The health department is currently conducting flu clinics every Friday through December in the VFW Hall in Hart from 9am-12pm. Please stop by if you need your flu shot. They are accepting walk-ins or you can call and schedule an appointment at 888-217-3904.
Good Afternoon Families and Friends,
I want to remind everyone to continue using best practices to stay healthy and safe during this pandemic time. While we have not had any positive cases in our district this year, we have seen there have been some spike in cases in Oceana and neighboring counties.
To quote the health department “Many of us are suffering from “COVID fatigue” and need some reminders to take the steps needed to keep COVID-19 under control until a vaccine is available.” We want to continue to encourage and remind families of the importance of screening your children for symptoms of COVID-19 prior to leaving for school and of keeping your kids home if they aren't feeling well. We continue to encourage our staff to honestly complete their daily symptom screenings and ensure this is being done. If we continue to work together and follow the safety protocols of self-screening, staying home if we are not feeling well, safe distancing, wearing our masks and washing/sanitizing our hands as often as possible, we will be able to keep our doors open and safe for face-to-face instruction to continue.
Thank you for your time and help keeping our students, staff and school safe!
Respectfully,
Dr. Scott Karaptian
Hello Friends,
I am sure that you have heard that there is a shortage of Guest/Substitute teachers in the area and across the state. This is more than a rumor and unfortunately it is the truth. We really could use some good people to help in the area of guest/substitute teaching.
If you are interested in making $90 a day and have at least 60 credit hours from a regionally accredited college or have a current, expired or out of state teaching certificate, we sure could use your help in our district. If this is a journey you are interested and willing to take, please contact Mrs. Glover at 231-869-4100 or visit EduStaff’s website at edustaff.org to gather more information .
Thank you!
Spectrum Enterprise's K-12/Higher Education “Stay Connected” programs
Broadband connectivity and access to the technology and skills needed to use it have become even more critical as the country continues to face the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Spectrum's products and services are helping customers do their jobs, learn remotely, connect with medical professionals, access vital information, and keep in touch with family and friends.
To help ease the strain for families and teachers who still lack broadband, Spectrum recently announced that they will again offer free internet service for 60 days beginning September 21, 2020. The offer includes free access to Spectrum Internet at speeds up to 200 Mbps in most markets, in-home Wi-Fi, and a self-installation kit for households with K-12 and/or college students or educators who do not already have a Spectrum Internet subscription for 60 days. Those interested in enrolling should call (844) 310-1198.
Dear Parents & Guardians,
Dogs in schools have shown to improve overall climate, support student’s academic progress and meet individual student’s social and emotional needs through contact and jobs. Students learn how to treat animals, show affection and receive an unconditional affectionate response. I have been working on raising and training a dog to come to school to provide these opportunities.
Theo is a mini-golden doodle, hypoallergenic and is about 8 ½ months old. Theo joined my family in March and we have been training together since day one and then began working with a private trainer in July. Theo passed the Canine Good Citizen test which is needed to become a therapy dog. We obtained board approval last spring.
Procedures are in place; Theo must be on lead at all times, students must ask to pet and receive approval to do so, no more than 2 students are allowed to pet at one time and students engaging in jobs will need permission from their families . I will discuss Theo’s presence and purpose with each classroom prior to Theo coming to school and we will follow the Approach, Ask, Pet procedure. Initially, due to COVID and training, Theo will come to school for a few ½ days a week with minimal to no student contact. Students will get used to having Theo in the building and Theo will get used to having students in the building. Theo is very familiar with the building as he has been coming to school all summer long. Theo will be housed in my office where he has a kennel for breaks. Theo will be out in the hallway and around school with me when I am out and about.
It is important for us to gather information regarding your child’s needs related to dogs. If your child has animal allergies I need to know, if your child has a fear of dogs I need to know. Please use this google form to report any information that we may need to have regarding your child and dogs.
Link to google form (please copy and paste into your browser, an email with the link was also sent to parent/guardian emails:
https://forms.gle/KeqNaKjPG19A9ifU8
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Lisa Wagner
Boo! Please see the attached Halloween Tips provided to us by the District Health Department #10 and the Michigan Health and Human Services Department. Thank you!
A big thank you to the Ludington Lowe's! On Tuesday, October 13th, 2020, Lowe's donated a classroom set of buckets to the Pentwater Music Program. We'll be using these for some elementary bucket drumming lessons. Thank you, Lowe's!
Boo! Please see the attached Halloween Tips provided to us by the District Health Department #10 and the Michigan Health and Human Services Department. Thank you!
Please see the attached updated 2020-2020 district calendar for Pentwater Public Schools, updated 10/12/2020. We thank you for your flexibility as we modify the schedule accordingly.
The JH and varsity volleyball game scheduled for Monday, 10/12, versus Baldwin has been canceled. Thank you!
