Munising Public Schools

Congrats to Stella and her family!

MPS TRANSPORTATION UPDATE - TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2023 Thank you to our bus drivers this morning for making accommodations on short notice to run 4 bus routes instead of 5 due to unexpected driver absence. We will be again running 4 bus routes this afternoon (10/17). The 4 Bus Routes Schedule is here in this post and also available on our website. We expect to return to 5 Bus Routes tomorrow (10/18). If you have any questions, please contact me at mike.travis@mps-up.com or Bus Driver Coordinator, Rick Stephens at rick.stephens@mps-up.com. Thank you again to our parents and students for your patience, flexibility, and understanding as we navigate the challenges of a driver shortage. MJT

October School Board Meeting Monday, October 16th at 6pm Copy and paste the following link: meet.google.com/eyb-vhua-nvu

IMPORTANT MPS TRANSPORTATION UPDATE - FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2023 Great news! We have a bus driver temporarily returning to us, so beginning, this MONDAY, OCTOBER 9TH, we will be returning to 5 Bus Routes. Barring any unknowns, we expect to remain at 5 Bus Routes from October 9th through October 30th. From October 31 through November 30th we expect to return to 4 Bus Routes. Then beginning on December 1st, we expect to return to 5 Bus Routes and remain at 5 Bus Routes for the remainder of the school year. The 5 Bus Route Schedule can be seen in the image below. Please contact Bus Driver Coordinator, Rick Stephens at rick.stephens@mps-up.com with any questions that you may have.

MUNISING PUBLIC SCHOOLS CELEBRATES NATIONAL PRINCIPALS' RECOGNITION MONTH FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER: Please join us in recognizing the hard work, contributions, and service of our MPS Principals. Principal WesLee Tweedale is a second year administrator serving the students, staff, and families of Mather Elementary School and Principal Nicole Lasak is a third year administrator serving the students, staff, and families of the Munising Middle-High School. These two principals are "difference makers".....please show them some love for all that they do :-)

Homecoming is next week! Check out our dress up days and our new fundraiser planned to help raise funds for student activities throughout the school year!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE STUDENTS, PARENTS, STAFF, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS OF MUNISING PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Two years ago, Munising had the highest percentage of Chronically Absent (43%+) students of all 13 school districts in the Marquette-Alger RESA. Now we have the 3rd best rate of Chronically Absent students at 19.09%. This 20+ point drop (improvement of attendance rates) was the cumulative effort of students, parents, school staff, and the partner organizations of the Alger County Youth Services Task Force (ACYSTF) including the MPS administrators, counselors, and social workers, the Munising City Police, the Alger County Sheriff's Department, Alger County Probate Court, and the Alger County Prosecutor's Office. Research shows that academic failure rates drastically increase and learning significantly decreases when students are absent more than 8 times per semester. Our attendance policy allows students to be absent a maximum of 9 days from school per 18 week semester before a potential referral to the ACYSTF for truancy reduction efforts begin. When a student has missed 10 or more days of school, they are considered by the State of Michigan to be "chronically absent". If you have any questions regarding truancy or attendance expectations, don't hesitate to contact school administrators or any of the member organizations of the ACYSTF. Please help us continue to reduce chronic absenteeism so that we become #1 in the region and most importantly student learning and achievement rates continue to improve for all Mustangs!

MUNISING PUBLIC SCHOOLS VISION STATEMENT The staff of Munising Public Schools are proud to share the culmination of our collective efforts over the last year to develop our shared vision of a preferred future. We recognize that our BELIEFS determine how we BEHAVE and how we behave collectively and individually determines what we, our students, and district will BECOME. Our vision is based on our collective beliefs and values, and as seen below, the 4 key organizational drivers or pillars of our guiding vision document are: Unity & Relationships Collaboration & Respect Perseverance & Success Character & Integrity Please know that we view our Vision as a living document and it will be reviewed annually by the staff for potential revision as needed. As Mustangs, we pledge to live our vision daily in an effort to help our students grow and to improve our school district and community.

