Connections Digital Newsletter

Greetings Wayne-Westland Families,

Welcome back! Great Futures Start Right Here in Wayne-Westland Community Schools and we are excited to begin the 2024-2025 school year on Tuesday, August 27, 2024. Please see the partial calendar below for more details.

• Tuesday, August 27, 2024- Half day morning only (K-12 students)
  
  

• Wednesday, August 28, 2024- Full day (K-12 students)
  
  

• Thursday, August 29, 2024- Full day (K-12 students)
  
  

• Friday, August 30, 2024- No School (K-12 students)
  
  

• Monday, September 2, 2024- No School (Labor Day recess)
  
  

• December 23, 2024- No School (Winter break)
• January 3, 2025
  
  

• February 17-21, 2025- No School (Mid-Winter break)
  
  

• March 24-28, 2025- No School (Spring break)

To stay up to date on district and school happenings, the 2024-2025 district calendar provides a variety of important dates for the school year, including the district recesses, parent-teacher conferences and national holidays.

This newsletter will be distributed monthly to our families and staff. For more information, please visit our website.

We look forward to a wonderful year together!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Curry
Acting Superintendent

Students spent the summer participating in a variety of enrichment and academic activities. Incoming kindergarten students attended Kinder Lit Lab, which offers a unique blend of reading, writing, and STEM-based challenges. This engaging program helps students acclimate to the learning environment, build foundational skills, and form new friendships before starting school in the fall.

Incoming 8th and 9th grade students attended STEM Summer Camp at Lawrence Technological University, where they participated in hands-on learning in forensics, biology, environmental science, coding, robotics, drones, and engineering.

John Glenn High School hosted the Be a Rocket camp for third through eighth-grade students. These students learned new sports skills from high school coaches and student-athletes.

All current Wayne-Westland families must log in to their ParentConnection account to update their child's contact information and acknowledge important school policies. New students to the district will receive MiStar login information in mid-August.

All Families MUST Update/Verify Contact Information in ParentConnection. Please complete the following steps:

• Log in to your ParentPortal using your PIN and password and click on the red “Back to School Registration” link at the top of the page.

• Click through each link confirming or changing any information and then click "submit and save."

• If you have more than one student, you MUST repeat this process for each child so that we have accurate contact information for each student in an emergency.
  

Wayne-Westland Community Schools provides busing services to elementary students who reside over one (1) mile from school, and middle and high school students who live over one and one-half (1.5) miles from school are eligible for transportation services.

After the student's registration is completed or updated in MiStar ParentConnection and the dwelling meets the qualifications, if you want your child to ride the bus, you MUST check YES, or a bus route will NOT be assigned.

Here Comes the Bus

If your child rides the bus, please be sure to download the Here Comes the Bus mobile app. Parents will know when their child’s bus arrives in real-time and when it has arrived at their school. Parents can also track the bus trip as students return home at the end of the day. The Here Comes the Bus app is available in the App Store and Google Play. See our Here Comes the Bus webpage for more information.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank to our bus drivers for their dedication and hard work in ensuring our students arrive safely at school and back home. We also kindly ask families for their patience during the first few weeks of school as routes are adjusted and everyone settles into the new routine.

Wayne-Westland Community Schools provides a free breakfast and lunch to all students. Menus can be found through the links below.

Elementary Schools

• Edison Elementary
• Elliott Elementary
• Graham Elementary
• Hamilton Elementary
• Hicks Elementary
• Roosevelt-McGrath Elementary
• Schweitzer Elementary
• Taft-Galloway Elementary
• Walker-Winter Elementary
• Wildwood Elementary
  
  

Middle Schools

• Adams Middle School
• Franklin Middle School
• Stevenson Middle School
  
  

High Schools

• John Glenn High School
• Wayne-Memorial High School

The State of Michigan has included free breakfast and lunch for all students in the 2024-2025 School Aid Budget. All Wayne-Westland Community Schools students receive free breakfast and lunch.

In order for the district to continue to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students, the completion of 2024-2025 Electronic Benefits Form is requested for all families, regardless of household income.

In addition, the Michigan Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education allocate

additional need-based funding to local districts based on the results of the benefit forms. These funds support students who have diverse and qualifies students for potential benefits such as

• Resources for classrooms, teachers and students
• Before and after school academic and enrichment programs
• Health and wellness services
• Waived college application fees
• Reduced internet fees for students, and
• Electronic benefits transfer.

Please note, all students are able to receive free breakfast and lunch regardless of family income.

If there are any questions or concerns please reach out to our food service department at 734-419-2118 or foodservice@wwcsd.net.

A student at Wayne Memorial High School is part of the Bezos Scholars Program, a year-long opportunity to work alongside the community to create a community change project based on a topic and interest of their choice.

The project she has chosen is healthcare system in our country, and how access to proper healthcare resources have contributed to health disparity statistics in Wayne and Westland, Michigan. Please help her in her mission by completing this survey to gain insight on healthcare options in the Wayne-Westland community.

Please see the information below that can help you and your family have a smooth start to the new school year.

• Back to School Hub

• Family Resource Center

• Parent Resources

Peachjar provides an electronic alternative for distributing flyers, making it easier for families to receive school and community information and resources.

How are flyers distributed?

• Families will receive flyers via email based from the school their child attends.
• Flyers are posted on each school's website.