A winter basketball athlete/parent/coach meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 10/13/2020, at 6pm. Any students in grades 6th-12th who will be participating in junior high or high school basketball should plan on attending. Girls will be meeting in the small gymnasium with boys meeting in the large gymnasium! If you cannot make the meeting, please contact Ralph Baker, AD. We hope to see you there, Go Falcons!
Please see the attached 2020/2021 District Calendar, effective 10/2/2020. Please note that dates may change and we will keep families up to date on any changes! If you have any questions, please contact the school office. You may also view our district google events calendar on our website.
Please see the attached link to the Parent Update for the Week of October 5!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_iMoD2ZSGX-1qUXa63Gs4H_emaEfZk31rQySb95gIrw/edit?usp=sharing
For those families who ordered school photos online through Geskus Photography, Inc., your students' photos will be sent to the school to be distributed, there was a glitch in their system and they were not in the first batch of photos. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Congratulations to Alexis Settler who finished in 3rd place at the Equestrian Meet this weekend. Alexis and her horses, Angel and Milo, won in many classes. Alexis was also recognized for designing the 2020 Regional Championship T-shirt, which will be used across the state of Michigan as the Regional competitions start!
The bands had a boomwhacker of a good time on Friday, October 2nd, 2020! We started our morning outside with the HS Band and caught this beautiful double rainbow (and later it became a triple rainbow!) and then we headed inside when it began to rain to play some boomwhackers. For many of the students, this was a first! Check out this video of the JH Band playing Imperial March: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFz-C8nv0Ug&feature=youtu.be
Please read the attached letter from Dr. Scott Karaptian pertaining to the new learning format expectations as we move to our four (4) day face-to-face format on Monday, 10/5/2020.
Thank you!
See the attached information about free tuition for essential workers!
Thank you to Crissy from Big Rapids Crossroads for sharing the photo she was able to get on Monday, 9/28/2020, during the JH and varsity girls volleyball game!
September 28, 2020
Dear family and friends,
I would like all of you to know that the school board and administration does and has heard the concerns of many families, students and staff regarding the difficulties of the current Blended/Hybrid learning platform. As I still believe that this was the safest way to open the school with so many unknowns in opening schools during a pandemic, it is also important to hear from our educational community that there were many educational, emotional and social concerns that could not be addressed adequately in the blended/hybrid format. It is also important to know that there is NO perfect way to run school during this pandemic that is going to work for everyone but we are trying to meet the needs of as many students as we can.
Below is the data information from the Learning Environment Survey that was released Friday afternoon to gather opinions on whether or not people felt that the current Blended/Hybrid learning format was supported and whether or not there would be any support to move toward All student meeting 4 days face-to-face with a full remote option for those who did not feel comfortable with the all face to face option. See data information below:
The first question asked if families were in support of the current Blended/Hybrid model, whether people felt that it was working; working but could be better; or, not working at all. There were 162 respondents and 54/162 felt it is not working at all. 77/162 felt it was working but could be better and 31/162 felt that it was working well.
The second question asked how much support there was for keeping the current Blended/Hybrid model or trying something completely different. 84/162 respondents would like to try something completely different while 78/16 were in favor of keeping what we have and try to make it better.
The third question asked the amount of support there would be if Pentwater chose to move to have ALL students meet four (4) days face-to-face and one (1) day where everyone is full remote. 131/162 are in favor of this move while 31/162 are not.
The final question of the survey asked families how they would choose to have their students participate, either in the ALL four (4) days face-to-face and one (1) day full remote option or have their student(s) participate in the all full-remote option. 144/162 families stated that they would have their students participate in the ALL four (4) days face-to-face and one (1) all remote day, while 18/162 stated that they would have their students participate in the full remote option.
With the knowledge of the above information, the district will be moving toward an ALL student, four (4) days face-to-face and one day full remote learning format beginning Monday, October 5, 2020. We will continue with our current schedule with students meeting face-to-face on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with Wednesday being a full remote day for all students. On Wednesdays, teachers will make contact with students who are on the everyday full remote schedule, being available for questions for all students, as well as using this time to plan, upload video supports and information into Google Classroom. We will also use Wednesday as a cleaning & disinfecting day while having the building student free for at least 24 hours.
If your students are not currently participating in the full-remote learning option and with this new change you would like them to be full-remote, please email Mrs. Lisa Wagner at lwagner@pentwater.k12.mi.us to make this request. The same is true if your student(s) are currently full remote and you would like them to return to the all four (4) days face-to-face option, please email Mrs. Wagner.
With this being said it is important to remember to self-check your students every morning before sending them to school, if they are not feeling well, please keep them home! We will not be changing the times that the school doors open, currently 7:45 am. Please do not drop your students off early as they will have nowhere to go and we want to eliminate the potential of gathering and not following safe distancing protocols. Elementary students will still be entering from their exterior classroom doors.
I want to thank all of you for taking the time to respond to the survey and I also want to thank all of you for your continued patience and support as we continue to work through these times together as a Village, Community and Family!
Respectfully,
Dr. Scott Karaptian