Nicole Shaughnessy, who has taught science and related subjects at Monroe High School since 2006, has been appointed assistant principal at Monroe Middle School.
The appointment of Mrs. Shaughnessy was affirmed by the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education at its July 14 meeting.
During her time as a Monroe High School teacher, Mrs. Shaughnessy taught biology, biophysics, chemistry in the community, ecology and freshman seminar courses, and spent considerable time teaching at the Knabusch Math and Science Center. She chaired the Monroe High School Improvement Committee which led Monroe High’s achievement of Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) and national accreditation. She also created the popular SurvivorKids Camp for elementary-aged students to learn outdoor skills and celebrate nature. The program now is in its second year.
Her time at Monroe High School also included six school years of working with the school’s Upward Bound Program, where she tutored students in all science courses twice weekly during the school year, and ran workshops for the students on how to prepare for the science portion of the ACT.
Mrs. Shaughnessy earned her bachelors degree with high honors in biology and chemistry from Michigan State University. She also earned her masters degree in curriculum and teaching from MSU.
“We are proud of Nicole and what she has achieved in her years as a classroom teacher at Monroe High School. She is a great example of the kind of dedicated teachers we have at every level of our district,” said Mrs. Julie Everly, deputy superintendent, Monroe Public Schools. “We are confident that the great relationship she had with her students as a teacher and the track record she had as education innovator and leader will translate to great success for her and Monroe Middle School as an administrator.”
In her new role, she will work with Monroe Middle School Principal Cindy Flynn. Mrs. Shaughnessy succeeds Jessica Shultz, who left Monroe Public Schools for a principal position in another district.
Two Monroe High School seniors-to-be recently completed the College Summit Future Corps Training Workshop at Redlands University, Redlands, Cal. Banty Hill (left) and Aurea Williams, and their chaperone, MHS staff member Savannah Garcia, represented Monroe High School, one of only 25 Michigan schools invited to participate in the national training. With their training, Banty and Aurea now will be able to run school-wide peer-to-peer campaigns to increase college application submissions, help students to understand how to complete Federal Applications for Student Loans and increase academic enrollment. The training also equips them to train teachers and fellow students in the latest college access and success technology applications. The training also will help Banty and Aurea to increase the reach of the college counseling staff at Monroe High School by helping to institute an eight-student corps to help counselors maximize their impact to reach all students. MHS is the only high school in Monroe County to have students from its student body attend the national seminar.
Some 110 new Apple iPads will be available to students at Arborwood, Custer and Waterloo elementary schools for the 2015-2016 school year after recent action by the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education.
The iPad purchases, as well as 200 more Dell Chromebooks for use throughout the district, two new servers and eight ceiling-mounted classroom projectors for Arborwood, were among the nearly $400,000 in technology-related purchases approved by the school board.
The purchase of the additional iPads extends the number of one-to-one devices in each school. The additional hardware purchases were made to replace aging equipment and equipment which no longer worked as efficiently as needed. Those changes are expected to be implemented before school starts in September.
“All of the equipment will be used to enhance the learning experience of our students as well as providing our staff with the supporting technology tools to accomplish this,” said David Payne, Director, Technology, for Monroe Public Schools.
The largest portion of the nearly $400,000 in expenditures is in license and maintenance renewals for existing equipment. Among the $278,000 approved was money to support computer system security for cloud-based systems, desktops and laptops, phone system support, Microsoft Office and Windows licensing, the PowerSchool student information system and a replacement system for the Honeywell notification system.
“Although it was not among the most costly of purchases, the switch to a new provider for parent notifications via telephone, email and text now will have a tremendous impact on our families,” Mr. Payne said. “The new system – called School Messenger -- will be operational by the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. It will allow us to get important messages to our families much more quickly and allow us to more efficiently direct the messages to the people who need to hear 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.
Waterloo Elementary School begins its Summer Camps and Family Fun schedule of daytime classes the week of July 13 with special programming lasting well into August.
Waterloo Principal Mrs. Lisa McLaughlin said the camps have proven so popular with Waterloo students that many of the classes which are provided free of charge have waiting lists of up to 20 students. In addition, lunch is provided free each day.
Here is this year’s schedule of camps:
July 13-17, Super Scientist Camp, all day.
July 20-24, Robotics Camp, morning (older students); Readers Theater Camp, morning (younger students); Robotics Camp, afternoon (younger students); Readers Theater Camp, afternoon (older students).
August 3-6, Video Announcements and Wild Wind Camps, presented by the Monroe County Intermediate School District staff, all day.
August 10-14, Engineering Camp, all day.
In addition, Waterloo will schedule a program of 4-H fun for students in the 3rd through 6th grades this fall. The group will attend the Monroe County Fair to plan for a year of 4-H activities at Waterloo.
