North Godwin News

Steve Minard, Principal

Kristi Bast, Secretary

Telephone (616) 252-2010 and Fax (616) 252-2011

In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, our staff and students will enjoy a Thanksgiving break this month.

NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Thursday, November 23, 2023 (Thanksgiving Day)

Friday, November 24, 2023

We wish all of our families a warm, safe, and restful time of gratefulness and togetherness with family and friends.

Our sincerest apologies, but, due to a bus driver shortage, Godwin Heights' green bus #88 will be picking up students late every morning and dropping them off late every afternoon. We hope to have the situation rectified by Monday, January 8, 2024. Parents who have students on this bus will receive texts once a week to remind them of the situation. If you have any concerns, please call the school office at 616-252-2010. So sorry for the inconvenience.

Godwin Heights Public Schools has a proud partnership with Feeding America West Michigan. They provide mobile food truck pantries to our school district once a month.

One in every 9 people. At least 261,000 people in West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula are food insecure—meaning they don't have consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food insecurity exists for a variety of reasons, and anyone can experience a bout of it. Feeding America West Michigan, believes hunger is unacceptable and that their community has the power to change lives—one meal at a time. That’s why they've assembled a network of partners that they work alongside on their mission to relieve hunger and increase food security in West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

Our Godwin Heights Feeding America truck distributions will now be every month on TUESDAYS! Same time, same place, 4:00 pm in front of the high school, just one day later each month. Here is the schedule for the rest of the year:

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

If you have your own bags, please bring them!

Godwin Heights Public Schools in partnership with Kent School Services Network will be hosting a district-wide Wolverine Winter Fest on Thursday, December 14, 2023 from 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM in the Godwin Heights High School Auxiliary Gymnasium! Live screen printing, games, prizes, raffles, photo booth, food and fun! Please join us!

Godwin Heights High School students will be performing "The Ghost of Splinter Cove" on Friday, December 1, 2023 and Saturday, December 2, 2023 at 7:00 PM in the Godwin Heights High School Auditorium. Admission is $1.00 for students and $3.00 for adults.

The Ghost of Splinter Cove, written by Steven Dietz, is an adventure story prompted by the imaginations of three young people left to play in their basement on a rainy day. Siblings Cora and Nate and their friend, Sydney, have a lot of questions about what their parents are doing upstairs. When their adventure game becomes more real than they imagined, they unearth a history of their family that they could never have known. The Ghost of Splinter Cove is a fun, lively and moving play for the courageous young person inside all of us. This play is a companion piece to The Great Beyond.

Please come together with our Godwin community to support our students in this wonderful live production!

Parents and Guardians,

Autumn temperatures are getting colder. Please be sure that your student comes to school every day appropriately dressed for outdoor weather. Sweatshirts, light jackets, socks, long-sleeve shirts, and pants.

All students are required to go outside during the school day UNLESS:

• the temperature is below 16 degrees
• the wind chill is below zero
• it is raining
• there is a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for our area
• the student has a physician's note on file for medical exemption from outdoor activity

If you need any assistance with these types of clothing items, please contact our school office at 616-252-2010.

North Godwin Elementary students will perform in a Holiday Music Program in the Godwin Heights High School Auditorium on Wednesday, December 20, 2023 at 6:00 PM. Our music teacher, Mrs. Christine Jenkins, will direct our students in a fun-filled night of music and memories. Stay tuned for more details!

In observance of the Christmas and New Years holiday season, our staff and students will enjoy a winter break as follows:

1/2 Day of School

Friday, December 22, 2023

Parent pick-up begins at 11:30 AM

Buses depart when the final bell rings at 11:45 AM

No School

Monday, December 25, 2023 through Friday, January 5, 2024

Classes resume as normal on Monday, January 8, 2024

https://4.files.edl.io/ba26/07/25/23/152431-cecb8d91-7012-4d74-91c7-33914a6243a4.pdf

