Dear Northville Public Schools' Families, Staff and Community Members,
Spring is in the air! We are looking forward to the many opportunities to gather, celebrate learning and growth, and welcome incoming families that come with spring! This issue of Connections features the latest updates on the search for a new superintendent, including when interviews will be taking place. You can access enrollment information, highlights from across the district, a photo and video gallery, and upcoming events. And of course, we spotlight several students, staff, groups, and teams that deserve some kudos, and welcome your input on others to share!
Our February mid-year report on our learning goals has been updated to include winter NWEA results for our kindergarten through fifth grade students, with much to celebrate. In addition to seeing Fall to Winter gains at every level, it is also clear that our students in the Winter of 2022 are achieving the same levels of success as students at that same grade level from the Winter of 2020, prior to the pandemic shut down. Our students are continuing to grow and learn at high levels, and the hard work our students, teachers, families and staff have been dedicated to over the last 2 years has allowed our students to continue to learn and grow in spite of the difficult situation we have all faced. A full copy of the report is posted on our district website.
We are grateful for your partnership and collaboration as we work together to meet the needs of each of our students and families, and continue our journey to open a World of Possibilities for and with each and every student.
With gratitude and hope,
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In this issue of Northville Connections:
- Superintendent Search Update
- Bond Refunding Saves Taxpayers $140,000
- New Video Gallery on District's Website
- Kindergarten Enrollment
- NHS Inclusion Week Recap
- Student Kudos
- ABCD Awards
- Upcoming Events
- Job Opportunities
- Calendar
The Search is on...
The current Superintendent, Mary Kay Gallagher, is retiring from the District in June of 2022 after working in NPS since 1985 and serving as the district’s Superintendent for the past decade. It is expected that a new Superintendent will assume the role no later than July 1, 2022. Feel free to read Superintendent Gallagher's retirement announcement.
The Northville Public Schools Board of Education is working closely with executive search firm Ray and Associates, Inc. to help facilitate the search for a new superintendent.
At the beginning of February, Ray and Associates hosted 27 stakeholder input sessions for various focus groups. Based on the input sessions and community surveys, Ray and Associates put together a list of qualities NPS seeks in a superintendent.
The deadline to apply for superintendent was March 13th. The Board of Education reviews the list of applications in closed session on March 24th and will narrow down the list for interviews. The first round of interviews will take place on April 4th and 5th, with finalist interviews on April 11th and 12th. The board anticipates making a final selection on or about April 12, 2022, with a start date of July 1, 2022. Visit NPS Superintendent Search 2022 for ongoing updates and stakeholder input possibilities.
District to Save $140,000 by Refinancing Bonds
The Northville Public Schools' Board of Education is pleased to announce it has completed a bond refunding transaction that will save district taxpayers over $140,000 in interest costs over the next two years. The savings comes from selling bonds at a low interest rate, and using the proceeds to pay down bonds with a higher interest rate. These savings are net of all bond issuance costs and directly benefit district taxpayers.
Superintendent Mary K. Gallagher explained the District’s decision to pursue this transaction: “While the bonds being refunded could not be called until this year and had only two years left until they matured, we still felt the savings was significant enough to pursue this transaction. We take our responsibility to the taxpayers seriously, and when an opportunity like this presented itself, we knew it was the prudent thing to do.”
School District bonds were well received despite a volatile market - Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Michael Zopf coordinated this transaction for the District. Mr. Zopf stated, “I was a bit nervous about the timing given the uncertainty in the market, but I could not be more pleased with the response to our request for bids. The bids we received clearly show that Northville Public Schools has a strong reputation for the way we manage our finances. I am grateful for the work of our financing team that helped put this process together which resulted in these savings.”
The District was advised by PFM Financial Services while Thrun Law Firm provided legal services. The bond sale bid process was led by the public finance arm of Raymond James and Associates.
Local Raymond James Financial Advisor Todd Knickerbocker was pleased with the results, “While Raymond James is a nationally respected financial firm, our success comes from our commitment to our local communities. I live and work in Northville, and am proud Raymond James could help our Schools save taxpayers over $140,000!”
New Video Gallery on District's Website
Our district communications specialist, Katie Rork, has been capturing some amazing videos around the district. She's been posting them on the district's social media pages. But we now have a Video Gallery tab on the district's main webpage so more people can enjoy the videos.
If you have an NPS related story idea, contact Katie Rork at rorkka@northvilleschools.org.
