SLCS District Update

Dear SLCS Families and Staff Members,

Based on the incident that occurred this week at South Lyon East, I would be remiss not to take this opportunity to again stress to students that you play a vital role in helping to establish and maintain a positive, safe, and welcoming learning environment in our schools. There is no place for behavior that involves threats and/or acts of violence.

All of our students and staff members deserve to be emotionally and physically safe at school. This is accomplished, in part, through the strong school-home partnership that is a cornerstone of our outstanding district. We have all heard the statement, “See Something, Say Something.” With that, I cannot overstate the importance of bringing concerning behavior to the attention of a school administrator. Together we can maintain a positive healthy school environment in which our students will continue to thrive.

Along the lines of thriving, this week students from both SLHS and SLEHS were inducted into their respective school’s chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS). The first chapter of the National Honor Society was founded in 1921 at Fifth Avenue High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This prestigious organization was founded to recognize students for outstanding character, leadership, scholarship, and service. Below is information from the NHS website which describes each of these characteristics:

• Scholarship is a commitment to learning and growing on an educational path…building on one’s own knowledge, skills, and talent through different experiences.

• Service is seeking out and engaging in meaningful service. It calls for a service mindset, the desire to seek opportunities to help others as well as acts of service.

• Leadership is carrying oneself with dignity and taking ownership and responsibility for one’s own actions and participation.

• Character is valuing diverse cultures and building relationships that reflect love of self but also concern for others.
  
  

I surely want to congratulate the newly inducted members of the SLHS and SLEHS chapters of the National Honor Society for achieving this noteworthy accomplishment. Membership in the NHS recognizes past accomplishments and outlines expectations for future behavior related to the areas described above.

I also want to acknowledge the countless students throughout our schools who excel in the areas of scholarship, service, leadership, and character. These characteristics, while representing the pillars of the National Honors Society, represent characteristics that each student should strive to achieve each day. In doing so, you will strengthen yourselves, our schools, and our community at-large. Choose to make a difference for yourself and others!

SLCS Proud!

Steve Archibald

Superintendent

South Lyon Community Schools will be administering the mySAEBRS screener to our secondary students in grades 6-12 twice this school year, once in the fall (October/November) and again in the spring (March). 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. Students will complete the mySAEBRS screener twice this school year, once in October and again at the beginning of March. This notice and option to opt out will be offered again in late February for the secondary screening date.

The mySAEBRS screener 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. Students can only take this once during a screening period.

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.

Please see the photo below regarding a training opportunity.

We are looking to add to our guest teacher pool. Please contact Administrative Services at 248-573-8130 if interested in becoming a guest teacher.

Special education is provided to eligible children in Michigan from birth to age 26. A school team helps identify the needs of children and determines the types of supports they need to make progress in their education. Click here to open the Family Matters Special Education Process Fact Sheet to learn more.

The South Lyon Educational Foundation will be hosting a fall photo session. It is a perfect opportunity to update family photos or to get an early start on your holiday cards! We are lucky to have our two photographers returning for this photo session. Kristen Line and Brandon Boyd are both district employees and have had great success with previous SLEF photo sessions.

The photo session will take place on Saturday, October 15 and Sunday, October 16 from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. The time slot will be for 20 minutes. The photo session will be located at Greenmead Historical Park in Livonia. If you are interested in participating, please sign up here: SLEF Fall Photo Session

We have open spots in our Great Start to Readiness Program (GSRP). GSRP is a free preschool program that meets Monday through Thursday from 8:30 am - 3:30 pm. The primary way to qualify for the program is based on household income. For example, a child from a household of four people with an income of approximately $70,000 would qualify for GSRP. If you or someone you know might qualify for GSRP, please contact Michael Lloyd (lloydm@slcs.us).

Four in 10 teenagers report they feel "persistently sad or hopeless," according to a recent CDC survey. Our new Saturday afternoon workshop series for teens can help young people struggling with these kinds of feelings. The online workshops are geared toward helping teens understand the causes and consequences of emotions. Participants will learn how to turn off self-judgment, manage relationships better, and regulate their ups and downs -- with the goal of finding more meaning and purpose in life. Mental health counselor Zeinab Moussa, M.A., LLPC, will lead the workshop. Zeinab specializes in facilitating dialogue about feelings and emotions. She has children of her own and understands the negative impact COVID-19 has had on the mental health of teens and young adults. To participate, all you need is an Internet connection to Zoom, paper and pencil, and an open mind. All sessions are free of charge. Click here to REGISTER

Week 4 / Saturday, Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. - Moving Forward

October 10-Elementary Students 1/2 Day

October 18-Elementary Students 1/2 Day

November 8-No School for Students