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. 

Several students from Raisinville Elementary School have taken their lunch hours over the last five months as part of the Fifth Grade Cat Club to crochet blankets for cats and kittens in the Monroe County Humane Society shelter on N. Telegraph Rd.  “The kids wanted to provide a more comfortable environment for the animals as they patiently wait to be adopted,” said Harvey (Chip) Jackson, Positive School Climate Liaison at Raisinville Elementary.   Shown here with some of the blankets they crocheted are (left to right) Justin Gromlich, Ethan Binns and Alek Homan.  Mrs. Deanna Homan, a dedicated and very involved parent at Raisinville, guided and mentored the children involved in the five months the Cat Club operated during school.  “We truly value the parent involvement in the special projects we have here at Raisinville,” Mr. Jackson said.

The Monroe High School Construction Technology Program under the guidance of Mr. Nate Nestor had an important hand in the transformation of Dena’s Restaurant on S. Dixie Hwy. which was captured on video for the “American Diner Revival” show starring Ty Pennington and Chef Amanda Freitag.  The show was taped over a week in May as the work was being done but under somewhat of a cloak of secrecy because it was a network TV show.  That cloak will be lifted at 10:30 p.m., this Friday night (June 12) when the show “Family Style Revival” airs at 10:30 p.m. on the Food Network.  Make sure you watch – you just might see some of our construction students from Monroe High School.  If you want to watch the premiere with friends, the Monroe Knights of Columbus are hosting a viewing party free and open to the public.  Doors open at 6 p.m. and any proceeds from the party will benefit Paula’s House.  Dena is a strong supporter of Monroe Public Schools and has family attending Manor Elementary School.

Congratulations to recent MHS graduate Kyla Smith who has been chosen to receive the $500 Robert Worden Scholarship awarded annually to a student who attended Raisinville Elementary School.  At Monroe High School, Kyla was student council president, a former MEA Academic All-Star and a member of the National Honor Society.  She graduated summa cum laude, was a senior scholar and played varsity softball.  Last summer she had an internship which involved the United Nations.  She plans to enter Eckerd College to study international relations and global affairs.

The popular Girl Power Camp returns this summer but in a new location – Monroe High School.  Girl Power Camp, which had been held at Arborwood Elementary School, runs Monday, June 29 through Friday, July 24, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.

     “Having the camp at Monroe High School gives our girls so many advantages,” said Mrs. Sue Sacks who has operated the program for all of the nearly 20 years it has been in existence.  “Monroe High has a pool, a stage, a lot of space for our class, it is air-conditioned, and our campers will receive free lunches each day.”

     The camp staff includes peer educators, a school social worker, a theater arts specialist and Mrs. Sacks as director.

     The camp provides a snack and lunches daily, field trips every Friday and fun while students learn about themselves and others.  Among the scheduled activities are swimming, games, arts and crafts, life skills, cooking, theater/plays, a talent show, field trips and more. 

     The camp is open to all girls going into fifth through the seventh grades.  To register or for more information, call 734-265-3538.  An entry form must be filled out.  They are available at Monroe High School, 901 Herr Rd., and the Monroe Public Schools Administration Building, 1275 N. Macomb St. 

     For two days later this month the gymnasium at Monroe High School will be the hub of high-school rabotics in Michigan as Monroe High School hosts the Michigan’s Advanced Tobotics Competition (MARC) on June 19 and 20.  MHS has hosted this early summer robotics classic for about the last five years.

     “We will have more than 40 teams competing and we will have schools from several states. Some of these teams will come hundreds of miles to be with us,” said Mike Mountain, Monroe High School electronics teacher and robotics team coach.  “This is a great spectactor sport to see what these kids have developed and admission is free.”

     Qualifying matches will run all day Friday, June 19, from 11:45 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and then from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 20.  Championship matches are scheduled from 2:30 pm. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 20.  An awards ceremony will be held immediately following the competition.

     “Competitive robotics has become a cultural phenomenon in education involving all ages,” said Jeff Demaray, team mentor for Team Virus 3547, a team including students from around the county.  “The MARC features teams of high school students guided by mentors, teachers, coaches and parents building robots that weigh up to 120 pounds competing in this year’s Recycle Rush.”

     “The kids who you will see compete in this are the ones who one day will be the next generation of engineers, designers and scientists.  A number of them will go on to achieve substantial scholarships from colleges and universities,” Mr. Mountain said.  “One of the nicest things about robotics from a spectator standpoint is that you really don’t have to understand much about robotics scoring to enjoy watching these colorful machines, and the kids who designed and are controlling them.”

     Host teams for the event are Monroe Trojan Robotics 1528, Dundee Vi-Borgs 4395, Tempest 240 from Jefferson High School and Virus 3547 which meets at Monroe County Community College and includes students from around Monroe County.

Spring 2015 was the first administration of the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP). With the completion of the testing window, the Michigan Department of Education would like to invite feedback from parents of students in grades 3 – 8, and 11 who took the M-STEP. The short survey can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/spring2015M-STEPparentsurvey

Please complete and submit the survey no later than June 19, 2015.

Congratulations to Lincoln Elementary School Alumnus Jonathon Brown who is one of two recipients of a $500 scholarship from the former Lincoln School group.  The other recipient is George Vasquez.  Although Lincoln School closed in 2009, its last staff established a scholarship fund of such size that it will last until every child who attended Lincoln has graduated from Monroe High School.  Accepted at eight major universities, Jonathon plans to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology to major in mathematics and astrophysics.The MHS National Honor Society president, a summa cum laude graduate and a senior scholar, Jonathon also was on the Southeastern Conference All-Academic team.  He was captain of the wrestling team.  He was MHS’ Upward Bound Student of the Year for 2014 and an Upward Bound Outstanding Student Leader.