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Kindergarten Enrollment Dates Announced for Fall 2022
Northville Public Schools is now accepting kindergarten enrollment for Fall 2022. If you have a child who will be five years of age on or before September 1, 2022, please go to Enroll on the district website and follow the link to the Enroll in Kindergarten ONLY-Fall 2022-23 to schedule an appointment with a member of the Office of Student Data.
Kindergarten Enrollment Dates:
Please complete the three easy steps on the website to pre-enroll including the gathering of documents you will need to upload prior to your scheduled appointment. If circumstances prevent you from being available for an appointment during the dates listed above for your child’s school, please select an appointment at any other school. If you are unsure of which school your child will be attending, please view the Attendance Boundary Map on the district website.
A parent meeting for incoming 2022-2023 kindergarteners will take place at each school. The following are the dates for each Kindergarten Parent Orientation and Round Up. Please inform the school ahead of time if you plan for your child to attend Round-Up.
**Enrollment for all K-12 students for the 2022-23 school year will be open the first week of April.
The week of Valentine’s Day in 2022 marked Northville High School's first time hosting Inclusion Week. The week highlighted and celebrated the progress NHS has made in providing a supportive atmosphere to an increasingly diverse student population.
Last year, NHS was selected as a Special Olympics National Banner Unified Champion School. This recognition means NHS demonstrates commitment to inclusion by meeting 10 national standards of excellence.
Each day there was a dress up theme and activities during lunch to raise awareness and money for Special Olympics of Michigan.
On Wednesday, students and staff were encouraged to show their light by wearing neon. During seminar, a Sparkle video was shown featuring Malachi Baughman, who has autism. Malachi recently started handing out handmade notes of inspiration to random students at school and calls it “sparkle spread”. The video encouraged other students to join Malachi in spreading sparkle.
Despite a snow day on Friday, the Unified basketball game was still able to take place. The Mustangs played tough and had a blast playing at home against Novi. After the game, Special Olympics Michigan presented Northville High School with a National Unified Champion School banner.
The following week, several staff members were freezing for a reason as they took the plunge for Special Olympics. The school raised more than $8,000!! A successful first Inclusion Week is in the books, with many more to come!
Student Kudos
Two Groups from NPS Win FAA Airport Design Challenge
Team Aireos is made up of 5 students from NHS: Arjun Saini, Chet Sands, Iyi Akinyemi, Ritvik Ellendula, Justin Ambrozaitis. They brought home the gold medal, winning 1st place in the world for grades 7-12 in the Airport Design Challenge!!! Sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration, the goal for the project was to create a virtual airport using Minecraft. Katie Rork, NPS district communications specialist, interviewed Team Aireos about the project, watch the video here. You can also watch Team Aireos' final project here. Team Aireos was honored at the DTW Wayne County Airport Board meeting in March. The team received a special CEO coin and a certificate of appreciation from CEO Chad Newton. Watch student team leader, Arjun Saini's speech here.
Team Aero is made up of 5 middle schoolers: Ayo Akinyemi, Tanmay Pavuluri, and Rishi Sevugan from Meads Mills Middle School and Pranshu Gandhe and Rithvik Ashok from Hillside Middle School. The team placed 3rd in the world for Grades K-6 in primary airport design. You can watch Team Aero's final project here.
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Middle School Orchestra Honors Day
Several orchestra students will have the opportunity to perform at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's annual Middle School Honor Days event on March 21, 2022. This is a full day of musical experience, providing instruction, free DSO Chamber music recital, and an evening performance on the historic Orchestra Hall stage. You, along with the entire community, are invited to attend the free evening performance on March 21st. Doors open at 6pm, performance starts at 6:30pm, no cost. Performance will take place at the Max & Marjorie M. Fisher Music Center located at 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI.
Students were nominated for their musicianship, attitude, and overall contribution to their school orchestra program. Reminder: this is only the second year orchestra has been offered at our middle schools! Kudos to our wonderful and talented orchestra students!
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President's Day Essay Contest
Community Financial Credit Union held their annual President's Day essay contest and the topic was: “What other President should be featured on our money and what qualities make them deserving of this honor”. Benicio Volpe, 5th grader at Winchester Elementary, won first prize in the area for his grade level! Seerat Dhaliwal, 4th grader at Moraine Elementary, won 1st place for her grade level. Each winner received a $50 Amazon gift card as well as a classroom pizza lunch celebration with CFCU’s president Bill Lawton.
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State PTA Reflections Competition
Congratulations to the following students who placed at the State level for the PTA Reflections Competition!
