Merrill Community Schools

As many of you have heard, I announced my retirement earlier this year. It is with great excitement that we are in the beginning stages of planning for the 2018-2019 school year. As we navigate this transition, please know that the quality of education and safety of our students will remain, as always, our primary goal.

The Merrill School Board recently voted to combine the Middle School/High School position with the Superintendent position and has offered this position to Mrs. Tara Mager, who currently serves as the MS/HS Principal. This new role will officially begin on July 1, 2018. Let’s take a moment to talk about what that means for the district. Mrs. Mager, along with her staff, will work out of the MS/HS building. She will still have the responsibilities as outlined in the NEOLA polices (NEOLA.com/Merrill-mi or can be found on our website) that the MS/HS Principal has as well as the responsibilities listed for the Superintendent. How these responsibilities will be delegated is currently being investigated. But the responsibility for their completion will remain exactly the same; at the feet of the Superintendent. Other schools that have combined these two roles are a great resource. Navigating this new position may come with growing pains, but as a team we are confident that this will move will be successful.

There has been some concern expressed about what the “chain of command” might look like. In past years, if a student or parent felt as if their concerns were not being addressed in a manor they were satisfied with, they would reach out to the principal or superintendent. Now that this is a combined role, should a concern arise that a parent or student might feel is not being addressed to their satisfaction; those concerns may be directed to the School Board President who is currently Teresa DeBeau. Her contact information is listed on the school website (merrillcommunityschools.org)

Again, as with any change, there will be bumps along the way. Please know that many schools across the state have implemented this type of blended position with much success. And Merrill Community Schools will be no different. We appreciate your patience as well as your insight as this process is navigated.

What makes Merrill so special is that WE are a team. As the slogan goes, “We are Merrill”. One of the many things we do best is to pull together and lend a hand to those around us. While change can sometimes be unsettling, we are excited to continue working together towards the goals of uniting the community, education excellence, and building strong students and individuals to send into their next phase of life.

Congratulations to Merrill Elementary's two JR FIRST® LEGO® League teams for doing a super job at the event last weekend at Central Elementary School in Midland.

The Green Water Dragon team received the Amazing Investigation Award!

The Orange Water Dragons were awarded the Best Use Of Sound Award for the dolphin sound their robot made!

Way to go teams.

Read-a-thon today at Merrill Elementary. Mrs. Glazier reading with students and so much more! Their faces say it all....Merrill-it is where you belong

To help celebrate March is Reading month, State Representative Ben Frederick visited a some elementary classrooms on Monday, March 5th and read books he brought. He said reading was a joy to him from a young age because of his parents and teachers. He wants to

Spark a similar interest in others.

The third grade classes recently went on their second all day field trip in as many months to the zoo. The field trip is only offered to area third graders. The first field trip was in February. The kids got to tour the zoo and observe some of the winter residents. They made inferences based on observations and drew pictures of the animals. The highlight of the day was when they got to pet the classroom chinchilla, Andy.

The second field trip had the kids learning about the special diet of the many animals at the zoo. The students learned about omnivores, herbivores, and carnivores. They visited the zoo commissary (kitchen) where all of the animal food is prepared each day. They got to weigh containers of nuts, seeds and fruits for the parrots, trays containing rats and a frozen chick for the hawks, and many other trays of food types. They graphed the weights of the food and also practiced making pretend plates of food using fractions for different animals when they returned to the classroom. They also learned about food chains and food webs.

The kids visited the goats and alpacas, got to pet them, and feed them from their hands. They also watched a parrot crack and eat a peanut and sunflower seeds. They loved that the parrot threw his peanut shell pieces on the classroom floor.

The second graders are learning a lot about erosion in their unit on water. Today they participated in a science experiment called Erosion Engineering. They worked on designing ways to stop their land from eroding away. They tested out a design and then talked with their partner about what worked and what they needed to change and then had the opportunity to test out their design again.

Students had the opportunity to build a welded project of their own choosing during the event. Several students also fabricated projects that were a joint effort between 4H and Merrill Welding Program to make donated items to the Merrill Community Spirit Committee dinner and benefit auction.

Statistics of the event:

Overall participation of 4H students is (7) - 15% Increase from last year.

