The Au Gres-Sims School District

My message to you this week takes a more serious tone, one that pertains to school safety. On our snow day Tuesday of this week I received a notification from the Michigan State Police regarding an emerging trend in Michigan schools, something being referred to as "swatting". These are phone calls that are targeting educational facilities around the state, including K-12 schools, that are filing false reports of a student shooting another student in school. Reports of swatting phone calls have been made in Detroit, Jackson, Ann Arbor, and Okemos and all prompted emergency response plans to be put into action by both the schools and local law enforcement and response teams. The State Police have reported that they are unaware of any of these calls being specific or credible threats to K-12 educational facilities in Michigan.

Reports of swatting calls received by schools have included some common components:

• Call originated from an internet-based phone number.
• A caller with a heavy accent.
• Caller states a school's name and gives the address for the school.
• Caller states that they are a teacher in the school and that a student has shot another student.
• Caller states the shooting occurred in room numbers that are found to not exist in the school.

The State Police are actively investigating this case and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has publicly stated the seriousness of the swatting prank calls aimed at dispatching law enforcement to a particular location. She has outlined in a video (below) the potential charges one could face for making a threat of violence, including:

• communicating a threat of terrorism, 20-year felony
• calling in a bomb threat, a four-year felony
• malicious use of a telecommunications device, a six-month misdemeanor
• threatening violence against school employee or student, a one-year misdemeanor

The act of "swatting" could also result in charges of:

• false report of a crime, a 93-day misdemeanor
• false report resulting in physical injury, a 5-year felony
• false report resulting in serious bodily impairment, a 10-year felony
• false report resulting in a death, a 15-year felony
• additional fines of up to $50,000

At this point I need to make it crystal clear, Au Gres-Sims has NOT received any of these swatting calls. I have, however, shared the information from the State Police with each of our staff members and included a reminder about our Emergency Protocols and Procedures. There are a limited number of phones in the district (and people who have access to them) that can receive calls from an outside line during the school day, which should hopefully reduce the likelihood of a call being received. Everyone, however, has been trained on the proper procedure should we receive a threat and the district will respond with our emergency plan.

While there is no reason to believe that any of our students would make a call like this in the name of getting out of school, we have experienced instances in the past where students were influenced by social media trends and made mistakes. I am asking that you speak with your children this weekend about the seriousness of safety here at school, but also in our community to help mitigate any temptation that might be out there. Deep down, even the people most prone to goofing around, causing mischief, or getting in trouble want to be safe...we all do. We have safety devices around this district that are for use in emergency situations only; things like our NightLock devices, fire extinguishers, pull alarms, and AEDs. These items aren't messed with because our students want, and deserve, to feel safe here at school everyday, something everyone is responsible for.

Thank you for your time and attention,

Mr. Ming

Unfortunately, child exploitation is a reality in all communities throughout the world. It can affect youth of any age, race, geographic location, or socioeconomic status. 1 in 6 of the more than 25,000 missing children reported to the NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) in 2021 who had run away were likely victims of Child Sex Trafficking. Attached is a guide for parents and guardians on Child Sex Trafficking in America from the NCMEC. For support and guidance on child sex trafficking email familysupport@ncmec.org or call 1-800-843-5678.

There is a free STEM opportunity at SVSU on Thursday, March 9, from 5:00-8:00 pm. It is the Teen Science Cafe. This event is open to any students in grades 6-12 in the Great Lakes Bay Region, which includes Arenac County. Come enjoy some free fun and pizza! To sign up, please click on the corresponding Teen Science Café RSVP Link.

As a reminder, starting Monday, February 20, we will revert back to the 4 route bus system. Route #1 will be driven by Aaron Abair and Bob Lyon, Route 2 will be driven by Bob Strano, Route 3 will be driven by Ted Gibbs, and route #4 will be driven by Ann Tremble (previously of Cory Brown’s). Drop off and pick up locations, along with corresponding times, will be posted at the beginning of next week. As with any mass changes in routes, please allow for additional time the first few days until times become more solidified.

Although it has been a short week with our Mid-Winter Break starting on Friday and our weather giving us unexpected days off, we have still been extremely busy packing a lot of work into just a few days. We started the week with our 31N Mental Health Meeting which we hold on a regular basis with our 31N team which consists of myself, Mr. Zeien, Mrs. Cardinal, Mrs. Naert, and Stacey Meininger, who is our Whole Child Systems Supervisor for the Bay-Arenac ISD. The purpose of these meetings is to focus on planning and implementing supports within our district to support the mental health of our students. One of our supports is a weekly mental health check-in, where students fill out a quick Google Form, letting us know how they are feeling, if there is anything that they want to share, and if they would like a counselor to check in with them. At the last Board Meeting, Mr. Zeien and I presented some data to the School Board on the number of students that we have been able to support through this process. Here is some of the data that we shared:

• 1,221 Elementary Responses (2nd-5th grade)

• 1,520 MS/HS Responses

• 108 MS/HS responses have asked for a counselor to check in on them

• 36 MS/HS responses have stated they were in a dark place and/or struggling. (Some of those asked for a counselor and some did not. We still checked in with those who indicated they were in a dark place, even if they did not request services.)

