OPS Connection November 2022

A publication of Otsego Public Schools

Fall 2022

Expect Excellence

From the Superintendent

Strategic Plan Focus Group Work

Jeffery S. Haase Otsego Superintendent

As we enter the holiday season, I hope you have plenty of opportunities to spend quality time with friends and family. With the approaching holiday season, comes the realization that we are already onethird of the way through the school year, and the second trimester is already in full swing.

Speaking of full swing, I’m excited to share an update with you in regards to the Otsego Public Schools District Strategic Plan. The Board of Education approved Otsego’s Pledge to Success in February 2022, which provides a five-year focus on the following four strategic areas:

• Student Well-Being

• School Culture and Climate

• Individual Student Success

• Career Exploration and Engagement

In order to ensure progress is made on the areas listed above, we have established

District Strategic Focus Groups to develop and monitor short, medium and long-term goals for each focus area of the strategic plan. These groups meet quarterly and have already made great progress in the first two meetings developing our shortterm goals - those attainable within the

benchmark survey on these focus areas. We’ll conduct the survey each year in hopes of showing improvement during each of the next five years. The participation rate in the initial survey was:

• 79% of students in Grades 4-12,

• 55% of staff, and

next 12-18 months. These groups include students, staff, board members and parents; over 40 people have agreed to participate. Our next meeting is scheduled for February 2023 and we are always looking for more volunteers. If you are interested in joining this work, please reach out to me via phone or email.

We are committed to this work and will continue to measure its progress and success. Last April, we administered a

• 24% of parents/guardians. (You can view the survey results on our website under Strategic Plan.)

We look forward to sharing our progress, goals, plans and implementation in the coming months and years.

I know this time of year can be busy, but I hope you and your family have a wonderful and relaxing holiday season. Thank you for your continued support of Otsego Public Schools.

Sabatke Named Educator of the Year Smalldon Named

Washington Street Elementary 1st grade teacher, Val Sabatke, has been named the 2022-23 Educator of the Year for Otsego Public Schools! She was honored Thursday, November 3rd at the Chamber of Commerce Annual Night of Recognition. “It is truly an honor to represent my amazing colleagues at Otsego to accept this award. I work alongside fantastic educators who continuously put relationships with students in the forefront, and work as a team to meet the needs of all learners,” Sabatke says.

Val has been teaching for 15 years; this is her 6th year at OPS. “Val continues to go above and beyond in all capacities. She is a firm believer of Capturing Kids’ Hearts (CKH) and is always willing to learn the latest intervention to meet the needs of all learners in her classroom. She’s fun, engaging, and loves her students,” says Jen Knight, WSE Principal.

DAR Good Citizen

Cooper Smalldon has been named the 2023 DAR Good Citizen. This award, sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) encourages and rewards the qualities of good citizenship, specifically dependability, service, leadership and patriotism. “I am truly honored to receive this award, and it feels amazing to know that my teachers and staff recognize me as being an outstanding citizen. I have always tried my best to make a positive impact on the people around me, so it is extremely fulfilling to see that I have been successful in doing so,” Smalldon says.

Smalldon is the student council president, National Honor Society vice president, a member of the Purple Committee, and is a senior class officer. He also participates in basketball, soccer and golf. Smalldon is now invited to participate in the scholarship portion of the DAR Good Citizen program. This consists of a personal statement and an essay.

Instructional Insight

Academics as we move past the pandemic

As educators around the world have seen both social emotional impacts and academic impacts of the pandemic, there are signs that things are improving. This is great news, but we are also prepared that it will be a while longer before we fully recover. We received our M-STEP scores from last spring late this fall and we are encouraged. The rise in scores helps reinforce that some of the extra programming and additional staff that we have put in place to support learning are working. We hope to see the scores continue to rise as they are not quite at pre-pandemic achievement yet, but are moving in the right direction.

OPS improved on 13 of the 18 different assessments taken throughout grades 3-11. We had zero students retained in 3rd grade based on the Read by Grade 3 Law parameters. OPS also ranked first in Allegan County ELA scores in all grade levels except one (where we were 2nd.)

