Proud To Be A Comet!

Grand Ledge is more than just the place I have worked for the past 13 years.  It is the place I call home. I grew up here!  I graduated from here!  I moved back here to raise my family! Last spring I had the honor handing my daughter her GLHS diploma 30 years after I received mine. As I prepare to start year 14 in a new position, I know there are many reasons why I am Proud to be a Comet!

I know that our district is a good district.  In many areas we are great.  The fact is our students learn. Our faculty and staff care.  We have an early child hood center and a a full day kindergarten building dedicated to getting our students off to a great start!  We offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses and enrichment   programs for students at all levels to challenge themselves academically.  We have dozens of after school clubs and activities, highly qualified and certified staff, new technology and successful athletic programming.  We have developed community partnerships, support systems to combat drop outs and help struggling learners at all levels, alternative education programming, job shadowing, and employment internships.

I know that each year we have National Merit Semi-Finalists and Finalists and we have had a National Merit scholarship winner in three of the past four years (2 in 2015). We have Advanced Placement (AP) Scholars (46 in 2015) and last year we were one of only 477 schools in the United States and Canada (one of 31 in our state) to be named to the Advanced Placement Honor Roll.  That was the second time in the past four years we have received this honor.  Only one other district in the state can say that and my guess is that we will make the list this year too!

I know that we do well on the objective measures of success and other key indicators that are emphasized by the state.  Results from the MEAP, M-STEP, ACT/MME and Advanced Placement (AP) testing rank us above the state average and in some instances among the highest performing districts in the state.  We have one of the higher graduation rates in the state and our student attendance rate is exceptionally high.

I know that our students graduate with the skills the need to be successful in life.  Our students are accepted into the top colleges and universities in the State and Nation.  The Class of 2015 received over $3,000,000 in academic and athletic scholarships offers.

I know that our students and staff produce nationally recognized musicals. Our bands and choirs earn the highest marks at solo and ensemble festivals and our instructors are recognized by the peers as being among the best in the state.

I know that our athletic teams are competitive and, at times, the best in the state. We have coaches who challenge students to improve but more importantly we have coaches who care about each student.  We win conference, district and regional championships every year.  We have won our share of state championships too.

I know that we have wonderful diversity in our buildings.  Our district serves six different communities within three counties.  As a result we have over 4,500 students from a wide range of backgrounds.  Every year we have dozens of foreign exchange students attend our high school and our exchange program with our “sister school” in Lohne, Germany is entering its 35 ^th year.  This diversity provides an opportunity for our students to experience the world that they will live and work in and gain experiences that will give them confidence as they go off to college and enter the world of work.

I know that Comet PRIDE is more that a PBIS slogan to our secondary students and staff.  We strive to be Positive be Responsible, have Integrity, be Determined and be Engaged in everything we do.  At the elementary level Beagle ROCKS, Wacousta is OPEN, Delta Center SOARs and at Willow Ridge and Neff we Do the Right Thing   As a result, our schools our clean, safe and welcoming places to learn and grow.

I know we have outstanding faculty and staff in our buildings.  In an age when the education profession is often under valued and under appreciated,  our teachers, administrators and support staff strive to do what is best for our students.  We have staff who come in early and stay late to tutor. We have staff who call parents and encourage students every day.  We have dozens of teachers who gave up their time this summer to attend professional development opportunities.

I know our rich history! Since 1886 Grand Ledge Public Schools has been the focal point of our culture and a source of community pride!  Many community members (and staff members) graduated from Grand Ledge High School themselves, in fact it is common to have several generations within a family graduate from GLHS!

I also know we can do better.  We do have achievement gaps between the bottom 30 percent of our students and our population as a whole.  Some of these gaps are quite large. We have put in place a variety of supports to address these gaps. We have created a Multi Tiered System of Support at all levels to identify and assist struggling learners.We have created year-long courses for students who struggle in Math and English. We have created conceptual courses for students who struggle in Chemistry and Physics.  We have made adjustments to curriculum and classroom instruction that is based on our data and research on best practices. We have Intervention rooms and intervention coaches in Math, English, Science and Social Studies. We have reading support classes and SAT skills classes.  We have created a “Check and Connect” program at the high school to connect students in smaller groups with a teacher who cares and who can help focus them academically.  We have teachers who run help rooms before school, after school and during their lunches. 

I know we are creating a rich, internal accountability system that will allow us to us to focus attention not only on the state measurements but also our own internal assessments to give parents a clearer and more accurate picture of their child’s achievement.  For all of these reasons and more, I am Proud to be a Comet!  As we prepare to start another school year, I look forward to working with our staff, students and community make 2015-2016 the best one yet!