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
September 25, 2020
Dear Family and Friends,
As we finish our third week of school in the Hybrid Learning platform, I think that we can all agree that there have been many challenges. When this plan was approved by the Board of Education in August, the COVID-19 cases were still pretty hot in our area and even though it has gone down quite a bit, this pandemic still exists and we need to continue to monitor cases and the safety and well-being of students, staff and community.
With this being said, the original goal was to re-evaluate the current Return to School Plan at the end of the first marking period on November 6, 2020, to determine whether we continue with this plan, return to full day face-to-face instruction or go to a 100% remote format. On August 20, 2020, the Governor issued an order that all schools must submit an Extended Covid Learning Plan (ECOL) that requires all school boards to evaluate a school's Return to School Plan every 30 days. Pentwater Public Schools ECOL plan was submitted after our September 21, 2020, school board meeting and will be evaluated within the next 30 days to determine our Plan’s instructional delivery moving forward.
To help guide our decisions, we would like to gather information from all of you by having you complete this very short survey (https://forms.gle/oUePhQBkVWVi3b3v9). The information gathered in this survey is very important and we ask everyone to please fill out and submit this survey to have your opinions and thoughts heard to help determine Pentwater’s instructional delivery method. The time is of the essence and we ask everyone to have the survey completed by Tuesday, September 29, 2020.
We do hear and respect everyone’s opinions and concerns and we thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work together to figure out how education can be done as safely as possible in Pentwater, while in a pandemic situation.
Respectfully,
Dr. Scott Karaptian
The sky's the limit with who we are able to welcome into our classrooms now that we are becoming so savvy with Google Meet! On Friday, September 25th, 2020, the HS Band welcomed Dr. Jordan VanHemert to speak about the transition from Swing to Bebop in Jazz back in the mid-twentieth century and how social movements and Jim Crow Laws propelled the genre forward. Dr. VanHemert is a professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies at Hope College and joined us from Holland, MI. Students in-person and remotely were able to connect with him simultaneously as a result of our use of the Google Meet platform.
As we continue the balancing act of supporting in-person and remote learners, and our inability to play our instruments safely indoors, the HS Band will have several opportunities to meet with music professionals in the field as we discuss how music relates to social movements throughout our global history.
Thank you, Dr. VanHemert!
Any 7th - 12th grade student can find this workshop useful, sign up today, if interested.
The Pentwater Equestrian Team featuring Alexis Settler is currently in 4th place at the District 9 Competition! They have one more meet on Saturday!
Pentwater Public Schools is looking for a full-time custodian. If you are interested or know of anyone that would be interested, please contact the school office. Thank you!
Thank you so much to Michele Anscombe at the Painted Frog Art Gallery in Pentwater for the generous donation of art supplies!
On Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020, several members of the 6th Grade Band came together for our first Virtual Full Band rehearsal! Every Wednesday, 6th graders are invited to join our virtual rehearsal and make music with their classmates remotely. The creativity and positivity of our students, staff, and community is so evident in moments like these. Go falcons!
For more information regarding what's happening in music/band, please check out Ms. H's teacher page through the school website (https://www.pentwaterschools.net/teacher_pages#/teachers/27534/bio), ask students about their Google Classroom, and/or contact Ms. H directly
Please see the attached flyer for the first PTCO meeting for 2020/2021!
Good Evening Pentwater Family, please check out the link below for a video update from Dr. Karaptian.
https://youtu.be/Sj5JvKojkkw
Here are a few area locations where students can access free wifi for remote learning if needed, thank you to these organizations for allowing our families to use your services:
Pentwater Centenary United Methodist Church
May access from car on Hancock St
UN: Centenary
PW: Umc82Pent
Pentwater Public Library
UN:
PW: PentwaterLibrary
Up North Market
May access from car in parking lot
UN: Guest
PW: None