Email: caselina@clarkston.k12.mi.us
Website: http://sms.clarkston.k12.mi.us/
Location: 5565 Pine Knob Lane, Clarkston, MI 48346
Phone: 248.623.4200 Fax: 248.623.4205

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram and X: @sms_wolves

#WeAreClarkston

Our SMS track and field season is rapidly approaching. Please see below for information. Our first practice is March 31 after the school day. Please carefully read the informational flyer and make sure all requirements are met to ensure your athlete gets off to a strong start. GO WOLVES!

Track Informational Flyer + Registration Information:

SMS Track 2025 Flyer

First Week of Practice Notes and Logistics:

First Week of Practice Notes and Logistics

Meet Schedule:

Meet Schedule

***We are listed as Sashabaw- not Clarkston***

Parent Communication Sign Up:

Remind Parent Communication Sign Up

Maker Girl Mania is a day when girls from Kindergarten through 7th grade come together and become artists, coders, inventors, makers and builders. We will be charging $10.00 for each participant (Parents are FREE!). This will help us fund Maker Girl for many more years to come.

We are estimating around 400 girls participating in this event! There will be two sessions taking place on this day. Each session will last 3 hours. Register today! Maker Girl Mania - 2025 Registration

Date: Saturday, April 12 CHS Cafeteria

Session Times: 9:00-12:00, 1:00-4:00

All SMS students will be participating in the Michigan Summative Test of Educational Progress, M-STEP, in April and May. This annual assessment is mandated for all Michigan public schools and is one of the tools used to measure a student's proficiency in specific subject areas. The M-STEP is an online assessment and is based on the Michigan Academic Standards.

Congratulations to ALL SMS Bands, Choirs, and Orchestras for receiving Superior ratings at their district festivals this month! Festival is a performance based evaluation where groups perform a set of pieces for a panel of judges and receive grades in various categories. Groups also "sight read" a piece of music on site that they have never read before and are also evaluated in the same categories. These grades average out to a final rating, with Superior being the highest grade with an average score of "A"s. Congratulations to the hundreds of SMS students who participated!

Our 6th graders are AMAZING! We have raised over $3,400 for Village Water Filters (23+ filters) to be placed in homes, community centers and schools throughout the country of Honduras bringing safe clean water to families!

Our school community and the community of Clarkston continues to create REAL change for people in Honduras. This puts our overall donations towards filters in Honduras to about $40,000 over the 12 years of this project!

Thank you to all of you that continue to celebrate and support this project!

Sashabaw Middle School and the Clarkston Independence District Library (CIDL) hosted the 2025 Battle of the Books on March 19th!

Battle Winners 2025

1st Place -- The Barns and Nobles

Athan Brozovich, Landon Lewis, Reid Logan, Nolan Zavagansky

2nd Place -- The Noisy Readers

Isla Chwasz, Peyton Dingle, Sophia Ventimiglia, Luciana Werner

3rd Place -- Royal Readers

Reagan Baillie, Kerin Koval, Leah Lomazov, Kate Marchand, Cecelia Ribeiro, Grayson Tweddle

Best Team Poster -- Da Book Boyz

Hudson Brady, Blake McHugh, Kai Rinke

Best Team Costume -- Cleaner Readers

Maysen Evanoff, Colette Fisher, Neva Hartman, Cadance Heike, Livia Sanderson

Best Team Name -- The Barns and Nobles

Congratulations to our winners and everyone who participated!

