HCS Families,

October is designated as several different "months" in education. It is both National Bullying Prevention Month and National Principals Month.

While we may bring extra attention to bullying prevention this month, it is our job to educate and prevent bullying all year long. Like every other school district, we have an anti-bullying Board policy, and our opportunity is to live into it every day. We know no matter how much work we do around prevention and education, our students are human beings and will make mistakes. Nonetheless, we are committed to proactively preventing incidents, as well as helping our students learn from mistakes made along the way. In our partnership with you, we are counting on you to let your child's principal know if your child is feeling uncomfortable or uncertain in school. We cannot address situations if we do not know about them.

Cyberbullying outside of school hours unfortunately seems here to stay. Despite all of our best efforts, technology seems to always be at least one step ahead. Here is a link to an article with some suggestions on ways to monitor your child's social media use and presence. A good reminder for me in this article is how I can best model healthy and positive social media use for my own children, even though they are young adults.

Speaking of people who model positivity, we also want to celebrate our principals this month and all months. We are so grateful for the servant leadership of Andrea Andera, Joe Ashcroft, Brad Carlstrom, Sandy Hargraves, Jennifer Thrush, and Stacey VanAntwerp. They lead our teachers and students each day, and like our teachers, wear many different hats.

As the colors continue to change and we continue to enjoy dry, warm weather, we hope you are able to get outside and enjoy the beauty all around Harrison. We thank you for sharing the beauty of your children inside our schools.

Thank you for your continued partnership and trust.

Hornet Pride,

Judy

juwalton@harrisonschools.com

989.539.7871

Thursday, October 13, and Friday, October 14, are half days. The Hive dismisses at 11:20 am, the MS and HS dismiss at 11:25 am, and Larson dismisses at 11:40 am.

As a continuing effort to keep everyone in our schools as safe as possible, a reminder that we are asking for a picture ID for any parent, caregiver, or visitor who seeks to enter any of our schools. Please be prepared with it when you approach the video doorbell. While staff may admit you if they know you by name and face, there may be someone operating the entry system that does not yet know you. It can feel like a bit of a hassle when you forget to walk up with your ID and have to return to your vehicle, but please remember that we share your goal: keeping all kids safe in our schools.

Thursday of this week is your opportunity to participate in parent-guardian/teacher conferences. We strongly encourage your participation! If you have questions about available times on Thursday, please reach out to your school office staff.

If you are looking for some ideas about what to ask your child's teacher(s), here is a helpful resource from the Michigan Department of Education, available in both English and Spanish. As a sample, we offer this:

Use the formal teacher-parent/guardian conference for a focused, two-way conversation:

• Ask questions about grade level learning goals and your child’s progress.

• Discuss any standardized test scores (for example, NWEA) you have received: » Are they consistent with the strengths and weaknesses the teacher sees in your child’s performance? » How will the teacher use them to guide instruction for your child? » What can you do to help your child be successful?

• Tell the teacher more about your child so they can do the best job possible.

• If your child is having difficulties in class (either academic or behavioral) discuss them constructively and agree together on an action plan.

For information purposes only, we have three (3) open seats up for election on November 8. Eligible voters will be choosing no more than two (2) candidates for six-year terms, and not more than one (1) candidate for the remaining two years of a term due to a resignation from earlier in the year.

Funding for schools in our state fundamentally changed with the adoption of the 1978 Headlee Amendment and Proposal A in 1994. School districts became limited in what and how they could seek money from their local community.

Currently, the state taxes all real estate at a uniform rate of 6 mills (1 mill = $1.00 for every $1,000 in value) and collects those funds for a more equal distribution per pupil across the state. Michigan law also requires local communities to ask voters for 18 mills ($18.00 on every $1,000 in value) on non-homestead property (basically, all real estate that is not your primary home, such as vacation homes, commercial real estate, etc.). The money collected goes toward the total dollar amount per pupil that the state pledges to us.

As an example, this year the state is pledging $9,150 per pupil across the state. However, a portion of that dollar amount comes from our local 18 mills. If voters choose not to approve the renewal, we will get less money per pupil from the state and our budget is impacted.

The Headlee Amendment also requires us to reduce our 18 mills by fractional amounts when annual growth on property is greater than the rate of inflation. This is called a “roll back.” A “Headlee override” is a vote by the electors to return the millage to the amount originally authorized to counteract the roll back. On the ballot this November, voters in the Harrison Community Schools district will be asked to renew the non-homestead millage at the rate of 17.6524, and through the override, to restore 0.3476 for a total of 18 mills.

What might this mean for property owners of real estate that is not their primary residence? Let's say there is a vacation home in Harrison valued at $200,000, and the owners have their primary residence somewhere else in Michigan. In addition to the 6 mills the state collects from all real estate for schools ($1,200 on this property), the impact of the renewal of 17.6524 mills ($3,530.48 on this property) and an override for 0.3476 mills ($69.52 on this property) amounts to a total of $3,600.00 from the vacation home owners in this example.

If you would like to learn more about the Headlee Amendment, Proposal A, or the Headlee Override, please click on the links provided.

We are at the point in the pandemic where public health officials are viewing COVID-19 much in the same way as other communicable diseases. Therefore, we will be starting our school year with the following protocol for positive cases, staff or student:

• With a positive case, the person must isolate for 5 days and not attend or be in school. In counting those days, the first date of symptoms (or the test, if no symptoms) is day 0.
• The COVID-positive person may return to school on Day 6, assuming symptoms are subsiding. We recommend, but do not require, masking for days 6-10 in school.

We are also attaching a handy resource from public health officials that provides guidance on when to keep a child home from school in a variety of illness-related situations.