Saturday, October 1, 2016

TAYLOR FALL FEST scheduled for October 8 at Heritage Park

Families are reminded that the City of Taylor's annual Fall Fest will be held at Heritage Park from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, October 8. Free hayrides, free pumpkin decorating, cider, donuts and bounce houses at additional small fee. 


Hot dogs, chips and pop will be sold to benefit the VIP Special Needs Camp. Fall Fest runs in conjunction with Petting Farm's special event on October 8 (special $3 admission offered) and the Fall Fest will have the trackless train going that day.

TVLA offers open house and parent day

The Taylor Virtual Learning Academy has an open house and parent night from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday, October 5. Everyone is welcome to attend.

OFFICIAL STUDENT COUNT DAY is October

Just a reminder: Official Student Count Day is Wednesday, October 5. School districts across Michigan encourage students to be in the classroom for Count Day. The Count Day accounts for about 90 percent of state funding, according to published reports. It's particularly crucial for the state's school districts with deficits and declining enrollments.

MYERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL teachers honored


Myers Elementary School teachers Lorrie Lezotte and Jessica Wilds were honored at a recent Board of Education meeting for outstanding service and professionalism working with kindergarten students. Lorrie and Jessica are pictured here with Board Vice President Blaine Honeycutt and Supt. Ben Williams.

TRUMAN HIGH SCHOOL DECA Club plans Safe Halloween

The Truman DECA Club will hold its Safe Halloween and Business Expo October 22 at the high school, beginning at 5 p.m.

All children must be accompanied by an adult (18 or older). DECA will be collecting canned goods for the local Gleaners during the event.

Included will be classroom trick or treating, face painting, crafts and game, bake sales, raffles. 

It's a very family friendly event. Haunted hallway admission is just $1.


EUREKA HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL welcomes Science Alive


Science Alive recently attended Eureka Heights Elementary School. It’s fun it is to do some hands on, creepy crawly learning!    

KINYON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL student council, teacher honored


Kristi Mentzer and her Kinyon Elementary School Student Council were honored during a recent Board of Education meeting. Mentzer’s student council held a Veterans Day fundraiser, conducted a campus beautification program and organized a canned food drive. Principal Sweet and Board President Reilly joined Supt. Ben Williams in congratulating the group for their hard work.

KENNEDY--TRUMAN volleyball teams square off



The Kennedy and Truman varsity volleyball teams played last week. Kennedy won the game. Here’s a great photo of all of the girls together.

HOOVER MIDDLE SCHOOL students show artistic side


Hoover Middle School Hawks are showing their artistic side by creating a Parabolic Curve using straight lines evenly in Ms. Malloy's Art class.




HOOVER MIDDLE SCHOOL: Staff selfies of the week from Mrs. Federle and Mr. Bergler


HOOVER MIDDLE SCHOOL students work to Save Fred!


Hoover Middle School students are working on the Scientific Method.  This is a lab called Saving Fred! 

Students had to work in groups and decided on a hypothesis as a solution to Save Fred without using their hands to touch the worm.  The materials used were: four paperclips, gummy worm, gummy lifesaver and a cup. 


Students had fun while trying to Save Fred during science class in Mrs. Tavener-Radiger's classroom.





Tuesday, September 27, 2016

TRUMAN HIGH SCHOOL: Pinwheels for Peace takes center stage

Mrs. Peterson's art class at Truman High School participated in the Pinwheel for Peace project for World Peace Day. 


They created “Pinwheels” that represent what peace meant to them and then placed them on along the front walkway to the school.  This is a nationally sponsored event!












TOMMIE SAYLOR: Engage the parent and you'll engage the student

“At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of parents.”
Jane D. Hull

By Tommie Saylor
Kennedy High School Principal

The biggest influence on student success are parents and/or guardians. In fact, a student’s home life is so influential in the progress that it almost renders the caliber of the teachers, administrators or school irrelevant.

Essentially, if the people at home value education, place a high premium on grades and are involved in the educational process, then the student, more times than not, finds academic success. 

Knowing this, schools make numerous attempts to involve the parents and/or guardians in the educational process. To this end, schools organize open houses, parent/teacher conferences, try to encourage parents to serve on committees and become involved in school events. 

It can be argued that the eminence of a school can be measured not by the number of teachers with advanced degrees, graduation percentage nor by a diverse curriculum, but by the number of parents that attend open houses, parent/teacher conferences and PTA/booster meetings.

Because a student’s parents and/or guardians are so paramount in a student’s academic success, teachers need to make every effort to involve the home in the educational process. 

This starts with communication, keeping up on your grading and posting the grades to the online student management system. Make calls or send notes home when a student begins to falter. Send emails home highlighting what is taking place in class, homework or projects. Perhaps even invite parents into the classroom to become part of the learning process. 

Essentially, the more teachers can involve and inform parents, and spark interest in the learning process, the more they will become involved. This will lead to the greater the importance of education will become in the household.

When all of that happens, students will perform.

Knowing the research, we can either whine about the level of parental involvement or we can create an atmosphere that draws parents into the educational process.

The teacher has the choice.

Helping students to find their greatness. Making Kennedy the school of choice. Excellence by design.