August, 2020 Mt. Pleasant Public Schools www.mtpleasantschools.net MISSION STATEMENT “EMPOWER EXCELLENCE” Welcome Back! MARK YOUR CALENDAR **Please refer to building specific letters for Open House details! First day of school for the Aug. 25 MPHS Open House, 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. MPMS 6th Grade Orientation, 2:30 – 7:30 p.m. traditional calendar students Ganiard, Pullen & Vowles Open Houses, is Monday, August 31st!! 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. th th Aug. 26 MPMS 7 and 8 Grade Open House, 2:30 – 7:30 p.m. Fancher & McGuire Open Houses, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. Aug. 31 Full day of school for DK-12 students Sept. 4 No school for all DK-12 Sept. 7 No school for all DK-12 – Labor Day Sept.28-Oct. 2 Balanced Calendar Intersession Oct. 15 DK-5 Parent/Teacher Conferences 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. Oct. 16 No DK-12 Students DK-5 Parent/Teacher Conferences 9:00-12:00, 1:00- 4:00. PD for secondary staff. Oct. 21 Full day for all students MPHS Parent/Teacher Conferences 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22 Full day for all students MPMS Parent/Teacher Conferences 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3 No DK-12 students – Election Day Staff Professional Development Nov. 11 & 12 Full day for DK-12, Secondary exams Nov. 13 1 Half day DK-12 students, Secondary exams Please refer to the last page of Touchstone for the full 2020/21 school calendar. A FEW WORDS FROM SUPERINTENDENT JENNIFER VERLEGER…… August 2020 Dear Mt. Pleasant Public School Families: Welcome to the start of the 2020-2021 school year! The start of a new school year is always an exciting time for students, families and staff. This year, as we start school in the middle of a pandemic, I believe most of us are facing more anxiety and uncertainty than we have known before. In order to address these concerns and unknowns, our staff has spent countless hours over the last three months developing our Return to School Plan. While I know our plan may not be perfect, we believe it will keep our students and staff members safe. Over the next several months, we will continue to work with local and state organizations to revise and improve our plan. Updates will be sent to home email addresses, added to the website and posted on social media. Included in this issue of Touchstone is important information regarding our Return to Learn Plan. You will find clearly laid out expectations for students and families. We appreciate your help with all of our new safety protocols and requirements. Please know that our plans were made with the health and safety needs of our students and staff as our top priority. We know this is not perfect. We are committed to continue providing rigorous, high quality instruction for all students in a supportive environment, whether that be face-to-face or virtual. If your family has decided to join the Oilers Online program, you will receive additional information soon from our Technology Department so you can be ready for the first day of school. Students in our face-to-face programs will also receive additional information soon regarding open houses and what to expect as we begin this year. We appreciate your flexibility as we prepare for this year. Part of our planning includes anticipating changes that may happen to our district if our region moves into a different Phase of the MI Safe Start Plan. As much as we are able to do, we are preparing for the unknown. We will work to make sure you are informed as changes happen. Working together, we are confident that we will have a successful school year. Important Dates: The following is an updated list of our important return to school dates: IMPORTANT BACK TO SCHOOL DATES August 25h MPHS Open House 4:30 – 6:00 p.m.* MPMS 6th Grade Orientation 2:30 – 7:30 p.m.* Ganiard, Pullen, Vowles – Open Houses 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. August 26th Fancher and McGuire – Open Houses 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. MPMS 7th and 8th Grade Open House 2:30 – 7:30 p.m.* August 31st First day of school! Full day for ALL students K-12 September 4th No School DK-12 – Labor Day September 7th No School DK-12 – Labor Day *Times assigned by alphabet 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. In this spirit, it is my pleasure to welcome the students and families of the Mt Pleasant Public Schools to the 2020- 2021 school year! We are eager to greet you and are grateful for your support of our plan moving forward. This will be a year full of unique challenges and opportunities. I am thankful we are in it together! Go Oilers! Jennifer Verleger Superintendent BOARD OF EDUCATION Mt. Pleasant Public Schools Board of Education 2020 Tim Odykirk [email protected] President Amy Bond [email protected] Vice-President Brandon McQueen [email protected] Treasurer John Mozurkewich [email protected] Secretary Sheila Murphy [email protected] Trustee Courtney Stegman [email protected] Trustee Position Open BOARD SCHEDULE KINNEY CONFERENCE ROOM 720 N. KINNEY AVE, MT. PLEASANT September 21, 2020 October 5, 2020 (if necessary) October 19, 2020 November 2, 2020 November 16, 2020 December 14, 2020 *All meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. A few words from your Board President Tim Odykirk……. Can things get any crazier! I mean really. The challenges are… well…colossal and very close to being overwhelming. There has never been so much rethinking, retooling, reimagining, and learning and relearning over every component of our education system at such a blistering speed. These are stressful times for everyone. This pandemic has been a direct hit at our core. A direct hit to our family, safety, food, shelter, health, job, money, friends, community, state. When everything is under attack what do you do? What does a school district do? First, you need to focus on the health and safety of our students and families, everyone in our community. We need to remember we are a community and we need to see our entire community. When we are under stress our vision narrows and we need to recognize this and work to keep our sightlines open as broad as possible to see what is coming and to understand the needs of our entire community. We are literally all connected. We also need to give ourselves grace and we need to give grace to others. We need to assume people intend to do good, not bad. We need to recognize everyone is learning and doing their best. Next, we need to empower our students so they can reach their educational goals. Every student does this differently and has different goals. Because we all come from and are going to different places it is O.K. to treat people differently so that we all can stand at the same height and so we can all move forward together. As a district, we are always trying to provide these diverse opportunities and during a pandemic emergency we are still trying to provide these diverse opportunities. But we also have to remember that this institution has to remain viable to exist. It has been an amazing experience seeing the MPPS education team willing to challenge themselves to teach and be the powerful educators that they have been but in a completely new and different ways. I have seen their determination to be strong and connecting with their students as they have always done before the pandemic emergency. I have heard how important this is to them. Their students’ emotional health and their students’ academic growth mean everything to them. They have also sacrificed much already and have been gracious in offering to sacrifice more. We need to thank them. They are essential to our community, our children. It has been empowering to see what a phenomenal job our MPPS students and their families, and the greater community, have achieved as they raised to battle this significant challenge. I know we will continue this battle. We all need to recognize what we have done over these past months and pause and reflect to say to ourselves, “Way to go Oiler! It has been hard, but I got this!!!” It is easy to be together when the water is calm, but it is work when the water is rough. And the water is very rough so we MPPS students, teachers, families, and the many community support organizations, need to work together even harder to move our children, and community, forward. I know that if any district can do this, our MPPS team with the strong partnership of our MPPS families, and the commitment of our students, can achieve even greater success! Wear a mask! Wash your hands! Grant grace! Assume good intent! Commit to Learning! Go Oilers! Tim Odykirk, MPPS Board of Education President Board of Education Vacancy We are seeking applications for the current vacant position on the MPPS Board of Education. An individual will be appointed to fill the vacant position until December 31, 2022, which is the remainder of the position term.