October 28, 2009
October 2, 2009
March 5, 2009
February 24, 2009
2/25/2009 Times Indicator Advertorial
Each of Us Has a Role
Everyone who lives in a community has a role. We live and work together. Learn to
blend our talents and interests. Come to depend on each other.
This has served Fremont well from its earliest days. Continue Reading
2/25/2009Times Indicator Article (p. 7)
December 19, 2008
Times Indicator Advertorial
Give them Roots, Give them Wings
Last week in Fremont many of your friends and neighbors wrapped-up one labor of
love, and prepared to begin another.
When our Board of Education last week agreed to send a bond proposal for a new high
school to state treasury officials for approval, it marked the end of a year-long
investigative effort by the Finding the Future in Fremont citizen’s
committee. Continue Reading
November 19, 2008
11/19/2008 Times Indicator Advertorial
Sinking Funds Could Do More
In October the Fremont Board of Education petitioned the state legislature to expand the current provisions of sinking funds to include the purchase of buses and technology.
Sinking fund millages must be approved by voters. The yearly proceeds now may only be used to make repairs to school buildings and to the equipment needed to run those buildings.
Expanding the use of sinking funds for transportation and technology would free-up operations money for other uses in our classrooms, giving us a greater impact on our students’ learning and safety.
I want to say here that we are truly fortunate to have the resources and support of the Fremont Area Community Foundation. They are helping today with some of our technology needs through a $1.2 million grant shared by the public school districts in the county.
Yet the need to update the technology we use in the classroom is great, especially as the world of education becomes increasing technology-driven.
You passed our sinking fund millage in 2002 – 1.75 mills for 10 years – which generates about $600,000 per year for building improvements. It has been doing its work, allowing us to make quite a laundry list of needed repairs while easing the demand on our operating funds.
And while we must not neglect the condition of our facilities, we could make wise, and broader, use of your tax dollars in ways that would also enhance our students’ experience in the classroom, and their safety on our buses.
The Board of Education plans to continue this effort in Lansing for its potential positive impact on our student programs and learning environment.
John D. Kingsnorth
Superintendent
Fremont Public Schools
(231) 924-2350
jkingsnorth@fremont.net
November 5, 2008
11/5/2008 Times Indicator Advertorial
MEAP Complete
Students and teachers from grades 3-9 can take a deep breath, now that they have completed the fall Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests. The MEAP assesses the students on Michigan’s core curriculum.
Mathematics and English Language Arts (reading and writing) assessments are administered in each grade from Grade 3 to Grade 8. These tests cover content taught during the previous school year. Science assessments are administered in the fall of the 5th and 8th grade years. Social studies assessments are administered in the fall of the 6th and 9th grade years. The science and social studies assessments cover content from the previous two to three grade levels.
The state uses the fall testing to assess the full previous year of instruction and measure what students learned, and retained, over the summer break. Testing early in the fall, the state says, also encourages teachers to proceed quickly into teaching the current year curriculum.
This is the fourth year for the fall tests, which does have its challenges; mainly that teachers and students have little time to review the previous year’s core content materials.
The State Board of Education adopted the Grade Level Content Expectations encased in the MEAP assessments to provide teachers and students with detail and focus on the skills students should know at the end of each grade. They were designed to bring a more consistent curriculum across the state for each grade, K-8.
The MEAP tests, however, do not address the need for 21st Century learning skills, such as problem-solving and collaborative learning, which we at Fremont are building into our teaching and learning methods.
As our teachers, support staff, and students take their collective deep breath, I want to say thank you to each of them – for their hard work in preparing for the MEAP, and for taking the testing seriously.
It is this effort that will continue to make Fremont schools, and a Fremont education, so valuable.
John D. Kingsnorth, PhD
Superintendent
924-2350
jkingsnorth@fremont.net
October 29, 2008
10/29/2008 Times Indicator Advertorial
A Passion for Children
For 80 years, the Gerber name has been synonymous with caring for children. That zeal helped to make the company the leading employer, and an institutional backbone, of our community.
Now a member of the Nestlé family, the passion for children remains, and we at Fremont Public Schools wish to say thank you.
Only recently, Gerber Products Company, Nestlé Infant Nutrition, made several kind donations to Fremont’s children.
Their gift of $10,000 is helping us improve math and science technology at the high school. A second gift, of more than 200 computers, gave a significant boost to our technology capabilities. And more than 150 music department students, representing choir, orchestra and band, will attend the Grand Rapids Symphony as guests of Nestlé-Gerber.
Nestlé-Gerber also is very supportive of our hopes for a new high school.
I have had the pleasure of several conversations with Jeff Kinzbach, Senior Vice President, about the company’s hopes for Fremont. He took time to meet with our staff at the onset of the school year, and guided me around the company’s local research facilities. Mr. Kinzbach gave me permission to share with you some of this thinking about a new high school:
“We value education, and consider this initiative important not only for the fundamental necessity of providing our children with the best education possible, but also the necessary benefit of encouraging our current associates, future potential associates, and the associates of other companies within the area to establish residence here.
“It is well known that parents often consider education and educational facilities as the top priority when choosing a community to live in. We at Gerber Products Company, Nestlé Infant Nutrition, feel that it will help us attract the best talent to the area as well as providing an overall benefit to the sustainability of our great community.”
The Find the Future in Fremont committee is nearing completion of its assessment of four potential sites for a new high school. They will make their recommendation to the Board of Education in December.
We are pleased that Gerber Products Company, Nestlé Infant Nutrition, is confirming its partnership with the school and the community, attesting to its enduring passion for children.
