Meridian Public Schools
3303 N. M–30, Sanford, Michigan 48657
p. (989) 687–3300 f. (989) 687–3309
October 2, 2024
MECHS Families,
Please review the following as we are nearing the end of the first marking period!
Advisory courses are preparing for Learner Led Conferences and our corresponding parent-teacher conferences the evening of October 7. Our goal at MECHS is to empower all students to communicate their progress to an educational advocate outside of the classroom. The learner-led conference structure will provide students with a guided process where they reflect on their coursework, summarize what skills they are building, and what they need to do to help get them to their “next step.” After preparing, each student will be required to complete a conference at home. This is an assignment for the Advisory course. What is the parent's role in all of this? We ask that you use this as a tool to build partnerships in learning. Center the conversation about what is being learned in the course and how your child is improving academically. As a reminder, course grades can be monitored by reviewing Echo gradebooks. We strive to have all students in the school complete a conference at home with a trusted adult. If during this conversation you feel that there are concerns about your child's progress in a specific course or you wish to conduct a conference with a teacher, you may do so on Monday evening.
During Fall conferences we are launching a new family game night for teens and families called, “Level Up.” This program seeks to strengthen relationships between teens and their parents while building essential skills such as resilience and a growth mindset. A dinner will be provided free of charge for this event. Please RSVP using the attached form if you would like to attend this event.
Next week our after-school tutoring program will resume. Tutoring is held out of room 308-309 from 3:05-4:05 every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Students are able to grab a meal from the cafeteria after school before attending the session. Those who attend will need to make arrangements for transportation after the tutoring session. While some students will be invited to attend tutoring sessions, we encourage learners to attend these sessions when they need re-teaching, assessment support, or other skill development. Our tutors are preparing for this time to be an extension of the school day. If learners are simply in need of a quiet space, the Commons can be used after school. While students are in tutoring, we expect that they will be working with a targeted faculty member on a task. For more information on our tutoring program please contact our Student Support Specialist (emily.sanders@merps.org).
Behind the scenes, our teacher department teams have been hard at work improving instructional practices to support all learners. In our recent Professional Development, our teaching staff compared their priority content standards for each class to ensure we are scaffolding the right content at each grade level. They then looked at their assessments for MP1 and analyzed student work samples. All departments are working to improve their assessment practices this school year to ensure we are more consistent in each discipline and that our assessments are asking learners to showcase knowledge on essential concepts and skills of the course. Our goal as a school is to improve our grade reporting system so that it reports individualized student proficiency on targeted skills. We hope that this continues to foster a mindset that is focused on learning vs. obtaining a certain grade. As a school, we will continue to learn and pilot new strategies related to this initiative.
We have had two emergency drills this year and have more in the coming weeks. Give us some feedback on how your child feels about safety procedures in school or other suggestions to improve our school.
MECHS Parent Survey- Multiple Choice format
MECHS Community Input Form- Long answer text format
What's coming up:
Fall Conferences- Monday, October 7, 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Level Up (Family Workshop/Dinner)- Monday, October 7, at 6:00 p.m.
Half Day of School (A.M. Schedule) End of Marking Period #1- Friday, October 25
MECHS World History Classes Present “A Night at the Museum”- Tuesday, October 29, at 6:00 p.m.
Half Day of School (PM Schedule)- Friday, November 8
No School, Thanksgiving Holiday Break- November 27-29
Sincerely,
Scott LaFever
Principal