarter.  Devon Schmidt scored the final two goals for Overlake, securing the Tournament MVP, and the win for Overlake.

Tourament MVP’s -

Varsity level - Devon Schmidt, Overlake

Junior Varsity Level - Dan Clauson, Lake Tapps J.V.