The graph below shows a nice summary. It combines all subject areas tested in grades 3-8 on the M-STEP and PSAT; it compares Otsego to peer districts (those defined as having a similar socio-economic status as Otsego) and to the entire state of Michigan. You will notice that OPS is on the rise, as are our peers and the state as a whole, but we score much higher and our trend upward is much steeper, so we are bouncing back more quickly in comparison. We attribute this to great relational capacity within our schools, a supportive community

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and a laser focus on individual student achievement. Our staff also continues to learn new ways to best help our students. We do the best we can for OPS kids every day.

Excellence in Education grants were awarded to 29 staff members throughout OPS this fall from the Otsego Public Schools Foundation. The grants totaled $17,160.75. Staff members apply for the grants with specific projects or purchases in mind; they range from $200 to $1850 and include items like books, musical instruments, field trip costs, classroom furniture fit for learning, science materials and more! Some of the larger grants were awarded through a collaborative effort between the Foundation and the District.

Grants are awarded based on innovation, impact on student learning and number of students served. “We appreciate the staff that applied for grants and very much appreciate our donors that made these grants possible,” says OPS Foundation president, Larry Collier. Each recipient also received an award decal to place on the window of their classroom or office.

If you’d like to learn more about the OPS Foundation or donate, visit their website at opsfoundation.org.

Peace Poster Contest Winner

“Lead With Compassion” was the theme of this year’s Martin Lions Club Peace Poster Contest and 7th grader Liliana Hernandez is the Otsego Middle School winner. Her poster was chosen for its originality, artistic merit and portrayal of the contest theme. “My poster represents that one person can make a difference. The sky represents success, which is why everyone is walking toward the light. The person in front that is facing away from the light is showing that his goal of leading others to a greater chance of change has been accomplished, and he is moving on to new opportunities,” she explains.

This contest is sponsored by Lions International to emphasize the importance of world peace to young people everywhere. Her entry now moves onto the district-level competition.

Heather Kortlandt Director of Instruction

Foundation Gifts $17,160 to Educators in Mini Grants

We are Better Together

Otsego Public Schools’ students know that they are a part of something bigger than themselves; this is a community that helps each other, leans on each other, and gives to great causes. From community service projects to activities that lift up our own schools and classmates, our students and staff know that we are all better together - that’s when we make the biggest impact.

Focus on Community Service

OHS student council kicked off the district’s holiday season community service projects with their annual food drive to benefit the Otsego Christmas Basket Project. This project provides meals and toys for local families in need at the holidays. The students came together and collected more than 5500 items. The Basket Project organizer was overwhelmed at the students’ generosity and donation that will help hundreds in our community.

The high school will begin the toy drive for this same project in December. OMS is also conducting its food drive for Christian Neighbors and Washington Street Elementary will begin its personal hygiene product drive for Christian Neighbors. All of our buildings also hold giving trees or adopt a family for the holidays.

Student Success Takes All of Us

At Otsego, every employee is a key part of our students’ success and everyone is willing to step in to help.

At Dix Street Elementary, night custodian Cy Himschoot leads a reading group two days a week prior to his shift. It’s a new way for him to connect with the kids and the kids love having “Mr. Cy” as their group leader!

and families brought out their rakes and leaf blowers and hit the streets in Otsego to help out a few residents with lawn clean-up for a couple hours. They had two groups, one downtown and one in Ely Acres.

They take turns reading pages, then discuss the book. They’re reading Dog Man graphic novels now. Washington Street Elementary students and staff brought back “Make a Difference Day”, something that was an annual community service project prior to COVID. This year, students, staff

Be NICE Spreads Kindness

Make a Difference Day

The Be NICE Crew is spreading kindness at OMS. This group celebrated World Kindness Day by encouraging their classmates to notice and honor students doing Random Acts of Kindness. There were 100 entries in just two days! These student leaders also left a friendly note on every locker earlier this fall so every student could start their day with encouragement and a smile. NICE stands for Notice, Invite, Challenge, Empower. The Be Nice mission is to make sure all students feel noticed and valued!

Community C ON N ECTION

Thank you, Oshtemo Grange!

