FAPS #WeAreFenton Community Update

Our WeAreFenton Family has had a great start to the school year! We sincerely appreciate all the awesome first day photos you guys have shared, the kind words, and flexibility as we work through the first few weeks of school. The best part of it all is the smiling faces and eager scholars that are filling our buildings with the joy of learning! I want to feature just a few of these in this newsletter, but I encourage you to check out our Fenton Area Public Schools Facebook Page as well as our individual school pages - amazing things happening with our students, staff and parents.

At the beginning of the year we also try to remind everyone of our Strategic Plan, and the goals we are working towards this school year and the next few until 2027. I will include the link below, but know that we will be focusing on several this year in coordination with our Safety/Security and Facilities Bond Construction as well as improving student success.

We can't thank you enough for letting us spend this school year with your most prized possession(s), it is a delight to see all the amazing things your kids/our students are doing. Here is to another great school year honoring them!

#WeAreFenton

Sincerely,
Heidie Ciesielski
Superintendent

Fenton Families,

Reminder, please utilize our website and be sure to download our "Fenton Area PS" Mobile App! Remember this is how we will live out our ongoing communication with you as a community, both for traditional information and for emergency information.

Website: www.fentonschools.org

Mobile App: www.fentonschools.org/o/fps/page/mobile-app

If you have questions, or need assistance please reach out to Barry Tiemann, Director of Innovation and Communication

New Volunteer Application Replaces I-Chat

We’re excited to announce a new and improved volunteer screening process! To make volunteering easier and safer for everyone, we’re replacing the old i-Chat forms with a new online application.

This new system is an extension of our visitor management system we incorporated last year, called Visitor Aware, which already securely screens and verifies all visitors to our schools. Now, we’re expanding it to conduct more thorough background checks on volunteers. The best part? You can complete the entire application from the comfort of your own home using any device with a camera.

The application is quick and simple. We only need basic information like your name, address, phone number, email, date of birth, and driver’s license details.

To get started, please visit the following link and watch the short instructional video:

• VISITOR AWARE APPLICATION LINK
  
• VISITOR AWARE APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS VIDEO

FAQ:
What is the difference between a "Visitor" and a "Volunteer?"

• A "Visitor" is a guest who wants to enter a school but will not have direct contact with students. He/she may be dropping something off, meeting with a teacher or principal, or attending a PTO meeting.
  
• A "Volunteer" is anyone who will have direct contact with students while also being supervised or observed by a teacher or staff member. Examples include volunteering to help a teacher in the classroom, working with a small group of students, attending a class party, having lunch with your child in the lunch room, etc.
  
  

Will I still need to get fingerprinted?

• A "Fingerprint" report is our most thorough background check and will still be required for any situation where a parent or other non-FAPS employee will be working with or in charge of a group of students without direct supervision from a Fenton staff member. The most common example of needing to be fingerprinted would be to chaperone a large field trip.

There is no shortage of information out there on the impacts AI is having on our society and especially the educational system. While we try to keep up with the speed with which generative AI evolves, it is important for families to know how this could impact your child's education. Listed below are a few resources that if you as parents and community members would like more information regarding how rapidly it is changing and what best strategies there are to keep up with them.

https://www.netliteracy.org/ai-literacy/a-parents-guide-to-discussing-ai/

https://www.commonsense.org/education/collections/ai-literacy-lessons-for-grades-6-12

Fenton Area Public Schools will proudly participate in the Michigan Great Apple Crunch on October 8, 2024, joining thousands of other schools, child care centers and institutions across the state and Great Lakes Region in celebrating Farm to School Month and our iconic Michigan apple during the month of October. Each Fenton student will have the opportunity to crunch on delicious local Michigan apples on October 8th. This annual event we participate in, is a wonderful way to promote healthy eating, support local farmers, and educate our students about the importance of agriculture in our community.

National School Lunch Week is October 14- 18 , 2024. This year's theme is School Lunch Pirates Find Your Treasure!

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves nearly 30 million children every school day. President John F. Kennedy created National School Lunch Week (NSLW) in 1962 to promote the importance of a healthy school lunch in a child's life and the impact it has inside and outside of the classroom.

Fenton Swim and Dive received a new look to the entrance of the pool to help commemorate the long tradition of the program, and to emphasize our school spirit!

The Fenton Education Foundation's Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, September 8. Many staff members and their families got free breakfast on behalf of Sovita Credit Union and Fenton Education Foundation. A big shout out to Fenton Fire Department, WHMI and Financial Plus Credit Union for providing an exciting entertainment to the morning. Another shout out goes to our Fenton High School Marching Band and Mr. Patrick Conaton for providing some motivational music and fun. Also, we had so many great student volunteers especially Ruby Wojtaszek who entertained many of our little ones as Ruby the Tiger. Mr. Zach Bradley took the trophy from Mr. Eric Rettenmund as the big winner of the pancake catching contest! He had been practicing with his daughters for a few weeks now, and he wanted to share in the win with them! He will get to keep the trophy for the school year!

FAPS is so fortunate to have a highly active and supportive education foundation. Please take a moment to look at our FEF Annual Report to see all the great things that FEF has done for the district this last year! Thank you FEF

FEF Annual Report: https://5il.co/2wmb7

Providing accurate and timely information is something our district strives to do as well as provide a communication plan, so that our families know when, who and how you will be communicated with. Often times parents and or community members will hear information, and not know who to contact to find out if the information is accurate. We are including our communication plan below, but in a worse case scenario reach out to your school's office, admin or our district office we can hopefully provide the information you need.

Lastly, please know that in today's infodemic (a situation in which a lot of false information is being spread in a way that is harmful) society we ask that you check things out for yourself. There is no shortage of misinformation on social media, and we ask everyone to work hard at making sure you have first hand information prior to making a determination regarding a topic, and definitely before passing it on. We preach this to our students, and it's important we all work on it together, and when we do so it's a better learning and living environment for everyone.

Attention families - there is a new government benefit, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides eligible households with a discount on internet services and devices. Please visit www.GetMyInternet.org for more information and to find out if you qualify!

More information about our district bus tracking system available!

Our school board held the regular monthly meeting on September 09, 2024. Please find the link to the September meeting located here:

https://www.fentonschools.org/page/board-of-education