For Thursday, August 8
Hit the GLIC!
The Grade-Level Information Center has information that is relevant for each class.
Our Daily Announcements to our students
For the past ten years wonderful members of Berean Baptist Church come for one Sunday afternoon in August to help us get ready for school. And for more than 20 years now awesome students from our Grounds Crew weed and mulch and trim and help this campus look beautiful. And folks from both groups came out this Sunday and did incredible work – and we have more to do.
So our thanks go out to all of them, and if you are a student and want to help, let me know anytime, and we will be really grateful. As always, we are blessed to be a part of an incredible Community.
PC Yearbook wants your summer photos for the 2025 yearbook!
Did you travel? Hang out by your pool or on the lake? Volunteer? Condition for sports? Chill with friends and family? Work a summer job? We'd love to see what you did after school got out in June! Students can click on this Summertime Photos link to share their summer photos and stories! (Students must be logged into their Portageps accounts to upload content to this form.)
We are also looking for photos of the aftermath of May’s tornadoes. Families and students can click on this May Tornadoes Photos link to upload photos and details.
Got questions? Email yearbook adviser Ann Alburtus at aalburtus@portageps.org.
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 2024-2025 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.
Attention all new athletes, you must submit a baseline concussion test for the upcoming school year.. 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; it's always a great day to be a Mustang!
Want to get rid of your returnables that are cluttering up your garage?
I know I do!
Our awesome water polo kids will take those off your hands. Email portagemuskieswp@gmail.com to schedule someone to come over and grab those from you – and you will be helping our kids have a great season!
A big thank you
…to those students and families who responded to the 2024-25 cell phone policy questionnaire that was sent to you by email at the beginning of the summer. Your thoughts are helping to shape our planned communications at the start of the year. In next week’s Mustang Minutes, we will provide an FAQ with answers to questions we have received from students and families. We also welcome you to Open House to talk with Aja Kaylor, Tama Salisbury, and me about the new policy that our PC staff proposed and that we will implement this coming school year, too.
I know that I need reminders…
Monday, August 19 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. Stay tuned to future issues of Mustang Minutes for even more information about this and other events.
Wednesday, August 21 is our 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, you can chat with your assistant principals about the new cell phone policy and more, and purchase swag at the school store. It's an opportunity to get everything done before school starts. We can't wait to see you there!
The Corral is open!
Show your Mustang Pride in style with some new gear. The Corral (located in the Commons at PCHS) will be open during Freshman Orientation from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and during the PC Open House. We have some exciting 2024-25 school year changes, including an online store. Go Mustangs!
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 2024 – 25 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 26th.
Don’t Scrap the App!
Even with Free Michigan School Meals this year, meal benefit applications 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 October 8th. Parents are encouraged to apply online at https://portage.familyportal.cloud 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 .
For returning sophomores, juniors and seniors…
Wanna see your schedule?
That is easy! Just take a look at your Skyward account on Monday, August 19. Remember, we don’t print your schedule, and remember too that any schedule-change requests happen during the first week of school.
Glad to have gotten my hands dirty out in Centennial Park with great friends,
Eric Alburtus
And if you want even more PC news…