For Thursday, June 20
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
Just hit this link to take a look! We are so grateful to PC dads Jay Pike and Jim Cottrell for doing such wonderful work to help us preserve our memories of this emotional and incredible event forever.
Looking for your feedback
As we explained last week,
A change to our cell phone policy in the 2024-25 school year
“…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…”
Students, in your PPS email you will find a link to a feedback form related to this policy. Parents and guardians, a similar feedback form was sent to the email address you have on file in Skyward. We are grateful for the time you take to share your thoughts with us as we prepare for the 2024-2025 school year.
Welcome Guide and Senior Guide
On Monday, August 19, incoming Freshmen and new students to Portage Central High School will receive a physical copy of The Welcome Guide with all things PC in it. It will be a great resource for your start at Portage Central. Here is the link to the Welcome Guide: PCHS Welcome Guide.
On Thursday, August 29 incoming Seniors will receive a Senior Guide. It will hopefully provide students and parents alike all the information they need for this final year of high school. Please hang on to it and refer to it as much as you need. And, as always, students, please listen to the announcements during the school year, and parents, please read Mustang Minutes weekly. PCHS Senior Guide
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Nikki Smith, Activities Director, at nsmith@portageps.org or at 269-323-5265.
Looking ahead to an August 6 vote
The Building Site & Sinking Fund is a way to directly invest in PPS by ensuring all possible dollars are available for teaching and learning. Renewal of the Building Site and Sinking Fund would provide specific dollars for repairs, mechanical upgrades, security and more.
The BSSF would generate more than $1.5 million annually to support the Expectation of Excellence our community has for Portage Public Schools. The tax is a pay-as-you-go system that means the District does not have to borrow money or pay interest for these projects, or use dollars that would otherwise be used in the classroom to support students and teachers.
In the past, these dollars have been used for repairs and improvements of our buildings such as:
Secure entrances at elementary schools
Parking lot and bus loop improvements
Roof repairs and replacements
Sidewalk and concrete installation and repair
Electrical and mechanical upgrades and repair
Window replacements
Boilers
Buses
Technology
Other renovations and repairs
School Districts are allowed to ask voters to approve up to 3 mills for up to a 10-year period. PPS is asking for a .5 mill RENEWAL through 2029. Please get out to vote Aug. 6! Want more information on this vote? Just hit this link!
Outstanding fines and unserved consequences
Now that the dust of the 2023-2024 school year has settled, we are beginning our inventory of students who have outstanding fines and unserved consequences. Over the next few weeks, we will be reaching out to students and families about collecting materials and/or fines, and about service opportunities to take care of unserved detention time. Notifications will be sent to the email address you have registered in Skyward. Thanks for your support with all of this.
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.
Just a reminder…
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.
Our summer office hours
Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. & 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Closed Fridays)
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!
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.
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.
Signing off, for now… Happy Summer, all.
Eric Alburtus
And if you want even more PC news…