Holly Academy News & Views

Welcome to the 2021-22 school year! We are excited to be entering Holly Academy's 23rd year as a Public School Academy. This summer we've been busy with Camp Invention, summer school, and our kindergarten enrichment camp. We are so pleased that we could offer extended learning opportunities to so many Huskies over the course of the summer.

A huge "THANK YOU" to our maintenance team for all the cleaning and improvements they did over the summer!

You should have received a letter designating your child's homeroom teacher. We are in the process of filling a few positions, and as always, we are looking for the best and brightest that will add to our culture. We anticipate having the positions filled by our Huskies' first day of school.

We anticipate that we will invite volunteers into the school this year. As protocol indicates, all volunteers will check-in through the Raptor system in the vestibule and wear a badge while inside the school. First time Raptor users will be input into the system by Mrs. Melton and Mrs. Munerance. We will set aside a timeframe for initial user input at the beginning of the school year. Dare to be remarkable!

Holly Academy will be participating in the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) as part of the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program for the 2021-2022 school year. The SSO program allows ALL students the opportunity to receive a healthy lunch and breakfast for free. Meals (aside from pizza) will be provided by Variety Food Services.

Sample breakfast items are cereal, muffin, bagel, or breakfast bar. All breakfasts will be served with fruit and milk. We are asking that if you choose the breakfast option for any day to please to have your student(s) arrive at school by 7:45am. This will allow them adequate time to eat their breakfast prior to the school day beginning. In the event that your child does not arrive in time to eat their breakfast before school begins, we will ask those students to eat their breakfast during their scheduled snack time.

The plan is to have pizza on Mondays and Fridays, which will still be Little Caesars. One slice of pizza will be provided, but a breadstick will not be provided this year. Pizza lunches will also include fruit, vegetable, and milk. Additional pizza slices may be purchased a la carte. A cold lunch will be served Tuesday-Thursday. The cold lunches will consist of meat/cheese on a bun, vegetables, fruit, and milk.

In order for us to start this program on the first day of school, all orders will need to be placed before school starts. We are finalizing the meal patterns with Variety Food Services and we will send these out as soon as they are available via Skyward. Please ensure you read the correspondence next week regarding the due date for breakfast/lunch orders for the month of September. The order form will be a Google Form, however, if you are ordering additional slices you will need to make the payment for those slices by the specified due date. RevTrak will be the preferred method of payment, but if you need to pay via a check or money order, you may do so by bringing your payment to the school. We are working with vendors to find a platform that will streamline the ordering/payment process to accommodate Holly Academy’s food program since we do not have a cafeteria.

We will be transitioning to hot lunch for Tuesday-Thursday later in the school year. Hot lunch will provide more options and less repetition of meals. We are working with the Oakland County Health Department and MI Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs to ensure our facility has met all of the requirements to bring in the necessary equipment.

We listened! Parents have noted in the annual parent survey that they would like their Huskies to be allowed to wear athletic pants/shorts on dress-down days. Beginning this school year, athletic wear will be allowed on dress-down days. Leggings and yoga pants must be worn with a top that reaches mid-thigh. Please see the attached dress code documents.

At the Board of Directors meeting on August 11th, the decision was made to follow CDC and MDHHS guidelines and recommend masking for students, staff, and families. At this time, we are not requiring masks. While we support parents and guardians in making personal choices based on what’s best for their families, we will continue to monitor local COVID-19 metrics and follow any mandates/laws.

To ensure that we are providing the healthiest environment for our Huskies our expectation is that staff and families will use good judgment and stay home when they are sick. Should your child present with a fever, our school protocol is that they may not return to school until they are symptom-free and fever-free, without medication, for 48 hours. Should your Husky be exposed to a positive case, we will follow the Oakland County Health Department’s guidelines.

HA will continue our daily cleaning protocols using products approved by the CDC to be effective against the COVID-19 virus.

It’s great to be a Husky!

