Welcome Back Letter

Dear Strong Middle School Families,

 

I am thrilled to be welcoming your children back to school!

 

On, Thursday, August 6, The Melvindale Northern Allen Park Board of Education agreed that we should move forward to plan for a full remote/online learning model to begin the 2020-21 school year. We all want to get our students back to the school buildings, but we know that we need to prioritize the safety of our students and staff first. While COVID-19 has changed our lives, we can and will make the best of it!

 

While our learning will begin online, our team will continue to reach higher and further through online learning platforms to provide engaging and challenging learning experiences to students. Unlike the spring online experience, this fall is not optional for your students. All classwork will be required and counted toward their overall grades.

 

The responsibility of educating your children is awesome, but as we begin school through remote learning, and demands and complexities of teaching children increase, it becomes more evident that we all need to work together to ensure that our children reach their potential.

 

 

 

Chromebook Distribution
We are excited to announce our student device pickup information for the 2020-2021 school year. Devices will be available for pickup starting this Friday August 21st and continue August 24th and 25th by appointment. Devices will be deployed to all students in the family during a single appointment. All MelNAP students (K-12) in the family and at least one parent/guardian are required to attend the device pickup appointment. Each appointment is scheduled to last for 30 minutes. We are hosting two pickup sites for all students K-12:

 

Sign up for Chromebook distribution: https://www.melnapschools.com/apps/news/article/1277400

 

Virtual Open House
All District’s Open Houses will take place virtually this year. Strong Middle School’s open house is scheduled on Wednesday, September 2 from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. You will receive an invite from our school prior to the event through Google Meets.

 

Textbook Pickup
Textbook pick up will be held on September 9 and 10 for all Strong Middle School Students. To maintain social distancing, we will utilize our extended drive way. Without leaving your vehicles, textbooks will be handed to students during their scheduled times. Specific date and times will be provided to you and your students during the first week of scheduled virtual classes. To help expiate the process, please have your child’s student id available.

 

It is our desire to keep you informed and provide you with various communication tools to keep an open and timely line of communication. Please take the opportunity to sign up on these provided platforms. Your students teachers will provide you additional ways/ options you can communicate directly with them.

 

Strong Middle School Facebook and Twitter access
Up-to-date school information can be found on Strong Middle School’s Facebook

Principal’s Remind messaging tool
Up-to-date text messages directly from the Principal. Please take time to click onto the link and follow the direction to receive important district and school information through text messages. This is for students and families: https://www.remind.com/join/3bkagd

 

Parent Connection / Student Connection
Up-to date access to your student(s) academic and attendance progress.
Through the Parent Connect portal, parents are requested to promptly submit a student's change of address to the school office that the child attends. Keeping the school informed of changes will allow for the student/parent to receive up to date information.
MISTAR-Parent Portal is a way for parents to stay engaged in their child's education.

Your child’s social-emotional well-being is of great concern to us, and we will take every measure to address any concerns that come to our attention. Within the first few weeks of school, every student will take the UCLA Brief COVID-19 Screen, which is a tool designed to assess Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

 

Parents/Guardians will be contacted by the School Counselor or one of the School Social Workers if your child scores significant. At that time, services and resources to support your child’s social-emotional well-being will be made available to you.

 

Strong Middle School staff will be providing social-emotional learning activities throughout the school year. The district also has a Mental Health page, as well as a Family Resource page on the district website (under “Family”) filled with resources for students and families.

 

Communication is key! Please feel free to contact our School Counselor or School Social Workers if your child has any social-emotional concerns, or if you need additional resources. Our mental health staff can assist you with mental health concerns, crisis intervention, suicide risk assessments, behavioral concerns, positive behavioral support, academic, and classroom support, consultation with teachers, parents, and administrators as well as provide individual and group counseling sessions. If you need assistance with a 504 Plan please contact Ms. Dolinski, and if you need to refer your child for special education please contact Ms. Bryson (6th grade) or Mrs. Kujat (7th and 8th grade).