Families can get in on the fun, too, with Family Geocaching Nights at the Knabusch Math and Science Center in Bolles Harbor. The two remaining nights are July 13 and 27. In this activity, participants will learn the principles behind the Global Positioning System and how it is used is business and for fun.
Monroe High School will host a summer Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Tuesday July 21. The Red Cross is in desperate need of life-saving blood. Persons willing to donate should contact blood drive director Sven Wollschlaeger through either email at corinasinbox@yahoo.com or by phone or text at 734-790-5318.
Monroe High School track star Stephen Blunt has been named the Region Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year by the Monroe News. So what did he accomplish to earn the honor? According to the Monroe News, “He set a school record in the 100-meter dash. Won the 100 and the 200 in the team state meet, was a Regional champions, won Track Athlete of the Meet honors at the Mason Invitational, ran anchor on the state champion 800 relay team that set a Monroe County Region record and was part of a state runner-up 400 relay that also broke the record. The secret to his success? Stephen told the Monroe News “he usually listen to slow hip-hop music until about a minute before a race ‘just to calm myself down and not get overly excited.” He plans to run track in college, study criminal justice and possible become a border/customs agent. His teammate Corey Goodloe also was considered for the Track Athlete of the year honor.
Congratulations to Monroe High School Track Coach Mark Scoles who has been named the Monroe County Region Track Coach of the Year by the Monroe News. The Monroe News called the recently concluded track season, “one of the Trojans best seasons.” The Trojans finished third behind Saline and East Kentwood in the Division 1 state finals, their best showing since finishing runner up at states in 1989. The Trojans also were fourth in the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Team State Meet. “We were heavy with seniors this year.” Scoles old the Monroe News. “It’s been a lot of fun keeping this group together through the years but it really was a team effort. The expectations have been pretty high since their sophomore year. We had good senior leadership and amazing senior talent. But the young kids just came in and worked really hard. They did everything the right way.”
A security upgrade at all schools in the Monroe Public Schools district will take a major step forward this summer and be completed in the 2015-2016 school year.
The Monroe Public Schools Board of Education June 23 approved spending $127,118 to purchase 300 more security cameras, 100 mounts and three more servers to operate the system which will include every facility in which there are students.
The security system installation began 1½ years ago. When the upgrade is completed, every school building will have security cameras to monitor all entrances, public areas such as parking lots, playgrounds and hallways.
“This will give us a consistent high level of security protection throughout our district,” said Dr. Barry Martin, superintendent, Monroe Public Schools. “Parents have told us all along that the safety of their children is critical and we have responded to that. This is a level of security unmatched in Monroe County schools.”
The new setup also will allow building conditions throughout the district to be monitored from remote locations in the unlikely event of an emergency,
“Until now, some buildings have had more hardware in place than others but when this installation project is complete, all will have an identical high level of coverage,” said David Payne, director, Technology for Monroe Public Schools.
After the Sandy Hook situation in 2012, private security guards were hired to work as door guards at each school building in Monroe Public Schools, the first district to do so. However, over the last 18 months, the Monroe Public Schools Technology Department has steadily been increasing the number of electronic security devices across the district. A pilot program using access control, door intercoms and security cameras was tested successfully at Arborwood Elementary Campus in 2013 and 2014. With the start of the 2014-2015 school year, all school buildings had audio-video intercoms installed at their main entrances, Mr. Payne explained.
Over the past school year, other security upgrades were instituted across the district. Access control was put in place for the I Wing and F Wing entrances at Monroe High School. Security cameras were installed through the building and perimeter areas of Orchard Center High School and Waterloo Elementary School. Security upgrades to be completed
The Roessler Street Bridge might be closed but the doors are open daily at the Riverside Early Learning Center, 77 N. Roessler St., where Summer Kids Club 2015 is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday in the summer.
Spots still are available for the current term and this year come with free lunch thanks to a summer program sponsored by the USDA. Summer Kid’s Club at Riverside is open to children aged 2 ½ to 14 through August 28.
“Our theme-based curriculum offers developmentally appropriate activities that stimulate learning, fun and creativity in a relaxing and nurturing environment,” said Barb DiFiore, Riverside Kids Club director.
Children participate in well-supervised arts and crafts activities, indoor and outdoor games, cooking activities, creative experiences and educational projects. Friday means movies on the big screen in the gym with a special treat to enjoy during the movie. Students also go on field trips and special guests stop by from time-to-time, too. Riverside Summer Kids Club opportunities also include swimming at the nearby YMCA for children six and older. Water play activities also are available at Riverside Summer Kid’s Club. Nutritious snacks are served during the day, too.
Persons interested in registering their child or children for Summer Kids Club 2015 can pick up a registration packet at Riverside or call 734-265-4985.