NCSD Families,

Happy December! While the weather is cooling down and snow is starting to fly, school events and activities are just heating up! I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone engaged and learning every day in our buildings. The next month is shorter than most as we have winter break starting with the weekend of December 24 and going through the weekend of January 7. Having two full weeks off to kickoff the new year is just the right break to allow the students and staff to recharge hit the ground running in January.

This edition of Wildcat Happenings has many articles that I hope will be of interest to you. I hope you find this monthly communication helpful, but if you have ideas or suggestions, I welcome them. I would also like to welcome our two new Board of Education Trustees, Betsy Beaudoin and Jason Michener to our board starting next month in January. We had four community members put themselves out there to serve voluntarily on our school board, and I appreciate all of their dedication to supporting our schools. I am excited for Betsy and Jason to carry the torch for our outgoing board members, Bobbie Murphy and Kathy Hood. I have been so thankful for the leadership and insight offered by both Ms. Murphy and Ms. Hood these past months. Their dedication and service to the school district is greatly appreciated and I hope if you see them you can express your gratitude for the many years that they gave in service to our school district.

We have many holidays that are celebrated in our community and I hope that all of you will take the opportunity to learn and inquire about your neighbors and fellow community members. Our district has been working on a calendar that will share many of the events, cultural holidays, and activities celebrated by our diverse community. This calendar is an ongoing work in progress, and we will be continuing to build it. To start, we have at least built the basic calendar with dates and holidays of significance. Please know that we will continue to update and edit this calendar throughout the year to provide a great resource for everyone to celebrate the beautiful diversity in our district. You can find the calendar on our website under "Community" and then "Cultural Diversity Calendar". On the website you can also download the iCal link to your digital calendars if you are interested in incorporating it into your own calendars. The direct link to the the website is here:

Cultural Diversity Calendar

I hope that all of you have an enjoyable December and I look forward to seeing many of you around at the various celebrations and events that will commence over the next few weeks.

Go Wildcats!

Ben Mainka, Superintendent
Novi Community School District

Thank you to the NCSD families who exercised their right to vote on Election Day in November.

You can find election results for Oakland County by visiting this website. As you scroll down on the website, you will see the NCSD Board of Education election results.

The winners of the two NCSD Board seats were: Betsy Beaudoin and Jason W. Michener. The six-year terms for these seats begin on January 1, 2023. We would like to congratulate Betsy and Jason and look forward to working with them as they serve our educational community in the years to come. We would also like to thank Chris Hollman and Latasha Keller for their willingness to run for School Board and their continued support of the district.

In light of the recent threats that have happened all over the country and also with the recent anniversary of the devastating Oxford Schools tragedy, it is a great time to remind everyone of a very important topic - gun storage. The safe storage of firearms is a public safety issue and essential to preventing unsupervised access to firearms by children and adolescents. We, we encourage parents and guardians to discuss gun safety with your student(s) and those close to you. The framework that is being shared below takes a completely neutral position on gun ownership, but focuses the efforts on responsible storage of firearms. Please take a moment to review this important information below and watch this brief video to hear the "why" behind this project.

BeSmart Anthem Video

The​ ​Be SMART educational campaign was developed to reduce the deaths, injuries and trauma that result when children gain access to unsecured firearms. The program emphasizes that secure storage is always the adult’s responsibility, and encourages individuals to take five simple steps to keep kids and families safer: S​​ecure guns in homes and vehicles, ​Model responsible behavior around guns,​ A​sk about the presence of guns in other homes, ​Re​cognize the role of guns in suicide, and T​ell your peers to Be SMART.

The Be SMART campaign was launched to raise awareness that secure gun storage—storing guns locked, unloaded and separate from ammunition—can save children’s lives. Be SMART emphasizes that it’s an adult responsibility to keep kids from accessing guns, and that every adult can play a role in keeping kids and communities safer.

There are thousands of Be SMART volunteers in your communities and neighborhoods that are delivering the Be SMART message across the country in all 50 states.

For more information visit besmartforkids.org

The issue of gun violence in schools has instilled fear in parents, educators, students and leaders in our communities—but we can take action together to help keep our schools safer. One important place to start is by practicing and encouraging secure gun storage in every home.

What is Be SMART?

The Be SMART framework is designed to help parents and adults normalize conversations about gun safety and take responsible actions that can prevent child gun deaths and injuries.

Secure - all guns in your home and vehicles

Model - responsible behavior around guns

Ask - about the presence of unsecured guns in other homes

Recognize - the role of guns in suicide

Tell - your peers to be SMART

The Michigan Association for Media in Education (MAME) presented Julie Farkas and the Novi Public Library with the 2022 Community Collaboration Award on Nov. 10 at the annual MAME conference in Ann Arbor.

The MAME Community Collaboration Award recognizes exemplary collaboration between school librarians and a community member or organization not affiliated with the school district in implementing effective connections that benefit the school library programming and/or students in the school library setting.

NCSD school librarians nominated Julie to highlight her efforts to create a community partnership between the Novi Public Library and the NCSD school libraries.

Quarterback Anna Lindsey scored two touchdowns to lead the Juniors to a 21-7 win over the Seniors in the Powderpuff football game on November 7 at Wildcat Stadium.

"It was fun because it brought together different people from different sports and different grades, and as a Junior, it’s always fun to go out and beat the Seniors!” said Lindsey, who has earned varsity letters in golf, basketball and plans to try out for varsity soccer in the spring.

