Joseph Marckini

Cedar Springs Board Member, Joseph Marckini, received the Master Board Member Award.

Awards are earned for classes completed in Michigan Association of School Board’s (MASB) leadership training program, as well as for conference attendance, years of service and leadership activities. To earn the Master Board Member award, Joe had to complete 9 advanced level Certified Board Member Award (CBA) classes and 368 education credits.

Thirteen Kent County school board members earned awards from the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) for their efforts to improve their leadership skills, demonstrating their commitment to student achievement and their own continuous improvement. School board members operate in a complex, ever-changing environment that requires they stay abreast of trends and issues facing public schools. One way they’re able to keep pace with the fast-moving changes is to participate in training and professional development.

Congratulations to Joe on his hard work and dedication.

On Thursday, February 16, 2012 Cedar Trails Elementary initiated a canned food drive to benefit the North Kent Community Center.  Cedar Trails was able to collect a tremendous amount of canned foods for the cause. With the help of the student athletes participating in the Red Hawk Kids Club program, the cans were collected, loaded, and ready to be delivered. The boys basketball team took part in the effort and delivered them to the North Kent Community Center.  Working together, the students were able to benefit a great cause and help our community.  What an awesome display of kindness and caring by our Cedar Trails students and our High School athletes!

NEED ASSISTANCE?

Are you struggling to make ends meet?  Do you wish you could find more resources but aren’t sure if you qualify?  Have you already been denied financial assistance from a program and think you’re out of luck?  Good news, you can stop in at Red Hawk Elementary on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5-8pm to see if you are eligible for any assistance.  You can apply for: food assistance, state emergency relief (energy and non-energy assistance), cash assistance, medical assistance, and child care.  If you have already been denied, but your situation has changed, you can re-apply. No appointment is necessary, but you can set one up by calling United Way at (616) 459-2255.  Staff will be available to assist you. You can also apply online at: www.michigan.gov/mibridges

Free Income Tax Preparation

KSSN has partnered with United Way and the Kent County Tax Coalition to provided free income tax preparation for the 2012 tax season.  Tax preparers will be available on Mondays from 4:00 – 7:00 beginning Feb. 6th through March 26th by appointment only.  To schedule an appointment you must call United Way’s 2-1-1 helpline or (616) 459-2255.  Please do not call the school to make your appointment.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITES

Schools of Hope – Become a volunteer reading tutor today! Volunteer with Schools of Hope in-school reading program. You can make a huge difference in the life of child; all you have to do is give 30 minutes of one-on-one tutoring every week to improve reading skills of first through third graders. One two-hour training session is required, all materials are provided. For more information please contact Caroline Geist at cgeist@hwmuw.org or call at 696-7330 ext. 6298.

En-gedi - an after school youth center designed for students in 6th- 12th grades.  It is housed in Red Hawk Elementary.  Volunteers are needed on a weekly basis during the hours of 2:30 – 5:00.  For more information call Craig Owens at 667-7773.

What grade would you give the Cedar Springs School District?

If you could change one thing, what would that be?

With all of the issues facing public education these days, it’s important that we hear from all of our community.  Active parents regularly meet with teachers and district administrators to provide their input, but not everyone has the opportunity to attend a board meeting or join the PTA for their building.

That’s why we’re inviting you to express your opinion on the questions above and others in a survey by going to http://bit.ly/zkM37N.

Last year, legislators cut school funding back to 2005-06 levels and required all employees to pay a portion of their health care.  They lifted the cap on charter schools and are now considering creating an unlimited number of “cyber academies” that would allow students to earn a diploma online, and many more education reforms.

Amid all of these changes, we at Cedar Springs Public Schools are doing all we can to provide the best possible education for your children.  We’ve made some adjustments, but not without working diligently to maintain programming for our students.

We want to know what you think about the challenges facing our schools, and what you consider essential for our students to receive a good education.

We look forward to hearing from you.

All Parents and Students in the area are invited to attend Freshman Orientation at Cedar Springs High School.  An informational meeting for the 2012-2013 school year will be held Thursday, February 9, 2012 in the High School Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.

