August, 2019 Mt
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
August, 2019 Mt. Pleasant Public Schools www.mtpleasantschools.net MISSION STATEMENT Mt. Pleasant Public Schools, together with our community, inspires each student through exceptional educational opportunities to become an engaged citizen in a diverse, changing world. Welcome Back! MARK YOUR CALENDAR Aug. 20 MPHS Open House, 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. First day of school for the MPHS New Student Orientation – 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. MPMS 6th grade Orientation 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. traditional calendar students th Ganiard, Pullen and Vowles Open House, 6:00 – is Monday, August 26 7:30 p.m. Aug. 21 MPMS 7/8 grade Open House, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Fancher & McGuire Open House, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26 Full day of school for DK-12 students Aug. 30 No school for all DK-12 Sept. 2 No school for all DK-12 – Labor Day Oct. 7-11 Balanced Calendar Intersession Oct. 16 Full day for all students MPHS Parent/Teacher Conferences 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17 Full day for all students MPMS Parent/Teacher Conferences 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4 Full day for all students DK-5 Parent/Teacher Conferences 4:40 – 7:40 p.m. Nov. 5 No DK-12 students – Election Day DK-5 Parent/Teacher Conferences 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. & 1:00 p.m. – 4:20 p.m. Nov. 15 Half day for 6-12 students, MPHS & MPMS exams Please refer to the last page of Touchstone for the full 2019/20 1 school calendar. A FEW WORDS FROM SUPERINTENDENT JENNIFER VERLEGER…… August 2019 Dear Mt. Pleasant Public School Families: Welcome to the start of the 2019-2020 school year! The start of a new school year is always an exciting time, not only for students, but for families and our staff as well. In this spirit, it is my pleasure to welcome the students and families of the Mt Pleasant Public Schools to the 2019-2020 school year! We are eager to greet you and hope that you are ready to continue the important work of our school district! Whether you are new to our district or a returning family, I want you to know that your children are in the capable hands of a highly-focused workforce committed to make the Mt. Pleasant Public Schools a progressive and successful school district. We are focused on continuous improvement and are committed to providing a safe learning environment for all students. As always, we have many exciting changes to inform you about as we start school. Here are some highlights: Balanced Calendar Program This year, we are thrilled to be able to offer a balanced calendar program to students and families in grades K- 5. This program, housed along with students on the traditional calendar at Pullen and McGuire, gives students the opportunity to take several breaks throughout the year. There is still 180 days of learning, but it is distributed differently to allow for additional intervention time and ease stress on students and staff. We are excited to watch this new program develop over the next few years. If you are interested in additional information on the Balanced Calendar program, please contact Pullen or McGuire Elementary directly. Project AWARE The Mt Pleasant Public School district is a proud partner in the SAMSHA Project AWARE Grant. This grant, focused on trauma-sensitive care in our schools, is a partnership with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, Saginaw Chippewa Academy, Shepherd Public Schools and Mt Pleasant Public Schools. Through this grant, we have hired five new counselors that will work directly with students in our buildings. Additionally, our entire district will benefit from training for our staff members and supplies that are intended to create more welcoming classroom environments. Look for Project AWARE staff members at your building’s open house and stay tuned for additional information regarding upcoming Project AWARE events! New Foodservice Program As the school year begins, we are happy to announce a new partnership with Southwest Foodservice Excellence! SFE will be in all of our cafeterias preparing fresh, healthy options for our students. There is additional information in this issue of Touchstone regarding SFE and how you can get the information you need for your child’s lunch. We are excited to welcome SFE into our district and look forward to seeing the creative, delicious menus they create for our students and staff! New Faces Along with many new teachers, drivers and support staff members, we are happy to welcome two new administrators to our district. Cathy Schafer has been a district employee since 1994. Most recently, Cathy was promoted to the position of Transportation Dispatcher during the 2018-2019 school year. We are