Female participation this year increased to 50%.

Foreign exchange student participation is 100% for the second consecutive year.

Student welding Instructor participation increased by 25%.

Front Row Left to Right Tata Jirajarus, Emily Emmendorfer, Isabel Gomez, Hunter Emmendorfer, Lukas Fischer, Zev Bales.

Missing from the photo is Tatum Capen

Welding Student Vincent Werry donated tooling needed for the welding program to make weld practice plates for the Delta College STS competition.

The toolbox in the photo was donated by welding student Carter Tack. Carter seen the need for a larger tool box to aid in secure tool storage and organization to help increase the efficiency of our program. The approx. value of the tool box is $300.00

Welding Students Jonathan Reed and Jacob Knierim helped off load the tool box due to the awkward size and weight when it arrived on campus.

Congratulation to Merrill High School's Law Day team on their Best Performance win today at Law Day competition.

Lawyers: Nichole Wenzel and Gabrielle Simons

Witnesses: Charly Schwalm, Courtney Farrand, and Laney Wiley

They did a fantastic job preparing for competition and coming together as a team to secure victory!

Students who gave up a day of learning to be the jury for the SASA/Heritage case:

Hallie Briggs, Garrett Windy, Kelsey Felker, Maddy Fenby, Zoe Fleming, and Ashton Hescott.

Great job Merrill Honors Band! Thirteen band members participated in MSAC Honors Band today. They spent the day learning music with band members from Breckenridge, Ashley, Montabella, Sacred Heart, Carson City, Coleman, and Vestaburg. They performed 6 pieces at a concert held this evening in Breckenridge.

The Merrill Board Of Education Recognized the Class of 2018’s Academic Top Ten! Each student worked very hard to reach this level of academic excellence!

(Left to right Joseph Felker, Morgan Pratt, Lauren Honaman, Caitlin Lisee, Nicole Dubay, Kaitlyn Benes, Olivia Fleming, Kylie Dittenber, Hallie Briggs, and Hailey Wazny)

Mrs. Jordan Presents at MRA

March 17th and 18th Mrs. Jordan presented at the Michigan Reading Association 62nd annual conference. As a board member, she introduced authors Lois Lowry, Jason Reynolds, and Mike Schmoker. She also presented an hour-long session on reading and writing workshop at the secondary level. Mrs. Jordan is the chairperson for the MRA summer literature conference, titled Sparking a Love of Literacy, which will take place August 1st and 2nd at Shanty Creek. She is proud to represent Merrill as a professional educator.

Hall monitors during the positive reinforcement activities. Great staff.

Very nice Mr. Wall and Mr. Fletcher.

Coach Molly Garno led our competitive Cheer Team to a district championship...and all the way a great 4th place finish at the state competition! Great job to team and coach.

Coach Garno was also named District and Regional Coach of the Year. Congratulations.

The Competitive Cheer season came to an end with a 4th place finish in the State Finals held at The Delta Plex in Grand Rapids. The cheer team had an amazing run this year with the following placement at these invitationals:

Midland High School - 1st Place

Merrill High School - 1st Place

Farwell Invitational - 3rd Place

Freeland High School - 1st Place

Sanford Meridian - 3rd Place

Owosso High School - 1st Place

Midland Dow High School - 2nd Place

Mason High School - 2nd Place

Vandal Invite (Merrill High School) - 1st Place

Districts - 1st Place

Regoinals - 3rd Place

State Finals - 4th Place

We also had many of our athletes receive All State recognition. 1st Team: Gracie Horvat, Kylie Dittenber, 2nd Team: Molly Frantz, Nicole Dubay and Honorable Mention: Emma Platt, Gabrielle Stoneman

Jamie Huntoon also received Individual Academic All State honors.

Congratulations to all for these accomplishments !

Coach Molly Garno also received some statewide recognition. Molly was voted as District and Regional Coach of the Year. Congratulations to Molly !

Girls Basketball

Congratulations to Olivia Fleming for her selection to the MSAC First team for girls basketball. Also, congratulations to Hallie Briggs and Libby Fischer for honorable mention honors for MSAC girls basketball.

Boys Basketball

Congratulations to Jake Knierim and Michael Buckley for being named to honorable mention MSAC for boys basketball.