SUPERINTENDENT

February 1, 2023

From the Desk of the Superintendent

NCSD Families,

Happy February! I hope you are all staying warm as we are seeing some of the longest cold-streak we have had all winter long. This month tends to be many people's (including our students) most difficult month because they are truly weary of the shorter days and cold weather. However, there are so many incredible things happening this month so my hope is that people will be able to stay encouraged. I have a handful of items to share with you for this month, but please do not hesitate to read below about several pretty awesome happenings around NCSD.

Black History Month - This month we celebrate Black History Month and the contributions made throughout history. The Novi Public Library has a great initiative planned for this month which is a reading challenge that our students can participate in. Beginning today guests of all ages are invited to join NPL in celebrating Black History Month! Read to learn about the tremendous contributions and achievements of Black Americans, including some of the greatest authors and illustrators of all time, by checking out our Black History Month Reads book lists. You'll find an extensive offering of titles available on NPL's bookshelves and online in our Digital Library. Guests or students who read at least 600 minutes throughout the month (or just over 21 minutes per day) and log their reading in their NPL Beanstack Account will have the chance to win a FREE book!
Snow Day/Cold Day Protocol - Many of you probably wonder, "what goes on behind the scenes when Superintendent Mainka decides to call a snow day?" It is actually a decision that is not taken lightly and I will always take precautions to keep our students as safe as possible on snowy/icy roads. The way it starts is that I start checking in with the weather experts in the area and I belong to a group that meets when dangerous weather is coming. Also, I am in contact with other area superintendents who are analyzing the conditions. Our maintenance team also begins to analyze the conditions of our subdivisions as well as local roads. Everyone is engaged in this decision making process into the evening and extreme early morning times. For cold days, we analyze the wind speeds because we need to determine if the temperatures (with wind chill) gets below the threshold that is safe for children to be outside waiting for a bus. Once the decision is made, communications happen fairly quickly and you can expect a call, email, and also the announcement to be made on social media as well as the local news stations. Students love to reach out to me and let me know their desires for a snow day as well, but they seem to have a biased opinion!
Literacy Development Work - Through our department of Academics (Teaching and Learning), we are planning on engaging in some deep work around how to best teach students to read and write. There is a great deal of discussion happening right now in the educational community about what research leads to literacy development at the highest levels. I am very thankful for the work of our entire team in exploring this work. We will have more information and announcements to come on that in future weeks, but this is an area of focus for the district - especially in early childhood through elementary school.
MACUL Innovative Teacher of the Year - The Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) is the largest educational technology association in Michigan. We are so proud that our very own Bethany Barnes (Novi Virtual Teacher) has been selected as the MACUL Innovative Teacher of the Year! Ms. Barnes is incredibly thoughtful about how she provides experiences to students in ways that many of us never thought possible. Her ability to engage students is incredible and we are very proud that her work is being recognized across the state!

Go Wildcats!

Ben Mainka, Superintendent
Novi Community School District

One Act Play Performance, Feb. 6-7, Novi High School

Some new faces will be shining on stage during Novi High’s One Act performance in February.

Theatre Director Heather McKaig adjusted plans for this year’s performance with many of the students who would normally participate unavailable due to a Choir trip to Chicago that overlaps with the One Act competition.

With a smaller cast and crew, opportunities for younger students emerged.

“These Shining Lives” focuses on four women who worked in a watch factory in the 1920s and are exposed to radium poisoning. The play dramatizes the dangers that women faced in the workplace working for a company that valued profit over safety.

The cast and crew have been working 2-3 hours a day, four days a week to prepare for the Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association’s One Act competition. Students are judged on physical, vocal and overall effect of their acting. They are also judged on the technical aspects of the performance, like lighting, costumes, makeup and hair and set building.

The regional competition is Feb. 4 at Utica Ford. Public performances will be held at Novi High on Feb. 6-7 (tickets are $5 at the door). If they advance from regionals, they will compete at the State Theatre Festival at Central Michigan University on Feb. 17-18.