John D. Kingsnorth, PhD
Superintendent
924-2350
jkingsnorth@fremont.net
October 10, 2008
10/8/2008 Times Indicator Advertorial – Students Count
I am writing this week about our September student count in Fremont. Yet, the more
important message is: students count.
We lost 117 students in the September count.
These families went away to find work. Fifty-seven children left the county; 37
left Michigan.
This loss in students is balanced somewhat by the number of Schools of Choice students
who will attend Fremont this year – 165 – bringing our enrollment K-12 to 2,366
students.
We will not know the full amount of our state aid for several months. Schools count
students twice: once in September and again in February. The two counts are blended
to determine a districts’ state aid funding. We budgeted for a loss of 50 students
last June.
We will “manage down” to about $250,000 of our anticipated loss, based on savings
in energy costs, supplies, capital outlay, and other discretionary areas. We have
a track record of being able to do this.
We also have a track record of supporting the classroom and instruction during lean
times. In other lean years we have maintained student outcomes on the MEAP and continued
to demonstrate Adequate Yearly Progress. We will I continue to do work hard to do
so.
Soon, however, we will need your help.
That is the second part of my message: that, in Fremont, students count.
We know we need to address our facilities for learning if are going to continue
our history of excellence. Even if enrollment should decline, the I educational
needs of our remaining students continue to expand.
A building is a tool for instruction. Yet the tools we need to educate our students
have significantly changed in just the last 10 years. We cannot piece f together
facilities to meet the needs of 21st Century learning.
The world of education has been transformed. We need a flexible tool, one that allows
us to change rapidly as the world’s need for education changes in I a profoundly
different future.
It is about the needs of the students, not about the numbers.
John D. Kingsnorth
Superintendent
Fremont Public Schools
(231) 924-2350
jkingsnorth@fremont.net
10/8/2008 Times Indicator Article (p. 7) Times Indicator
September 26, 2008
9/24/2008 Times Indicator Advertorial – To be a Child’s Favorite
Each of us can look back at our school years and quickly call to mind our “favorite” teachers. Despite different backgrounds, and schools, and the varied points in history when they intersected our lives, these teachers have something in common: they made learning fun, and us feel special.
If you have lived in the Fremont area for very long, and went to our schools, then it’s likely some of your favorite teachers are today influencing your children or grandchildren. That’s wonderful. It will be one more thing you have in common. Continue Reading…
9/24/2008 Times Indicator Article
September 8, 2008
8/13/2008 Times Indicator Advertorial – Steelcase University
Steelcase University is a philosophy of instruction that combines old and new ways of teaching. It began as a prototype classroom developed primarily for college-level courses; along the way, its users discovered it is ideal for any learning.
During the summer we had many teachers and members of the community visit Steelcase University classrooms to see how it works. We plan to introduce this philosophy of instruction to Fremont High School social studies classes this October. Continue reading…
8/13/2008 Times Indicator Article (p. 7)
September 7, 2008
8/6/2008 Times Indicator Advertorial – Find the Future in Fremont
I find it wonderful to watch the process of everyday people sitting down to discuss what they feel is best for their children. In this case, I have watched four committees devote a year to examining the best ways for Fremont students to become world-ready.
They had a lot on their plates, but the main course was deciding what recommendations to make to the Board of Education. Just what education resources should be available for their children in five years? What should the Fremont community do to get there?
The committees that came together around the topics World Ready, Technology, and Community Connections made their presentations to the board a few weeks ago. In late June, the Facilities committee was ready to sum up their work. Continue reading
7/23/2008 Times Indicator Article (p. 9)
August 6, 2008
7/23/2008 Times Indicator Advertorial – Find the Future in Fremont
How do we prepare our students to be ‘World Ready?’ This was the question of the year for Fremont Public Schools’ staff, students and members of the community.
The committees that came together around the topics World Ready, Technology, and Community Connections made their presentations to the board a few weeks ago. In late June, the Facilities committee was ready to sum up their work.
David Byrne and Scott Sherman served as this committee’s co-chairs, with Mr. Byrne outlining the committee’s findings for the board. Beginning with building repairs and improvements in mind, the committee worked on a master facilities plan for the district. This, Mr. Byrne told the board, sharpened the committee’s attention on the high school as their highest priority for recommended improvements.
Their conclusion: Fremont’s current high school not only cannot serve the future needs of students, it cannot be adequately maintained even for its present use. Continue Reading…
7/23/2008 Times Indicator Article (p. 9)
July 15, 2008
Times Indicator Advertorial – Working With the End In Mind
How do we prepare our students to be ‘World Ready?’ This was the question of the year for Fremont Public Schools’ staff, students and members of the community.
We wanted to learn more about the general feelings of the school district’s strengths, where we could improve, and the general sense of the critical issues we will face over the next 10 years.
The more than 100 responses we received to our survey gave us a wealth of information and became the starting point for our community-directed Strategies for Student Success (S³) strategic plan. Year-long study committees formed around four main topics: World Ready, Technology, Community Connections, and Facilities.
The study committees went to work with the end in mind. What education resources do we want to have available for our children in five years, and what do we need to do, step by step, to get there? …Full Article
6/18/2008 Times Indicator Article (p. 7)
May 16, 2008
4/30/2008 Advertorial – May 6 Millage is a Renewal
A few weeks ago I wrote about Fremont schools’ critical millage renewal request coming up on May 6. I told you about the twist in the law that requires school districts to ask homeowners to approve a millage that homeowners don’t actually pay. …Read full article
