There will be a half-day of school for Monroe Public Schools students on Wednesday, January 25. Pre-school at Riverside, along with Kids Club at Riverside and Custer, will operate on a regular schedule.
In honor of the Martin Luther King holiday, there will be no school on Monday, January 16. In addition, the Monroe Public Schools Administration Building will be closed. Classes will resume and the administration building will reopen on Tuesday, January 17.
Three experienced Monroe Public Schools Board of Education members were elected by their colleagues as officers at the January 10 organizational meeting.
The Board elected Lawrence VanWasshenova as president, Floreine Mentel as vice president, and Cynthia Taylor as secretary. Katherine Eighmey, MPS Business and Finance Director, was re-appointed as treasurer.
Mr. VanWasshenova, who has served on the Board since 2003 and as vice president since 2013, will preside over regular and special meetings.
The board voted Tuesday night to continue to hold its regular meetings at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Workshops, which generally precede board meetings, will continue to start at 5:30 p.m.
Monroe High School’s after-hours Certified Nursing Assistant class still has a few openings and you do not have to be a Monroe High School student to qualify.
Starting Monday, September 14, this after-school class will meet once weekly from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Mondays, and will run for the entire 2015-16 school year.
All Monroe County high school seniors in any public or private school with an interest in Health Careers, and with good attendance and discipline records, are invited to the first meeting where you can still enroll. Details will be worked out for class credits and scheduling with each school district that has a student participation in this county-wide Career and Technical Education (CTE) offering.
Earlier registration and more information is available by calling MHS CTE Director Bill Ferrara at 734-265-3453.
A Back-to-School newsletter is now out and is being distributed with various pieces of information, tips and schedules needed for the soon-to-start school year. It also includes a piece from Dr. Martin, our superintendent, about how the word, TROJANS, describes what we as Monroe Public Schools, offer to our students and families. A copy is attached to this posting. Enjoy, and we will see everyone back in class on September 8. Have a safe weekend.
Thursday's edition of the Monroe News contained the bus routes for this coming school year. The routes also can be found here by clicking on the "Bus Routes" icon on this web site. If you want to see the information published in the Monroe News, click on this link. http://www.monroenews.com/news/2015/sep/03/monroe-schools-announces-bus-schedule/
Just as children are returning to school comes the return to Community Education with the release of the fall classes catalogue. Some old favorites are back but the list of nearly 80 classes includes some first-time offerings which are bound to be very popular.
“We are very happy with the classes we have this fall and we are confident the community will be, too,” said Amy Poley, Director of Community Education. “It doesn’t matter if you want to keep fit with some of our exercise classes, learn a new hobby or want to check out some of our special programs, we strive to have something to appeal to almost every interest.”
Among the nearly 80 classes that are available are 12 arts and crafts, 12 special programs, 10 fitness and recreation, 10 children’s-related offerings, eight sewing and needlecraft and six water-related classes.
Back again this fall are belly dancing, digital camera and homemade herbal remedies, as well as kickboxing/bootcamp, Tai Chi, aqua dancercise, crocheting, knitting, sewing and a taste of preschool and other classes, too. The drop-in swim at Monroe Middle School has been changed to make it even more popular, flexible and affordable.
New offerings this fall term include simple ways to manage diabetes, CPR/AED and first aid, and a discover scuba diving experience.
“The discover scuba diving experience is a one-night class which is offered five times during October so people who always have wondered about scuba diving can check it out to see if they might want to pursue it further,” Mrs. Poley said.
All classes must be prepaid and there are various ways to register. Phone registrations are accepted by using Visa, Mastercard or Discover only at 734-265-3170. You can register by mail by completing the registration form in the catalogue and sending it with a check or money order made payable to Monroe Public Schools and mailing it to Community Education, 1275 N. Macomb St., Monroe, MI 48162. Registrations will be taken in person at the Community Education office from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., daily.
Persons who may not have received a catalogue can pick one up at the Community Education office at the Monroe Public Schools Administration Building. It is also is displayed on line on the Monroe Public Schools website at http://monroepublic.cyberschool.com/files/user/506/file/MPS%20Fall%202015%20-%20revised(1).pdf
The Monroe High School Band will take its annual tour of the Monroe Public Schools’ elementary schools on Thursday, September 17.
As in the past, the 95-member band will travel from school-to-school and give a 10-minute concert at each school, playing in the school’s parking lot, play ground or front lawn. The marking band will perform three of its fall songs, ending the concert with the MHS fight song.
At each stop, teachers bring their students out to enjoy the “big kids” playing music in the band.
The bus schedules and routing information now are available on-line and will be printed in the Thursday edition of the Monroe News. Check out the schedules here on our website. Click on the bus routes icon and follow the prompts. If you have transportation questions you may contact the Transportation office at 734-265-3300 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The courtyard at Arborwood South Elementary School has in the middle a pond with fish, several trees and shrubs and a mallard box in one of the corners and even a 12-foot by 6-foot wooden stage, and during the school year, it has all kinds of “Eagles” in and out of it. But it now has a special Eagle. As in Eagle Scout, that is.
Fifteen-year-old Monroe High School sophomore Jarrod Kimble, who was an Arborwood Eagle when he was in elementary school, is responsible for building the stage and working long hours with family and friends to weed and mulch several nature areas inside the lush courtyard. At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 6, he will receive his Eagle Scout rank in Eagle Court of Honor ceremonies at St. Mary’s Church Parish Life Center.’
Jarrod said that much of the work on the stage and on the weeding and mulching was done last year.
“My grandfather is a certified professional engineer and he helped me to design the stage so it was nice and sturdy. We also decided to clean up the area around the pond in the center of the courtyard. We were surprised that we found fish in there,” Jarrod said. To help the fish in the pond, he saw to it that a new pump and piping were installed. Two of the areas that he cleaned up were so overgrown by underbrush that it was spreading and killing the grass.
“We even built a Mallard house for ducks who are migrating, too” Jarrod said. “It might not look like much but the Mallards seem to like it,” he said.
Jarrod wanted to do something for his Eagle project that would have a positive impact for the youth in the area. Because he had attended Arborwood as a child, he felt especially connected to the project.
The whole project which has led to Jarrod’s Eagle Scout recognition cost about $1,300, all of which he raised.
“We hope this project has made a positive impact for the students and staff at the school and that the stage will be used for years to come,” said Jeff Kimble, Jarrod’s dad. “We really appreciate the support Jarrod got from the school administration who really helped our son to succeed and the help he received during the work.”
The entire stage is painted white with about 30 green fleur-de-lis, the symbol of Boy Scouts, adorning it.
During the school year, it did get used a number of times.
“My mom (Arborwood South Teacher Dawn Kimble) has brought her class out and the students have used the stage to act out some of the scenes in the books they have read. You also can sit on it and read to your students sitting in the grass,” Jarrod said.
Jarrod is a member of Boy Scout Troop 519 sponsored by St. Mary’s Church and plans to mentor younger Scouts. He also is active at Monroe High School on the wrestling team and as an active member of choir and drama.
He is the second MHS student in less than six months to earn the Eagle Scout rank. The other was Grant Prater whose Eagle Scout project was a clothes closet that benefited Monroe Middle School.