(Written by Community Foundation of Monroe County)
The Community Foundation of Monroe County is pleased to announce that through the generous support of “The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation” they have awarded grants to six area high schools to assist in building a college-going culture and improve college enrollment outcomes.
Of the applications received the following high schools were awarded $5,000 each: Airport Community School, Jefferson School, Mason Consolidated School, Monroe HighcSchool, Ida Public School, and Whiteford Agricultural School. The funds will be used to enhance the Monroe College Access Network initiative whose mission is to increase the post secondary educational achievement of Monroe County graduates to 60% by 2025. It is our vision that by 2025 Monroe County Schools will provide comprehensive college access activities that create a college going culture.
Each school will:
- Establish a Postsecondary Advisory Council (PAC), a team of dedicated professionals to lead the school’s strategy to improve and monitor their baseline data.
- Participate is a triad of College Access events: College Application Week, College Cash Campaign and College Decision Day.
- Post secondary asset mapping – research based survey to set up tools to help schools determine what is needed for their school.
“We are so grateful for this opportunity from the “Ralph Wilson Jr. Foundation” to be able to enhance this important project that will help students and families break down barriers to succeed with post secondary education“ ,says Kathleen Russeau, executive director.
The Community Foundation has over 38 years experience of improving the conditions for people in the county through its charitable and philanthropic work. Our mission is to enhance the quality of life of the citizens of Monroe County.
Starting today (March 17,), Monroe Public Schools will ask its primary stakeholders – staff, district parents and students – to take a short on-line survey as part of the district’s ongoing School Improvement efforts.
To take the parental survey, please use this link --
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/855VVGG
The district does this annually. The survey and its results are very important to Monroe Public Schools as part of effective two-way communications with those involved in the school system. The survey provides a great picture of the thoughts and perceptions of Monroe Public Schools’ stakeholders.
The anonymous survey results will be analyzed so that district leadership can better understand the district’s strengths as well as identify areas where improvements are needed. It is the third year that district parents, staff and students are taking the survey so results can be compared with a baseline of information measuring the progress that has been made so far.
Although the survey will be kept open until Friday, April 8, parents are urged to take the survey as soon as possible. Staff members are being asked to take the survey prior to spring break. Students will take the short survey next week during either their computer lab time or during Trojan Family Time at Monroe High School and Monroe Middle School.
In recent years, Monroe Public Schools has spent considerable time and effort on school improvement activities. The anonymous survey results provide valuable information to further target the district’s work to improve student learning and achievement.
Because this is an on-line survey and not all parents may have access to a computer, all schools will have hard copies of the surveys available at their main reception desks starting Friday, March 18. Hard copies in Spanish will be available on Monday, March 21. The survey concludes April 8.
The use of technology in Monroe Public Schools classrooms is far-reaching, including the youngest students in kindergarten all the way up to Monroe High School and Orchard Center High School seniors. To get a good appreciation of a small portion what Monroe Public Schools uses technology for, please click on this link to view an informative video produced by the Monroe County Intermediate School District.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ktsxvzzphx8szaf/MONROE.mpg?dl=0
It took 6,250 digits of PI and some 225 Monroe Middle School students to do it but the students were able to encircle their school this morning (March 15) with an unbroken chain, signifying just how long Pi -- 3.14 -- actually can stretch. Here students celebrate hooking chains signifying 3.14 with the 6,248th, 6,249th and 6,250th digits in the Pi sequence. This exercise is done every several years at the school but this is the first time that the students have actually been able to go all around the school and reconnect the first digits with the last digits. The unbroken line stretched four city blocks around the school, and the students did it with about 35 feet in the chain to spare. While a number of teachers participated and helped keep the line of “chains” in as good a condition as possible, the event was headed by MMS math teachers Mrs. Katie Oberdorf and Mr. Kevin Pilgrim. On Monday, which is considered Pi Day – March 14 or 3.14 the mathematic representation for Pi – the students used their math class time to put together the paper links earn bearing a digit of Pi.
For the second consecutive year, both the Monroe Middle School Orchestra and the Monroe High School Orchestra have received first division or excellent ratings at the District 12 Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association Festival. The event was held last week at Monroe County Community College.
Earning the excellent ratings qualified both musical groups to participate in the state festival. However, neither group will be participating in the state festival due to other performance commitments. The MHS Orchestra now starts to prepare for a performance trip to Nashville, Tenn., and the MMS Orchestra will be preparing to perform in the Trills and Thrills Festival in Sandusky, Ohio.
Mrs. Ann Felder is the conductor of both groups.
