Bobcat Innovation

This school year is continuing to fly by, and we are almost 1/4 of the way through. As we are nearing the end of first marking period, please continue to talk to your kids about the importance of doing their best in school. Students should be making sure their classroom and homework is done daily, as well as studying for tests, and doing their best at all times. Also, it is SO important that students are here at school every day. Students that miss one day ever two weeks are considered chronically absent, and it makes it very hard for them to be successful at school. Please see the district nurse message at the bottom of this newsletter for guidance on when to keep your child home, and when to send them to school.

Our PTO is putting on our annual Trunk or Treat event on Wednesday, Oct. 16th at 5:30 pm. Last year this event was a huge success and a TON of fun. Make sure to make it out for that, and then stay for the PTO meeting at 6:30 in the Perry Cafeteria. ALL Bobcat Innovation students are welcome.

Also, please continue to sell raffle tickets for our PTO fundraiser. We just passed $3500 raised, but are well short of our goal of $23,000 for the year. This is the one fundraiser that PTO does, and is their sole source of income. PTO helps to make all of our field trips happen. Many of the trips are covered 100% by PTO. Just as an example, our upcoming elementary school trip to Camp Tamarack costs about $3500, and PTO is funding the entire trip so there is no cost to families. Thank you to everybody for supporting the fundraiser. If you need more tickets, they are available in the main office at Perry.

Upcoming Field Trips and Fun: Our Elementary In-Person, Hybrid, and Virtual students have a school trip planned to Camp Tamarack on October 17th. Our Elementary Virtual and Hybrid classes are also going to the apple orchard next week. We also have a middle school lock-in at East Middle School for our in-person and virtual students on October 18th. In-person students can purchase tickets at school, but virtual students that are interested in attending please contact Mrs. Olmsted at 810-591-6078.

Our Winter 1 athletic season is starting soon as well, so if you are a 7th or 8th grade girl interested in volleyball, or a 6th-8th grade student interested in wrestling, please see below for details. Bobcat Innovation students participate with East Middle School for the Winter 1 season.

Please see the flyers below about the Free Meals Program. Even though our meals at school are free this year, we still need everybody to fill out the free and reduced lunch forms in order to make sure that we get our full funding.

Popcorn Fridays will start next week for In-Person students. Bring 50 cents if you'd like to purchase some. If you are interested in volunteering to come in on Fridays for popcorn, please fill out the form at https://forms.gle/78jS1Cgz9CQU4iV9A.

Warm regards,

Zach Hamilton, Director of Innovative Programs (Daily oversight of Bobcat Innovation In-Person and Hybrid)

(810) 591-6077

zhamilton@gbcs.org

Kevin Keilitz, Asst. Director of Innovative Programs (Daily oversight of Bobcat Innovation Virtual)

(810) 591-6375

kkeilitz@gbcs.org

October

* Wednesday, Oct. 16th - Trunk or Treat at 5:30 and PTO meeting at 6:30 - All students and families are welcome

* Thursday, Oct. 17th - In-Person and Hybrid Elementary student Field Trip - Camp Tamarack

* Friday, Oct. 18th - In-Person and Hybrid Middle School lock in @ East Middle school.

* Thursday, Oct. 24th - 1/2 day of school for students

* Friday, Oct. 25th - Last day of 1st marking period - No school!

Please join us at our annual PTO Trunk or Treat event from 5:30-6:30 pm on Wednesday, Oct. 16th in the Perry Center Parking lot. Our PTO meeting will follow this event at 6:30 in the cafeteria.

We now have enough cars for the event. Thank you for those that volunteered!

Our Virtual Students took a trip to Porter's Orchard on Tuesday. They had a blast learning, learned a ton, and brought back lots of goodies. Our hybrid students used the apples that they got at the orchard to make apple crisp. They also made home made whipped cream. It was delicious!!

With the last few weeks of fall sports wrapping up, we are starting to think about the Winter 1 season, which includes Volleyball for 7th and 8th Grade Girls, and Wrestling for 6-8th Boys and Girls. The sign-ups are below. Please have your student sign up with their school email address. Parents CANNOT sign up their children. The form will not work if the student email is not used.

