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.
Grant Prater, a junior at Monroe High School, received a President’s Volunteer Service Award signed by President Obama from MHS Principal Mrs. Sandra Kreps, in a ceremony March 8 at the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education meeting. It was one of two awards Grant won as part of the 2016 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.
He also was recognized as a distinguished finalist for his volunteer service as one of the top Michigan students this year.
Grant, who also is an Eagle Scout and very active at Monroe High, was recognized for spearheading the creation of a clothing closet at Monroe Middle School to store donated clothes, hats and gloves for students in need, eliminating the prior method of storing the items in trash bags. He worked with school officials, fellow student volunteers and his family, to convert a former school storage room to what is now called the “Trojan Outfitters” clothing closet. It actually looks like a mall clothing shop.
“You are an exemplary role model for your peers. Contributions like yours make our communities and our entire nation stronger. We salute your achievements,” officials of Prudential Financial and the National Association of Secondary School Principals wrote in a letter informing Grant of his selection.
Throughout Monroe Public Schools, students and staff have the advantage of the latest educational technology in classrooms at every level. Much of the money used for technology purchases comes from the Monroe County Educational Technology Millage. To see a good example of technology at work in our classrooms, please check out the link below.
Two choral groups from Monroe Middle School have qualified to participate in the state Michigan School Vocal Music Association festival in in May at Holt High school by achieving excellent ratings (1) at the District 12 festival this past weekend in Lincoln Park.
Receiving the excellent ratings were the MMS group Jubilation and the eighth grade choir from Team C. Choir director Mrs. Elise Dinwoody said that both groups also received perfect scores in sight reading which is quite an accomplishment.
Besides the two groups qualifying for the state festival, three other MMS choirs received good ratings. They are the seventh grade choirs from Teams A and B and the eighth grade choir from Team B.
The Monroe High School Boy's Basketball game against the Saline Hornets tonight will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. tonight on monroecountyradio.com. Jeff Yorkey and Jarod Calkins will handle play-by-play of tonight's game. To listen to the game, just go to monroecountyradio.com and click on Listen Live.
Due to icy and snowy road conditions in the district, there will be no school for Monroe Public Schools today, Thursday, February 25. In addition, kid’s club at Riverside and Custer will be cancelled for today and all after-school activities are cancelled, too, including all Community Education classes and activities. Repeating there will be no school today for Monroe Public Schools, Thursday, February 25. Thank you and have a nice and safe day.
The Monroe Public Schools Board of Education has asked the school district’s administration to look into the possibility of razing the former South Monroe Townsite School and selling the property on which the school now stands. The school has been used in recent years for the Head Start program of the Monroe County Intermediate School District and for Monroe Virtual High School. However, at the end of this school year, Head Start will be moved to Arborwood North Elementary School, leaving the school vacant. A final decision on the future of the building could be made by the school board by the end of March.
There will be a half-day of classes for Monroe Public Schools students on Wednesday, February 24. Pre-school at Riverside will operate on its normal schedule, and kid’s club at Custer and Riverside will operate on the regular schedules, too. Once again, students will have a half-day of classes on Wednesday, February 24.