Dear Parents,

I know I speak for the board of education, all of our teachers, principals, staff members, and district administrators when I say that we are looking forward to welcoming back students on Tuesday, September 6. We have all been very busy preparing for our students to return. Over the summer we began work on the first phase of the technology bond that was passed last November. Our technology department spent countless hours replacing computers, upgrading classroom technology, building new computer labs, and updating the district's wireless network and infrastructure to handle the new devices that are being installed. Upgrades to our instructional technology will continue throughout the next several years. We also completed landscape improvement projects at the Freshman Campus, Howell High School, Highlander Way Middle School and on the playground at Southwest Elementary.

If you have not already done so, please visit the Back to School page on the district's website at http://goo.gl/Kaifp3. On this page, you will find several important links and dates relating to the new school year. Please be sure to check the bus routes as some have recently changed due to new student enrollments.

On Wednesday, August 31, I welcomed our staff back with a special Opening Day celebration. To start the day, we reflected on our accomplishments as a district over the past year and spent time looking towards the future as we work to meet the goals outlined in our district’s strategic plan. For the rest of the day, teachers and staff attended various professional development sessions that helped them expand their already vast knowledge base. These sessions focused on the use of our new classroom technology tools, trends in education and using technology to transform the teacher and learning experience.

On Tuesday, September 6, we will continue our tradition of having parents submit photos of their children to our Facebook page for a “First Day of School” photo album. Earlier this week the Michigan Department of Education released district level M-STEP results. Last week, our transportation department and the Howell Area Fire Department teamed up to conduct a bus evacuation drill. You can read more about each of these below.

First Day of School Photos

In keeping with a tradition started a few years ago, we would like to invite parents to send in a photo of their students on the first day of school to be featured in a Facebook photo album. To submit a photo, visit the Howell Public Schools Facebook page at http://goo.gl/PQDg2N and send us a message with the photo. Photos will be posted on Tuesday afternoon.

Howell Public Schools M-STEP Results

Last spring, our students took the Michigan Department of Education’s M-STEP   state assessment for the second time. In some areas, we saw amazing growth in our student proficiency. We also saw slight declines in other areas. Our district and school improvement teams will be reviewing our M-STEP data to help improve instruction and ensure that all students achieve academic success. We anticipate having student M-STEP results uploaded to PowerSchool by Friday, September 16. You can view a summary of our district results at http://goo.gl/xhFw3d.

Bus Evacuation Training

Each day our Transportation Department works to ensure that students arrive safely to and from school. Recently, the Transportation Department and the Howell Area Fire Department teamed up to hold a joint bus evacuation training involving a bus that had flipped over. While we hope that we will never have to use the skills learned during this training, both our team and the fire department are better prepared because of it. To read more about the bus evacuation training, please visit http://goo.gl/Bpmbzs.