The 21-22 school year will mirror last year in terms of drop off and dismissal. We drop off and dismiss the school population in a 25 minute window using family cars. This is all coordinated without incident twice a day.

We are asking all families to follow the guidelines for morning drop off:

• Y5, Kindergarten and 1st grade students will enter the building though the main canopied entrance (M1). Parents may park in the parking lot and walk their students to the door. As a reminder, Parents are not allowed to enter the building after the first day of Y5 and Kindergarten. Please do not drop off students along the sidewalk.
• 2nd and 3rd grade students will enter the building through the west doors (M13) in the front of the building.
• 4th and 5th grade students will enter the building through the east doors (M12) in the front of the building.
• Middle school students may be dropped off at the middle school or in the front drop off lanes.

The following list is a brief overview of Holly Academy's dismissal procedures.

• The lane closest to the building will be designated for Y5/K families only.
• Please turn off your cell phone.
• Please stay in your lane.
• Staff will direct you to move forward or exit the parking lot.
• Be sure your sign (student last name, grade, and teacher) is clearly displayed.
• Turn on your right blinker when your car is loaded.
• Students may not exit vehicles once they have loaded.

Hi Huskies,

I hope you are having a great summer! If you are in fifth through eighth grades and are interested in signing up for soccer or volleyball please go to https://www.hollyacademy.org/sports/ to fill out the registration form.

As in years past, we are excited to offer all of our sports: soccer and volleyball in the fall, boys and girls basketball and cheerleading in the winter; and cross country in the spring. We are watching for any requirements from the CDC (Center for Disease Control), MDHHS (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services), and MHSAA (Michigan High School Athletic Association) regarding COVID protocols. It is our goal to comply with those requirements. If any requirements make it unreasonably difficult for us to hold a sport, we may decide to not participate in that sport during that season. At this time, we plan on offering each of our sports.

Game schedules are being finalized, but generally, you can expect practices on Mondays and Wednesdays, with games on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Games normally begin on the Tuesday after Labor Day.

I am always looking for quality coaches for each sport, so if you are interested, please let me know and we will be in touch. Coaching is one of our best volunteer opportunities, so don't miss out on this great opportunity!

Tryouts and practices will begin in mid-August, based on the coach's schedule, so please sign up as soon as possible. Over the summer our Student Athletic Handbook was revised, so please read it carefully and fill out all of the sections. The most important being the athletic physical, which must be dated after April 15, 2021, to be valid. Please schedule a physical with your child's doctor as soon as possible.

I'm looking forward to offering sports to our students again! Please contact me with any questions at melerojose@hollyacademy.org.

Jose Melero
Athletic Director
Holly Academy

• Aug. 26 - Open House, 6:00-7:30pm
• Aug. 30 - First day of school for 1st-8th grades
• Aug. 31 - First day of school for Y5 and kindergarten
• Aug. 31 - New family Coffee & Conversation at 8:00am in the media center
• Sept. 1 - PTO meeting at 8:15am in the media center
• Sept. 3 - No school
• Sept. 6 - Labor Day
• Sept. 9 - Picture day
• Sept. 10 - Patriot Day (wear red/white/blue), free dress down day
• Sept. 13 - Virtual Curriculum Night, 5:30-7:30pm

Our 21/22 Board of Directors election took place at the August 11th meeting. We applaud our Board members for volunteering to serve Holly Academy as our governing body.

President: David Cruickshank
Vice President: Diane Kullis
Treasurer: Stephen Jenkins

Secretary/FOIA Officer: Dylan Adams

Director: Doreen DeBenedictus

Director: Amy Hillman

Director: Matt Gerard

Please join us on September 1st at 8:15am in the media for our first PTO meeting of the 2021-22 school year.

Email: info@hollyacademy.org
Website: www.hollyacademy.org
Location: 820 Academy Road, Holly, MI, USA
Phone: 248-634-5554
Facebook: facebook.com/hollyacademymi
Twitter: @hollyacademymi