For more than 20 years, the Oshtemo Grange has donated a dictionary to every 3rd grade student at Otsego Public Schools. Third grade is the time when students transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Students love receiving these dictionaries and immediately open them to explore new words. This Alamo class shares a district-wide “thank you” to the Oshtemo Grange for their continued support of our students.

Fire Safety Lessons & Fun

Honoring Our Veterans

All three of our elementary schools honored veterans for their service for Veterans Day. Alamo Elementary hosted more than 100 family and friends of students for a Veterans Day breakfast.

Dix Street 4th graders wrote “thank you” letters to family members that have served or are serving in the military.

Washington Street 1st graders wrote letters specifically to a teacher’s relative who recently went on an Honor Flight. They were all touched by the kids’ gestures and sweet notes.

Little Sprouts, Big Fun

Twice a month our Learn ‘n Grow Early Childhood Education Center welcomes in families with children ages 0-5 for Little Sprouts Playgroup. This hour-long activity time includes free time for kids to explore different play stations, story time, music and movement. They all go home with a free book, too!

Mark your calendars for the upcoming Little Sprouts Playgroups:

• Friday, December 2

• Friday, December 16

• Friday, January 13

• Friday, January 27

The Otsego Fire Department stopped by Washington Street and Dix Street Elementary this October for Fire Safety lessons. Kindergartners learned about overall fire safety, how to stop drop and roll, declaring a meeting spot with the family in case of a fire, and how to shout loud if a firefighter is trying to help. Students even got to see what it was like to be a firefighter by checking out the truck and spraying a fire hose! They all went home with fire hats and coloring books.

This year’s Otsego Marching Band performance “Who’s Hungary?” proved that this group was hungry for victory! The stats are impressive - 25 trophies total - and they broke the school’s 15year record for high score and enjoyed a police/fire escort back to the school for their accomplishment! Way to go, OMB!

Here are the season highlights from their five competitions:

• Best Colorguard at all shows for the first time in school history!

• Best Marching at every show for the 2nd year in a row!

• Best Percussion at all but one show.

• Best Music at all but one show.

• Undefeated in class B for the 2nd year in a row.

• Grand Champion at the Vicksburg Invitational.

• Scored a 95.5 at Vicksburg surpassing the school record of 94.8 set in 2007!

“This has been one of the most enjoyable seasons for me personally because our kids worked hard, did what was asked, helped each other out and in the end, were rewarded,” said Mitch Piersma, OHS Band Director.

OHS Presents “High School Musical”

It’s a Disney classic for the younger generations and they’re thrilled to get started on this year’s musical “High School Musical”.

The musical team wanted this year’s production to be a different experience than years past and a fun, educational experience. “We believe High School Musical will offer that,” says Meredith Lincoln, Otsego vocal music teacher. “Otsego students will thrive doing this musical.”

HSM offers a lot that other productions do not. For one, basketball! “This is such a fun aspect to bring to the stage. This musical teaches that no matter what “clique” you are in, you can still branch out and be a part of whatever you would like. This musical teaches students that they are not defined by just one title. They can be whatever and whoever they want,” she says. This musical offers huge dance numbers, math, basketball, lots of role opportunities, and of course singing and drama.

The production will be one weekend only, but will begin on Thursday night! There will be a special Wednesday night sensory performance; that performance features fewer noise and light aspects. Tickets will go on sale in February.

Otsego is home to 21 exchange students for the 2022-23 school year. This year’s students are from Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Several of our exchange students are involved in outside activities including sports teams and school clubs.

Hosting exchange students not only helps them understand a new way of life, but offers our students the opportunity to learn about their cultures, traditions and countries.

Back row L-R: From Finland: Nella Backlund, Karoliina Moksi and from Spain: Paula Abad Caldera, Jorge Temes Cano, Carmen Nacariono Muro, Berta Tomas Farre,Winston Porsia. Middle row L-R: From France: Maeline Dehanne, Salome Roger, Vaere Falco and from Germany: Philine Schmidt, Lara Kieserling, Hermine Lorenz, Kara Hillberg. Front row L-R: From Italy; Aurora Serafini, Satia Lavezzini, Elia Moro; from Switzerland: Lea Maurer; and from Brazil: Bruno Ferraro, Maria (Duda) Lucena Rafael Maffra Natalizi.

