FAPS #WeAreFenton Community Update

Our WeAreFenton Family has had a great start to the school year! We've met our newest Tigers and welcomed back returning students, staff and families. We are very excited about the potential that this year holds for our students, families and staff. It may just be our best year yet!

Part of our goals to accomplish this year is finalizing our next district strategic plan. We have operated with a strategic plan for the last 5 years, and we are looking at starting a new strategic planning cycle. With that planning means getting input from all of our FAPS stakeholders, we are surveying our parents, community members and our staff for the direction of where this strategic plan should take us. Please consider giving us the feedback we need to help direct our efforts and resources. The button below labeled FAPS Strategic Plan Survey is where you access, and we will also be placing our FAPS Strategic Plan Survey on our website. The survey should not take you more than 5-7 minutes. We thank you in advance for your help and efforts! #WeAreFenton

Sincerely,
Heidie Ciesielski
Superintendent

On November 8, 2022 Fenton Area Public Schools will be asking voters to consider renewing a Sinking Fund of .8707 mills for a period of 10 years. This renewal will not raise taxes, and will keep the funding levels consistent for the next 10 years. Please remember a sinking fund is to fund infrastructure projects or repairs as they arise. Please consult our website for more information on the projects that have been funded in the last three years with our last sinking fund.

https://www.fentonschools.org/o/fps/page/sinking-fund-2022

Fenton Families,

Reminder, please take a look at our New Website and be sure to download our NEW "Fenton Area PS" Mobile App! Remember this is how we will live out our ongoing communication with you as a community, both for traditional information and for emergency information.

Website: www.fentonschools.org

Mobile App: www.fentonschools.org/o/fps/page/mobile-app

If you have questions, or need assistance please reach out to Barry Tiemann, Director of Innovation and Communication

For those thinking of your secondary student's future, or possibly you thinking of a career change; the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget and Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives puts out annual reports of Michigan's high demand, high-wage careers that show a favorable mix of long-term growth, projected annual job openings and median wages. Linked below are all of these reports and publications - take a look if interested.

• Michigan's Hot 50 through 2030 – This publication highlights Michigan’s high demand, high-wage careers that show a favorable mix of long-term job growth, projected annual job openings, and median wages.
• Michigan's Career Outlook through 2030 – This publication provides multiple lists of in-demand occupations through 2026 by education and training requirements, as well as highlights the most in-demand STEM occupations for the state.
• Regional Career Outlook through 2028 – This publication provides multiple lists of in-demand occupations through 2026 by education and training requirements, as well as highlights the most in-demand STEM occupations for each of Michigan's Prosperity Regions.
• Annual Planning Information and Workforce Analysis Reports – This pair of reports, one tabular the other analytical, supplies economic and demographic data, including an analysis of in-demand occupations for Michigan's 10 Prosperity Regions.

World of Wonder is serving our youngest Tigers through a variety of early childhood programming. WoW utilizes the Reggio Emilia philosophy, an emergent curriculum model that focuses on inquiry and a play-based developmentally appropriate approach to learning. Our program is designed to promote the development of the whole child by focusing on social emotional skills, physical development, cognitive development, the arts, mathematics, literacy, and science.

WoW offers tuition preschool, Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) preschool, wrap-around childcare, and parent-child play groups. All of our programs provide our students with high-quality early childhood experiences to prepare for success in school. WoW has a variety of tuition preschool options for families to choose from - including half day and full day options along with 2 day, 3 day, or 5 day options. Our four Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) classrooms provide free preschool to eligible children who are 4 years of age. We offer two parent child playgroups for children birth through age five. JumpStart is a United Way grant funded program available for families that are income eligible. WonderWorks is a tuition program that families can participate in. Our play groups use the Parent As Teachers curriculum - a nationally recognized and evidence based curriculum designed for families. We offer wrap-around care for preschool students as well students in Young 5's/Kindergarten through Fifth grade. WoW scored a Five Star Quality Rating with Great Start to Quality - the highest score you are able to receive.

Our vision for World of Wonder is to be a place where children, as well as adults, come to learn. We strive to keep providing high-quality early learning experiences to the children in our community to help grow life long learners. Fenton Area Public Schools is committed to developing future leaders. This begins with WoW! Early childhood education is the foundation to later school success. As a new director, my vision for WoW is to maintain our high-quality programs and expand into more program options for Infants and Toddlers. We aim to renew our Five Star Rating in June 2023. We will continue to support our educators in growing as early childhood professionals by attending and presenting at conferences such as Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children’s Annual Early Child Conference. Another goal of WoW is to continue to strengthen community partnerships and build connections with our elementary schools to help support transitions to Young 5’s/Kindergarten.