IMPORTANT MPS TRANSPORTATION UPDATE - MONDAY, SEPT. 18, 2023 Due to continuing bus driver shortages, the district will be condensing from 5 bus routes to 4 routes for the following date ranges: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH through Friday, October 6 and again from Tuesday, October 31 through Thursday, November 30. Please refer to the posted "4 Route Schedule". This information is also being shared with student riders and families by Lead Bus Driver, Lisa Harger-Nelson and the other drivers. We recognize that these changes may result in some inconvenience for student riders and families, but we are still pleased to be able to offer district provided transportation as we work through the challenges of a driver shortage which is plaguing Munising and many districts in the state and nation. Your cooperation, flexibility, and understanding is greatly appreciated. Lisa Harger-Nelson would also like to share the following information: "The times for the in town stops are estimated and may vary by 5 minutes or so either way. Also the Wetmore area (South of M-28) students that usually ride Bus 6 (Deer) will be getting picked up by Bus 5 (Frog) during the dates listed above. Their pick up time could be a little earlier or a little later than normal, and the driver won't know the exact times until he does the route on Thursday and Friday this week. The driver of Bus 6 will be riding along on Bus 5 to help him find and learn his new stops and riders. In town stops are estimated to the best of our ability, and could vary from being earlier or later than what is estimated and what were the regular pick up times. Every bus driver has changes to their routes which will affect when they get to town. Thank you so much for your patience as we work through this. Please be ready and outside waiting at your bus stop. - Lisa". If you have specific questions regarding bus transportation for your child, please call Lisa at 906.387.4145 and/or email her at lisa.harger-nelson@mps-up.com. Also, building secretaries may be of assistance. We are still very much in need of a regular bus driver to drive an AM/PM route. In order to drive a school bus, a person must have a CDL-A or CDL-B license and that license must also have the "P" (Passenger) endorsement AND the "S" (School Bus) endorsement. Munising Public Schools will pay for all costs associated with driver testing, training, and certification including fees, as well as meals and mileage to training sites. If you are interested in becoming a REGULAR or Substitute driver, please contact Mike Travis at mike.travis@mps-up.com.

Community member or high school student Interested in becoming an official? Contact Mrs. Lasak for a possible first-time FREE registration voucher!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, GSRP PreSchool will not begin tomorrow. We unfortunately have to push our start date to September 18th. If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to weslee.tweedale@mps-up.com.

MPS Transportation Update: Bus #6 Singleton bus (Deer Bus) will be replaced by Sub Bus 9A to start the school year off until further notice. When repairs are completed, Bus #6 will resume the Shingleton Route.

MUNISING PUBLIC SCHOOLS - NOTICE OF VACANCY FULL TIME EMPLOYMENT WITH BENEFITS OFFERED SEE DETAILS BELOW REGARDING APPLICATION Email mike.travis@mps-up.com with questions.

Attention 6th grade parents! Here is an opportunity to make your student's first day at the middle/high school easier!

Tuesday, September 5th, the Mather doors will be opening at 7:45am for the first day of school only! Please use this time to help your student find their classrooms, meet their teachers, and relieve some of the first day of school jitters! See you then!

MPS School Bus Routes 2023-2024 Hello Mustang Students & Parents, Here are the tentative bus routes to start the school year. The 2023-2024 MPS Bus Routes can be found on the district website and at the link listed below. Please note that due to a critical bus driver shortage, we may need to condense to 4 bus runs in late September. If this becomes necessary, we may need to combine some individual stops and condense them into group stops in order to reduce overall route times. This scenario would require some students to make a short walk. We are exploring options that would enable the district to provide 4 out-of-town runs with our school buses and one in-town route dedicated to MPS students that would be conducted by AlTran but free of charge to our students. We will keep you updated on any developments or upcoming changes regarding school transportation. Please contact me at mtravis@mps-up.com for any questions and don't hesitate to let me know if you'd like to learn to drive a bus! Sincerely M. Travis, Superintendent https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hugnN0Qop2yfRV1UHl9_IH_OawwRF8a8/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=103154425355104092098&rtpof=true&sd=true

You are formally invited to the GRAND OPENING of the Mather Playground! We hope to see many of you as we join together to celebrate this community accomplishment!

MPS GRATEFUL FOR A JOB WELL DONE! What an incredible community and show of support by all of our donors and volunteers. Many community organizations and individuals lent their equipment, expertise, and sweat to the final stages of bringing this playground project to fruition. Through the collective efforts, equipment, and materials provided by Timber Products, Gerou Excavating, the City of Munising, Rescue21 (Alger County Sheriff’s Department - pictured), Tom & Ana Dolaskie/Jason Graves, Eric Brock, Hiawatha Telephone Company, Nathan Rahn, Mike Albright and the MPS Maintenance & Custodial Department, and many others, more than 400 cubic yards of wood chips were delivered and spread to a depth of 12 inches over the entire Mather Elementary Playground in approximately 10 hours today. This is simply astounding! School officials and the Munising community is humbled and grateful beyond mere words. The final sections of fencing are slated to be installed by Thursday and the playground insurance inspection and approval is slated for Friday, September 1st at 10:00am. Pending approval, there will be a short playground dedication ceremony this weekend and the playground will be officially opened to the public and available for students to use on the first day of school (Tuesday, September 5th). All of our community donors will be honored for their contributions on signage to be erected at the playground. More information about the dedication ceremony will be communicated soon by the MPS Principals Tweedale & Lasak :-)

Munising Middle/High School has three open student advisory/coaching positions open: Middle School Robotics, Middle School Esports, and Middle/High School Student Council. If you are interested or want more information, please contact Nicole Lasak! We would love to have you as part of our team!

MUNISING PUBLIC SCHOOLS - NEW JOB OPPORTUNITY PART-TIME CUSTODIAN NEEDED. Refer to Posting & District Website for Application Details!