- Felicia Wang - Award of Merit in Dance Choreography
- Sawyer Wolf - Award of Merit in Literature
- Julia Huang - Award of Merit in Music Composition
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NHS Band and Choir
On Friday, March 4, the NHS Symphonic Band 9/10 and Symphonic Band 11/12, under the baton of Mr Rumbell, performed at the MSBOA District 12 Band Festival held at Ypsilanti Lincoln High School. Symphonic Band 9/10 earned 1 B+, 2 A-, and 12 A out of 15 possible grades for an overall First Division in Class B! The Symphonic Band 11/12 earned 1 A-, 13 A, and 1 A+ out of a possible 15 grades for an overall First Division rating in class AA!! These ratings identify these bands as District Champions and ranks them among the very best in the state!! Congratulations to our outstanding musicians!
Congratulations to all of our NHS Choirs on a very successful MSVMA District Choral Festival! ALL CHOIRS received #1 - Superior Ratings from our adjudicators!! Congrats to all on a job well done!
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State Academic Games
The 47th annual Academic Games State Super Tournament was recently held in Ypsilanti, MI. Northville Public Schools was well represented with 42 3rd-6th graders and 30 7th-12th graders. It was a 3-day tournament made up of 5 different brain games; Equations, On-Sets and WFF (a Well-Formed Formula in logic theory), LinguiSHTIK (games requiring grammar, vocabulary and writing skills), and Presidents (social studies and history).
Fifteen of our 5-6th grade students will advance to the national tournament this April in Tennessee. The Senior and Junior teams, and three Middle School teams will also advance to the national tournament.
Both our 3rd-4th graders and 5th-6th graders earned state champion in the game of Propaganda, which is about techniques of persuasion. Our 3rd-4th graders also claimed the state title in the game of On-Words, which is a word game. Our 5th-6th graders beat some fierce competitors from Livonia and Ann Arbor, and earned the state title in the game of LinguiSHTIK, in which they apply English grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and writing skills to outwit opponents. In addition, they also won the game of Presidents, which focuses on American presidents and history.
The Senior Division swept 3 State Championship titles in Equations, On-Sets, WFF (National WFF as well), and collected 2nd place in LinguiSHTIK.
Our Junior Division team of five 10th grade students swept 3 State Championships in Equations, On-Sets and LinguiSHTIK, and added a 3rd place in the State for the game of WFF (where they played in the Senior Division).
You can get more information about Academic Games at agloa.org, under Games Played.
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Unified Champion Schools Special Olympics Michigan Wins $10,000 Grant
Unified Champion Schools Special Olympics Michigan won the $10,000 Gatorade Play it Forward spotlight grant! All thanks to one of Northville's Unified basketball player's sisters, Ava Brizard. Ava was named this year's Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year.
Check out her submission video below!
NHS Winter Sports Update
- Competitive Dance finished 4th in the Nation! The Varsity Dance team attended UDA Nationals in Orlando, Florida at ESPN Wide World of Sports. They took home 4th in the nation for medium jazz out of over 60 teams from around the country.
- Pom finished 3rd in the Division I State finals!
- Wrestling had 3 students qualify for individual states; Zephan Catalina, Jack Gattoni (finished 6th in the state), and Josh Drake.
- Boys Swim/Dive team was recently named MHSAA Division I State Runner-up! Congrats to Andy Maiz for earning the MHSAA Regional Dive Champion! KLAA Division/Conference Champs!
- Girls Hockey in the final four; State Semi-Finalist.
- Boys Basketball named District Champs!
- Girls Basketball named District Champs! Academic All-State with a weighted team grade point average of 3.7939.
- Congrats to NHS Gymnasts Hadley Crabb (bars), Lauren Weginka (beam), and Anastasia Beutz-Cordina (bars) for qualifying for the Individual State Gymnastics Finals!
- Congrats to our Figure Skating Team on qualifying for States! A team District Silver medalists! B Team District Gold medalists! C Team District Gold medalists!
We've added a new section to our Connections Newsletter called NPS Snapshots. As our district communications specialist, Katie Rork, visits our schools and events, she has been snapping some great pictures. Take a look at the most recent happenings inside and outside the classroom. The pictures below showcase how schools celebrated 2-22-22 day, Black History Month, National School Counseling Week, Festival of Cultures at Thornton Creek Elementary, NHS Inclusion Week, Valentines Day, Northville High School's Wear Anything But A Backpack Day, the NHS Community Open House on 3/12/22, Mr. Mustang 2022, and the Northville Educational Foundation's Night for Northville Casino Night benefiting Northville Public Schools students and staff!
