Scot Graden's Blog

Congratulations to the Saline Varsity Baseball sqaud on winning back to back Regional titles! They advance to face Detroit Southeastern on Tuesday at 4pm. The game will be played at Carleton Airport High School.

Friday marked the end of the year for Pooh Corner Preschool. The annual graduation ceremonies were held at Mill Pond Park and culminated with the 110 “graduates” walking across the bridge to receive their “diplomas”. The students also demonstrate several of the activities they have worked on during the year.

It was very successful year for Pooh Corner. The move from Union School to Houghton School was smooth and provided for synergy with the Houghton programs and staff.

Pooh Corner is almost full for the 2008-2009 school year. Call 429-8024 for registration information

“Cocoa and Cram” was such a success in the fall that the Link Crew staff have decided to add “Exam Jam” in June. All freshman students are invited to attend! They should bring study materials and leave their cell phones at home! This is an opportunity to review with friends and Link Crew Leaders.

We had a Technology Committee meeting this week. While I sort of knew this…. I quickly learned again how passionate we are about how we utilize technology. I was also reminded that with technology, personal preference and bias (For example, I’m a Mac guy) tend to influence our opinions regarding what is the best course of action for future implementation.

The meeting allowed us to gather a great deal of feedback regarding procedural steps for the 2008-2009 school year. Clearly, this committee will be a vital part of our plan to gather input.

One of the discussions at the meeting was related to using ”Google Applications” as a district standard for everything from email to word processing to presentations. The big pluses are it’s free, doesn’t require upgrades, and can allow for collaboration with multiple students or co-workers.

Note to Staff & Students: I promise – Microsoft Office will be available next year.

Well, that touched off a conversation that continued via email about whether or not the direction was prudent. I enjoyed the discussion – I noticed how we tended to debate what the move would mean to our own area. The larger conversation about philosophy was initially lost , however, it ended up as part of the dialogue.

In the end, I was very heartened by the honest debate over the direction of our technology efforts. This is a very positive sign for the future.

I would like to thank everyone who supported and participated in the Graduation Ceremony for the Class of 2008. It was a wonderful event from the students cresting the hill and entering the stadium to the tossing of the mortarboards. Click here to watch the video from the Saline Reporter.

The 428 graduates leave behind a legacy of achievement and are poised for great accomplishments in the future.

Mr. Ben Williams and I, along with the Board of Education, central administration and guest speaker Ms. Jean Durst were the first to leave for the field.

The ceremony marked the end of Ms. Kim Van Hoek’s tenure on the school board. In her quest to always remain a part of Saline Area Schools, she now moves on to serve on the Saline Area School Foundation.

It was a big day for Saline in Bedford on Saturday. Both Baseball and Softball won District Titles! They move on to Regional competition this Saturday, here in Saline.

Check out Mr. Nathan Bush’s blog to order your own DVD of this year’s graduation ceremony. This a great keepsake, and it helps support our video production classes.

Over the past couple weeks, Harvest 4th graders have been showing off their “Powerpoint” skills with the media specialist Ms. Michelle Kraft. I was able to check in on Ms. Jasmine Dudzik’s class today. The students researched their subject (insects) in Ms. Linda McCormick’s Quest class.

Their presentations were shown on our Smartboard and included graphics, text, audio clips and more. It was fun to watch how the use of technology helped hold the focus of the students and deliver the content in a fun interactive environment.

It’s “Field Day” season at our elementary schools! Below are some pictures from Woodland Meadows.

Here’s one from Pleasant Ridge with the help of the Saline Fire Department. They had their field day at the high school athletic complex.

Here’s a Houghton picture from Mr. Jason Priebe.

On Tuesday, the Saline Area School Foundation hosted an “After School Reception” at Union School to celebrate grant recipients, donors, foundation advisors and foundation advocates. The event included presentations from Ms. Michelle Barnes and Mr. Juan Lauchu. Each provided the attendees with information about their grants and highlighted the success their projects achieved with the financial support of the Saline Area School Foundation.

Foundation President Lou Candiotti called on all of us to support the Foundation in their mission to support Saline Area Schools.

We had a chance to meet the newest Foundation trustees – Ms. Christine Faeth, Mr. Dennis Valenti and Ms. Kimberly Van Hoek.

The event included excellent refreshments donated by Benny’s Bakery, Brecon Village, Busch’s ValuLand, Country Market, Flaming Shish, Jasmine Thai & China Bistro and the Manchester Bakery. It was also great to see several members of the Saline High School National Honor Society that were on hand to help support the event.