Chamber Singers traveled to CMU for their Choral Vocal Day.

Girls Cross Country Captures State Championship, Boys Place 6th

The 2022 Varsity Cross Country season yielded yet another state championship! This year it was the girls team, who spent most of their season stateranked #1 or #2 and cruised through the regular season undefeated then captured the Wolverine Conference and Regional Championships. Four runners were All-State. Freshman Emma Hoffman was the D2 State Runner-up, Logan Brazee placed 7th, Megan Germain placed 8th, and Taylor Mitchell placed 14th. Megan Germain also broke the Otsego school record this year and was the individual Conference champion. Hoffman was the individual Regional champion. She also broke the school record for fastest freshman and was the fastest freshman to finish at State regardless of division.

The boys team also captured the Wolverine Conference and Regional Championships then followed up with a 6th place finish at State. Senior Colin Wesseldyk earned All-State honors placing 16th at State. He was also the individual County and Regional champ. Pierce Bentley was the individual Conference champion. The boys team was the Academic State Champ in D2 with a GPA of 3.996.

These teams continue to rewrite history for Otsego XC. Both still hold the Conference record for most consecutive dual meet wins; the boys earned their 5th Regional title in a row while the girls captured their 7th in 8 years. The boys have 11 Conference championships in 12 years, the girls have 10 consecutive conference championships!

In the Photos:

Top: Girls cross country team with their state champ trophy

Middle: Boys team with their regional champ trophy

Bottom left: Conference champs Pierce Bentley and Megan Germain.

Bottom right: Regional champs Colin Wesseldyk and Emma Hoffman.

In its first year, the elementary cross country program welcomed 94 students from our three elementary schools. Each school had its own team. The kids practiced two days a week and had two races. The first was a 1.2 mile race among the three schools; the second was a 2 mile race at the Bulldog Invite. The kids had a great time! Our elementary students have developed a love for running through both Mileage Club and seeing the success of runners in both middle and high school. Pictured are the top 20 girls and top 20 boys from their first race.

Girls Golf Makes School History

Kennedi Reed: 4x All-State Diver

Senior Kennedi Reed finished out a tremendous high school diving career with her 4th appearance at the State meet. This year, she placed 1st at both the D3 meet and League Meet and took 5th place at State. She was All-Conference and All- State all four years of high school.

Otsego’s girls golf team qualified for State as a team for the first time in school history. They had a great season, finishing 3rd in the conference. Maddie Schense was 1st Team All-Conference and 1st Team All-Region. She also had the best individual score since 2010, placed 3rd at Conference and 2nd at Regionals. Malia Holmes was 1st Team All-Conference and Sydney Grile was AllConference Honorable Mention.

Coach of the Year Honors

coaches

Peter Burrill received the highest honor in the state this fall as the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association’s Middle School Coach of the Year for Cross Country. OHS Diving Coach, Bonnie Wallace, received the Matt Mann and Bruce Harlan award, the highest honor in the state for swimming and diving. Our varsity coaches received Wolverine Conference Coach of the Year honors for their 2021-22 seasons at the annual recognition dinner in November.

Middle School Cross Country, Volleyball teams go undefeated

Once again, the middle school girls cross country team captured the Wolverine Conference. They went undefeated on their season. They also won the Bulldog Invite and Portage Invite.

The 8th grade volleyball team went undefeated in their regular season and placed first in the Wolverine Conference. They also won the Portage Invitational.

From left: Girls tennis coach, Jen Aldrich; boys and girls cross country coach, Steve Long; girls track coach, Justin Scott; boys basketball coach, Matt Dennis; boys track coach, Julie Tollas.

Peter Burrill, OMS Cross Country Coach

Seven

received high recognition Bonnie Wallace, OHS Diving Coach

Fall Fun!

Preschool Families Enjoy Bear Hunt

Under a full moon, families brought out their flashlights and hit the nature trails at Learn ‘n Grow Early Childhood Education Center for this annual event - a bear hunt! Each family received a checklist of the (stuffed) bears they were suppose to find in the trees along the trail. They were looking for ten in all. Families also enjoyed a book on the story walk posts along the way. Each child went home with a free book, too!