Volleyball

Wrestling

Prior to the first practice, the following items MUST be turned into the East Middle School Athletic Secretary. You can drop these forms off in the office any weekday between 7:30am and 4:00pm.

• All athletes must have a completed 2 page MHSAA Physical Form form (dated April 15, 2024 or after)

• All athletes and parents must read the Grand Blanc Middle Schools Athletic Handbook and must have a signed Athletic Handbook Cover Page (parent & student signatures required)

Bobcat Innovation Athletics Website: https://bobcatinnovation.gbcs.org/for-students/pic-athletics

Grand Blanc East Middle School Fall Athletics Newsletter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_r_X39BRlT6_Q_9ysmZlTzGvmSkvTdbQ4ZpdXKmwhKk/edit?usp=sharing

Upper School students have been busy working on their health and wellness course. As part of the course students have been working on social skills, specifically friendships and conflict resolution. Students created a variety of projects for these topics, such as skits, infographics, posters...etc. They were very excited about the opportunity to share their projects to help mentor the 2nd and 3rd graders at Bobcat Innovation. The 7th and 8th grade students did an amazing job sharing their ideas and promoting discussion of healthy peer relationships. It was a great experience for all students involved!

Help bring better internet connections to our community! Check out the website below, and take the survey.

https://www.merit.edu/nextgenesee/

BVL Seniors:

It is a good time to start thinking about your plans for after high school. Whether it is going to college, the trades, working, or the military. This is a good time to connect with your counselor, Ms. Uhl, to talk about what you want to do next. Feel free to email her at juhl@gbcs.org to set up a time to chat. Additionally, October is Michigan College Month. Below you will find a list of Michigan colleges with no application fees or waived fees.

The cost of college weighs on the minds of many families. The State of Michigan has several virtual presentations regarding financial aid, scholarships, and the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Please follow the link to register for a virtual event to learn more about paying for college.

https://www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid/students-families/virtual-financial-aid-presentations

Sharing current guidance from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on when to keep students home from school:

Many illnesses do not require exclusion. However, children may be excluded if the illness prevents the child from participating comfortably in school activities or if there is risk of spread of harmful disease to others. These criteria also apply to when staff should be excluded. Criteria include:

• Severely ill – lethargic, difficulty breathing, or rapidly spreading rash
• Fever 101F or greater AND behavior change or other signs of illness
• Staff can use their best judgement if the child does not have a fever of 101F or greater, but still appears significantly ill with symptoms such as glassy eyes and lethargy
• The child should not return until there is no fever for 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing medications
• Diarrhea – 2 or more loose watery stools
• The child should have no loose stools for 24 hours prior to returning to school unless health care provider determines it’s not infectious.
• Vomiting – vomited 2 or more times
• The child should have no vomiting episodes for 24 hours prior to returning unless health care provider has determined the vomiting is not due to an infectious condition.
• Abdominal pain – abdominal pain that continues for more than 2 hours or intermittent pain associated with fever or other symptoms
• Rash – rash AND a fever or change in behavior
• Respiratory symptoms - Worsening or not improving, and not explained by another cause (e.g., allergies)
• Skin Sore – weeping sores on an exposed area that cannot be covered with a waterproof dressing
• Communicable Diseases – chart for exclusion/return included in guideline
• When NOT to exclude a student from school – examples on Pg 15 of guideline

Resource

https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/-/media/Project/Websites/mdhhs/Folder2/Folder88/Folder1/Folder188/Managing_CD_in_Schools_FINAL.pdf?rev=1f118048eb684d32a5254c15e2d4ac85&hash=D7B7218B72177583BBA0A4D90E665354

Email: zhamilton@gbcs.org
Website: https://bobcatinnovation.gbcs.org/
Location: 11920 South Saginaw Street, Grand Blanc, MI, USA
Phone: (810) 591-6078
Facebook: Visit us on Facebook at: Bobcat Innovation