The Au Gres-Sims School District

This week I'd like to share with you a press release of some good news that the district received on Wednesday.

On October 25th the Au Gres-Sims School District received notification that their application for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2022 Clean School Bus (CSB) Program had been approved. The school district has been selected to receive $395,000 in funding to replace an old diesel bus with a new electric school bus, plus charging infrastructure.

The school bus replacement competitive rebate program has the goal of improving air quality in and around schools and communities, reducing greenhouse gas pollution, and better protecting children’s health. Around the country the EPA has prioritized high-needs school districts with more than 20% in poverty and/or rural school districts. This is the first year of a $1 billion per year, five-year program that has come about as the result of a bipartisan infrastructure law.

Locally, the school district is delighted to be improving the air quality of an area that takes such pride in its natural resources and affinity for the outdoors. The receiving of this award allows the district to take the next step in its vision to create a greener, more eco-friendly footprint on the area and aligns to the values of the people that call Au Gres home.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. Ming

November 9 and 10 are Elementary Parent Teacher Conferences from 4-7 pm. Letters were just sent home with students (many in their “Friday Folders”). Please return these to your child’s teacher asap so we can coordinate conferences and help to meet families needs as best as possible. We look forward to working with you and developing plans to help make your child successful.

This past week our middle and high school students signed up for their two day a week elective courses for the upcoming marking period. One group that I am very excited about is our Leadership class. This group will learn about leadership while also functioning as a pseudo Student Council and help to represent and give a stronger voice to our students. Thank you to the individuals who are in this class and taking on this leadership role.

Tutoring opportunities will soon be set up for our elementary students. This is currently an option for our middle and high school students. This takes place in the Cyber Cafe on Mondays and Thursdays from 3:15-4:15. This is an opportunity to get some extra assistance, but can also be used simply as a time for students to have some additional work time. I highly encourage families to take advantage of this opportunity.

Keeping you apprised of some of the current technology trends and apps, today I’ll give a brief explanation of one called, “Sendit”. Sendit is an anonymous question and answer app. It works in connection with Instagram and Snapchat and allows users to ask their friends a question and get anonymous responses. Although this can be helpful in different circumstances, it has been troublesome for bullying because students feel they can write anything as an anonymous post with feelings that there are no repercussions.

It is hard to believe that we have arrived at the end of the first marking period! Teachers are wrapping up their end of the marking period assessments and preparing report cards to come home in the coming weeks. For elementary families, as you may remember, elementary report cards now look a bit different than they did in years past with the move last year to standards-based reporting. I hope you have been able to see how much more informative this has been in regard to individual skills.

The end of the marking period also brings the end of the marking period awards for House competitions in our secondary. Students can earn points for their House each marking period for attendance, honor roll, earning credit in Seminar, not having RTP visits, and of course - House tokens! As grades are finalized, I will begin calculating scores and adding them to the current point values. Students have been having competitions throughout the marking period, and currently, the competition is very close!! I do have the results for the Fall NWEA Benchmark competition, and the winners are: Middle School - Altruismo with 47 points, and High School Isibindi and Reveur tied with 42 points!

Finally, with the cold/flu/strep throat/RSV/stomach flu season upon us, and COVID still popping up as well, it is unavoidable that students are missing school. Teachers are sending homework to complete during this time, but we all know that there is no replacement for face-to-face instruction in the classroom. Therefore, I just wanted to remind everyone that the Michigan Department of Education has partnered with local Public Television, to create the Michigan Learning Channel. This link will take you to their website, which shows a menu of the daily shows that play on local Public Television stations across the state. You can also access on-demand videos of the episodes on the website. An exciting series for our elementary students is the Math Mights series, which stars some math characters that may look familiar to them. The creator of the series has been a math consultant in our district for the last several years, and she was just on campus last week working with our teachers! All K-5 classrooms now have plush versions of the characters that they are familiar with to help them learn different types of math strategies, and now with her new show on the Michigan Learning Channel - these characters have come to life!! This channel is not just for elementary - they have programming that spans K-12 content. The website allows you to search by grade level to see what is there. Here is an FAQ document from the Michigan Learning Channel. The section "How can I watch the channel?" lists all local public television channels that carry this programming. This is a great free resource, accessible to all students in Michigan, which provides another resource to help support student learning when students cannot be in the classroom.

Each year Michigan celebrates College month during the month of October. Many colleges and universities across the state have waived application fees for students when they apply during the month of October.

