Middle School Tennis Club

Dave Clutts, our SCHS Varsity Tennis Coach (who does an amazing job), organized a middle school tennis club that completed in a recent, first ever, middle school tennis tournament. Here are the results I received from Coach Clutts:

Our middle school team won all 3 of its matches and the first ever middle school tournament. The saints defeated Romeo, Armada, Richmond and L'anse Creuse North. The saints team was made up Abbie Shonk, Meg Phyle, Danielle Slonac, Jake Tracy, Alec Rood, Allie Winkler, Allie Kennedy, Mackenzie Kent, Mackenzie Mazzola, Jasmine Sattler, Jake Bunting and Josh Beaker.

Abbie Shonk, won the #1 singles division
Meg Phyle won the #2 singles division
Danielle Slonac and Jake Tracy won the #1 doubles division
Allie Winkler and Allie Kennedy Won the #2 doubles division
Alec Rood and Mackenzie Kent won the #3 doubles division
Mackenzie Mazzola and Jasmine Sattler placed 3rd at 4th doubles
Jake Bunting and Josh Beaker placed 3rd at 5th doubles

DC Fundraiser #3

I'm going to sending home some info on our last Washington DC fundraiser tomorrow with the 7th graders that are currently signed up for the DC trip. The fundraiser is a Texas Hold'em. Basically here is what the flyer is going to say:

We have four separate “dates”, each one being four days long. I’m told we can expect to earn about $1000 a night. The school is going to keep 40% of the profits (believe it or not, we have expenses that we need to cover….it’s not going toward my vacation fund). 60% will go toward the DC trip of that worker’s child. Each night we’ll have 6 workers, so 10% of the profit will go to Gerber in your child’s name. Example…we make $1000 that night and you work one shift, you get $100 toward your child’s DC trip. If you owe $175 and work two sessions that earn you $200 then you’ll pay off the trip and get a $25 refund from Gerber. The one catch that I don’t see happening is that you can not make more than the trip costs. If that happens (which it won't) the “extra” will go SCMS. If you are interested in helping out, please fill out the form below with the dates and times you are interested in. My first priority is to get everyone interested an opportunity to earn some DC bucks. If we have too many wanting one time slot then I’ll make some phone calls to see if we can work it out…if not, I’ll draw names out of a hat. Once everyone who wants to help out gets a slot, if there are still openings I’ll fill those from the names of those parents that would like to do more than one time.

The flyer will have the dates/times and a part that you fill out and turn back in to the office. After you see the flyer if you have any questions, give me a call.

Warm Weather...I HATE IT

But I only hate it when we're in school. Cold and rainy during the week and sunny and warm on weekends would be GREAT. From an Administrative standpoint, nice days equals problems. One of the problems that I can really use some help with, and parents have the most control over, is our dress code. Let me speak to just the Dads. Think back to when you were in middle school and what was on your mind as a young man. Enough said. Please, please, please take a look at your daughter before they leave for school and have a talk about what they wear. Short shorts and low cut tops are the areas that seem to be the biggest problem. Somehow...and it's a mystery....many of their shirts tend to slide down once they get to school and show waaaaaay too much chest. Help in this area is greatly appreciated. Convince them that turtle necks and sweatshirts are a great fashion statement.

Friday, May 28th, is Positively Pink Day

This Friday is a day where staff and students will be dressing in as much pink as possible and make a dollar donation to support the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. It's an extremely worthy cause that whether you donate dollar or not we're hoping everyone will support by wearing pink.

Lance Armstrong Wanna-be

If you are looking for a blog that has to do with the middle school, you can stop reading now. This is a personal entry about giving in to peer pressure, overcoming a challenge and having a great time. It all started a month ago when I was with a bunch of my daffy friends when they started talking about going on this bike ride up north and how much fun it was. Initially there was no way I was going...then a while later, I'd think about it....then maybe....then by the end of the night I was in. How tough could it be? It's on a bike....if I get tired I can just coast. I used to be an athlete. It was only 50 miles (actually 51) and I had a month to train. Well, as life would have it, training never happened and I spent 4 plus hours Saturday on my bike going from Boyne to Mackinaw on a ride that is call "The Zoo de Mack". For those of you that own a bike I would highly recommend it. It's not a race and you'll see every type of rider imaginable on the road. Tall, short, young, old (older than me), muscle bound, not so muscle bound, guys and gals. From your basic "Tour de France" types to your "I can't believe you think that bike is going to make it to Mackinaw". If you decide to give it a try, you'll need to go in understanding at least one basic law of nature. There are a few hills along the way and going down hill is great....uphill, not so much. Other than that, understand that no one's hind quarters was intended to sit on a bike seat for any extended period of time (I'm standing as I type this). It is something that I'm glad I did, even though I can't sit and my legs are still cramping up. I hope to make it an annual thing. Next year I'm asking my sons to join us (using the same peer pressure techniques that were used on me). Anyone that is interested should Google it and give it a shot.

