The holiday season is upon us. This season is a time of family, friends, and giving thanks. It is in this vein that I want to give thanks to our community for their continued support as we have many things to be proud of and thankful for this year. First, we are continuing to add features and updates to our security system. We are in the process of getting the full SmartBoot system with the Bluetooth notification program up and running. To see a quick demo please visit our Facebook page at Vestaburg Community School or our web-page at www.vcs-k12.net. We are extremely proud of our advancements, as we are one of only a few schools in the State of Michigan and even the nation with this system; this makes us a national example. While we can never 100% predict the future, please know that we are doing everything possible to keep our students and children safe!
In addition, we have been able to expand our one to one technology initiative to include grades 3-12 with each student assigned a Chromebook for the year. We continue to expand our services to at-risk students, approximately 1800 students, are participating in our virtual program throughout the state of Michigan. Once again, we at Vestaburg are one of the few schools offering this type of program. While this program is not for everyone and is designed as an alternative program, I am very proud to say that over 150 students that were behind and not going to be able to graduate on time had the opportunity to graduate in the spring of 2019. This program has increased the workload of many in our system, however, I am very proud and grateful of the staff that has taken on this work and make it successful. This program changes the lives of the students we serve and also generates additional revenue for our school district.
I am also very thankful for the passing of the Bond last Spring. As a result, we have been able to purchase four (4) new school buses. We will also be having the new bleachers installed in the high school gym over our winter break. We are currently in the process of accepting bids for our roofing renovation and installation and will be ready to break ground on the project this coming spring. Finally, as we finalize the roofing bids we are going to be accepting bids for the additional renovation work in January. The scope of this work depends on the remaining funds after the first three projects are finalized. This work could include some upgrades to bathrooms and classrooms in the middle school and elementary areas.
In addition, I am thankful for a great staff that works hard every day to take care of and educate the students of this community. While things may not always work how we want them to, I witness each and every day the love and dedication our staff has for our students. Lastly, I and every other staff member at Vestaburg Community School is grateful for each and every student that we are blessed to work with each day. Thank you for allowing us to share in the lives of your children.
On behalf of Vestaburg Community Schools, I want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!