New

for Freshmen at

For the 7th year, Otsego’s freshmen traveled to Grace Adventures for 3 days to get to know their classmates and staff. This camp provides opportunities to try new things like archery, horseback riding, ropes courses and a lip sync contest with their activity groups. There is a lot of team-building that takes place which results in positive connections

between staff and students and new friendships with those in their grade. Students also get some down time to enjoy the game room, dodgeball and a walk on the dunes during their stay.

Connections

Camp

A L L O W E E N F U N !

Cultural Culinary Creations

Each month, our students are introduced to a new culture at lunch! Our Food Service team, with the help of a special grant, is serving up different entrees or sides to coincide with different cultural celebrations. For Polish Heritage Day, they offered Polish sausage and a Polish cucumber salad; for Native American Heritage Month, students tried a 3 Sisters Soup. Kids had baked pineapple for Brazilian Independence Day and that’s just the start! The majority who give it a try have truly enjoyed the new foods!

Purple Week Raises Record $28,540

Otsego was a sea of purple at the final event of Purple Week 2022. The prior 10 days featured sports teams, clubs and our band going purple and honoring loved ones for the biennial fundraising event for cancer and Parkinson’s research at Van Andel Institute. In the end, it was a record-breaking event, raising $28,540!

The high school’s Purple Committee (pictured below) planned a variety of events for people to get involved. They held a kids carnival, elementary fundraising drive, apparel sales, a donor dash through the stands and much more! We had incredible participation from local businesses who were sponsors of the event and community members joined in big ways with downtown banners to honor loved ones, purchasing apparel or offering a donation. Our middle school student council added hundreds more with lunchtime games and prizes.

Prior to the start of the main Friday night Purple Game, Otsego staff members, who are also cancer survivors (pictured left), served as the event honorees. Mary Grile, OHS Student Success Coordinator, shared her cancer journey and the important work taking place in medical research to help cancer patients like her. The OHS Choir sang the national anthem and those in attendance were encouraged to fill out a purple paper to share who they fight for in this effort. It was a powerful moment to see all the signs raised at one time; a visual of the community coming together for something that affects so many of us.

Otsego Middle School students enjoyed Polish sausage and cucumber salad.

Elementary students tried baked Pineapple.

Contact Us

Administration/Business Office 269-694-7900

Superintendent Jeffery Haase 269-694-7902

Alamo Elementary 269-694-7600 Dix Street Elementary 269-694-7700

Washington Street Elementary 269-694-7800

Otsego Middle School 269-694-7500

Otsego High School 269-694-7400 Special Education 269-694-7907

Community Education / B.A.S.E. 269-694-7930

Learn ‘n Grow Early Childhood Education Center 269-694-7960

Athletics High School 269-694-7405 Middle School 269-694-7500 Transportation Department 269-694-7940

Carrie Barnhart-Root, Supervisor OPS Foundation www.opsfoundation.org

Otsego Public Schools 400 Sherwood Street

Otsego, MI 49078-1281

Facebook facebook.com/otsegops Instagram instagram.com/otsegoschools Stay Connected with OPS!

Follow us on social media Twitter @OtsegoSchools 2022-23 School Year Calendar December 22 - Winter Break begins January 4 - School resumes February 8 - HS P/T conferences 9 - MS P/T conferences 13-17 - Winter Intersession March 7, 8 & 9 - half days of school, HS exams 8 & 9 - elementary conferences 10 - No school April 3-7 - Spring Break 26 - HS P/T conferences 27 - MS P/T conferences May 29 - No school, Memorial Day June 7 & 8 - half days of school 8 - Last day of school

OPS ConneCtion is published 4 times per year with printing by RiverRun Press, 600 Shoppers Lane, Parchment, MI 49004. It is distributed to all residents of

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live south of “G” Avenue, and School of Choice families, receive their newsletter via the U.S. Post Office. Changes of address, suggestions, and questions should be signed and sent

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Director of Communications, Otsego Public Schools, 400 Sherwood Street, Otsego, MI 49078-1281. For more information call Holly at (269) 694-7910 or hmccaw@otsegops.org.

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