After his first year as Freedom High’s principal, Mr. Stephenson has more plans in mind for the ’16-’17 school year.

“I don’t think students are going to see any major changes on the surface. What we are going to see more of is celebrations of student achievements and accomplishments – recognizing students that are doing what they’re supposed to be doing everyday,” stated Stephenson.

This may include continuing past programs such as rewards for honor roll and principal’s honor roll report cards.

“Last year, we did the limited edition t-shirts. We’re going to be doing that again, but earlier in the year,” said Stephenson. The grey tees, which feature a design on the back and a small emblem on the front, were given to each teacher to present to two exemplary students late last school year.

“A lot of the stuff we’re changing is going to be behind the scenes, things like teacher involvement. We’re going to be doing a better job of tracking students that are consistently absent and  work a lot more on conflict resolution for behavior so we can reduce behaviors before it gets to the point where students are being suspended,” said Stephenson

Administration also plans to implement more attendance incentives.

“Our goal is for our students to have a 90% attendance rate or more. Right now, we have 75% of our students reaching that 90% attendance rate, and we hope to increase it to around 85%,” remarked Stephenson.

Student athletes will be seeing changes due to the many new coaches: football, baseball, volleyball, lacrosse and boys and girls soccer.

“We‘re going to be trying to do a better job of communicating. We’ve got the morning show coming, and a new morning show teacher, Mr. McCoy. Our SGA is also really visible this year,” said Stephenson, “Mr. Nolan, our new SGA sponsor, and Aiden Boggs, SGA President, have already gotten a start on things this year with a proposal for spirit week. They’re on it; they didn’t wait until the last minute to get things done.”

The morning show is scheduled for 8:23-8:31 everyday at the end of first period.

This year’s shift in the start and end of the school meant a shorter summer for students, but midterms and other testing will be completed before winter break.

“The end of the year is going to be tight for seniors, it’s going to be really cramped. Senior exams are early June, and graduation will be during exams again,” noted Stephenson.

Returning students have experienced a high turnover of guidance counselors, assistant principals, and other administrators.

“The district made quite a few changes last year, but I don’t think we’re going to be using too much of that this year. As far as our school, I don’t expect to see too many changes in our administration unless someone gets promoted,” said Stephenson.

Stephenson also hopes to push more school events, such as last year’s Multicultural Fair, which serves as a model for other potential activities.

“My goal is to try and do more events. I need students to come up with the ideas and present them to us – we’ll listen. We need students to get involved, be here and be positive. Pep rallies are great, as long as our students are making sure they’re acting right. Last year, we did one pep rally and the students were pretty good. We do them for students to come out and have fun,” said Stephenson.

Students should expect to see the student faculty basketball game again this year.