SLCS District Update
March 3rd, 2022
Superintendent's Update
Good evening SLCS Families and Staff Members,
It has been a great week in SLCS! Our students and staff are embracing all that March has to offer, including March is Reading Month. The importance of reading and reading comprehension cannot be understated. It is an essential skill that represents a significant cornerstone for learning.
It is great to see pictures on our Twitter pages highlighting all of the visitors that are serving as guest readers. Thank you! I had the privilege to read to students in Ms. Bushey’s class today at Hardy. I hope the students enjoyed it as much as I did. I’m looking forward to a number of other visits around the District later in the month.
To our parents and staff, I encourage you to spend some time reading this month as well. Model behavior we want to promote for our students. Whether you are reading for information or entertainment, pick a good book and enjoy!
SLCS Reading!
Steven Archibald
Superintendent
The Den
The newest version of The Den should have arrived in homes via the Lyon Today this week. The digital version can be read by clicking on this link.
mySAEBRS Information
South Lyon Community Schools will be administering the mySAEBRS screener to our secondary students in grades 6-12 later this month. We would like to share some information about the screener before it is administered at our middle and high schools.
The mySAEBRS screener is utilized as a tool to gather data at the district level to help South Lyon Community Schools understand what needs our students have and how we can best support them. The goal of utilizing this screener is to help design programming that best supports our students to be as successful as possible in school. Our current practices will continue for identifying and serving students with behavior, academic and emotional needs, even with this additional data. Students will not be contacted about their individual answers on this screener.
This screener is not required for students at the secondary level, but will be given during the school day at each secondary building on a specified date. Information specific to your child’s building will be shared with you in each building’s Friday communication this week. As a parent/guardian, you are welcome to opt your child out of this screener by filling out an electronic form provided by your child’s building in their Friday communication. Additionally, on the day of the screening, students will not be forced to complete the screener and can opt-out themselves.
Information about mySAEBRS:
The Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (mySAEBRS) is a 20 item rating scale that students complete about their social, academic, and emotional behaviors. It is grounded in a conceptual model which states that school success is predicated not just upon academic achievement, but also success within multiple inter-related behavioral domains. The mySAEBRS assessment is designed to evaluate student functioning in terms of overall general behavior (Total Behavior; 20 items), as well as Social Behavior (7 items), Academic Behavior (6 items), and Emotional Behavior (7 items).
Screening is the process of checking all students' performance (taking their "temperature") up to three times a year using mySAEBRS. Since this is our first year utilizing the SAEBRS and mySAEBRS screening tools, we will only have students complete the mySAEBRS screener once at the end of March 2022 this school year.
This year, mySAEBRS will be completed by students in grades 6 through 12. It is a 20-item rating scale that includes questions about a student's social, academic and emotional behaviors. The mySAEBRS is available in both English and Spanish for students. The student completes the scale online and it takes approximately 10 minutes to complete mySAEBRS.
Each mySAEBRS item has a score value from 0 through 3. These three scales (social, academic, and emotional) combine to represent a Total Behavior (20 items) scale. The online system (Fastbridge) reports a student's overall performance on each mySAEBRS scale as a sum of item scores within each scale.
Below is a list of the items in each scale. Students will use the following frequency indicators to identify how often they experience the described behaviors: Never - Sometimes - Often - Almost Always
Social Behavior Indicators
I argue with others.
I get along with my peers.
I lose my temper.
I disrupt class.
I am respectful.
Other people like me.
I have trouble waiting my turn.
Academic Behavior Indicators:
I like school.
I am ready for class.
I get good grades.
I have trouble working alone.
It’s hard to pay attention in class.
I participate in class.
Emotional Behavior Indicators:
I feel sad.
I feel nervous.
I like to try new things.
I am happy.
I am worried.
When something bad happens, it takes me a while to feel better.
I like being alone.
If you have any further questions about the mySAEBRS screener, please contact your child’s building administrator.
Proposed Changes to Middle School PLUS Programming
South Lyon Community Schools provides the Middle School Plus Program classes in Math and English Language Arts to meet the needs of the small percentage of academically talented middle school students. The Language Arts Plus classes offer the students enrichment and acceleration options in language arts. The Mathematics Plus classes offer the students a curriculum that is one grade level above their peers. For example, Math Plus 6th grade students learn the Math 7 curriculum.
Currently, the Plus program is offered only at Millennium Middle School and students who qualify for the program but are in the boundary of Centennial Middle School have to choose between attending their boundary school or receiving the services offered by the program. Both parents and students have asked if the program could run in both schools so that students are able to continue attending middle school with their neighborhood and siblings. We have been monitoring when it makes sense to divide the program and in terms of both student interest and staffing, we believe we may be at that point.
Additionally, we are considering adjustments that expand eligibility for the ELA courses.
Families whose students tested in January for the Plus program should look for additional information from the middle school administrators in the coming days.
Feedback is still being gathered from both staff groups and a focus group of parents and guardians prior to a finalized proposal being shared with the Board of Education this spring.
Athletics
Congratulations to our South Lyon United Ski Team Members Ben Aulicino, Helena Hoffmann, Ethan Rusesell and Daniel Welton who qualified & competed in the MHSAA State Ski Finals @ Boyne Mountain on Monday!
Good luck to both of our SLHS & East Girls Bowling Teams at the MHSAA State Bowling Finals this weekend! SLHS bowlers Ava Crumbley, Brenden Tyler and East bowler Sydney Stocks will also be competing for individual state titles!
Good luck to our State Qualifying Wrestlers this weekend in the MHSAA State Wrestling Finals at Ford Field! SLHS: Kailyn Garrett, Ben Leece, Daniel Russel, Aidan Myers East: Isabella Cepak, Tyler Swanigan
March is also National Athletic Training Month. We would like to recognize and thank SLHS Athletic Trainer Justin Edwardson and East Athletic Trainer Ken Smoot for all they do for our athletes and programs!
Special Education
On Tuesday, March 1, 2022, the South Lyon Board of Education accepted the recommendation of Loni Pryor as the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) Representative for our district. Loni is a parent of young children who attend Hardy and Sayre Elementary Schools. Next week, Loni and our other PAC Representative, Amanda Fitch, will be attending a virtual meeting with the Oakland Schools Parent Advisory Committee to learn from an expert panel of post secondary professionals. The community agency professionals will be grouped into three tracks: Employment, Independent Living and Continued Learning. The information that Loni and Amanda acquire from this event will be shared in future newsletters. We welcome Loni and wish to thank the other parents who interviewed for this important position.
Kindergarten and JK Information
Welcome to the graduating classes of 2035 and 2036!
Kindergarten and Junior Kindergarten enrollment packets are available on the district’s website. Students must be five years old by September 1st to be eligible for kindergarten. Students turning five between September 2nd and December 1st of 2022 may enroll in either Junior Kindergarten or Kindergarten with a signed waiver.
See our website for additional information about our Kindergarten and Junior Kindergarten programs.
Reminder-2022-23 District Calendar
The 2022-2023 school calendar is included as part of the teacher negotiation process. It will be shared with the community upon completion of negotiations.
Upcoming Events
March 8-No School for Students
March 18-Elementary Students ½ Day
March 26-Spring Break Begins