Principal's Message - September/October 2009

Dear Families,

Welcome back to another exciting year here at Mancelona Middle School.  The staff has been very busy the past few weeks getting the year off to a tremendous start!  I am pleased to see so many new students as well as our returning students working hard and getting right into the flow of the new year.

 We are very pleased to announce a couple new opportunities for your child this year!  We are delighted to offer Spanish as one of four extra classes along with physical education, computers, art and band.  Mrs. Dorr is the Spanish teacher who has worked for Mancelona for many years at the High School.  Also, we now offer music to all fifth grade students with plans of continuing their strong interest in music. Mrs. Tippett (formerly Ms. Turgeon) has developed a music program that will be well suited to our fifth grade students; she is also our Middle School 6-8 band teacher as well as our High School band instructor.  Next we have a journalism club/class that meets each day to work on our M.S. yearbook as well as our monthly newsletter.  In addition to the yearbook and newsletter there will be a focus on how journalism has an impact in other areas of student interest. Perhaps students could use this opportunity as a spring board into a career pathway or simply use this class as a means for improving other academic areas of interest.  Jessica Avery-Helwig is the instructor and is certainly dedicated to providing this class with a variety of instructional areas that may benefit all the students.

 I would like to welcome Amy Derrer to the Middle School as she has offered to help our students through her role with Communities in Schools. Amy is working hard to provide additional services to our students that help to connect them with a variety of extra resources intended to help them here at school.  I am very please to have Amy here, and am thankful to have her talents used to benefit the kids!  

 Throughout this school year, we will be continuing to address the areas of the No Child Left Behind Federal Act (NCLB) that was put in place to ensure that all students are making academic progress. This accountability includes all students – those placed in regular classes, accelerated classes, students with disabilities and students who simply struggle with their core academic classes (at-risk students). Everyone is included under the umbrella of academic accountability. Despite the challenges and increased expectations, Mancelona Middle School is continuing to make great progress.  I am proud to report that Mancelona Middle School met the federal mandates of the NCLB act and have been recognized for receiving an A on our State report card. We could not have done this without the commitment and the energy of the entire M.M.S. Learning Community…for this, I thank you!  Working together as partners in your child’s education, we will continue to focus on having high expectations and increasing academic achievement. We have a school filled with a long tradition of academic excellence where Strong Kids receive a Strong Education – we will continue to have rigorous expectations in EVERY classroom, for EVERY student, with NO excuses, and NO exceptions.

 Please feel free to contact me at any moment you have questions related to your child’s education here at the Middle School.

 Sincerely,