For Thursday, November 28
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
As we head into cold and flu season, please review these reminders from our Attendance Office
To report an absence or to obtain an early dismissal, please email jthrash@portageps.org or call the attendance line at (269)323-5259 and leave a message noting the reason and time of dismissal. For an early dismissal, your student is then responsible for picking up their early dismissal slip at the Attendance Office anytime prior to their dismissal time. They will then show their teacher their pass as their ticket out the door. Upon exiting, the student will hand your slip to one of our amazing hall supervising staff. If they return to PC, they must sign back in at the Attendance Office to adjust their attendance accordingly.
We are required to report the number of cases of specific illnesses and diseases to the county health department and follow their guidance as it pertains to slowing the spread of illness and disease in our community. Please be specific on a student's illness when reporting an absence. An illness is an excused (totaling) absence when called in. In order to waive an absence (which would be non-totaling), please turn in a doctor’s note from the facility to the Attendance Office upon return. As with any illness, a student may return to school when they have been symptom-free for 24 hours. Please note, when a student reports that they have vomited at school, no matter what the reason, the student must get an early dismissal and go home, get rest and be supported by their families. Some of the other things we are responsible to identify include fever over 101 degrees, vomiting, oozing sores and diarrhea.
For more detailed information on our attendance policy, please visit our link in the GLIC. Thanks for all that you do to keep all our kids healthy and in school!
We hope to see you at the…
Choir Cabaret Show
Which will be held on Thursday, December 5, Friday, December 6, and Saturday, December 7th at 7 pm, and a 2 pm show on December 7th. Tickets went on sale yesterday, so be sure to get yours. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. This event will be held at The Central Middle Black Box Theatre. Here is the link to purchase your tickets:
PC Bands Collage Concert
This concert will be held on Wednesday, December 11th at 7 pm in the PCHS Auditorium. Tickets will go on sale next Monday, December 2nd!!!
We are so happy for our state swimming and diving team members!
Congratulations goes out to the Women's Swim & Dive Team on their 5th place finish at the MHSAA Division II State Championship Meet this past weekend. Five team members brought home All State Honors. Kiara Olmstead took 3rd place in Diving; Evie Welser took 3rd place in the 500 free and 6th place in the 200 free; Ava Smith took 6th place in the 500 free and 9th place in the 200 free; Maya Cebula took 10th place in the 100 back and 11th in the 200 IM; Sadie Tate took 15th place in the 100 free and Ningzhi Luo-Li took 17 place in the 100 fly. The 400 freestyle relay team of Evie Welser, Ava Smith, Maya Cebula and Sadie Tate finished in 4th place and the same group teamed up for the 200 free relay to take home 7th place. Way to go Mustangs!
Just a reminder…
Please remember to drop off students in the drop-off areas, and not elsewhere
Between when we built the new PC in 2011 and 2019, the number of students who rode school buses before and after school declined by 50%. And bus ridership declined further through the pandemic.
So it is more important than ever to make sure we are all communicating to one another as we drive near and on campus. One way we do this well is by only dropping off our kids at the drop-off loops -- and nowhere else. We have had some really close calls, particularly when folks drop off or pick up students on the drive off Westnedge or in the roadways.
Too, parents of PC, please do not drop off students in the middle-school loop, unless of course you have a middle-school student too. They have many of their own families, and our presence makes their world more congested.
Thanks for helping keep our kids safe!
Speaking of parking …
For evening events, please park in The Stable and pool parking lots
Since the Auditorium and the Gymnasium are on the south side of our building, we are asking all patrons to park in the Stable Parking Lot and the Natatorium Parking Lot. Only those doors will be unlocked, only those parking lot lights will be on, and only those lots will be plowed. By parking there, you will be much closer to all events. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
Thank you to our local businesses who support us in so many ways!
One of my favorite authors would complain, Everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance. And I get it: we have been a community of builders and farmers for our 100-year history. And over the years we have been blessed to build so much – and some of that maintenance of those community investments can only happen with the help of our local business partners. They help us accomplish tasks as varied as replacing our 19-year-old golf cart that shuttled community members to athletic events for years, to making sure that we could purchase a new counseling dog, Toby, to support our kids when they have difficult days.
So over the next few weeks we will be publicly thanking these businesses here in Mustang Minutes and elsewhere on campus. And if there is any way she can show your thanks as well, we would appreciate it!
Eric Alburtus
And if you want even more PC news…