Here at AGS we are celebrating college month with a college wall that represents over 20 colleges and universities in Michigan and the United States that Alumni have attended in the past. Under each college flag or photo are the names of Alumni who attended each school.

If you have any questions about college applications or what steps your student may need to take next please reach out to me.

Good luck to our Varsity Volleyball and Football teams as they head into the MHSAA Playoffs.

IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO GET YOUR TICKETS FOR TONIGHT'S MHSAA VARSITY FOOTBALL HOME PLAYOFF GAME. KICK OFF IS 7:00PM AT THE STADIUM VS. KINDE NORTH HURON.

Click the web link below to purchase your tickets for the game. Tickets for MHSAA playoff games are sold exclusively through GoFan.

https://gofan.co/app/events/749419?schoolId=MI4040

Next Week's Schedule of Events:

Mon. 10/31:

• 6p V Volleyball MHSAA Districts @ Hale vs. Fairview

Tue. 11/1:

• 6p MS Girls Basketball HOME vs. Rogers City

Thu. 11/3:

• MS Girls Basketball AWAY @ Charlton Heston Academy

Now that we have entered the MHSAA Playoffs for Volleyball and Football we are in a win and keep playing-lose and the season is done. Updates to advancements in the MHSAA Tournaments will be sent out via ThrillShare onto our Facebook page, Twitter feed, School Website, and through the Au Gres-Sims app.

The Wolverine Wake-Up is a student written publication that comes out weekly and shares the reporting of our own high school students and their interpretation of what is going on the in the world. The teacher sponsor and editor-in-chief is Mr. Luke Freeman. Thanks for reading.

October 28, 2022 - Issue #63

In an effort to provide the academic support that our students need, the middle and high school will have drop-in after school tutoring starting next week. The tutoring will run after school until 4:30 on Mondays and Thursdays in the Cyber Cafe. Students are invited to drop in to work on their homework and/or get help from a teacher on a particular topic.

Dates for Tutoring the next few months:

• Thu. 11/3
• Mon. 11/7
• Thu. 11/10
• Mon. 11/14
• Thu. 11/17
• Mon. 11/21
• Mon. 11/28

Tutoring for our elementary students will look a little different (based on the age of the students) and will begin after the first parent-teacher conferences of the year. We will update you on the details as we get closer to that date.

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

NOVEMBER

• 1st: Picture Re-takes
• 8th: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS - ISD-wide Professional Development day
• 8th: Election Day
• 9th-10th: Elementary Parent/Teacher Conferences
• 14th: PTO meeting in Elementary Library, 6p
• 15th: NO SCHOOL STAFF AND STUDENTS, District and Administration Offices will be closed
• 17th: School Board Meeting, 6p (*Note: this is a change from the original date of Monday, November 21st, therefore it is a "special meeting")
• 23rd-25th: NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Holiday

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

• Saturday, November 5th - 9a-3p - AGS PTO Bazaar @ AGS Elementary = Shop for great gifts from 40+ vendors. $1.00 Adult Admission with proceeds going directly to the students through PTO-sponsored activities. (See flier below)
• Monday, November 14th 6p - AGS PTO Meeting in AGS Elementary Library
• Thursday, December 1st (6p registration, 7p start) - Arenac Community Funds Holiday Auction (Ali's Up North)***
• Saturday, December 3rd - Christmas Parade (starts at AGS parking lot and ends in the City Park
• Saturday, February 18th - Arenac Community Funds Trivia Night (Arenac Community Center, Standish)

***Items for the ACF Holiday Auction should be turned in to any committee member by November 21st, including a donation form. See attached PDFs for details. Locally, items and forms may be turned into Chris Ming in the administrative office of the school district or Dale Wiltse at City Hall.

Job Opportunities at AGS

• We do not currently have any vacancies for district staff positions.

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.

If you are interested in substitute teaching and need assistance with the paperwork process, a WillSub representative will be in Arenac County twice per month for onsite consultation.

• 2nd Tuesday of the month, from 12-4pm in the AGS Administration Office
• 4th Tuesday of the month, from 12-4pm at Standish-Sterling School District

Here is a complete list of dates:

• October 25 (SSC)
• November 8 (AGS) and 22 (SSC)
• December 13 (AGS)
• January 10 (AGS) and 24 (SSC)
• February 14 (AGS) and 28 (SSC)
• March 14 (AGS) and 28 (SSC)
• April 11 (AGS) and 25 (SSC)
• May 9 (AGS) and 23 (SSC)

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