Two entrances to Waterloo Elementary School will be rebuilt over the summer, after action Tuesday night (June 23) by the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education.
“Both of these entrances – the south entrance and the southeast entrance – had degraded to the point where they needed to be improved. Summer time is the right time to make the upgrades when we won’t disrupt any classes,” said Jerry Oley, director, Operations, Monroe Public Schools.
Successful bidder for the project was Gratton Construction Co. of Monroe with a bid of $29,115.
“Because the successful bidder was a local company, this will keep these dollars in our community since the work will be done by a local labor force,” Mr. Oley said.
The work will involve removing the existing concrete steps and the base around them and building a new landing, steps and railings. The railings at the southeast entrance will be replaced but the south entrance railings will be removed, re-painted and re-installed before the project is complete. Both entrances are connected to the Waterloo Playground which has had significant upgrades in the last year since the school won a $50,000 grant as part of a national school improvement contest.
Monroe High School graduate Bishop Rance Allen’s singing performance for President and Mrs. Obama will be broadcast at 9 p.m. tonight over PBS television. Bishop Allen had performed in April in a concert at the White House for the Obamas when he sang “I Stood on the Banks of Jordan.” The performance was part of a program entitled “The Gospel Tradition: In Performance at the White House.” It was recorded live for presentation tonight.
Bishop Allen is believed to be the only Monroe High School graduate ever to perform before a sitting President. During his career he has been nominated for Grammy Awards and also has received a Stellar Gospel Music Award. Monroe residents will recall his career start as a member of the Rance Allen Group, which was an extremely popular singing team beginning in 1969 and that won numerous awards.
Although Bishop Allen now is based in Toledo, he told the Monroe News, “Monroe is my home town. It’s the place where I got started.”
Two recently graduated Monroe High School seniors have each been chosen to receive a $1,000 Sarkis H. Pashaian Memorial Scholarship. They are Nathan Kueterman and Hunter Towalski, both of whom will be entering engineering programs in college in the fall.
Nathan plans to attend Western Michigan University to study aerospace engineering. Hunter plans to attend Saginaw Valley State University to study mechanical engineering.
Nathan graduated summa cum laude and was a senior scholar besides being a member of the National Honor Society. He also played four varsity sports in high school. He also has done volunteer work for Relay For Life and the Lord’s Harvest Pantry.
Hunter was a member of the National Honor Society, the Interact Club, played varsity football and was a member of the Calculus Club. He also was active with the Boy Scouts, earning the Order of the Arrow and the rank of Eagle Scout with two palms.
The scholarship is offered in memory of Sarkis Pashaian, former drafting teacher and founder of Monroe Environmental Corp. The scholarship is awarded to a Monroe High School drafting or architectural drafting student who will pursue a drafting, engineering or architecture pathway during post-secondary education.
Julie Everly, who has been a teacher and administrator with Monroe Public Schools for 20 years, has been appointed deputy superintendent of the district with overall responsibility for elementary and secondary education and human resources. She will report to Monroe Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Barry Martin.
The new role for Mrs. Everly includes a consolidation of duties with the departure July 1 of Dr. Ryan McLeod, who has been selected as superintendent of East Detroit Public Schools. Dr. McLeod’s resignation was accepted by the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education Tuesday night (June 23.) For the past several years, Dr. McLeod and Mrs. Everly have split assistant superintendent duties. Mrs. Everly was in charge of elementary education and Dr. McLeod had responsibility for secondary education. Both shared human resources duties.
“Mrs. Everly’s knowledge of our district, her demonstrated leadership and the strength of our staff all ensure a very smooth transition, and continued strong educational opportunities for all students here at Monroe Public Schools,” said Superintendent Dr. Barry Martin.
Reporting to Mrs. Everly as of July 1 will be an experienced human resources specialist already on staff, Holly Scherer, and two other positions which will be responsible for curriculum. Those persons have not been chosen.
