Meridian Public Schools
3303 N. M–30, Sanford, Michigan 48657
p. (989) 687–3300 f. (989) 687–3309
August 2024
MECHS Families,
I am reaching out to you with great excitement as we prepare for another school year at MECHS. Please review the following as it provides information pertinent to the start of the school year.
Welcome Back Event/Onboarding
Our summer mailings were delivered last week and included information about our August 21 “Welcome Back Event” and the back-to-school checklist. To provide additional explanation for new families, our “Welcome Back Event” is an open-house style event in which families are able to drop in from 4:00-7:00 p.m. to receive their items. Families can save time by updating their Skyward information and paying for laptop protection ahead of the event. Having updated Skyward information is crucial for our office to provide timely/accurate communication as well as a tool to communicate in the event of a student concern or medical issue arising. At MECHS students are permitted to take their school-issued laptop home, only if they have laptop protection. Please reach out to our office if you are unable to pay for laptop protection due to financial hardship. Also, note that a student must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to receive their school-issued laptop on the night of the event.
On the first day of school, our teachers are prepared to deliver lesson plans that will demonstrate to students what behaviors are acceptable at MECHS. In addition to this event, we provide all students with necessary onboarding information in their first week of school during their Advisory period. Advisory is a course that meets three times per week for 25 minutes. During this course period, we provide students with information that contributes to healthy habits of mind and aim to make them more aware of the opportunities that are available to them to meet their career and college goals. Students do receive credit for the Advisory course and it is needed to meet graduation requirements. In addition, on August 29, I alongside our Assistant Principal, Mr. Michael Bilina, will deliver a presentation about student code of conduct and handbook policies to students in the Auditorium.
Safety/Security
We schedule all of our emergency drills prior to the school year and meet the state requirements for fire, tornado, and lockdown drills. If the security system or lockdown system is initiated during school hours we will do our best to provide timely communication to families regarding the status or if a false alarm occurred. Throughout the year I encourage you to discuss with your students after emergency drills are conducted. We welcome your feedback to ensure our school is safe and orderly.
Communication
To receive updated information on school events we recommend checking your email regularly. In addition, MECHS announcements are emailed daily. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter (X), or merps.org on our live feed. MECHS updates a digital public calendar on our website with information about upcoming events or event schedule changes. Coming soon, MERPS will be consolidating our social media platforms. We will no longer be posting under a building-specific Facebook account. All posts will run through the Meridian Public Schools social media platforms. I encourage you to like/follow this page.
School Improvement
Ever wonder what the teachers are working on during Professional Development? This year I plan to send updates regarding school improvement and curriculum initiatives in an effort to be transparent about what our teaching staff is working on. Last year every course updated their priority standards and pacing guides. This year our teachers will be developing capstone assessments for each course. Our teachers meet regularly in collaborative teams (PLC’s) to discuss curriculum, assessment, and achievement of students. When students are taking diagnostic assessments on IXL or benchmark tests, such as NWEA, our teachers look deeply into this data in an effort to improve their instruction and meet the needs of our students. Ever want to know more about why we do certain things? Feel free to email the teacher or myself for a more detailed explanation.
Handbooks
Last school year, our district adopted new Board of Education policies. You can access these policies from merps.org and selecting “District” from the landing page and clicking “Board of Education.” In conjunction with the policy changes, significant changes were made to our school handbook. The handbook revisions have been reviewed and approved by the Board of Education. We added an Appendix at the end of this handbook to make frequently viewed documents such as the athletic and transportation handbook more accessible. A digital copy of the handbook will continue to be posted on our schools' website. Have questions or concerns about the handbook? Feel free to reach out so that we can alleviate your concerns.
Feedback and Parent Input
Our school would like to improve our formal systems for students/parents to provide input into the optimal functioning of the school. Every memo I send will include the following “Community Input Survey.” Please complete this survey if you would like to provide feedback/input on how we can improve our facilities or systems.
We look forward to working in partnership with you to support your student(s) during their high school experience. Do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions or concerns related to our school. Please stop me and introduce yourself in the community or at a school event so that I can put a face to a name.
Review of upcoming events:
Welcome Back Event: August 21st, 4:00pm-7:00pm
First day of School: August 26th, starting at 8:05am
9th-10th Grade NWEA Testing: September 4th, 8:05am-11:00am
Picture Day: September 11
Homecoming Week: September 23rd-28th
Half Day for Students (PM Schedule): September 27th
Fall Learner Led Conferences- October 7th, 4:30pm-7:30pm
Other items:
Handbook: https://www.merps.org/o/early-college-high-shool (Select Our School then Handbook)
MECHS Community Input Survey: https://forms.gle/Eqka6o14HwSxtMqX8
Sincerely,
Scott LaFever
Principal