First of all, I hope you cubs didn't stay up TOO late last night. I know with the promise of seeing a great big shiny ball drop a lot of you probably did! Plus it's always exciting to greet a new year. 2014 definitely promises to be a great one! So while I always do my best to bring you all good news, and I plan to, I also must occasionally deliver the bad.

The start of Winter Term is being pushed back by a few days.

Our coder for the Classroom Matrix has stated that there are still some things he'd like to do to make sure that it functions perfectly. To quote him directly, "quality is better than speed." I can't agree with him more about that, and while it pains me that it came down to this, I DO promise that you won't have to wait very much longer. I imagine the start of term will be sometime around Saturday or Sunday, perhaps even sooner! Once we have a definitive date I'll change the calender a bit so you get the extra time to do assignments and nobody gets rushed.

As far as the good news goes, we are on track to see the following things implemented this month or in February...

1. The launch of our note system! You'll finally be able to send each other, your teachers, and other staff members notes right on Little Paws!
2. The plans for extracurricular clubs have been made! All we have to do is develop the application and put up the page all about it.
3. Many of the suggestions that were made in the Town Hall Meeting have been implemented, such as some rule changes, the creation of #OOC as opposed to #Discourse, the new (old) definition of #Playground, descriptions of what every channel is for, a list of artists you can commission that give money to LPES on our Donate page, and we are now COPPA compliant. There are also many more coming! These include, but are not limited to, a display of the newest signups, a joined on date on your profile, an RP guide, a fix to the formatting issues with names for IRC registration, further security measures so we can delete the password and you can use an external client, a search function for students, and much more!

So while I always hate to be the barer of bad news, and I know a lot of you will be sad about it, please just be patient with us for a few days more. I take full responsibility for the start of term not taking place on time, but I assure you that this will be the last time that a start of term is delayed. Know that I have been working very hard, 12 hours yesterday and 15 hours the day before in addition to my regular hours, to make sure that you have the experience that you want. So please try not to be too upset.

Sincerely and apologetically yours,
Principal Tusks