Mrs. Everly joined the Monroe Public Schools staff in 1995 as a classroom teacher at Manor Elementary School. She was named principal at Raisinville School in 2003 and co-principal in 2009 at the then newly joined Hollywood and Cantrick buildings which were renamed Arborwood Elementary Campus. She has been an assistant superintendent since 2011.
She has her bachelor and master degrees and her Specialist Degree with Central Office Administrative Certification from Eastern Michigan University.
Dr. McLeod is the second top administrator at Monroe Public Schools to be hired as a superintendent at another district this year. Valerie Orr, who has been the principal at Monroe High School for the past two years, was named superintendent at Whiteford Schools in late May.
Also on Tuesday night. Jessica Shultz, who was assistant principal at Monroe Middle School, submitted her resignation to the board so she could accept the position of principal at Gibraltar Carlson High School.
“We certainly are reluctant to say goodbye to the people who are leaving,” said Dr. Martin. “However, it is a great endorsement of the quality of people we have in our district and the positive impact they have had on teaching and learning here at Monroe that other districts want them to come and join them.”
All children up to age 18 – including all Monroe Public Schools students – will be able to enjoy a free lunch every week day this summer thanks to a program administered locally by the Speckled Frog Early Learning Center. Seven sites throughout the Monroe Public Schools district are hosting the open free lunches, including Monroe High School where the Summer Learning Academy is being held.
“We are glad to make our sites available this summer for this nutritious lunch program. With seven places offering public lunches, there is a pretty good chance no one will have to go far for lunch,” said Julie Everly, assistant superintendent, Monroe Public Schools. “It is a real benefit for our Summer Learning Academy students to be able to have lunch as part of the school day. Siblings are invited to lunch, too, as long as they meet the age requirement.”
No registration is necessary and anyone 18 and younger is welcome to come and have lunch. Any child five or younger will have to be accompanied by an adult.
Here are the participating locations open for the public and their hours of operation. Note that lunches are served Monday through Friday, with one exception.
- Monroe High School, 11:45 a.m. through 12:45 p.m., through July 30. Lunches served Monday through Thursday.
- Monroe Family YMCA, 11:30 a.m. through 12:30 p.m., through August 28.
- Oaks of Righteousness Church, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., through August 28.
- Speckled Frog Learning Center, noon to 12:30 p.m., through August 28.
- Village Pines, noon to 1 p.m., through August 28.
- Waterloo Elementary School, 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., July 13 through August 14.
- Willow Green Mobile Home Park, noon to 1 p.m., through August 28th.
Free lunches also are provided at the Riverside Early Learning Center for pre-school only who are registered in those classes.
The program is provided at no charge as part of the USDA Summer Foods program.
The Monroe High School Class of 1985 will hold its 30-year class reunion at 6 p.m., Saturday, August 8, at the Toledo Beach Marina, Tickets are only $15 per person and the reunion planning committee would like to hear from you so they can start to get a head count. Contact classmate Kris Rossi at rossik23@sbcglobal.net if you are interested in attending. Make sure, too, that you check out the group’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Monroe-High-School-Class-of-1985/1545665345678567?fref=ts for information. Feel free to distribute this information to other Class of 1985 members who may not be internet or Facebook users.
The Monroe Public Schools Board of Education will meet tonight on the fourth Tuesday of the month, as regularly scheduled. But there will be some changes in times. The board workshop will begin at 5:30 p.m. A hearing on the proposed 2015-2016 budget is set for 7 p.m. and the board meeting begins at 7:15 p.m..
The Monroe Public Schools Board of Education will meet tonight on the fourth Tuesday of the month, as regularly scheduled. But there will be some changes in times. The board workshop will begin at 5:30 p.m. A hearing on the proposed 2015-2016 budget is set for 7 p.m. and the board meeting begins at 7:15 p.m..