Our PBIS Snack Cart has been a HUGE success!! As we head into the final stretch of the school year, we are reaching out one last time in hope of helping to restock and replenish our snack cart to get us through the end of the school year. We are running very low on some of the most popular choices such as: gum, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, M&Ms, suckers and more gum!!! Please visit our SignUpGenius if you would like to donate! We appreciate your support!!!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4CA8A923A0FFC43-54255147-pbis#/

Spotlight Students

• • P: Prepared for Learning
  • A: Acting Responsibly
  • C: Code of Conduct
  • K: Kindness and Respect

  Every week, grade level team teachers and various staff members at SMS will nominate a student who they believe deserves to be recognized for their hard work. Alternating weeks between sixth and seventh grade, students will be announced on Monday during PAWS class. Those students will receive a certificate and a plethora of other rewards to celebrate their success. Please help us congratulate the following Wolves:

Dear SMS Families,

It’s hard to believe how quickly this school year is flying by! As we head into spring, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your generosity—whether through time, donations, or participation in our fundraisers, your support has made a huge impact at SMS.

Here’s a look at what we’ve been able to accomplish thanks to YOU:

• We provided dinner for our hardworking teachers and staff during Parent/Teacher Conferences.
• We partnered with local businesses for successful fundraisers at Hungry Howie’s, Mr. B’s, QDOBA, and Tropical Smoothie—a huge shoutout to these businesses for supporting our school!
• Our final Skate Night was a total success! Thank you to Student Leadership for choosing the Sports & Neon theme—it was SO much fun. We look forward to bringing them back next school year!
• We funded supplies for 7th Grade Social Studies, helping students create Models of the Ancient World with modeling clay.
• Upcoming Fundraiser! Join us at Pita Way on Sashabaw on April 23rd from 4–9 PM—another easy & delicious way to support SMS!

Want to support SMS even more? Donations help us continue funding classroom supplies, student activities, teacher appreciation, and more! Please SMS PTO DONATE!

Earn money for SMS while you shop: https://www.kroger.com/i/community/community-rewards

A continued THANK YOU to all of our SMS families & business sponsors who understand how much their support truly means to our school. None of this would be possible without you!

We’re preparing to welcome our incoming 6th-grade families next month! If you know an incoming family, tell them to stop by our PTO table—we’re here to answer all the typical parent questions from parents who’ve been there (not just to collect donations!).

Looking forward to more exciting things ahead!

Warmly,
Tarah Manning
SMS PTO President

PLEASE COME AND JOIN US AT HUNGRY HOWIES PIZZA
6315 Sashabaw Road, Clarkston, MI 48346
248-625-7474
3rd Tuesday of the Month
Hungry Howies Pizza will Donate 10% of Sales from 4pm-8pm
SAY SASHABAW MIDDLE SCHOOL!
April 15, 2025
May 20, 2025

SMS PTO provided dinner for our faculty prior to conferences on March 12th! A delicious meal from Monkey Business Food Truck and Catering was provided and much appreciated!

THANK YOU SMS PTO!

Our SMS Student Council did an amazing job with our Penny Wars competition earlier in the 2025 year, raising over $500 for the Grace Centers of Hope. We were so happy to see the students battling it out for a great cause. We have just wrapped up our last event of the year, the Cereal Box Domino Event. Students donated over 300 cereal boxes for Gleaners Food Bank! Congratulations to Ms. Barr's PAWS class for bringing in the most cereal boxes. After our Student Council set up the domino effect, Ms. Barr's class was able to knock it down and watch the effect happen in real time (see the video clip below)! Our SMS Student Council did an incredible job this year representing their grades and bringing great ideas/events to the group!

The Quarter 3 Leadership group dedicated their time developing their team building and leader skills. Through various activities, this group worked hard to become stronger leaders in all aspects of their lives. Due to the snow days, we didn't get a chance to do some of the activities we had planned, so the students spent most of their time supporting our March's Reading Month activities. They created a wonderful display case to promote how reading allows thoughts and ideas to "come to life," they created a bookmark for each student to have when they are on their next reading adventure, and helped support our PAWS committee with their PAWS Lessons revolving around March's Reading Month. Our Quarter 4 Leadership students will work on developing their team and leadership skills through our staff coffee bar!

PAC - Parent Advisory Committee

The Clarkston Community Schools Special Education Parent Advisory Committee represents families with students receiving Special Education Services in partnership with CCS to empower each student to develop their highest potential through collaboration and communication.