McKaig encourages those attending Novi shows to come at 6:30 to watch “spike time” – the 25 minutes students have to prepare for their show.

“Theatre is inherently collaborative, but One Act takes it to another level,” McKaig said. “If the kids do not operate and function as a cohesive team, they are sunk. That’s everyone – everyone working backstage, everyone that designed something, everyone on stage.

“My mom has been coming to these shows for years – she’s a retired educator – and she says that (spike time) is her favorite part. It’s incredibly authentic because they have to problem solve in real time, which is one of the things I think theatre teaches kids anyway, because it’s live.”

There are six actors in the play, including a couple of freshmen.

Freshman Lilly Balino plays Pearl Payne, one of the four women who were exposed to radium poisoning. “Pearl is very lighthearted, she’s very bubbly,” Balino said. “She’s very maternal, but optimistic and hopeful.”

Balino said she’s been involved in theatre since she was seven. She connected with Novi High theatre students after attending a clubs and activities fair during freshmen orientation.

“It’s a very communal experience,” Balino said of theatre. “You make a lot of friends. You work together with a lot of people. You learn a lot as well. … It’s just really fun.”

One Act is different from Balino’s previous performances in that it is timed and judged. “It’s definitely a little bit more stressful,” Balino said. “It’s been something I’ve been doing for a long time, but now I’m actually getting judged for it, scored for it in a play. …It’s going to put my abilities – what I know – to the test.”

Freshman Sadie Charles plays Frances O’Connell. She heard from some older friends that theatre was fun and decided to try out.

Junior Arushi Singh plays the main character, Catherine Donohue. Singh played a police officer in last year’s One Act play, which resulted in a state title for Novi.

“I watched seniors before me, who I thought were such a big deal, and now I get to play maybe a larger part than I have in the past,” said Singh. “Much smaller cast (this year). We got new actors and it’s really exciting. I’m really happy that Sadie and Lillie are freshmen. They bring new energy to the cast, rather than people who have been doing One Act for a while. They are new to everything and doing a really great job.”

Student Count Day - February 8

Novi Singers Performed Anthem at Pistons Game

The Novi Singers performed before the Detroit Pistons game at Little Caesars Arena on Jan. 23.

Choir Director Claire Schurig quickly realized that performance was captured on the TV broadcast.

“Normally they don’t put the national anthem on TV, so I had all these people texting me screenshots of their TV like, ‘Oh my gosh, we just saw you on TV,” Schurig said.

MIlan Thurman said it was really fun to perform in that setting, where everyone’s eyes are on you and you’re totally surrounded.

The Novi Singers rehearsed around 3 p.m. in a near empty arena where he said they felt “swallowed up” by the arena.

A few hours later, Thurman and his peers were surrounded by 18,000 people all focused on them.

“As soon as you see your conductor’s arms go up, your eyes kind of focus in and your ears turn to only the people around you,” Thurman said. “It just kind of blurs out.”

As a sports fan, Thurman said being that close to the players made it a memorable experience.

“That’s literally Giannis (Antetokounmpo) right there,” Thurman remembered saying to one of his friends.

The Milwaukee Bucks’ superstar scored 20 of his 29 points in the first quarter of a 150-130 win over the PIstons.

“We keep talking about being able to do things again, now that we’re back from COVID,” Schurig said. “I think there’s a new appreciation for that.”

Schurig said it’s an honor that the Pistons reached out to ask if they would perform: “I think that speaks to how the kids perform and how professional they act as well.”

Rivals Week

The Novi High School Student Council and the Northville High School Student Congress are partnering for what they hope will become an annual tradition – Rivals Week.

The high schools will compete to earn points from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3 through a variety of activities. The school with the most points at the end of the week will be declared the winner and earn a trophy.

Points will be earned in several ways: percentage of students who participate in spirit days, rivals week t-shirt purchases, making blankets during Monday advisory, competing in Thursday lunch games, and attending the Unified Basketball game on Friday night, part of a triple-header (boys basketball at 5:30, unified at 7 p.m. and girls basketball at 8 p.m.)