Forty-five Monroe High School students met their goals in the third trimester of the school year and received checks for $200 each as part of Monroe High School’s Allies in Monroe (AIM) program.
“These kids are all great examples of what AIM stands for,” said Monroe High School Principal Valerie Orr. “These students know someone believes in them; they have shown tremendous persistence and have learned through AIM that hard work does pay off.”
AIM is an academic incentive and mentoring program for all MHS students. The program is designed to enhance student achievement, increase the number of students furthering their education after high school, and improve student-staff-community relationships. It also aims to enhance the overall Monroe High School college-going culture. MHS is the only local school to offer a program like this for students.
The program started when school began last September. It had 58 students to begin with, 29 of which made their goals which was to improve the grade-point-averages by at least 15 percent. By the third trimester, the number of students in the program had grown to 131 and 45 of them achieved their goals. Now that school is out, more than 100 students made their goals at least one time during the school year.
“There would have been even more but three kids missed by .oo1 percent each,” said Mrs. Orr, who also thanked the “allies” or the mentors who worked with the students, supporting them and encouraging them.
Four students made their goals all three trimesters. They are Jaleene Frayer, Nathaniel Gaw, Joseph Mininni, and Joseph Sivils. At the banquet, two local groups were cited by AIM for their strong financial support of the program and were designated as “AIM Angels.” They are the Monroe High School Alumni Association and GROW Monroe. Monroe Bank & Trust was cited, too, for its continued support of the group.
Students recognized for achieving their goals were: Shane Adrian, Meshawn Aldridge, Madisen Boylan, Chelsea Brooks, Cynthia Caincross, Luke Carroll, Aaron Carter, Kyle Cassidy, Jeffrey Copi, Courtney Cowan, Precious Dafney-Burciaga, Tywan Davis, Jaleene Frayer, Nathaniel Gaw, Alayna Hensley, Gabriel Howell, Zach Jenkins, Nicholas Kessler, Hunter Kinsey, Jacob Labeau, Cheyenne Lizyness, Beau Massingill, Bre’Ann McAtee, Johnathan McNamee, Joseph Mininni, Tevin Nickols, Joshua Parson, Harlan Pfefferle, Jayla Phillips, Darian Reed, Arthur Rone, Jared Salliotte, Heaven Scaggs, Alexandria Short, Trent Shotwell, Joe Sivils, Nathaniel Stevens, Daniel Sulfaro, Zoey Turner, Trevor Walls, Kaylee Watters, Jalen Wilkerson, Mariah Wilkes, and Reggena Wortinger, Lindsey Zawacki.
Eight new teachers were hired by the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education Tuesday night. June 9, to succeed instructors who had retired or resigned.
“We are very pleased with the backgrounds and qualifications of the people we have hired to start in the fall,” said Dr. Barry Martin, superintendent, Monroe Public Schools.
Dr. Martin said that typically teachers would be hired later in the summer. However, knowing the number of openings there would be on staff, this year Monroe Public Schools was very aggressive in teacher recruitment and began interviews before the school year concluded.
The newly hired teachers, their assignments, and their college qualifications are:
Kaitlyn Arnholt, math teacher at Monroe High School; bachelor degree, College of Wooster; master degree, University of Michigan; completing second master degree, University of Michigan, in August.
Rachel Dyer, math teacher at Monroe High School; bachelor degree, University of Michigan.
Keith Hanlon, teacher at Waterloo Elementary School; bachelor degree, Western Michigan University; and master degree, DePaul University.
Emily Kressbach, speech and language pathologist; bachelor degree, University of Toledo; master degree, Bowling Green State University.
Carolyn Kruger, elementary music teacher; bachelor degree, Adrian College. A graduate of Monroe High School.
Alleena Meeks, special education teacher; bachelor degree, Eastern Michigan University.
Travis Trombley, English teacher at Monroe High School; bachelor degree from Albion College.
Frances Valdez, elementary music teacher; bachelor degree, Eastern Michigan University.