For Thursday, June 6
Hit the GLIC!
The Grade-Level Information Center has information that is relevant for each class.
An index and archive for this year’s weekly Mustang Minutes
Our Daily Announcements to our students
Know someone moving to our school district?
Families new to Portage Public Schools can visit our district PPS Enrollment website and select the 'New Families' link to register their student(s). If you have questions specific to high school enrollment, please email our registrar, Nicole Gutshall, at ngutshall@portageps.org. She will be checking emails periodically over the summer.
For more general information on our high school please visit the Central High School website. If you need to speak with someone please call our main office at 269-323-5200 or visit in person Monday - Thursday from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
For general enrollment questions, please visit our district enrollment website or call the PPS Administration Building at 269-323-5000. You can also visit them at 8107 Mustang Drive, Portage MI. The PPS Administration Building is open Monday - Thursday from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
IB and AP Testing Season finally finished up last Wednesday
If you have IB or AP testers at home, hopefully they are recovering from the May testing season. This year we administered 345 AP Exams in 14 subjects and 422 IB Exams in 19 subjects (up from 320 IB exams last year). Looking at last year’s numbers, 49% of the students who tested in AP earned a high enough score to earn college credit. That number was 87% for our IB students. If we apply those same percentages to this year's testers, that means that our PC Senior Class will be awarded approximately $1,700,000 in college credits for the work they did here at PC. And those credits are not just going to a handful of students: about 55% of our Seniors earned scores high enough to be awarded college credit for at least one class due to their IB or AP exam scores. That is pretty incredible – and we are really grateful for the teacher and students who made this all happen.
Counselor caseload changes for next year
Students are assigned by last name to ensure each student has equal access to their assigned counselor. Occasionally, it is essential to balance the caseloads in order to ensure this equal access. For this reason, starting with the 2024-2025 school year, the new counselor caseloads will be as follows:
Last Names A-E: Todd Tarnutzer
Last Names F-L (Minus J) or (F,G,H,I, K,L): Shannon Schippers
Last Names M-R or (M,N,O,P,Q,R): Lisa Jepson
Last Names (S-Z & J) or S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z & J: Karen Kreis
Our first concern is for the students and making a smooth transition. Counselors will collaborate regularly. Seniors will still have access to their original counselor if they need any assistance with college applications. The college applications will be processed by their newly assigned counselor.
A change to our cell phone policy in the 2024-25 school year
The proliferation of cell phones has been both a blessing and a distraction. As parents and family members, the convenience of communicating with our children at any time has allowed us to stay connected in useful ways that were unimaginable in the not-so-distant past. And, staying connected with our children while we are apart can be incredibly important for the smooth operation of a family: ensuring that a younger sibling is picked up from school, sending a reminder of a healthcare appointment, or checking in with our loved ones to ensure their safety during a storm, just as examples.
At the same time, as families and students and educators, we know that maintaining focus on a lesson and actively engaging with peers and the teacher during class is essential to learning – and our kids’ futures. Too, there is no doubt that cell phone and device notifications pinging and buzzing create an immediate distraction that can be hard for anyone to ignore. (Including for me. Ask my wife.)
In the 2024-25 school year, our staff hopes to address cell phone and device distraction in a way that affirms our values as parents and families, as educators, and as students, and in a way that seeks to balance our need to communicate to loved ones, with our desire and responsibility to offer the best teaching and learning experience that we can for all of our students. To that end, our School Effectiveness Team, comprised of PC teacher and staff representatives, voted this week to recommend that Portage Central High School institute a more centralized cell phone policy next school year.
Specifically, the Team has asked all of us to join together and to implement the same cell phone policy throughout the school: Cell phones or headphones must be silenced and out-of-sight during class periods unless explicit permission is granted by the instructor for a curricular purpose. This recommended policy can be summed up easily — no cell, bell-to-bell — and it is not a significant departure from where we have been in years past. Indeed, this same expectation has been in the syllabus of most of our PC classrooms for years.
The recommendation still allows phone and headphone use during passing periods and lunch. You’ll also notice that there is space for teachers to grant permission for cell-phone use during class for narrowly defined curricular purposes. And, in emergency situations, we all know quick communication saves lives, which is why our Team is not seeking a total ban on phones in the school. Students may continue to carry phones throughout the school day if that is what your family deems necessary for them to do, but it must not be seen or heard during class.
As we support all our kids to focus and succeed in their learning, we need help from our students and families. In next week’s issue of Mustang Minutes, we will be sharing a cell phone policy-specific feedback form with you. As always, we are so grateful for your partnership and commitment to our community.
Our summer office hours
Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. & 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Closed Fridays)
(Please note a slight change on Wednesday, June 12: 9 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. & 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m)
Summer make-up exams
Our Main Office is open for exam make-ups on Monday through Thursday during summer office hours (listed above). If you need to schedule a time for a student to make up an exam, please call (269) 323-5200 or send an email to Kathy at kjepson@portageps.org. We encourage students who need extra time to come in at 9 AM. Finally, keep in mind that finals will be graded when teachers return to school at the end of the summer. The final course grade will be updated on the transcript in September.
Just a reminder…
Portage Central Debate is back!