Responsible Social Media:
Social media has been broadly defined to refer to 'the many relatively inexpensive and widely accessible electronic tools that enable anyone to publish and access information, collaborate on a common effort, or build relationships.
'Murthy, Dhiraj (2013). Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age. Cambridge: Polity. pp. 7–8.
Dear MHS Community::
When social media is used responsibly, it is an influential means of communication. When it is used irresponsibly, it can ruin lives. Mr. Ronald Benore, an assistant prosecuting attorney for Monroe County, and Deputy Joe Hammond joined me in putting together a student a seminar on Responsible Social Media.
We are seeing students making mistakes each day, unaware of the consequences. It is our hope to inform them of ways they can avoid using social media irresponsibility so as to avoid its negative impact. Because social media is so easy to access and does not have a delay button, its misuse can happen easily and repeatedly. I do not believe anyone starts out wanting to hurt themselves or others with social media. Many times this is the result due to circumstances that led up to its misuse.
If after watching this social media lesson you learn one thing that helps you or someone you know use social media more responsibly, we have achieved our goal. If you learn something today that a family member or friend also needs to hear, please forward this You Tube link to them. Responsible Social Media Seminar (2nd Cut)
It is our hope that social media fulfills its intent which is to provide opportunities to publish, access information, work with others on a common cause and to build, not tear down, relationships.sk It has the influence to do so much good. Let us look for ways to do this, and avoid the pitfalls of misuse.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Kreps – Principal
Dr. Barry Martin, superintendent, Monroe Public Schools, explained what is happening with the poles at Bunkelman FIeld and how repairs will go forward.
"Monroe High School’s Bunkelman Field has been closed for use due to the collapse of one of the stadium light poles. Due to safety concerns, the stadium must remain closed until the remaining three light poles can be removed. The Board of Education has contracted with a local company to remove these poles. The removal of the poles must be done very carefully and calls for the use of heavy equipment. Because of the mild winter weather conditions, the Monroe County Road Commission has implemented frost laws for Herr Road, the main access road to Monroe High School. This prohibits the movement of heavy equipment on this road. Additionally, there is concern that with the current weather conditions, bringing the necessary heavy equipment into the stadium itself to do the work could cause considerable damage to the track.
"The school district is very aware of the issues this causes for the upcoming track season, and we are looking into options that will allow students to participate in track until Bunkelman Field is available. Our greatest concern at this point is to be able to provide a safe area for sporting activities, and until the remaining poles can be removed from the stadium, it must remain unavailable for student or public use. This is a complicated and challenging issue which is going to be disruptive to our sports program and costly for the school district, but safety must remain the priority as we work through this unfortunate situation."
When track practices begin, MHS will be using the Jefferson High School facilities for practices.
Every kid in school knows that “pi are squared,” but Monroe Middle School math students will prove to the world on Monday and Tuesday, March 14 and 15, that “pi are ‘round,” as in ringing ‘round the school.
On Monday, 3/14 – Pi Day, 3.14 get it? – math students in the classrooms of Mrs. Katie Oberdorf and Mr. Kevin Pilgrim will report to the Monroe Middle School auditorium during their class times to make and connect rings of Pi digits, in order – as many as 4,000 digits. When they go home at the end of the day, a huge chain of Pi digits will be connected. Students will be preparing the rings throughout the day but the largest number of students participating at one time will be from the start of school until about 9:45 a.m.
On Tuesday morning, March 15, the math students again will report to the auditorium, this time to carry the connected Pi digits outside and encircle the school, over a four city-block area. They are scheduled to be outside starting at 8:30 a.m. and the encirclement could take as long as 30 minutes.
Members of the second grade at Custer Elementary School raised nearly $500 for the Humane Society of Monroe, had a good time doing it and their teachers were able to have all of the activities fit together as part of the school’s regular curriculum, too.
A second grade math lesson is called the T-Shirt Factory but the teachers changed it to a Dog and Cat Gram Factory lesson. The teachers incorporated all of the prescribed lessons, fitting the dog/cat factory portion into them. In social studies, the students were studying economics, particularly how people work together in a community. The students were introduced to the importance of helping dogs and cats by watching a Humane Society commercial.
Deciding to help local cats and dogs, the students in assembly-line style colored dog- and cat-grams and then taped them to suckers. Always on the lookout for smart marketing, the students also made a commercial to show at school and made posters, too. They sold the dog- and cat-gram suckers at lunch and donated all of the profits -- $488.95 – to the local humane society in a short ceremony Monday, March 7.
Teachers participating in the project were: Sherri Zub, Jan Heck, Tara Pafford, Sarah Kokx, Jennifer Reed and Polly Fraser.