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ABCD Award: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
Nominate NPS Staff for contributions "Above and Beyond the Call of Duty."
The ABCD, Above and Beyond the Call of Duty, Award is open to nominations from students, parents, and staff for significant contributions by NPS employees that go beyond the norm. At least annually or by semester, all staff are eligible, there is no set number of awards.
Students, staff or parents may complete and submit this form detailing something truly Above and Beyond the Call of Duty by an NPS staff member. Submissions are received by the Office of Human Resources and will be reviewed by the Board’s Human Resources Policy/Personnel Sub-Committee for consideration. Individuals receiving this ABCD Award may be recognized at the public Board of Education meetings and/or in District communications.
The most recent recipients include:
- Amy Heisner, Thornton Creek Elementary
- Beth Solensky, Ridge Wood Elementary
- Erin Johnson, Ridge Wood Elementary
- Laura Shannon, Northville High School
Northville Public Schools Students, Kindergarten – 12th grade, WE NEED YOU!
The 8th Annual Northville STEAM Fair (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) for our students, families, and the community is just around the corner. We are looking for students that love Science, Technology, Engineering, Art or Math and have a passion for creating something new. If this is you and you would like to create a project to share with our 4th graders and the community, please sign up!
The 2022 theme is "STEAM Olympics 2022 - Inspire! Imagine! Invent!” which is a focus on using engineering and design to create mind-blowing innovations.
- Location: Northville High School & Virtual Website
- Date: April 27th, 2022
- Event Times: 4th Grade Visit: 9:30am -1:30pm
- Community Event: 6:00pm - 8:00pm
In order to aid in our planning, please complete the Project Idea form. Project Ideas will be taken from now until April 8th - Project Idea Form. You still have time to work on your project after you submit your Project Idea, final Project submission due date will be April 20th. The Final Project Submission form will be sent to all Project Idea submission presenters.
Presenters can choose to create a project for display and not attend the STEAM Fair, their project will be on display for everyone to see. Or, create a project and attend the STEAM Fair on Wednesday, April 27th from 9:00am until 1:30pm, then return for the evening event from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. There will be an hour break for lunch during the day – students can bring a sack lunch or order a lunch through NPS – details about lunches will come later. Each student participant will receive a STEAM Fair t-shirt along with other fun things.
Along with the In Person event, projects will be posted on the Northville Virtual STEAM Fair Website - click on the link to see more information about the website: STEAM Fair Website. We will be asking all presenters to send in pictures, videos, PowerPoint and other ways to show off their project "virtually". This will allow parents, grandparents and other family members, who would otherwise not be able to attend the STEAM Fair, to see the students' projects.
- Project IDEA Due Date: April 8th, 2022 - Project Idea Form
- Final Project Submission Due Date: April 20th, 2022
The Northville STEAM Fair is a collaboration between Northville Public Schools and the Northville Educational Foundation, along with Presenting Sponsor, Community Financial Credit Union. Senior Sponsors include DTE- MIGreenPower, Royal Truck & Trailer, Michigan Educational Credit Union and ITC.
Northville Public Schools is hiring the following positions:
- Athletics: Girls JV Volleyball Coach, Varsity Head Pom Coach, Assistant Track Coach-Middle School
- Center Based and Special Ed: Center Program Summer ESY Teacher (Temporary-Summer Only), Center Program Teacher-Cognitive Impairments
- Elementary School Teaching: Kids' Club Head Teacher-Before and after school program for elementary age children
- Food Service: 13 openings (full/part-time/substitute)
- High School Teaching: Business Teacher
- Secretarial: Student Records Specialist
- Student Support Services: High School Counselor, School Social Worker
- Support Staff: Para Educator (full-time w/ benefits)-Special Education Center Program, Kids' Club Lead Assistant-Before and after school care for elementary schools, School Day Preschool Lead Assistant, K12 Paraprofessional
Seeking Bus Drivers
For a complete list of events and activities happening at our schools, visit Events Calendar and/or your school's website.
Follow NPS online!
The Northville Connections Digital Newsletter is created by Northville Public Schools' District Communications Specialist, Katie Rork. Have a story to share? Send an email to rorkka@northvilleschools.org or call 248-344-3507.
Credits:
Created with images by Wokandapix - "search internet online" • pefertig - "piggy bank savings money" • Joshua_Willson - "camera slr dslr" • Darkmoon_Art - "calendar a book date" • webandi - "to dye watercolor colour"