May 28 PLC Delayed Start

June 1 - MCHS Graduation 12 pm - 3 pm

June 1 - SCHS Graduation 4 pm - 7 pm

June 10 - 1/2 day All Students

June 11 - 1/2 day All Students Last Day of School

June 17 - Strategic Planning Meeting 9 am - 3 pm

June 23 - Regular Board Meeting 6 pm

Dear Parents and Community Members,

KInders & Caps

Today marked the beginning of a meaningful new tradition in the East China School District. As part of the week-long celebration honoring our graduating seniors, we held a heartwarming ceremony at the ECSD stadium that brought together our kindergartners and our seniors.

From opposite ends of the field, our kindergartners and seniors walked toward one another, meeting at the 50-yard line. There, the seniors presented each kindergartner with a T-shirt proudly displaying their future graduation year—2037! In return, the kindergartners gave the seniors a small gift or heartfelt card.

This special event served as a powerful reminder of the milestones and memories that unite us as a school community. It was a celebration not only of endings and new beginnings, but also of the bonds that tie us together.

Strategic Planning for ECSD

As part of our commitment to providing the best possible education for every student, East China School District is embarking on a new strategic planning process. This plan will guide our goals and priorities for the next several years, helping us ensure that we continue to grow and improve as a community.

The goal of strategic planning is to thoughtfully assess where we are today and collaboratively envision where we want to be in the future. To do this effectively, it is essential that we gather input from those who know our schools best — our families.

We invite you to share your valuable thoughts and ideas by completing a brief survey. Your feedback will directly influence our planning decisions, helping us address the needs and aspirations of all students.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey here: Survey Link or use the QR code below.

Thank you for partnering with us in shaping a vibrant and successful future for our children and our district.

Respectfully,

Suzanne Cybulla

Superintendent, East China Schools

At our May 19, 2025, Board of Education Meeting Pine River Elementary was the Spotlight School. They did a great job telling us about their Super Powers!

At the same meeting, Superintendent Cybulla presented the St. Clair County Association of School Boards Scholarship to Caiden Lohr from SCHS, along with his mentor Jason Diller, SCHS teacher. Only seven scholarships were awarded to local district high schools. Congratulations Caiden!

Pine River Elementary’s LINKS students recently embraced the great outdoors with a Nature Explorer Scavenger Hunt, combining fun and fresh air with teamwork and problem-solving. This engaging activity, part of the program’s team-building efforts, encouraged students to collaborate while exploring their natural surroundings.

Equipped with clipboards, curiosity, and a list of items to find, the students worked in small teams to search, observe, and record their findings. Along the way, they practiced communication skills, encouraged one another, and learned the value of cooperation. The activity also sparked meaningful conversations about the beauty of nature all around us.

The LINKS students will wrap up their year of learning and growth with a well-earned final field trip to Strikers Bowling Alley, where they’ll celebrate their hard work and enjoy some well-deserved fun together.

Six third graders at Pine River Elementary teamed up with school social worker Jackie Franklin to create a short, powerful video for Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. The video encourages students to nurture their minds and know it is okay to ask for help. It was shown in classrooms to spark meaningful conversations about emotional well-being and remind students of ways to take care of their mental health.

Pine River continues to prioritize student well-being with social-emotional learning and student-led projects like this one. Thank you to Iris Adams, Hazel Brownlee, Joseph Chamberlain, Matthew Culloty, Daniel Riley, and Simon Slota for taking the lead with Mrs. Franklin to produce this video!

There’s a new club making big strides at Pine River Elementary, one loop at a time! The Shoe Tying Club, created by gym teacher Jessica Jones, is helping students gain independence and confidence by mastering the essential skill of tying their own shoes.

When the club launched in January, only 87 students could consistently tie their shoes. Now, that number has climbed to an impressive 273, and it continues to grow each week as students practice during gym class. To join, students must demonstrate their skills by tying a tight, secure bow three times in front of Mrs. Jones.

The club is open to all students in grades K-4 making the total eligible group 321 students. With nearly every student on track to succeed, the Shoe Tying Club is more than just fun, it is a celebration of perseverance, fine motor skills, and personal growth.

We are excited to share that our second grade classes at Pine River Elementary participated in a very special hands-on science project this spring: incubating and hatching baby chicks right in their own classrooms!

This project gives students the unique opportunity to observe and understand the life cycle of a chicken from egg to chick. During the investigation, students learned about the needs of living things, animal development, and responsibility through daily observation and care of chicken eggs placed in incubators.

Teachers worked with local farms and followed humane and educational guidelines to ensure the well-being of the chicks throughout the project. After the observation period, the chicks will be safely rehomed to interested families and local farms.

This is a wonderful opportunity for students to learn empathy, responsibility, and the wonders of life in a very tangible way.

As part of Earth Day learning, each student in Kathy Gorski's second grade class took home a special "Baby Earth" in a small traveling case. Along with it, they received a journal to record their adventures and how they cared for our planet. Students were encouraged to:

• Spend time with Baby Earth at home or in their community

• Write or draw in the journal about their experiences

• Share one way they helped keep Baby Earth healthy (like recycling, saving water, or picking up litter)

• Take a photo to bring back and share during our morning meeting

• 
  

The next day, each student proudly shared their stories and pictures with the class, helping us all learn new ways to care for our Earth—one small step at a time!

Speech-language pathologist Anna Herr culminated the Story Champs program at Pine River with a celebration of the Kindergarten students' great learning. The program targeted story structure and complex language features necessary for understanding and producing oral and written language that children need for academic success. The students worked on identifying different story elements in short stories and unfamiliar vocabulary (sparkle words). They retold the stories with the goal of including all the story elements and sparkle words. At the end of the program, the students used all the skills they have been working on to create their own stories based on only a picture. Ms. Herr presented each student with a certificate and then everyone celebrated with cupcakes!

Thank you, Marney Williams, art teacher at the MC Campus for the amazing array of artwork. Everyone was very impressed with the art, particularly those eyes!

Marine City Middle School and St. Clair Middle School 8th-graders went on the annual tour of St. Clair County Community College. Students were able to go into classrooms, interact with instructors, and speak with graduating seniors. This year information about BWMC, Dual Enrollment, TEC, and CTMC were also included in the tour.

We have been working hard to get the district, heart smart. Below are some pictures of our trainings and our cardiac drills. With being smart, we accomplish more than 10% of each building staff to be CPR certified, 100% of varsity coaches and assistance trained and CPR and AED. Once we had a majority of the staff trained, we started doing drills in each of the buildings.

Superintendent Suzanne Cybulla can be reached at scybulla@ecsd.us or by calling the East China School District at 810.676.1018.

Email: info@ecsd.us
Website: www.eastchinaschools.org
Phone: 810-676-1000
Facebook: facebook.com/EastChinaSchools