“Northville’s Student Congress reached out to us,” said senior George Elengikal. “They wanted to promote school spirit/school rivalry through a Rivals Week. We agreed because we thought it was a really good idea.

“That week specifically is the first week of second semester. We just thought kids aren’t that stressed about classes at that time and we just thought it would be a time we don’t have to worry about other conflicts… for both schools.”

Monday’s theme is PJ Day. Tuesday is BBQ Dad vs. Soccer Mom. Wednesday is college day. Thursday is Bikers vs. Surfers. Friday is school colors.

The blankets that are made during advisory and the money raised from t-shirt sales by both schools will be donated to the Michigan chapter of www.casagal.org – Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and guardian ad litem (GAL).

“We’ve always heard of (the) Novi-Northville rivalry,” Elengikal said, who plays on the tennis team. “I feel like that’s only geared for people that are involved in athletics. And I think this is a good way for the entire school to feel that rivalry, and to feel that sense of ‘Oh… we should try to beat them as one school, for a more cohesive student body for ourselves here.”

Elengikal said the student leadership of both schools are “pumped” about the competition and expect it to become a new tradition.

2023-2024 Preschool Registration

Currently enrolled NCSD families – a google doc will be emailed at noon on Tuesday, Feb. 1.

Novi district families can call the ECEC office (8 a.m. - 4 p.m.) on Friday, Feb. 3.

Currently enrolled out of district families can call the ECEC office (8 a.m. - 4 p.m.) starting Tuesday, Feb. 22. Out of district registration begins on Wednesday, March 1, by calling the ECEC office (8 a.m. - 4 p.m.)

(Note: Kindergarten Registration for the 2023-2023 School Year begins in March)

Unified Basketball Home Games

Season Ending

The Novi Unified basketball team ends the season with three home games, followed by a tournament at the Legacy Center on Feb. 13.

Novi hosts Howell at 4 p.m. on Jan. 31, rival Northville at 7 p.m. on Feb. 3 and Livonia Churchill at 4 p.m on Feb. 7.

“Even with being on the road for the beginning of our season, we have had a great fan base at our games!” said Unified coach Kaitlin Harbin. “It has been so much fun to hear the cheers in the stands and to see our own team members cheering each other on. We got the early season jitters out of the way and are looking forward to celebrating some wins at home with familiar faces in our stands!”

Harbin is in her first season coaching the Unified team.

“Seeing all of our students come together on the court, working together as a team is inspiring,” she said. “Practices have been a great time to hone our skills, but there’s nothing like the joy that comes from scoring a basket!”

Alex Daniels, who is one of the student peers, said being part of Unified sports is a “uniquely rewarding experience.”

Daniel said he got interested in volunteering after a former physics teacher mentioned the need for peers in class one day. Peers do not take shots during the games. Instead they pass the ball, grab rebounds and encourage their teammates to shoot.

“We have a really fun group!” said Harbin. “Everyone does a great job of celebrating and supporting each other. Our peers and athletes have become friends both on and off the court.”

“Knowing that I can make a difference and having fun at the same time is a uniquely rewarding experience," said Alex Daniel, who is one of the peers.

Sweetheart's Cabaret - Feb. 13

After a couple years as a virtual event, the Sweetheart’s Cabaret will return to an in-person event in the Black Box at Novi High School on Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5.

“This is a really fun event for us,” said Choir director Claire Schurig. “It is more like a Jazz club-type feel, where we’re not on a stage. The kids are just sitting there with tables around and people are eating desserts. It’s a more laid back atmosphere: all solos and small group (performances). I’m just excited for the kids to finally experience it again.

“We usually have about 25 acts, 20 to 25. All usually pop music and all student accompaniment usually, so kids playing guitar, kids playing piano, ukulele. It just gives them a different venue to showcase.

“It is very much a tradition that’s been going on for a long time.”