In order to get our program off the ground, we are partnering with Qdoba for a fundraiser. This will take place on Wednesday, June 12th, at the Westnedge Location. The fundraiser will run from 4-8 p.m. Please consider purchasing a delicious dinner from this restaurant in order to support a new program at Portage Central High School. Thank you in advance for your participation!
Excited about what our Theatre Department is planning for next year!
With the end of the school year rapidly approaching, I wanted to send out a reminder that all medications kept at the school, prescription and non-prescription, will need to be picked up at the end of the year by a parent or guardian. Any medication remaining after the last day of school will be properly disposed of. If you need more time or want to set a time to pick up your child’s medication, please reach out to me at 269.323.5667
As a reminder for next fall, all medication administered at school requires a medication consent form signed by a physician no earlier than July 1 of that school year. If your child has allergies, asthma, or seizures, an Emergency Action Plan is also required. Updated medication consent forms and other medical forms will be available on the Portage Public Schools district site by July 1.
~ Cara Laforest – 269.323.5667
Want to get community-service hours over the summer?
Cool! Let’s do them here at PC!
We have been blessed to have a lot of kids help out here over the summer over the past 20+ years, doing a wide variety of things, from watering trees to cleaning to creating cool projects to welcome our students back in August. If you are ever interested, drop me an email anytime – ealburtus@portageps.org – and we can get some fun work done together. Thanks for considering it!
Students, don’t forget to clean out your lockers by tomorrow, June 7 at 10 a.m.
We wash out all the lockers over the summer. Anything left in lockers after that Friday morning at 10 a.m. will either be thrown away or donated to a local charity. So please take everything with you for the summer. Thanks!
And while you’re at it, please clean your bedroom and check under your bed for any stray school textbooks and materials that may have lost their way. Get those to the main office during summer office hours so that you don’t end up with a fine.
Did you miss RideOut and Graduation?
No worries: you can watch them on YouTube!
Both the Mustang RideOut and Graduation are livestreamed and then recorded, so friends and family can watch these wonderful events all around the world. Just click here to go to PC’s YouTube channel, share that link with anyone who can’t be there, and we can celebrate, Together.
Free summer meals for kids aged 0-18
Just click this link to find out the dates and locations of the Meet Up and Eat Up program for kids this summer.
Want to swim or dive? Cool! Let us know
Any students interested in becoming a member of the Portage Central Swimming & Diving teams for the 2024-2025 school year, please take a moment to fill out the Google form below so we can connect with you.
PCHS Swim & Dive Sign Up 2024-2025
You don't necessarily need to have prior competitive swim/dive team experience in order to join our team. If you are a solid swimmer, are comfortable in the water, and have a passion to learn new things along with a strong work ethic then we have a spot for you.
Additionally, if you are looking for a place to swim/dive this summer we are running a camp for those who are interested. Please see the links below for more information.
If you have questions regarding sign-ups or would like more information about our summer swim camp please reach out to us. We look forward to seeing you at the pool!
Please note that this sign-up allows you to get information about our upcoming seasons. If you are considering swimming/diving at PCHS please sign-up so we can get all the pertinent information to you so as to help you make a final decision.
Head Coach Michelle Greene mgreene@portageps.org
Dive Coach Madeline Wood mwoods@portageps.org
Back by popular demand…
Buy a brick for McCamley-Knight or Mustang Field, or a tile for the new pool!
So many families and community members purchased bricks at the new McCamley-Knight and Mustang Fields and tiles at the new pool — to leave their mark in these spaces where so many great kids, parents, families, and community members celebrated and where so many more will celebrate decades into the future.
This sale continues until Graduation Day this spring. So if you are considering a brick at the new McCamley-Knight or Mustang Field, click here. If you would like a tile at the new pool, click here. Thank you — again and again — for all that you have done.
Just a reminder: Save the dates for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year!
Monday, August 19, 2024 is Freshman Orientation
Freshman Orientation goes from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Monday, August 19th. It will be held in the Portage Central High School Gymnasium. Incoming 9th graders should be here by 7:45 a.m. and wait outside the gymnasium doors until they are welcomed in by our Link Crew Leaders. We can’t wait to meet you all and are excited to welcome you to the PCHS family! If you have any questions about Orientation, please contact Nikki Smith, Activities Director, at nsmith@portageps.org or 269-323-5265. More information will be coming your way later this year.
And on Monday, August 19th, there is a Code of Conduct Meeting at 11:30 am in the Auditorium. If your child is a 9th grader and plans to participate in Athletics or Activities such as Archery, Debate, DECA, E-Sports, the Fall Play, Forensics, Marching Band, and the Spring Musical, please attend this meeting. It is the only Code of Conduct meeting you and your child will have to attend for their entire high school career.
Wednesday, August 21, 2024 is the PCHS Open House
The Portage Central High School Open House will be held on Wednesday, August 21st from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. There will be an Activities Fair in Centennial Park, weather permitting (otherwise it will be held in the Commons), so students can get club information before school starts. There will also be an open Meet and Greet to get to know your students’ teachers, students can find their lockers and classes, you can purchase Lunch/Parking/Athletic passes, and visit the school store. This is a great opportunity to get to know Portage Central High School before school actually starts.
Grateful for our kids, colleagues and community, and grateful for summer,
Eric Alburtus
And if you want even more PC news…