June 4 - Bring a Special Person to Lunch (details to come next week)
June 6 - Last Half Day of School - Dismissal at 12:10
** IMPORTANT NOTE **
When reading through the newsletter, you may see a notice at the bottom that says
"[Message clipped] View entire message."
Please click on this link to view the rest of the information in the newsletter. This area of the
newsletter provides information on community happenings such as art shows, sports camps,
learning opportunities, and a lot more! The monthly lunch menu is the final item in the newsletter.
The Principal's Pen
This time of year, there are so many upcoming events, so be sure to be carefully watching the event calendar in our newsletter. Speaking of events, tonight is Mother Son Bowling from 6:00 -8 :00. It is always a great time!
If you have a new student to enroll in BK or Kindergarten for the 2025 - 2026 school year, please Enroll Today!. Once your child is registered you will be invited to attend ONE parent meeting. During the parent meeting, we will discuss our BK and K programs, kindergarten curriculum, expectations, preferred school supplies, and other important information to help you and your child prepare for their kindergarten year. Your child must be registered before attending a parent meeting; we ask that you attend only ONE parent meeting.
Field Day 2025
Field Day is scheduled for Monday, June 2 with a rain makeup day scheduled for Tuesday, June 3. Please use the link below to sign up if you would like to volunteer.
Willow Ridge 2nd grade student, Calvin Kuhlman, was selected among thousands of schools that use Artsonia to be Artist of the Week. His piece ended up winning and he received a beautiful plaque as well as a $50 art supply gift card for himself and $100 for Willow Ridge. Yay Calvin!!!!
PTA News
Voting for next year’s PTA officers will take place at the May PTA meeting. If you are unable to attend and are interested in running for a position, please email Julie Douglas at douglasj@glcomets.net.
We are planning for next year. If you know your student(s) will not be attending Willow Ridge next year, please contact our office at 925-5775.
Medication Pick Up
Your child’s medication(s) must be picked up at school on or before June 6. If your student is attending summer learning, contact Mrs. Douglas to make arrangements for summer medication.
All library books are now due back. Families with materials still checked out will receive an email detailing which items need to be returned. The emails should include an image of the book cover to help you when you are looking!
This week, kindergarten and first grade classes read The Idea Jar. We had fun making up our own stories using some of the words from the jar in the book.
One kindergarten class came up with this future classic (words from the book are in bold):
An octopus was swimming in the ocean. Mr. Gee was riding his bicycle past the ocean, with his kitty and his yo-yo in his bike basket. His yo-yo flew out of the basket and fell to the bottom of the ocean. The octopus liked playing with the yo-yo. Since he didn’t have his yo-yo to play with, Mr. Gee went to the playground. Then his kitty ran away into the wild. Mr. Gee was sad, but then his kitty came back and the octopus came to the shore and threw the yo-yo back to him. They were all happy.
Second through fourth grade classes will have their turn with The Idea Jar when they have finished their chapter books.
Many students have asked when our next Book Fair will be. We definitely missed having our spring Book Fair and will be so thankful when construction projects are finished and we can return to our normal routines. In the meantime, if you missed having a Book Fair to shop, Mrs. Morgan at Holbrook has an invitation for you!
HOLBROOK will be hosting a BOGO Book Fair the last week of May! EVERYTHING - ALL BOOKS AND OTHER ITEMS - will be BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE!!
BOGO BOOK FAIR SHOPPING HOURS will be:
Tuesday, May 27th- Thursday May 29th, 8am - 7pm
Friday, May 30th, 8am - 4pm
PLEASE NOTE: If you plan to shop during school hours, you will need to bring your ID and check in at the office! You are invited to enjoy the Book Fair and stock up on books for summer reading! The BOGO Book Fair is not a fundraiser for any school or organization. It is just a fun shopping opportunity Mrs. Morgan is offering to our community. Thank you, Mrs. Morgan!
~ Mrs Garnaat
Morning Drop Off Line
A couple of drop off notes:
Do not turn left into the parking lot when coming south on Nixon. Please follow the traffic pattern shown below to get in the loop.
The only exception to this is for employees who have a laminated sign in their window. Please allow these staff members to turn into the parking lot. Thank you for your cooperation!!
Spare Clothes in Lockers
While our office is under construction for the remainder of the school year, there will not be any extra clothing to offer in case of accidents. Please send in clothes (socks, underwear, pants and shirt) to keep in their lockers. Thank you for your support and patience as we all navigate through this construction phase to make our school even better!!
Possession of Cell Phones, Smart Watches, and Other Electronic/Recording Communication Devices
The use of cell phones, smart watches, or any other ECD are prohibited to be used during the school day. It is recognized that some students may need access to these devices for transportation purposes after school and are therefore permitted after dismissal. During school, however, cell phones, smart watches, and other ECDs shall be turned off and stored away out of sight. If you are concerned that an electronic device might be stolen, broken or inappropriately used, please do not allow your student to bring it to school.
