Aggie Connection

Spring is almost here! Even though MOST of our winter was mild, after the last couple of weeks I am certainly looking forward to spring!

There are so many exciting things going on here at the 'Creek that I don't even know where to start! Please take a few minutes to read through the articles below and listen to my short video.

I especially wanted to highlight the first article in this newsletter that details our District Improvement Goal to "Improve Student Academics and Behavior through the Implementation of the MTSS Framework". MTSS, which stands for Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, is all about ensuring we cover all layers of support needed to meet each student's needs.

This entire newsletter is really a focus on the different ways we are meeting our student needs in help each student be successful both academically and behaviorally. The various strategies and activities covered in this newsletter include:

• March is Reading Month, which is a focus on supporting literacy and a love for reading.
• Student Leadership Programs - supporting and teaching students to become good leaders.
• We Are Sand Creek! We Need More Cowbell! Our initiative to encourage and recognize students and staff that display "We Need More Cowbell" characteristics. *Read about it below!
• Extraordinary Aggie Staff Spotlight - Recognizing staff members who exemplify the meaning behind "We Need More Cowbell"
• SRO Grant - Safety for our staff and students
• Facility Need Updates
• EPA Grant received for new buses for our aging fleet.

Like I said, so many exciting things happening. I encourage you to take a moment to watch my video and read through the newsletter so you are in the know about what is happening at Sand Creek Schools - and can share this exciting news to others!

Click here for a video message from your Superintendent.

Sharon E. Smith

Superintendent/Chief Financial Officer

Sand Creek Community Schools

6518 Sand Creek Hwy.

Sand Creek, MI 49279-aggies.us

sharon.smith@sc-aggies.us

Ph. 517-436-3108

Fax. 517-436-3143

Sand Creek Schools' Building and District Improvement Teams recently met in a work/training session at the Lenawee ISD to brainstorm and create our district goals. The goals, along with the strategies and activities put in place to help the district meet those goals, are submitted in the MICIP system. The MICIP, the Michigan Integrated Continuous Improvement Process, is a continuous improvement process that guides the district in creating a system of continuous improvement.

The district's main goal is: Improve Student Academics and Behavior through Implementation of the MTSS Framework. This is a "Whole Child~Whole School~Whole Community" look at educating our students.

Strategies to guide us in achieving this goal are:

• MTSS/PBIS (Positive Behavior Inventions & Support)/Culture & Climate
• Curriculum and Instruction
• SEL (Social Emotional Learning)

See the attached PowerPoint below on our MICIP goals that was shared at the recent February 27th board meeting as well as the "Ice Cream Hour with the Superintendent" event.

We are excited about our goals and the strategies and activities in place! Please call any administrator with questions as we are always excited to talk about what is happening at Sand Creek Schools!

• Reading Month with the Scholastic Book Fair during the first week in March.
• Family Literacy Night will be held March 9th from 5:30 -7:30 p.m. with a "Glow Party" theme with many fun activities.
• Coin Money War Fund Drive to raise funds for other elementary school libraries who have lost books or suffered other damage due to national disasters. This service project being implemented by Mrs. Ceslick's 4th grade class in partnership with Scholastic. We hope to promote the value of books and love of reading as well as the value of helping others! Classes winning the drive will enjoy a treat!
• Reading Themed Dress-Up Days.
• Monday morning announcements will feature a Mystery Reader.
• Reading Calendar with daily goals for families to participate will be posted on the elementary building website.
• Raffles held for new books and posters during library class times.
• Elementary students will receive mood color changing pencils inscribed with "Celebrate Books" as well as fun bookmarks.
• All Ruth McGregor Students will receive something in celebration of the joy of reading and service to others.

As you can see, March is jam-packed with fun activities to celebrate and encourage the love of reading.

A huge thank you to the Adrian Kiwanis, TLC Community Credit Union and the Sand Creek PTO for providing funding for our reading month activities!

Extraordinary Aggie - Mrs. Lorraine Willett!

In this edition of the Aggie Connection, we are "spotlighting" Mrs. Lorraine Willett as our Extraordinary Aggie! Lorraine was nominated by a fellow staff member and this is what her co-worker had to say about her.

"I have worked with Lorraine for the past 18 years. She is dedicated to all her assigned students and even those students not assigned to her. She goes above and beyond taking notes so she can reteach student what they may struggle with. She cares about students and staff and often steps in to help without being asked. She is an asset to all staff and students that she works with, helping them modify assignments or helping students complete their work. She also volunteers her time to the cross-country team, helping at all the home meets."

Thank you, Lorraine, for your contributions to Sand Creek Schools! You are truly an Extraordinary Aggie and a worthy recipient of the "We Need More Cowbell" t-shirt!

I am very excited to share with you about two new student leadership programs that are being implemented at Sand Creek Schools.

Aggie Ambassadors is a program made up of 4th and 5th grade leaders with a focus on developing leadership skills to strengthen, empower and unite the student body. These student leaders are working on community service projects, social emotional activities, a newspaper and events that champion a cohesive student body.

The group meets biweekly and tries to practice parliamentary procedures during their meetings. The ideas they come up with have been wonderful. They have already posted affirmation notes around the school and have helped the kindergarten and 1st grade classes with the book fair. These elementary student leaders are taking their roles very seriously and we have already witnessed their impact! Great job, Aggie Ambassadors!

Aggie Allies is currently in the application process and is on-target to have next year's Aggie Ally students selected and in place soon. The Allies are a combined group of 9th and 10th grade students who are voluntarily mentoring our 6th grade students as they transition buildings and begin to enmesh into the Jr. High and High School culture. They will be selected through an application process, including an interview.