• 34 Elementary responses indicated that they were sad and/or upset and had follow-up check-ins, some resulting in standing mental health check-ins.

We are grateful that we were able to provide this outlet for students to ask for help. We know that asking for help is not easy, and we would not have been able to help many of these students if they had to come and ask for help on their own. These check-ins allow students to ask for help in a private way, without having to come into an office and ask directly. Not only did we share this information with the Board, but we also shared it with our staff and with our students at a recent assembly. We wanted them to understand the importance of the check-ins as well as some of the other resources available around the school that allow students to reach out for help.

Another resource that we introduced this year is called “See Something, Say Something.” There are signs with QR codes in all bathroom stalls, as well as on our school website, that allows students to report information, such as bullying, drug or alcohol use, weapons, suspicious behavior, or anything else that they feel would be important to the health and safety of the students in our school. This was introduced on the first day of school. Students were told where these were located, and how to use them. Mr. Zeien and I are the only people that see these entries, so the students know they can safely share this information and we will handle it as necessary without their identity being compromised. We have had several reports turned in this year using this resource as well.

Our hope is that we can continue to increase the supports that we provide for our students, not just with their educational needs, but their social and emotional needs as well.

The final leg of the winter sports' regular season is upon us with only a few weeks to go before the MHSAA Playoffs.

Next Week's Schedule of Events:

Tue. 2/14

• 6p V Boys Basketball HOME vs. SASA
• ~7:30p V Girls Basketball HOME vs. SASA

Fri. 2/17

• 5p V Hockey AWAY @ Petoskey (Petoskey Ice Arena)
• 6p V Girls Basketball HOME vs. Posen
• ~7:30p V Boys Basketball HOME vs. Posen

Sat. 2/18

• 3:30p V Hockey AWAY @ Eastern Thumb Area (Collen J Howe Arena)

Important dates for February for the Au Gres-Sims School District.

FEBRUARY

• 10-13: Mid-Winter Break, no school for staff and students
• 16: Open House at the BAISD Career Center 4-7 pm (10th grade students and their families)
• 20: 5p PTO Meeting in the Elementary Science Lab
• 20: 6p Board of Education regular meeting
• 22: Early Release for all students at 1pm

Important and note-worthy events taking place in Au Gres and Arenac County

• Saturday, February 18th - Arenac Community Funds Trivia Night (Arenac Community Center, Standish) see attached flyer
• Saturday, February 18th - Family Winter Fun Fest (Center Court @ Bay City Town Center) 10a-2p see attached flyer

The 2023 ESS Art Contest is now open to students in grades K-12! Be sure to submit your artwork by March 12th, 8:00 pm Eastern Time. Winning students will each receive a $500 American Express gift card and $500 for their school!

Quick Facts:

• The contest information is located at ArtContest.ess.com.​
• To enter, students must submit a drawing or painting with an image representing “If you could take a school field trip anywhere, where would you go?”​
• The contest ends on March 12th, 8:00 pm Eastern Time.​
• The top five finalists in each Grade Group will be featured on ESS’ Facebook and Instagram during the week of April 10th for public voting.​
• Public voting ends on April 16th, 8:00 pm Eastern Time.​
• Winners will be announced on April 19th.​
• Winning students will receive a $500 American Express gift card, plus $500 for their school.

Our new video editing staff, and veteran writing staffers, have been working overtime to bring you this week's issue of The Wolverine Wake-Up. This week's issue shares tips on beating the winter blues, backed by scientific research.

Stay warm out there this weekend, and when you have a few quick minutes, we'd love for you to take a look at The Wolverine Wake-Up Issue 74

Job Opportunities at AGS

• We do not currently have any vacancies for the district. If you are interested in a substitute role please contact the administration office

We are also always on the lookout for substitute teachers. If interested, please inquire with Mrs. Miller in the district administration office, (989) 876-7157 and she will put you into direct contact with Laurie Crane at ESS-WillSub

Email: web@ags-schools.org
Website: www.ags-schools.org
Location: 310 South Court Street, Au Gres, MI, USA
Phone: (989) 876-7150
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuGresSims/?ref=br_rs
Twitter: @agsschools