Our First Night at McCamley Knight Field, Open House and more!
For Thursday, August 3
Hit the GLIC!
The Grade-Level Information Center has information that is relevant for each class.
Please join us for the
First Night at McCamley Knight Field, on August 24!
Last year our community’s school board voted to change the name of our stadium from McCamley Field to McCamley Knight Field, to honor the commitment and dedication that Coach Bob Knight and his colleagues and students gave to our community for more than 50 years. We would be so grateful if you could join us in this celebration. Watch for more info in upcoming editions of the Mustang Minutes!
Hey, Mustangs!
PC Yearbook wants your summer stuff for the 2024 yearbook!
Are you a Swifty or part of Thomas Rhett's Hometeam? The yearbook would love to see your concert photos! What was your favorite summer hangout? Did you go on college visits? How about to France or the Galapagos Islands on a school trip? Where did you work this summer? Share as many of these as you can for our summer section of the 2024 yearbook. Students can click on this linktr.ee/pchsyearbook2024 to share their summer photos and stories! (Students must be logged into their Portageps accounts to upload content.) Got questions? Email business manager Abigail Ganos at PCYearbook@portageps.org.
Our Open House is coming soon!
August 23rd will be here before you know it. Plus, watch out for next week’s Mustang Minutes to get more information about Freshmen and New Student Orientation, which is Monday, August 21.
2022-23 Awards Program Link
Hit this link – 2022-2023 Underclassmen Awards – to see the program, or to download it as a keepsake, before the program expires on August 28.
Green means Go… Red means No…
Final Forms and athletic eligibility
It's August and the Portage Central Athletics office is back in action. We are incredibly excited for the start of the 2023-2024 school year. Fall Sports start on Monday. Here are some Important Reminders:
Please complete your Final Forms registration.
Once again, RED means NO, GREEN means GO! All registration information, and parent/guardian and student-athlete signatures are required in order to go Green. Make sure to remind your student-athlete to log into their account and sign their permissions ASAP. Here is the link for the Final Forms site.
Baseline concussion testing is back.
This year, we are bringing back a baseline concussion test for all student-athletes. It's a 30-minute at-home test using a desktop or laptop computer. Chromebooks are able to be used. We are looking for completion of this testing no later than the first official contest for each student-athlete. CLICK ON THIS LINK TO TAKE YOU TO THE TESTING INFORMATION.
Once again, we are very excited for this upcoming school year where it's always a great day to be a Mustang!!!
#OnwardPortage
Joe Wallace, CAA Athletic Director
Food Facts from the Mustang Café
Thanks to the Governor and Michigan Legislature, students in Michigan will once again have the opportunity to eat one breakfast and one lunch at no charge every day this school year!
Meal Prices are as follows for the 2023 – 24 School Year
Secondary Breakfast - $ 0
Ala Carte second breakfast - $ 1.55
Secondary Lunch - $ 0 (regardless of the station)
Ala Carte second lunch - $3.25 / $3.50 (depending on the station)
Ala Carte Entrée - $3.25 / $3.50 (depending on the station) – meal presented at register does not have all required components.
Extra Entrée - $1.50 - $1.75 (depending on station and with “purchase” of a full school lunch)
Milk - $ .50
All free meals will still require students to have at least ½ cup of fruit or vegetable when they go through the register. Students will also be able to purchase ala carte items as long as they have money in their food service account. No charging of ala carte items is permitted.
Breakfast is served at all PPS schools every day school is in session. Breakfast will be served on the first day of school, Monday, August 28th.
Don’t Scrap the App!
Even with Free Michigan School Meals this year, meal benefit application are still important to the district. Families that qualify for meal benefits during the school year provide the district with additional state and federal funding for: Instructional staff (ex. Reading Interventionists, Math Tutors, Academic & Behavior Aids), Counselors, Social Workers, School Nurses, Technology, Teaching Supplies & Materials and Staff Professional Learning. If you think you will qualify, please fill out the application, it only takes a few minutes to complete. Your information will be kept safe and confidential and will only be used to determine your students’ meal eligibility. Meal Benefit applications are now available for this school year and benefits from the previous school year will expire on Oct. 10th. Parents are encouraged to apply online at https://portage.familyportal.c... to avoid long delays in processing of applications.
Are you hungry and want to see what’s for lunch? Need carb counts? Want to know how many calories your favorite school lunch has? Have a food allergy and need to find a safe meal? Then check out Portage’s exclusive Nutrislice website! https://portageps.nutrislice.com or download the app to your smart phone and have the info at your fingertips each day before lunch!
Low Balance Email Alerts – tired of last minute texts or emails asking for lunch money? Sign up for our low balance email alerts. When your student’s balance falls below $5, you will receive an email that lets you know you need to replenish funds on their account. You can sign up at https://portage.familyportal.cloud.
Lunch Money
Yes, your student can pay cash for his or her ala carte items each day, or they can bring in a check or cash to put on account, but did you know you can add money to your student’s lunch account electronically? Simply sign on to https://portage.familyportal.cloud, setup your account (you will need their student ID number—also known as their “Other ID” in Skyward), and then you can add funds, see their order history, set up email low balance alerts, and even transfer funds if you have more than one student.
Speaking of lunch money, even though one meal is free we still have to make you aware of our charging policy
Meal Charge Policy
Middle and High School students are allowed to charge 2 meals into the negative. After the second meal, no additional meals will be provided until the negative balance is paid. Ala carte entrees, extra entrees, beverages or snacks are never allowed to be charged into the negative. Students must pay off any negative balances that carried over before being allowed to purchase ala carte items. During the last two weeks of the school year no charging into the negative is permitted.
Negative Balance Policy
Negative balances are required by law to be paid to the Food Service Department by the end of each school year. At the end of the year all outstanding negative balances will be forwarded to the district Business Office to begin collection proceedings.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Susan Livingston, Director of Dining Services at 323-5155 or via email at slivingston@portageps.org.
Hoping you continue to have wonderful summer,
Eric Alburtus
And if you want even more PC news…