"The ultimate
measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he
stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
AHS Assistant Head of School Jake Lauer
is his “other office”
We wanted to update
our community this morning on the health and progress of AHS Staff. Head of
School Michael Ackerman has returned to AHS and is hoping to be walking without
crutches in a few weeks. Although he’s dealing with a very injured ankle,
Michael’s spirits are high and he’s fortunate enough to have dodged the need
for surgical repair to his foot. “Although I’m not going to be able to chase
freshman down at the park, I’m as inspired and enthusiastic as ever to be back
leading Animas High School. This will definitely go down as a Labor Day Weekend
to remember!”
That comment is not
lost on the AHS community. As we announced in yesterday’s Weekly Update,
Assistant Head of School Jake Lauer was also involved in a serious accident
over the first weekend of the 2012-13 school year. We are happy to report that
Jake is in stable condition and looing forward to his own recovery. Jake
released the following message to the community yesterday afternoon:
Dear
Family and friends,
Yesterday
[Monday] I had a rock climbing accident. I am very fortunate that although
serious, I will be able to recover from my injuries. I spent last night at the
ICU at Mercy Medical Center in Durango because the doctors wanted to closely
track an internal injury. Today [Tuesday] my doctors moved me to the ICU at St
Anthony's Hospital in Denver because this facility could better respond to an
internal emergency. My doctors have guessed roughly that I will be here for a
week or so. Please do not worry for me, simply know that I am surrounded by
loving family and wonderful medical professionals. I love you all and look
forward to seeing each of you again soon.
Animas
High School wants to assure our community that programming at school continues
as usual. Extensive planning and preparation by the school’s leadership team
resulted in smooth operations with minimal problems arising due to Michael and
Jake’s absence on Tuesday. Mr. Ackerman has returned and resumed his duties as
Head of School. Mr. Lauer will be on medical leave and we’ll be sure to
articulate a timeline for his return later this fall. The response and well
wishes pouring into the Main Office have been tremendous and we’ll be sure to
pass along all of your thoughts and condolences to Jake.
Moving
forward, Michael Ackerman has his first set of Office Hours next Monday. Make
sure you’re scheduling time for Office Hours with the Main Office if you need
to get in to see the Head of School. Additionally, we appreciate your patience
as Michael works diligently to return all the messages and correspondence that
have come in over the past two days. Also this week, the Head of School will be
overseeing the issuance of student laptops, helping facilitate Thursday’s 12th
grade college night and dealing with all student schedule and discipline issues
while Jake is recovering.
Animas
High School is an amazing institution and we’ve been blown away by the care and
compassion extended to the school and our staff during this difficult time. We’ve set up a thread on the school’s
Facebook page where students, staff and our community are encouraged to leave
messages real-time for the AHOS. Send Jake a Get Well Message Here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=425089944194678&set=a.145645385472470.19743.129694133734262&type=1&theater