Attendance / Absence Policy Update
All absences from school conflict with the continuity of learning and need to be avoided when possible. Regular school attendance is necessary to academic success and continuous and consecutive attendance in school is required by State law; 10-undocumented absences limit per school year. The 10-absence limit per school year includes both Explained Absence (AE) and Unexplained Absence (AU).
In order to help provide supports for students and families, GLPS closely monitors explained and unexplained absences. We also work with families to ensure that as many absences as possible are documented, because undocumented absences can trigger truancy considerations.
Documented Absence (AD) - Absence that includes a note from a professional (ie. doctor, dentist, lawyer, etc.) to explain the absence. Absences are only considered documented for the days identified in the note. For example, if a doctor excuses a student for Monday and Tuesday, but the student is absent on Wednesday and Thursday as well, only Monday and Tuesday’s absences are considered documented. Any absence that does not include a note from a professional is considered undocumented.
Explained Absence (AE) - Undocumented absence in which a parent/guardian calls the office or sends a note to alert the school their child will not be in attendance, but does not include a note from a professional (ie. doctor, dentist, lawyer, etc.). This is important because explained absences are necessary for schools to meet pupil accounting requirements.
Unexplained Absence (AU) - Undocumented absence in which a parent/guardian does not call the office to alert the school their child will not be in attendance.
Attendance Policy - Undocumented Absences
A student's school will send a letter after 6 undocumented absences and after 10 undocumented absences in a school year, providing you with notice of the absences and outlining steps to help your child attend school regularly.
A student's school will communicate with families if the student has undocumented absences on more than 10% of the first 30 days.
Ten (10) or more days of undocumented absences in a school year can be sent to court. However, GLPS will make every effort to work with you and your student before it gets to that point.
Please note that school related absences, such as field trips or athletic events, are not factored into any truancy related processes.
Extra Clothes
PLEASE send your child to school with an extra set of clothes to keep in their locker for emergencies. This could mean they wet their pants, fell in the mud, spilled their lunch, etc. If they use those clothes, please send in another set to keep in their locker.
BREAKFAST IS ONLY SERVED UNTIL 8:55
If you arrive after 8:55, you will not be able to get breakfast
Background Checks
If you are interested in working with students during the school day or chaperoning field trips, you need to complete the volunteer application here. This process will run a thorough criminal background check. Once approved, you will need to check in at the office using our new Raptor system that will run your state issued ID and print you out a badge to wear. You will need to check in at the office and run your ID each time you volunteer. The approval is good for one calendar year. After that year is up, you will need to reapply.
Birthday Treats
Our classes do not have students bring in birthday treats. We have a number of food related allergies across the building so that is a practice we have not done for quite a number of years now. If your child wants to bring something for the class, it can be non-edible items like bookmarks, pencils, stickers, etc.
Absent Students
The office needs to be notified if your child will be absent or tardy. You can leave a voice message on the attendance line at 517-925-5812. In that message, please leave the following information:
* Student Name
* Teacher
* Reason for Absence (out of town, funeral, car trouble, sick, etc. If your child is sick, please leave
the nature of the illness – fever, vomiting, pink eye, cough, respiratory trouble, head lice, etc.
PLEASE NOTE: Teachers can only mark students unexcused. The office has to change those to excused absences after you call in or bring your child to school. This can take some time to get all the absences updated. If your child is still marked unexcused after 11:00, please feel free to contact the office.
Illness Reminders
We ask that your child be 24 hours free of fever, vomiting or diarrhea before you send them back to school after they have been out sick. We appreciate your cooperation with this!
Is something missing? Please share with John Ellsworth, GLPS Director of Communications, any additional Recognitions & Acknowledgments you think we should include on this list or upcoming lists – email him at EllsworthJ@GLcomets.net.
Sign up started May 8th at 8:00am and will close at 3:00pm May 23rd. There will be no Late sign ups this year. The sign up will be through PowerSchool – you cannot use the app; you will need to use a computer. This will be on a first come first serve basis. If there are no sections to sign up for, that means that all sections for that week are full.
The GLPS summer learning program is open to all students enrolled at Grand Ledge Public Schools during the 24-25 school year. It is not available for students from other school districts or students who will be starting for the 25-26 school year. Incoming kindergarten students are not eligible unless they are GLPS current Begindergarten (BK) students.. Students will sign up based on the grade level in which they are currently enrolled (BK students, they will sign up for kindergarten.) Based on space and staffing, students will be placed on a first come, first served basis. All placements will be finalized and communicated via PowerSchool to families on or before June 20th.
SUMMER LEARNING CONTACT INFORMATION
The Summer Learning office can be contacted by email at GLPSsummerlearning@GLcomets.net. Please note this email address will be active now through July 31st.
Grand Ledge Public Schools Nominated for LSJ's Community Choice Awards
Grand Ledge Public Schools is nominated again for the LSJ Community Choice Award in the Kids & Education category for PUBLIC SCHOOL. Also in the Kids & Education category for CHILD CARE, the school district has two nominees: Adventure Club & Little Comets. Another noteworthy nomination is that Grand Ledge Public Schools was nominated in the Top Employers category for PLACE TO WORK.
