Scot Graden's Blog

Congratulations to 1998 Saline High School graduate Bobby Korecky. He was called up by the Minnesota Twins today – the righthand pitcher was 2-1 in AAA so far this season. As a Hornet, Bobby led the 1998 Varsity squad that finished as the Class A State Runner-Up. If there was ever a time to root for the Twins – it’s now. He’s also lucky to be married to SHS graduate Jill (Palmeri) Korecky.

At the Board of Education meeting last night we had several presentations. First, the District Parenting Council, which is made up of the officers of each building’s PTO/A. It was great to hear the deep commitment to supporting the parent/teacher relationship in each building. I was astounded by the amount of money that is raised and used to help provide for needed programs and materials.

We then were able to hear a presentation from two middle school teachers – Ms. Laurie Erby and Ms. Jennifer Nelson on the success of the Reading Apprenticeship program. It was exciting to see the data from their assessments and the gains our students are achieving in this area. We were also pleased by the implementation plan. There has been increased staff trained in the last two years and next year the plan is continue to expand the use of the Reading Apprenticeship framework.

The last presentation was from Athletic Director Rob White. During the 2007-8 school year, over 1,950 students participated in athletic programs in grades 7-12. We have 22 varsity programs, 9 club programs and 7 middle school sports. Mr. White shared the core values of the Athletic Department that were developed by the coaches last summer – team, integrity, responsibility, accountability, honesty, loyalty and respect. These core values are listed on a special coin given to all our coaches to remind us of the role of interscholastic athletics in the educational process.

Ms. Carol Melcher, our new Director of Secondary Special Education was introduced to the board and community. The board then approved my contract as superintendent. It is a three year contract that begins officially on July 1, 2008. We also reviewed the WISD budget for 2008-2009.

The board also noted the acceptance of retirement letters from three long time Saline teachers Ms. Alison Robison, Mr. Bruce Ross, and Mr. Bill Smigielski. They are all retiring at the end of the school year – together they have combined for 91 years of service to the district!

We are fortunate to be hosting the 2008 Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association Championships at the Saline High School Athletic Complex. The event will take place May 2, 3 and 4th and possible teams include the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Indiana University.

Congratulations to Rob Law, Nick Schineman, and James Jeffery (l-r) who participated in the State of Michigan Skills USA Automated Manufacturing contest on April 18th through the 20th. Mr. Gillow is very proud of their performance.

The contest was over four hours long and consisted of many challenging skills related to complex designs and manufacturing problems. The contest evaluates teams for employment in integrated manufacturing technology fields of Computer Aided Drafting/Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), and Computer Numerical Controlled machining (CNC). In this process the CAD operators construct the part geometry, the CAM operator generates the tool paths, and the CNC operator sets up and machines the part. These are the newest methods used by industry and colleges to reduce the time and cost of bringing a new product to market.

These students will be traveling to Kansas City Missouri for a week to compete at the National level contest. If the students place first at Nationals they may have a chance to travel to Australia to compete at the Internationals.

Last evening, Saline High School was the site of the 2008 Saline Area Chamber of Commerce “Saline Salutes” program. The event had a great “school” feel as Ms. Betsy Marl was honored as the 2008 Saline Citizen of the Year. Retired Saline High art teacher Taylor Jacobsen took home the Lifetime Achievement Award. Saline High junior Andrew Schantz was awarded the Saline Youth of the Year and I accepted the 2008 George A. Anderson Vision award on behalf of the CARES Advisory Board.

The event started with a wonderful reception catered by the Chef Musto and the Saline High Culinary Arts students. The Fiddlers ReStrung had a ensemble group to perform during the reception. Stephanie Webb played the piano in the Ewing Performing Arts Center as the program began. Ms. Lucy Ann Lance was the MC and did an excellent job.

The evening included political presentations by State Representatives Pam Byrnes and Kathy Angerer, State Senator Randy Richardville, City of Saline Mayor Gretchen Driskell along with an office representative of U.S. Representative Tim Wahlberg.

Thank you to the Saline Reporter’s Sue Collins for the picture.

We have the final calendar for the 2008-2009 school year. Due to the trimester, it is somewhat different than in the past. You will see that high school exams are now the week of Thanksgiving, the first week of March and the end of the year. The high school will also have three conferences – one for each trimester. We also adjusted elementary conferences and attempted to make the schedule as consistent as possible between buildings.

Click the link below to download a pdf version.

2008-2009-school-calendar-revised-4-29-08

I stopped by the High School today to meet with a several staff members on different items. While I was in the hall I noticed a long line of students bringing recyclables from around the building to Ms. O’Harris. It was great to see the students supporting this worthy effort. From the little I saw – we go through a lot of plastic, paper and cardboard at the High School!

The Saline Alternative High School leadership class partnered with the Washtenaw Intermediate School District Young Adult Program, which is also housed at Union School to begin the “spring cleaning” process. The students paired up and began to pick up the winter debris. Later this week they will begin beautifying the grounds.

Although it felt like winter, today the University of Michigan football team wrapped up their spring football practice schedule with the “spring game” at the Saline High School Stadium. It was fun to watch the Wolverines take the field and run the new spread offense.

Even better I was able to watch Nick Sheridan, Saline High Class of 2006, quarterback the offense on several offensive drives. Unfortunately, Vince Helmuth, Saline High Class of 2007, did not play as he recovered from being ill earlier in the week.

Below is a picture of current Saline senior Drew Jurgensen from the Golden Sting (the Saline High School newspaper) interviewing Nick after the game.

The event was a wonderful opportunity for the Golden Sting staff to test their journalism skills side by side with the Big Ten Network and ESPN. Led by Mr. Hill, the students took over 700 photos and conducted numerous interviews. Below is a photo of junior Derek Tinkle interviewing Rich Rodriguez. The photo was taken by junior Taylor Franz

Check out some video on the Big Ten Network site.

I hope everyone enjoyed a relaxing break. We are set for a busy couple months as the 07-08 school-year begins to come to an end. I know for some it was a busy week. As you can see below, our high school marching band did us proud at Disney World.