• PAC acts as a parent resource in collaboration with the CCS Student Support Services Department.
• Solicits information from parents of students who receive special education services regarding needed areas of program development.
• Participates in problem solving discussions with special education administrators for program improvement.
• Provides information, expertise, representation and participation in an advisory capacity to the administration.

The PAC meets the first Thursday of every month. All are welcome! Please consider joining any of the upcoming meetings at Springfield Plains Elementary.

Michigan School Meals Program along with the USDA is funding free school meals for all Pre-K to 12th grade students at CCS for the 2024-2025 school year! This funding allows for one free breakfast and one free lunch per student. Extra items such as drinks, extra entrees, and snacks are not included in this program but will be available for purchase. Please read the CCS Nutrition Newsletter for additional information.

Menus

https://clarkston.nutrislice.com/menu/sashabaw-middle/lunch/2024-09-19 (menu)

Family Portal (to put money into your student’s account) or check payable to CCS Nutrition or cash is acceptable to main office or cafe staff. These funds may be used for extra entrees, snacks, beverages, etc. There is a 24 hour business day turnaround for new account holders. Any issues, please contact Mandi Hotchkiss-Legris at 248.623.8001.

STILL COMPLETE THIS IF APPLICABLE Meal Magic (for the free and reduced lunch application)*

“Fueling Kids’ Futures One Meal at a Time” (formerly Blessings in a Backpack) is a program designed to provide students on the free and reduced lunch program with enough food for three meals a day during the weekends. Click here for more information and to sign up Fueling Kids Futures or Fueling Kids Futures (Espanol)

Administration

Liz Walker, Principal emwalker@clarkston.k12.mi.us

Jordan Stoyek, Assistant Principal jastoyek@clarkston.k12.mi.us

Amy Wade-Tiffner, Dean of Students amwadetiffner@clarkston.k12.mi.us

Counseling (Includes new assignments through end of the school year)

Nicole Toderan, Counselor last names A - Bi and E - K nrtoderan@clarkston.k12.mi.us

Taylor Orr, Counselor last names Bl - Cl and L - Ri tmorr@clarkston.k12.mi.us

Warren Meehan, Counselor last names Co - D and Ro - Z students wtmeehan@clarkston.k12.mi.us

Board of Education - https://www.clarkston.k12.mi.us/about-us/board-of-education

Greg Need, President

Stephanie Crane, Vice President

Cheryl McGinnis, Secretary

Elizabeth Egan, Treasurer

Steve Hyer, Trustee

Amanda Love, Trustee

Jaclyn Sivers, Trustee

Central Office Administration - https://www.clarkston.k12.mi.us/departments/administration

Shawn Ryan, Superintendent

John Lucido, Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services

Nancy Mahoney, Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services

Stacey Theophelis, Executive Director of Student Support Services

Mary Beth Rogers, Executive Director of Business Services

Wes Goodman, Executive Director of Operations

The Mission of Clarkston Community Schools is to Cultivate Thinkers, Learners, and Positive Contributors to a Global Society.

The Clarkston Community Schools, in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and the Americans with Disability Act of 1990, states that it is the policy of the Clarkston Community School District that no person shall, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or ancestry, age, gender, marital status, disability, height, weight, and/or any other legally protected characteristic, be discriminated against, excluded from participation, in, denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to, discrimination in any program or activity for which the Board is responsible or for which it receives financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education.

If any person believes that the Clarkston Community School District or any part of the school organization is guilty of discrimination as noted above, he/she may bring forward a complaint which should be referred to as an grievance to the following public officials: Deputy Superintendent (Section 504 Coordinator).

Clarkston Community Schools

6389 Clarkston Road

Clarkston, MI 48346

(All other inquiries related to discrimination)

John Lucido, Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services

Clarkston Community Schools, 6389 Clarkston Road, Clarkston, MI 48346