Novi High had not held a powderpuff game in recent years. Athletic Director Don Watchowski granted the request from a group of seniors who came forward to request the game, which became a fundraiser for the Senior All Night Party.

One of the great traditions in Novi resumes December 5 when the first group of students attends the 5th Grade Outdoor Education Camp at the Walled Lake Outdoor Education Center. All fifth graders have a chance to attend the 2 ½ day camp.

“Fifth grade camp was started over 30 years ago for many reasons,” said Meadows teacher Karen Duthie. “It helps to enhance our science curriculum, helps the students gain some independence, group work, team bonding and lastly to have a fun time!”

The final group of Meadows campers will finish in early February.

“We want our kids to bond as a team,” Duthie said. “Camp allows them time to bond with their new and old friends, to which these friendships last for an incredibly long time.

“This is often the first time kids are away from their families for 2 ½ days, and they grow so much. They also learn to better work in groups.”

Duthie said her favorite part of the trip is “watching kids form friendships, problem solve and really come into their own.

“We get to see them outside of the traditional school setting, and most, if not all of the kids flourish!”

The High School Orchestra Winter Concert is at 7 p.m. on Dec. 13 at Novi High. Orchestra Director Jim Van Eizenga said students have been preparing for the concert since the middle of October.

“It always feels a bit strange to play A Christmas Festival, when Halloween hasn't even happened yet,” he said. “Our students really get into our holiday concert. The students decorate the stage and afterward the Boosters offer a reception for families.

“For our December concert we do a wide range of music. The December concert is always the Philharmonic's first concert with the full orchestra - where winds, brass, and percussion join the strings. This year, they are playing Finlandia by Sibelius, the first movement of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, and A Christmas Festival by Leroy Anderson. The other orchestras are presenting works for string orchestra by composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Lauren Bernofsky, and Kathryn Greisinger.”

A Christmas Festival is the favorite piece for both Yashwant Pantra, the Orchestra Librarian, and Elizabeth Yoon, the Orchestra President.

“I like it because it has a lot of different holiday tunes in one piece and it’s super fun to play,” Pantra said.

“All of our pieces this season are really cool but I’d say that everyone in the Orchestra loves playing A Christmas Festival, just because it’s so reminiscent of the holiday season,” Yoon said. “The Orchestra is also trying to make it a tradition to play it every year, despite Mr. V’s protests against it, but we all know he loves conducting it anyway.”

Yoon said one of her favorite things about the holiday concert is the excitement of playing fun music for the audience: “Some of my all time favorite memories of orchestra are from holiday performances and I can’t wait this year to make more.”

Novi students have been engaged in Bridgepointe for the past 20+ years. This year, the generosity of NCSD K-12 students and staff will once again benefit underserved students in southwest Detroit during the holidays.

The Parent-Teacher Organizations for each elementary school, Novi Meadows and Novi Middle School have again partnered with Bridgepointe, a charitable organization in Metro Detroit, to create a holiday party on December 15 for about 450 students at the Academy of the Americas K-3 campus.

The party will be in person this year, after being canceled the past few years due to the pandemic concerns.

“We are so thrilled to be able to have the party back in person as delivering the gifts is only a small part of the partnership,” said Marla Stern, the volunteer committee chair for Bridgepointe at Novi Meadows. “In person we have the ability of having the two communities interact, have Santa delivering gifts, choir singing, kids making crafts and playing games. Also, having the party in person makes (it) possible for the whole (NCSD) community to be involved.”

The Novi High School Student Council chipped in with a Dollar for Detroit day to help support the event. The Novi Choir is also performing at the party.

The Middle School Student Council promoted the event to garner donations through the school news broadcast and wrapped the gifts that were collected.

Novi Middle School collected new, unused board games and card games.Each elementary collected a different item that will be given to the students at the party, like nail polish, lip smackers and cozy socks.

Students at the Novi Adult Transition Center bagged candy that was collected after Halloween. Novi Meadows students made cards and wrapped collected gifts for the celebration.

About 150 students and staff from NCSD will help put on the full holiday party.

We hope our students and staff have a relaxing, fun winter break with family and friends. Winter break begins on Friday, December 24, 2022. School resumes on Monday, January 9, 2023.

As a way to stay connected, we invite your to participate in our #NoviWinterBreak social media challenge. Share a post each day on Twitter or Instagram and use the hashtag #NoviWinterBreak

Dec. 24: Share a book you plan to read on break

Dec. 25: Share a holiday selfie or favorite family photo

Dec. 26: Share a holiday decoration or tradition.

Dec. 27: Show off your favorite holiday food

Dec. 28: Share a favorite holiday song or movie

Dec. 29: Show of your holiday socks

Dec. 30: Share favorite memories/photos from 2022

Dec. 31: Share a new goal for 2023

Jan. 1: Share your first selfie of 2023

Jan. 2: Share a photo of your pet

Jan. 3: Share how you are relaxing or exercising on break

Jan. 4: Share a shout out to someone special

Jan. 5: Share a #TBT holiday photo

Jan. 6: Show off your Green and White

Jan. 7: Share your favorite photo from winter break

Jan. 8: Share something about NCSD that makes you feel #NoviPride

District Calendar

Board of Education Calendar

Athletic Calendar

Peachjar Flyers

Deerfield Elementary

Novi Woods Elementary

Orchard Hills Elementary

Parkview Elementary

Village Oaks Elementary

Novi Virtual

Novi Meadows Elementary

Novi Middle School

Novi High School