thrilled to have her move into the position of Director of Transportation! Additionally, John Winkler is joining the district as Mt Pleasant High School Principal. John comes to us from Houghton Lake High School, where he has served as Principal for the last four years. Prior to that, John was a high school teacher and coach at Fulton High School for twenty-two years. Please join me in welcoming John and Cathy! MPPS Strategic Plan During the 2018-2019 school year, a team of district staff and community members came together to review data, including perception information, about MPPS. From this team, a rough draft of a five year strategic plan was developed. Over time, this work has evolved into a well-thought out strategic plan that focuses the efforts of our district. On Monday, August 19th, the plan will be presented to the MPPS Board of Education. Once the overall plan has their approval, additional information will be sent out to the entire community. Together, I am confident that we can achieve the goals of the strategic plan! Important Dates: The following dates will help you in planning back to school activities for your family. You will find additional information about all of these important dates and events in this issue of Touchstone too! IMPORTANT BACK TO SCHOOL DATES August 8th Letters mailed home to elementary students (including teacher letter) August 20th MPHS Open House 4:30 – 6:00, Orientation 3:30 – 4:30 MPMS 6th Grade Orientation 5:30 – 7:00 Ganiard, Pullen, Vowles – Open Houses 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. August 21st Fancher and McGuire – Open Houses 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. MPMS 7th and 8th Grade Open House 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. August 26th First day of school! Full day for ALL students K-12 August 30th No School DK-12 – Labor Day September 2nd No School DK-12 – Labor Day Coffee with the Superintendent: In keeping with past traditions, I would like to invite parents and community members to meet with me during “Coffee with the Superintendent” sessions in my office. These sessions are spread throughout the school year and offer individuals an opportunity to chat with me on a one-on-one basis. All meetings are held at Central Office in Kinney School, 720 N Kinney Street, from 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. The following dates have been scheduled for this school year: Thursday, September 5th Thursday, October 10th Thursday, November 14th Tuesday, December 17th The 2019-2020 school year promises to be an exciting one! It is my honor and pleasure to serve our schools and community as your Superintendent. I invite you to take advantage of the many opportunities to volunteer or collaborate with our district. We know that we cannot do it alone! Sincerely yours, Jennifer Verleger Superintendent BOARD OF EDUCATION Mt. Pleasant Public Schools Board of Education 2018 Tim Odykirk [email protected] President Beth Sorenson Prince [email protected] Vice President Brandon McQueen [email protected] Treasurer John Mozurkewich [email protected] Secretary Amy Bond [email protected] Trustee Sheila Murphy [email protected] Trustee Courtney Stegman [email protected] Trustee BOARD SCHEDULE KINNEY CONFERENCE ROOM 720 N. KINNEY AVE, MT. PLEASANT September 3, 2019 September 16, 2019 October 7, 2019 October 21, 2019 November 4, 2019 November 18, 2019 December 9, 2019 *All meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. The beginning of the school year is one of the great annual events for our community. It is exciting! And, as always, in MPPS there is a lot of “new and changed”, but also a lot that is the “same and comfortable”. Mt. Pleasant Public Schools continues to be committed to shaping our schools so they are offering innovative programs that support lifelong learners and to actively and continually move in a direction that supports all the students of our community. Our amazing team of committed professionals are constantly learning, researching, creating and delivering new and better ways to improve the powerful learning community we have. This year is no exception. This year we launched our balanced calendar school within a school. There has been a lot of curriculum development and alignment. We have new teaching staff, administrators and support staff that are committed to our children. We even have a completely revamped and improved menu offering through our new partners, Southwest Foodservice Excellence (SFE). You will definitely be smelling the new offerings in the buildings and I encourage you to try our great new menu items. The menus are on our new website. Yes, we rebuilt our website this summer to better serve the needs of our community. Let us know what you think. Looking toward the future school year, the MPPS School Board is in the final phase of establishing a new strategic plan for the district.