Coloma Schools put Strategic Plan to work

By Annette Christie

Evidence was presented at the Monday, September 12 Coloma School Board of the recently adopted district-wide strategic plan at work.  Superintendent Peter Bush told the board that T-shirts bearing the logo “Comet Pride” were provided to all staff members on opening day of the new school year.  The School Board was presented theirs as well at the board meeting.  Bush said that every other Friday will be “Comet Pride” Day in the district when staff and students will be encouraged to wear their Comet logo items.  Students will be encouraged to obtain shirts with Comet logos on them.  The PTA is discussing the possibility of purchasing t-shirts for all students K-5.  Bush said that they are working on a way to afford them for the junior high and high school students as well so that every student could at least have one article displaying their Comet Pride.   Donations by businesses and community leaders will be accepted.   Also in line with the strategic plan, Bush said that Chrome Books were issued to all students in grades 9-11.  To make that technology upgrade available across the board, each board member received their Chrome Book at Monday night’s board meeting.  Bush said they will be receiving instruction for how to get the maximum use out of the technology.   All of the board members have been issued school email addresses. School business can now be sent through the school email instead of their home email addresses.  Bush said they will continue using both for a while until the board is more familiar with it.    Bush said that the district-wide testing mechanism M-step scores from the spring 2016 testing were now available. He will be presenting the stats to all teaching staff on the first late start day.  In October, the board will get a full review at the board meeting.    Bush noted that the single bus run that started this year in the district seems to be going well.  He said the transportation department is working out the bugs in the system.  They do have one bus with some higher numbers of students on it but that they are working on that.    In a continued discussion from last month, the board approved an agreement with Background Investigation Bureau.  The national company works with school districts to provide volunteer background checks.   The company would provide a link on the school’s website that volunteers can go to.  Volunteers enter their information and then the company runs the check and notifies the district as to whether the person should be volunteering.  Once the district authorizes the volunteer, the company contacts the individual and sets them up with a volunteer identification card and all the paperwork.  It will cost the district $20.95 per person.  Bush said they are 99.4% accurate with searches that can reach anywhere in the country.  Bush said there may still be a few things out there they might miss, but the majority is picked up.  He assured the board that the district has final say on authorizing a volunteer.   Bush said, “This will save us some time and give us a little more feeling of security.”   One of the final payments from the bond proceeds was approved following the purchase that was approved the month prior.  The district obtained a music stand and storage cart for the band in the amount of $283.97.  Bush asked the board to consider passing a resolution expressing their support of an agreement to take part in the Reading Now Network.  This is a region wide early literacy effort where districts can identify best practices in early literacy.  Bush said this was a good collaborative program that the district was fortunate to get started in last February. “Our entire region is now interested in this program and participating,” Bush said.   Berrien RESA is looking for all school districts to express support and agree to focus on early literacy.  Reading Now Network began when the school superintendents from thirteen West Michigan counties formed this collective effort of superintendents, school boards and school districts throughout West Michigan to improve early literacy and ultimately, student achievement across all grade levels. Following a study prior to 2015, a team determined the five elements that establish the “Roots of Reading Success”.  Just one piece of this is the reading loss levels that appear in students during the summer months when they are not in school.  As a result, the Reading Now Network provides summer reading resources to parents which give them some fun, simple strategies to help prevent that reading loss.    The Reading Now Network offers a team approach to overcoming the obstacles that teachers and schools face, usually on their own.  Through it, the best practices for improving early literacy are determined and then shared to help school districts across the board.  Statewide, it is said that about a third of students fall short of reading proficiency measures in third grade.    The resolution the Coloma School Board approved states that the district understands the importance of developing talent that is career ready and college capable and that one in six children who do not read proficiently in third grade fail to graduate from high school on time.  It goes on to state that there is a moral and economic imperative to the relentless pursuit of early literacy and that the board directs Superintendent Bush to collaborate in the work of the Reading Now Network which is dedicated to collaboratively raising literacy rates.

JnK Gift Shop opens in Watervliet

 Make sure to put Saturday, October 8, 2016, on your calendar for the Grand Opening of JnK Gift Shop, located in the first unit at Lindy’s Landing Strip, 8273 Arnt Blvd in Watervliet. Just off I-94, next to Subway, and across from Fairfield Inn & Suites and Surfari Joe’s Indoor Wilderness Water Park. The store will be open beginning Wednesday, October 5, to get a preview before the official opening day.  JnK Gift Shop will offer unique custom printed t-shirts, hoodies, gifts, souvenirs and more. Local patrons and tourists will find a selection of gifts for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and other special occasions, as well as souvenirs for Watervliet, Paw Paw Lake, and the surrounding Southwest Michigan area.  One of JnK Gift Shop’s distinctive offerings is the ability to print a variety of pictures and graphics on their shirts while customers are in the store. Customers will have the opportunity to select the style, size, and color shirt they like and pick out their favorite picture or graphic and have it printed while they shop. JnK Gift Shop also offers printing options for other items (see store for more details).  Another great distinction is that JnK Gift Shop prides itself on offering Made in USA and Assembled in USA items as much as possible. They know how important it is to support American businesses and jobs and want to create a positive impact to our local economy.  The “JnK” stands for Jeff Little and Kris Richardson, former residents of Watervliet, and currently residing in nearby Riverside. They were both raised in Watervliet and graduated in 1987 from Watervliet High School.  Combined, they were actively involved in the school marching band, choir, school theatre and variety show programs, national honor society, sports, and always cheered on the Panthers at home games. “We could see an opportunity for bringing a new gift shop to the community in Watervliet, so we started the process to make it happen.” stated Jeff and Kris. While managing their website, www.JnKGiftShop.com, they started looking for an available location in Watervliet. After meeting with Joe Arnt, owner of Lindy’s Landing Strip, they started setting up the perfect store to complement their offerings at a great location to support the community.  JnK Gift Shop will be a wonderful addition to Watervliet’s business community, providing an additional shopping experience for local residents and visiting tourists.