Aggie Allies uphold a set of behavior expectations while working together to do great things for our school and our students. Some responsibilities of these student leaders include to facilitate and attend 6th grade orientation, host study sessions, social lunch periods, and attend and facilitate monthly meetings where they, the Aggie Allies, are the leaders of what comes next! Great job, Allies!

We are excited to see these new programs grow to help create strong student leaders!

See below a few pictures of our elementary Aggie Ambassadors helping at Book Fair.

• Both buses, along with the electric and charging infrastructure, will be fully paid by the EPA - 2023 Clean School Bus Grant that Sand Creek Schools received. No district general funds will be used.
• Both buses come with the standard 5-year Blue Bird warranty and a full 8-year warranty on the battery packs.
• Savings to the district due to cost of charging the bus about 1/2 the cost of diesel.
• The new buses will hopefully be in place for the start of next school year.

Please feel free to stop by or give me a call with any questions you might have.

A huge thank you to Transportation Supervisor, Christopher Ondrovick, for the work he put in gathering information and data and sharing this information to the board and community at several different board meetings.

Sand Creek Community Schools was a recipient of the 2023 School Resource Officer Grant! This competitive grant is through the Michigan State Police Grants and Community Services Division and only about half of the requested funds state-wide were awarded.

A panel consisting of representatives from education and law enforcement awarded the grants, giving priority to school districts, intermediate school districts, and public school academies without a school resource officer (SRO) currently in place. The panel also considered student enrollment as a factor in the awards – prioritizing those with lower enrollment.

School Resource Officer (SRO) programs can play an important role in maintaining and increasing safety in schools and neighboring communities. This 3-year grant award would help fund the placement of a local law officer in the school, during school hours, as a SRO.

On Monday night, February 27th, the school board officially voted to accept this grant and move forward with the next steps of securing a SRO for Sand Creek Schools. The grant stipulates the SRO be the officer and employee of a local law enforcement agency, placed in the district as our SRO. Our next step is to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with law enforcement and we currently having discussions with Madison Township Police Department. The School Resource Office position should be in place August 1st.

Please feel free to contact the superintendent’s office with any questions or concerns.

• Safety of the Elementary Traffic Flow
• Multi-Purpose Building at the elementary building (serve as elementary PE area, music and drama performance area, additional athletic game/practice area)
• Separate cafeteria/lunchroom from elementary PE
• Designated area for wrestling program

Once these plans are finalized, we will present these plans to the board for discussion and questions. Then, we will begin sharing out information through many different forms: informational meetings, informational mailings and post information on the website.

Be watching for more information later this spring!

Sand Creek's "Need More Cowbell" Initiative

The 2023 school year opened with assemblies in both our elementary and our 6-12th grade buildings to kick-off the year with our Social/Emotional and leadership district goals. "We Are Sand Creek. We Need More Cowbell" was the cheer that could be heard from students in both buildings. And, if you have been at any district function since then, you may have seen certain staff members or students wearing a special t-shirt that reads "We Need More Cowbell".

The cowbell's origin can be traced to freely roaming animals. In order to help identify the herd to which these animals belonged, herdsmen placed these bells around the animals’ necks. It was the herdsmen’s way of keeping track of their precious livestock and making sure that they were safe and healthy. Our staff can be likened to the herdsmen and the students to the precious, freely roaming livestock. “We Need more Cowbell” reflects our continual efforts to not let even one of our students stray, get off-base (outside the fence) or slip through the cracks.

We need many different types and sizes of cowbells to encourage and reach all of our students. All of the various ways we seek to reach each student are all types of Cowbells in this analogy. One size does not fit all – different students will be reached from different cowbells or efforts. The different needs of students require different types, or multi-tiers of support. Sand Creek Schools uses many strategies, activities and tiers of support in our effort to meet our district goal for student academic and behavioral success. When we say, “We Need More Cowbell”, we mean we need ALL of these efforts.

Students are awarded "We Need More Cowbell" shirts throughout the year when recommended by a staff member for displaying exemplary caring and positive behavior, work ethic and leadership characteristics. Elementary "Student of the Month" recipients are recommended by their teacher because of the positive values and characteristics they show in the classroom. Each month, two student's names are drawn from this list to receive the "We Need More Cowbell" t-shirt.

This year we also introduced the new Annual "We Need More Cowbell" Staff Award. The recipient of this award is a staff member who is dedicated to keeping our herd of Aggies safe, happy and successful. The recipient of this award is a shepherd, a leader who tirelessly guides the herd to greener pastures. This staff member encourages the herd to journey forth, never forgetting to remind eh precious flock to keep pushing forward.

See below some pictures from our assemblies and from students earning this award.

The first recipients of the Annual "We Need More Cowbell" Staff Award are Mr. Derek Hewitt and Mrs. Wendy Hassenzahl. Congratulations to both of you and thank you for the "We Need More Cowbell" effort!

We Are - Sand Creek! We Need - More Cowbell!

March

• March 8-10 - FFA heads to State Competition
• March 15 - Special Board Meeting
• March 20 - Board Meeting
• March 24 - Half Day
• March 27-31 - Spring Break

April

• April 3 - School Resumes
• April 7 - Good Friday - No School
• April 14 - PTO Fun Night
• April 17 - Board Meeting

May

• May TBD - Band heads to State Competition
• May 15 - Board Meeting
• May 18 - 2-hour delay - Staff In-Service
• May 26 - No School - Staff In-Service
• May 28 - Graduation - Ayers Field
• May 29 - No School - Memorial Day
• May 31-June 1 - Half-Day of School

June

• June 1 - Last Day of School