Honors Night on Cable 6

Our Honors Night will be on Cable Channel 6 this Saturday and Sunday, May 22nd and 23rd @ 2:00, 6:00 and 10:00 (am and pm). It will also be available online @ watchctv.or

National Anthem Etiquette

It was pointed out to our Assistant Principal, Mr. Bialk, that during our Honors Night while the National Anthem was being sung that only one person on stage had their right hand covering their heart.....and.... we should show more respect. I took that to heart (no pun intended).....you're not going to find many people that are more patriotic or respectful than I am when it comes to our country. I was always taught growing up that during the pledge, you cover your heart but during the National Anthem you stand at attention, remove your hat and face the flag. With that said, I did some research. In 2007, Congress addressed this for the first time in 36 USC 301. This U.S. Code created the first mandated national anthem etiquette. The pledge of allegiance should be rendered by standing at attention, facing the flag, and placing the right hand over the heart. Uniformed personnel, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and military personnel in uniform should render a hand salute. When the national anthem is played or sung, U.S. citizens should stand straight and rigid and salute at the first note and place your right hand over your heart through the last note. Good to know, and now that I do, you can bet my hand will be placed over my heart in the future. No disrespect intended.

Saturday School Update

Yes....I am at school at 7:15 on a Saturday. For those that might not know it, we've been running a Saturday School for students with missing assignments for the past three weeks. We've tried to put a positive spin on this and use it to help kids get on top of their missing work. As I'm sure you can imagine, when a student gets behind it typically has a snowball effect...as they are working on their missing work, they aren't able to do their current work and things just pile up. So far we have had GREAT results from this and the kids have been great. Unfortunately....now that I've got the kids used to this system, we have to take the next two Saturday's off. Next Saturday is our middle school league track meet and the following Saturday is Memorial Day Weekend. Hopefully we can pick it back up in June and finish the year strong.

Washington DC Fundraiser

For those that attended our initial meeting in the fall I mentioned that I was working on a different kind of fundraiser to help offset the cost of the trip. The fundraiser is a series of Texas Hold'em nights. There were a ton of hoops that had to be jumped through...licences through the State, etc....but all that has now been taken care of. I'm going to be mailing out the information, dates, times and the amount of money that can be earned/applied to your child's trip. If we have any remaining spots open for workers after I offer it to this year's group, I'm going to offer it to our current 6th graders (parents obviously) who plan on their child going in two years. If you earn more than you owe on your trip then you'll be getting that amount back as a refund.

Grade Level Talk

I've been making the rounds talking to individual classes hitting on four main topics to focus on, or re-focus on, to finish out the year. Behavior, Assignments, Tardies and Dress Code. I should finish up today meeting with the few classes that haven't heard from me first hand. If you are looking for some conversation starters with your son/daughter, ask them about what I said and then let the conversation flow. As always, any help you can give us at home will be greatly appreciated. I want to hit the finish line on the upswing, not on a slide.

Supporters Fundraiser

The Supporters of the East China School District is having it's second annual "Cruising Down the St. Clair River" fundraiser on Tuesday August 24th. The cruise departs from the River Crab on the Duc d'Orleans at 6:30 and returns at 9:30. On board music will be by The Rivertown Gents with hors d'oeuvres provided and a cash bar. Tickets are $50 per person and it is limited to 150. You must be 21 to participate. If you have any questions or would like a ticket (or 10) please don't hesitate to contact me.

May....or November???

Don't you love it when you have to scrape your windows in the morning.....and it's the second week of May? How many of you have already planted flowers? From a middle school Principal's standpoint you really don't mind this cold spell. Long pants and sweatshirts in the middle school is a pleasant sight.

6th Grade Orientation

Our annual 6th grade Orientation for next year's incoming 6th graders will be this Thursday, May 13th. Our current 6th graders will be released at 11:38 (at the end of 3rd hour) and 5th graders from the 3 North end elementary schools will be bused to the middle school for the afternoon. They will go to a variety of sessions, have lunch in our cafeteria, go to more sessions and then be bused back to their home school at the end of the day. That night there will also be a parent meeting at 7:00 pm in our cafeteria to give parents a feel for the middle school and to answer any questions.

Saturday School Options

Just a FYI......our new No Zero Policy, two or more missing assignments on Thursday equals a Saturday School, has been very positive. This is open to anyone, whether they have been invited or not. If your child has a few missing assignments that didn't make the list for what ever reason...or....if they have an assignment that requires a computer, they are more than welcomed to join us on Saturday. 8:00 am until 10:00 am. Just make sure they are here before 8:10 (I lock the door at that time for security) and you might want to give me a call just to make sure that Saturday School is still on. My glass is always half full so I'm hoping that this new process will take care of itself so that eventually we won't have to have Saturday School. This Saturday, May 8th, it's a go. Parents are also welcomed to join us.

New Homework Policy Huge Success

Our new No Zero Policy (about 3 blogs to the south) was a huge success. The majority of kids with multiple missing assignments turned everything in by Friday so they didn't have to attend Saturday School. The ones that did attend Saturday School made good use of the time and were able to knock off a number of assignments. There were a few bumps in the road that we'll have to iron out but actually, this worked so well that I'm going to continue this process every week instead of every other week. Thanks in advance for your support