Eighth-grade student Alex Teal practices his presentation skills while describing research results. Presentations were created using www.prezi.com.

Exploring Technology is taught by Jeremy Plain in both the seventh and eighth grades. While each class covers different topics, the idea is the same; show students some new and fun ways to process and display information.  In addition to the familiarity students gain with new types of technology, Mr. Plain’s classes are designed to reinforce classroom concepts in science, reading and math.

Some of the activities students complete throughout the trimester include researching, organizing and producing presentations; creating how-to videos using screen captures at www.screencast.com; implementing reading strategies to explore developments in technology and designing informational and persuasive posters.

“We are difference makers” is the school wide theme for Cedar Trails Elementary School in Cedar Springs. This year young students in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade joined together to build some important “Habits of Mind.”

Kindergarten teacher Cheryl Tacoma helped coordinate the effort and shared her thoughts with the staff at a recent staff meeting.

During the holiday season 15 classrooms took the challenge to make a difference with their kind hands and kind hearts. They chose to raise money to help other children around the world. The Cedar Trails students did extra jobs at home to earn dimes and quarters. The parents were delighted with their children’s enthusiasm to do extra jobs.  What fun the families had earning, “Dimes for Ducks, Quarters for Quackers,” or “Change for Chickens!”

These young students stepped up to the plate and took their commitment to help other children very seriously. They truly wanted to help and make a difference.  Kindergarten student Brielle Sarniak explained how our Dimes for Ducks worked.

“You see, we kids do jobs at home and get dimes, then we bring them to school and add them all up and then we send the money so the poor people can have the ducks.  Then they eat the duck’s eggs for food, but they can’t eat all the eggs, so they sell the extra eggs and get some money so their kids can go to school like us.”  Kindergartner Nolan Myers summed it all up by saying, “and that’s called kind hands kind hearts!”

In less than 2 weeks the Cedar Trails staff, students and families were able to make these amazing donations to World Vision for 312 ducks, 10 chickens, 1 goat, 2 children able to attend school for a year; $115 to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and $100 for food for children in Hand of Hope. The combined gifts totaled approximately $2500.

There is no doubt Cedar Trails Elementary is “making a difference!”

Cedar Springs Public Schools has implemented millions of dollars in budget cuts over the last decade.

State funding for education has forced continued spending cuts and is forcing choice between quality education and maintaining roads and facilities. The district placed priority on keeping cuts as far from the classroom as possible.  As a result, school infrastructure needs were deferred.  Without an alternative source of funding, the Board of Education would be forced to divert funding from classrooms to cover school infrastructure needs.  Additional budget cuts, increased class size, and/or depletion of fund balance may be necessary.

An Advisory Committee consisting of parents, staff, and community members worked together to determine a long range plan for facilities and infrastructure of Cedar Springs Public Schools by identifying the needs of the district.   The priorities included: security modifications, technology infrastructure, repaving parking lots and roads, increased parking at Cedar Trails, Beach, and High School, replacement of Gym Floors at Beach and Cedar View Elementary, energy efficient boilers, and many others.

Identified facility needs can not be met within current general fund expenditures without significant budget adjustments.  The Advisory Committee recommended the pursuit of a one mill sinking fund to support infrastructure needs.  The February 28, 2012 election will include a ballot proposal to secure a short-term, dedicated stream of funding for basic school improvement projects for Cedar Springs Public Schools.

Sinking funds, unlike traditional tax bonds, generate a fixed amount of funds over the period of the tax and incur no interest.  A one mill assessment for an owner of a $100,000 home would be fifty (50) dollars a year.  Sinking funds can be used for remodeling or repairing facilities, improving sites, structures, athletic facilities, playgrounds, or other facilities; and technology infrastructure.  School districts are not allowed to use funds from a sinking fund for operating expenses such as teacher, administrator or employee salaries.

The Sinking Fund would ensure funding remains in classrooms for learning, teaching, books, and technology, provide students with basic necessity of a warm, safe and dry learning environment, create efficiencies and long-term financial savings, create jobs and support of local businesses.  The Sinking Fund is the means by which the District can protect the community’s investment used by our students, staff, parents, and community.