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Chisago Lakes High School is changing things up for this year's open house in an effort to establish good communications between teachers, students and parents from the start of the year.

Principal Dave Ertl and Assistant Principal Sara Johnson said it has been many years since the school has hosted an open house for all students and parents, not just incoming freshmen and new students.

"We want to get more parents involved and meeting the teachers, increasing those parent-school connections," Ertl said.

This year, freshmen will attend an orientation Tuesday, Sept. 1 from 2 to 6 p.m. During the program, the ninth graders will be paired up with an upperclassman Link Leader as part of the school's Link Crew mentoring program.

Ertl will make a brief presentation, but he said the Link Crew will be leading much of the meeting.

"It's much more important for them to hear from the Link Crew than boring stuff from the principals," Ertl said.

The freshmen will also have their school pictures taken, rather than after the start of the school year.

At 6 p.m., parents are invited to attend an orientation presentation with their ninth grade students. CLHS staff will be introduced and families will receive a brief overview of basic school information.

Also new this year, new students will then be taken through a mock schedule after meeting with their advisor.

"They will have 10 to 15 minutes at each class, hear the bell ring and be able to really see how their day is scheduled," Johnson said. "Obviously the purpose is to have all the kids ready for their first day."

From 6:30-8:30 p.m., the rest of the student body and their parents are invited to attend open house. Pictures for tenth and eleventh graders and seniors who wish to have a school picture will be taken during the open house, starting at 6 p.m.

All students will have the opportunity to purchase their annual parking permits and activity passes, order yearbooks, obtain scholarship information and seniors will be able to turn in forms for senior privilege cards, if eligible.

All district schools will be asking parents to update contact information to be included in a new SkyAlert notification system. During CLHS open house, parents can update information and choose to be notified via email, telephone or text message of school closures and delays.

The district's Family Access program for secondary students will also be used at CLHS to allow electronic viewing of midterms and final grades, rather than mailing out report cards.

Information on parking permits, SkyAlert, etc., including school lunch accounts and purchasing items for classes such as safety glasses, will be available in the school cafeteria at various tables, Ertl said.

"All the high-ticket items will be available that night," Ertl said. "We're hoping the open house concept will catch on like the one at the middle school, which is very successful."

Everyone is also invited to a brat feed from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. near the stadium plaza, sponsored by the CL Wrestling Boosters.

Ertl and Johnson said students have already been notified of the open house through "save the date" postcards, and will receive detailed letters mailed out later this month.

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