Principal's Page

Thank you to all community members and parents that donated a Valentines Day balloon at our local Dollar Store. This unexpected treat really made our students day.

Dates to Remember:

3/8/19-Half day of School

3/11/19 Preschool Enrollment
3/13-3/14 Parent-Teacher Conferences
3/22 - 4/1 Spring Break
4/2 School Resumes

4/16 Spring Pictures

4/19 Half day of School

Parent/Teacher Conferences

In mid-February, we will email the link to sign-up for the parent/teacher conferences scheduled on March 13th and 14th, 2019. Please keep an eye out for the link and directions to be sent to your email address.

Keeping students safer on their school-provided devices is of paramount importance to Harbor Springs Public Schools. In that regard, we would like to make you aware of a recent step our team has taken to monitor school-issued accounts. Bark for Schools is a powerful monitoring service we are utilizing to help.

When schools give students access to laptops and email accounts, an incredible world of learning opportunities open up — as well as potential dangers. Bark helps us monitor all of the content our students are creating, sharing, and sending through school-issued accounts. This helps us to detect potentially dangerous situations that students may be facing both in and out of school, including:

• Cyberbullying
• Threats of violence
• Sexual content
• Suicidal ideation

In the coming weeks, you will receive an invitation to create an account for the Bark for Schools Family Alerts Dashboard. After school hours and during weekends, breaks, and holidays, you'll receive alerts if issues are detected on your child's accounts, such as in emails or documents.

Bark provides all of the above for free as part of their give back program and is available to all K-12 schools and districts in the U.S. You can also enable Bark’s product for families, which monitors texts, email, YouTube and more than 24 social media platforms for potential safety concerns on your student’s personal accounts.

Bark’s technology is proven. In 2018, Bark detected 1.2 million instances of cyberbullying, 140,000+ communications discussing self-harm or suicidal ideation, nearly 100 sexual predators, and 51 potential acts of violence in schools.

To help your family, we have secured a 20% discount on the monthly cost which is $7.20 per month / $79.20 per year to cover an unlimited number of accounts, devices, and children. Watch Bark’s informational video here and when you’re ready to sign up, click here. Bark also offers this Technology Contract for you and your child to sign.

If you would like more information, please contact us by replying to this email. Thank you for helping us to keep our students safe online and in real life.

Sincerely,

Michael Behrmann
Superintendent of Schools
Harbor Springs Public Schools

The Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce (HSACC) is looking for a part time office manager!

Ultimately we’d love someone who has local knowledge, book-keeping skills and is organized. This position is designed to be 20-24 hours per week.

If you are interested, please email a cover letter and your resume to molly@harborspringschamber.com.

Over the last couple weeks you may have heard about a couple of fun programs we have been participating in. First of all I would like to thank the Top O’ Michigan Trails Council for the use of their Nordic Rocks cross country skis. Each class has had the opportunity to complete an indoor practice session and an outdoor session. We are still hoping for at least one more session outside. Nordic skiing has so many positive mental and physical health benefits and it’s a great way to take advantage of our many wonderful nature preserves. Ask your child about XC skiing these last couple weeks.

This week some of the classes also had the opportunity to take part in the First Tee program. Coach Logan Paquet from The First Tee of Northern Michigan brought all of the equipment needed to teach students how to chip and putt. He also brought some amazing golf pros with him to engage the kids in the sport and give them pointers. Thanks again Logan, Shaun Bezilla, Mike Kernicki, and Sean Boyle for your expertise this week. If your child’s class missed First Tee this week due to the snow day we are working to reschedule it at a later date.