Principal Chris Choat met with his administrative team outside his office on Friday to remind them of the altered schedule and their preparations for the Homecoming events. Despite how excited they are to celebrate Homecoming, Choat reminds his team to continue their preparations, administrative duties and to make sure students are doing what they’re supposed to do.

Choat said he met with his team at the beginning of the year, once a month leading up to the parade, and every week of October to prepare for the Homecoming events and to see what they need.

“I do a lot of messaging for them like if they need anything from athletics and if they need signs from one of our storage sheds,” Choat said. “So they tell me all of that, and I just direct people to do that stuff for us.”

Choat said that while the administrative team rides in a truck during the parade, their main responsibility is managing the school and students leading up to the celebration.

“Fridays, I always keep my schedule clear, because those tend to be the craziest days,” Choat said.

Choat said cheer coach Annette Reynolds and Sheila Martin have organized the Homecoming parade for 30 years, and that they do lots of behind the scenes work to make sure the winners are recognized with gifts and prizes.

Choat said those in the parade are people in a group or club at RHS and businesses that sponsor or donate money to the school. They emphasize that political campaigning or anything religious display is not allowed in the parade.

Choat said in the previous years, some floats were politically focused, so it was time for the administrative team to reflect and reiterate that the parade is to promote school spirit.

Student Resource Officer Carlos Lozada said for the Homecoming parade, the Richardson Police Department shuts down Belt Line, Floyd and Dogwood roads and puts electric signs a week before to let the public know when the road will be closed.

“Occasionally by Floyd and Beltline where it starts, people kind of get confused, but we have officers and city personnel to help guide them or correct them,” Lozada said. “We’ve been doing this for so long that everyone knows what the their expectations are.”

Lozada said many of the officers have started planning with the city a week before to cone off the major roads. They will also be briefed down at the station about their expectations for the parade.

Choat said that while it is not permitted to throw candy from floats, they have a backup plan to make sure the crowd get treats.

“Ms. McLennan, one of my assistant principals, will be on the side of the road with a scooter and going to the kids and giving [candy],” Choat said.

He said the parade is always a little nerve wracking because there’s a lot of kids on a major road and vehicles coming through.

He said when students leave the Homecoming dance for the night, they remind them to be safe and make good decisions.

“That’s what I worry about most, is when they’re at places that we can’t supervise,” Choat said.

Choat said he went to a meeting with safety and security, central athletics, his direct supervisor and our area superintendent called “game day operations meeting” where they talk about the logistics for the Homecoming football game.

He said they discuss what time the gates open, where to place administrators to check for IDs, concerns when playing in a district rivalry game, what time band is performing, and if there’s anything concerning about the game on social media.

“Safety and security and district staff can adjust as they need, and we can make the adjustments we need as administrators,” Choat said.

Choat said there is 12 officers from safety and security there if anyone tries to sneak in, if there’s any trouble from non-RHS students or fans, and makes sure everyone goes through the metal detectors.

“They have their things that are responsible for campus administration. We have our things we’re responsible for and then central athletics has their thing,” Choat said. “So we kind of divvy that up. Once we establish that at the first home game, we stick with that system throughout the whole season.”

Choat said he expects to handle the Homecoming game as they always do, monitoring students and making sure they’re having a good time.

Choat said at the Homecoming dance, his team will make sure no one is doing anything they’re not supposed to and checking in on students to see how they’re doing.

Assistant principal Allison Reams said her main role for the Homecoming dance is making sure that anybody that wanted to bring a guest, could bring a guest.

“I organized the form that they could fill out and the process for them to be able to purchase tickets for their guest,” Reams said.

Choat said director Christina Hinchey and the Eaglettes do a great job organizing the Homecoming dance.

“It’s a great opportunity for our underclassmen especially,” Choat said. “They get to really be involved in that and experience a high school dance for the first time so we’re excited about that.”

Choat said on altered schedules such as Homecoming day, there’s more students in the hallways that they have to make sure they get to class.

“The way we look at it is 98 percent of the students are here and enjoying the Homecoming dance and doing what they’re supposed to,” Choat said. “But unfortunately, we do have some issues where we have to take care of them.”

Choat said in times where disciplinary incidents happen, there are protocols in place to handle them whether it’s a conflict or general code of conduct violations. He gets every administrator involved for each of them to handle the situation and later they will come back together with names and make sure they’re handling it correctly.

He said on Friday, he had extra people come over from district and coaches to help monitor the lunches.

“This is how I handle it, just getting extra people here to help us out so that everyone gets through their positions and roles,” Choat said.

Choat said he knows everybody’s excited for the parade because it’s rare to see that tradition in a city setting like this.

“The students I’ve seen talked to are into it, and they love the tradition, and we want to keep that going,” Choat said.