Our Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) offered a one-week Back-to-School CAMP for 2021-2022 students who will be attending Young Fives or Kindergarten during this upcoming 2022-2023 school year. The Camp was offered by World of Wonder at the Ellen Street Campus. Sixteen children attended the Camp during the second week of August.

This Camp was started in 2016 to bridge the gap between GSRP and Young Fives/Kindergarten—readying students for the new school year. Campers reviewed literacy and math skills needed to be successful in school as well as social-emotional skills to enable campers to work with others in a classroom. Our Back-to-School Camp included a walking field trip to the Fenton-Winegarden Library where most campers applied for their very own library card and got the chance to use it to check out books to take home. Miss Chris, Children’s Librarian, shared some of her favorite stories and showed us around the Children’s Center.

This full-day camp was led by Ms. (Denise) Swanson and co-taught with Miss Kasie (Stout). Both Denise and Kasie are GSRP teachers during the school year. GSRP Back-to-School CAMP 2022 was a fun-filled one-week camp which included play dough making, puzzle play, scavenger hunts, and lots of free-choice play both indoors and out! We wish our campers well this year in Young Fives and Kindergarten!

Monday (9/26/22):

• Jersey/Powder Puff Jersey Day
• Financial Aid Night in FHS Lecture Room 5:30 - 7:00 pm
• Powder Puff Game - 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday (9/27/22):

• Tie Dye Day

Wednesday (9/28/22):

• PJ Day (school appropriate pj's)

Thursday (9/29/22) - Throwback Thursday

• Seniors: 2000's
• Juniors: 1990's
• Sophomores: 1980's
• Freshmen: 1970's

Friday (9/30/22):

• Spirit Wear Day
• Pep Assembly - 6th hour
• Parade - 5:00 p.m.
• Football Game - 7:00 p.m.

Saturday (10/1/22)

• Homecoming Dance - 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.
• Tickets are pre-sale only - No tickets will be sold at the door

Fenton believes that by educating the whole child, our students will feel safe, feel they have people within the school community that support them and feel empowered to overcome adversity. The social and emotional factors that play a part in a child’s success are growing each and every year and Fenton is taking a proactive approach at the Tier 1 level (all students) so we may be intentional in the supports needed at the Tier 2 and Tier 3 levels.

In order to be intentional and to provide proactive, targeted support, we have partnered with iWellness Center, an organization focused on the mental wellness of K-12 students. iWellness Center provides a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly check-in gaining the needed feedback on our students so we may make informed decisions on programs, support systems, and individual referrals.

With parent permission, your student will participate in the iWellness Center check-ins given weekly/bi-weekly/monthly. All results will be kept confidential, stored separately from academic records, and will be shared with only “need to know” staff members.

Look for more information to come from your student's building principal as the school year gets up and rolling.

Our community is very lucky in we have a highly functioning board of education who not only takes on the roll to help govern our district, but does so in the best interest of all of our students. In working with our board on our direction and strategic planning, they expressed a desire to not only make sure the board of education meeting briefs appear in our community newsletter, but from time to time we provide some information to our community on what their role and purpose is as a collective group.

Below you will see some answers to frequently asked questions, and some resources for you as a community to better understand the role of our local school board.

How much do our board members get paid for serving? Our board is currently compensated in the amount of $00000000.00000000. Said differently, they DO NOT receive any compensation for this governance position.

How much time do board members contribute to this position? Board members are responsible for attending our regular monthly board meetings, any subcommittee meetings they are on (which all board members serve on at least two subcommittees) and any workshops they hold to become better board members. Our board members also attend events outside of their formal obligations that are occuring throughout our district. Many have had board member education through Michigan Association of School Boards. Said differently, they SPEND a lot of time in serving our district and students.

If you want to learn more about the board of education and the purpose of a local school board here are some resources to learn more:

https://masb.org/your-local-school-board.aspx

Our school board held the regular monthly meeting on September 12, 2022. Please find the link to the September meeting located here:

Also, remember that you can find meeting agendas, and minutes for all board meetings on our website: https://www.fentonschools.org/page/board-of-education