November 22, 23 & 24 ~ No School THANKSGIVING BREAK

December 13 ~ Early Release @ 1:45 PM

December 22 ~ 1/2 day of school Dismissal at @ 11:45 AM

December 25 - December 29 ~ No School CHRISTMAS BREAK

January 1 - 5 ~ No School CHRISTMAS BREAK

January 8 -- FIRST DAY BACK TO SCHOOL AFTER CHRISTMAS BREAK

January 15 ~ No School

January 24 ~ Early Release @ 1:45 PM

January 31 ~ Early Release @ 1:45 PM

February 14 ~ Early Release @ 1:45 PM

February 21 ~ 1/2 day of school -- Dismissal at 11:45 AM for MID-WINTER BREAK

February 22 ~ No School MID WINTER BREAK

February 23 ~ No School MID WINTER BREAK

March 6 ~ Early Release @ 1:45 PM

March 20 ~ Early Release @ 1:45 PM

March 27 ~ Early Release @ 1:45 PM -- P/T Conferences

March 28 ~ 1/2 day of school -- Dismissal at 11:45 AM -- P/T Conferences

March 29 ~ No School SPRING BREAK

April 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 ~ No School SPRING BREAK

April 17 ~ Early Release @ 1:45 PM

May 1 ~ Early Release @ 1:45 PM

May 22 ~ Early Release @ 1:45 PM

May 24 ~ 1/2 day of school -- Dismissal at 11:45 AM MEMORIAL WEEKEND

May 27 ~ No School -- MEMORIAL DAY

May 31 ~ 1/2 DAY OF SCHOOL -- DISMISSAL AT 11:45 AM -- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

https://ghathletics.com/

The data for students who are chronically absent is clear: Students who miss more than 10 percent of school time, just two days a month, are far less likely to be proficient than their peers who regularly attend school.

Across Kent ISD, approximately 13 percent of students are chronically absent. Like the national studies, the prevalence of chronic absenteeism varies widely from school building to building and district to district but, in virtually every instance, it is greater in buildings and communities serving the economically disadvantaged.

The effects of chronic absenteeism are profound. Kent ISD researcher Sunil Joy found these students are much less likely to become proficient in math or reading. Just one in four are likely to be proficient in math at eighth grade. Worse, low-income students who are chronically absent have just a 10 percent chance of being proficient. Even more startling is the effect on African-American students, with just 3 percent likely to be proficient if they are chronically absent.

While truancy is well known and understood, chronic absenteeism is less familiar, as most absences are excused by parents and, until recently, were rarely challenged by educators. That began to change approximately a decade ago through the work of education researcher Hedy Chang, who is now the executive director of Attendance Works, a national nonprofit seeking to help schools and communities combat chronic absenteeism.

Chang’s research led to the publication in 2008 of “Present, Engaged and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades.” This report revealed that one in 10 kindergarten and first-grade students nationwide miss nearly a month of school each year. In some cities, the rate is as high as one in four elementary students. Research across Kent ISD reveals just 40 percent of chronically absent children in kindergarten through second-grade are proficient on third-grade reading tests.

Our district is working hard to get at this problem. The value of the Strive for Less Than 5 campaign is its uniform message to all children, families and community partners. Attendance is important, and parents and their children should strive for fewer than five absences a year.

As a public school, we are held accountable to public school laws that govern attendance. The Kent Intermediate School District oversees all public schools in Kent County to be sure that all are operating under the laws and of the Michigan Department of Education.

The normal attendance expectations for any given child in the Kent County Intermediate School District are as follows:

> that a child miss not more than 10 days of Excused Absences for the entire school year,

> that a child have no Unexcused Absences for the entire school year

> that a child have not more than 5 Tardies combined with Leave Early check-outs per semester.

> that a child have no Suspensions for the entire school year.

Godwin Heights Public Schools are held by law to report tardies and absences in excess of the guidelines listed above to the Kent Intermediate School District Office of Truancy and School Attendance-State Law Enforcement Division.

The primary rationale for positive attendance is the strong relationship between student attendance and student achievement. Chronic student absences reduces even the best teacher's ability to provide learning opportunities. Students who attend school regularly have been shown to achieve at higher levels than students who do not have regular attendance. This relationship between attendance and achievement may appear early in a child's school career. A recent study looking at young children found that absenteeism in kindergarten was associated with negative first grade outcomes such as greater absenteeism in subsequent years and lower achievement in reading, math, and general knowledge.

Poor attendance has serious implications for later outcomes. High school dropouts have been found to exhibit a history of negative behaviors, including high levels of absenteeism throughout their childhood, at higher rates than high school graduates. These differences in absentee rates were observed as early as kindergarten, and students who eventually dropped out of high school missed significantly more days of school in elementary school than their peers who graduated from high school.

North Godwin Elementary is home to Godwin Heights Public Schools’ 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders!

Email: bast@godwinschools.org
Website: www.godwinschools.org
Location: 161 34th Street Southwest, Wyoming, MI, USA
Phone: 616-252-2010
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthGodwin/