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SUPERINTENDENT

March 1, 2023

SUPERINTENDENT March 1, 2023

FROM THE DESK OF THE SUPERINTENDENT

Superintendent Ben Mainka

NCSD Families,

I hope that you have been having and continue to have a wonderful summer filled with new memories and experiences with your kids! We here in the district are preparing for a great start to the fall and welcoming our students back. While we still have several weeks left in the summer, there are many updates and things we are preparing for that I would like to make sure you are aware of and on your radar. Thank you for taking the time to review the stories and information within the August newsletter. Stay tuned for many more communications coming over the next few weeks.


  1. First Day of School - As a reminder to mark your calendars, our first day of school for students this upcoming fall is August 26, 2024.

  2. Parent/Community Town Hall for Yondr Pouches - On Monday, August 19 at 6:00 PM, in the Novi Middle School auditorium, I will be holding a town hall for all interested parents and community members. I will discuss our new pilot program using the Yondr Pouches for grades 5 through 8.

  3. Anxious Generation - Many of you have heard me speak about this book throughout the summer at the Board meetings. I highly recommend picking up a copy of "The Anxious Generation" by Jonathan Haidt. It is a fascinating read for any parent looking to expand their thinking around how children interact with technology and also how they explore and play in the real world.

  4. Registration and Transportation - PowerSchool re-registration and transportation forms are now available. If you would like detailed instructions on how to complete online registration, you may find them here. If you would like to jump straight to the process, you can access registration through the following link: Parent Connect. It is important to note that if you will need bus transportation this year, you must complete the online registration process and request it.

  5. Parent and Community Advisory Committees - Last school year, we formed our 5 different Parent and Community Advisory Committees (PCAC). The guiding committees were a huge help, providing us with a wealth of information as we move our district forward. We will be starting these committees up again this year and will meet 3 times throughout the year, in September, February, and June. If you are interested in participating on one of these committees, please take a moment to fill out this survey: Parent and Community Advisory Committee Survey.

  6. 2024-2027 Strategic Plan and Portrait of a Graduate - The Board, administration, staff, students, and our community members put in countless hours to create our new 2024-2027 Strategic Plan and Portrait of a Graduate. This was a dedicated work of love and I truly appreciate everyone who helped with their contribution of thoughts, suggestions, and wonderful ideas.

    At the July 23, 2024 Regular Board Meeting, the Board approved the Strategic Plan and the Portrait of a Graduate. You can find it now on our website.


Go Wildcats!


Ben Mainka, Superintendent
Novi Community School District

What You Need to Know From Food Service

We have some important updates for all families:

  1. Free Meals for All Students: We are pleased to announce that all meals will be free again this year! Please note that each student must take a fruit or vegetable to qualify for the free meal.

  2. New Food Service System: We have implemented a new food service point of service system. It is essential for you to log in and create an account. You can do so by clicking the following link: Novi Family Portal.

    If you believe you will qualify for free or reduced meals, you can apply through the Novi Family Portal. For students attending the NATC or Career Prep at the Roar Center, please use the Education Benefits Forms. Through this portal, you will be able to view all of your student’s purchases and meals. Additionally, you can apply for free or reduced meals via this link. Your participation not only benefits your family but also provides vital funding to support our students in need.

  3. 2024-25 Food Service Letter for Novi Families - Please take a moment to read our 2024-25 Letter to our Novi Families. It is filled with all of the information that you will need for this school year.

Thank you for your attention to these updates. We look forward to a fantastic school year ahead!


Best regards,
Food Service

2024-25 Upcoming Technology Device Distribution

The device distribution for 2024-2025 will take place during each building's open house (K-4) or registration (5-12). All devices will be assigned and labeled for each student to pick up from their assigned building. If you are unable to pick up your device during your building's open house or registration, it will be available for pickup at the main office of the respective building.

The Technology Department will pull device requests from PowerSchool. Device requests were made during the enrollment process.

New students:

  • Wildcat Launch students will be issued iPads that remain in their classrooms.

  • Kindergarten through 4th-grade students: August 21, 2024

  • Novi Meadows 5th and 6th-grade students: August 20, 2024, and August 22, 2024

  • Novi Middle School 7th-grade students: August 13, 2024

  • Novi Middle School 8th-grade students: August 15, 2024

  • Novi High School students: August 12, 2024 - August 15, 2024

  • Novi Virtual students: August 21, 2024


Incoming students:

2nd Grade Students, August 21, 2024 (students who are moving from an iPad to a Chromebook)


DEVICE INSURANCE

Families are responsible for any damage to an NCSD device. To help alleviate any potential repair costs, NCSD offers optional insurance for families to enroll their device(s) in. Insurance has to be purchased and enrolled in each academic school year and does not roll over. Each district-provided student device also requires an insurance policy to be purchased.

The Novi Community School District has partnered with One2One Risk Solutions (Gallagher) to provide accident and loss protection for NCSD's one-to-one student program. When you register with One2One, you can limit your responsibility to a per-occurrence deductible for lost or damaged district-issued devices, protecting you from the full cost of repair or replacement.

Please visit www.one2onerisk.com and select “Enroll My Device” to get started.

Enrolled devices in One2One have access to loaner devices (if available) while the original device is being repaired. Families who choose not to enroll in the insurance program will be fully responsible for the cost of repairing or replacing the device. Additionally, a loaner device will not be provided.

Device chargers are not covered under policies.

More information can be found here: bit.ly/2425novistuins

Transportation Updates

Earlier this week you received a note from the Transportation Department regarding their new app called Stopfinder. Stopfinder is the easy-to-use, all-in-one app that allows you to have the most accurate information about your student’s bus schedule at anytime from anywhere. We are piloting this with just your students bus information. Later in the 24-25 school year, we will be implementing the ability to see when your child's bus will arrive.

Stopfinder can be downloaded for free from the App Store or Google Play. Stopfinder will require an invite and registration through the district prior to accessing your student’s transportation schedule. Once you have set up the app, you will be able to invite your spouse or other caregiver to see your students bus information. Please watch for a Stopfinder invitation, which will be sent to your primary email address the week of August 5.

If you are a Deerfield parent that downloaded the app last year as a pilot program, you will not receive a new invitation. The email address that is currently on file with the district as the primary contact will be used for Stopfinder setup. Please update your email via PowerSchool so that we may have the most up-to-date contact information for your student.


All students living outside the walk zone that require transportation will need to register thru PowerSchool. The Transportation Form is now available in PowerSchool as part of the regular re- registration PowerSchool process.

Please feel free to contact the Transportation Department 248-449-1245 or transportation@novik12.org with questions if you do not receive the invitation.

2024-25 First Day Pictures Submission

Whether your student is enjoying their first day of kindergarten or their last first day as a senior, we want to celebrate as many of our Wildcats as possible on the first day of the 2024-2025 school year.


We'll get to as many buildings as possible to take photos, but would love to have parents submit "First Day Photos" in the message field to communications@novik12.org. We'll share the photos on our various social media platforms -- Instagram, Facebook and X throughout the first two days.

WHAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED AT THE END OF 2024

State Economics Champions 2024

For the first time in school history, four Novi High School students traveled to New York to compete in America’s top economics competition.


Harsh Ahire, Lalitaditya Akkaraju, Arvin Salem and Ishaan Sid – all juniors – traveled with Novi High teacher Darcie Moss to New York to compete in the Council for Economic Education’s 2024 National Economics Challenge. The competition was streamed live on CNBC’s YouTube Channel and moderated by CNBC economics reporter Steve Liesman.


Novi was the state champion in the Amerisure Michigan Economics Challenge Adam Smith Division (AP, IB or previous participants) and was one of four teams that qualified nationally to compete in that division in New York.


Novi High was a state champion in 2014 and 2016 in the David Ricardo Division (general economics) but those teams did not qualify for the national competition.


Ishaan Sid, on his favorite part of the trip: “I really liked the dinner cruise (around Statue of Liberty). We got to talk to so many teams that were there for the Econ Challenge. We got a lot to meet a lot of people from a bunch of different states. We got to find out how they prepared and all the different ways they were addressing it.”


Arvin Salam on his favorite part of the trip: “The most satisfying part for me personally was after the Quiz Bowl – we could sit back and think about everything we did. … We overall feel satisfied because for Novi’s first time going, we did pretty good and a lot of those other schools have been preparing for this for many years. They’ve gone to so many more economics competitions and had more economics experiences than we did. Some of the schools had their own economics prep books, which is something we didn’t know about or could compete with.”


Lalitaditya Akkaraju, on the foursome’s goals for next year: “I really feel like we are focused on kind of passing the baton and letting those candidates thrive as much as possible. What we noticed during our prep this year is that the organization didn’t release a ton of materials. We want to help (other Novi students) on what to prepare, how to prepare and what things might come up. That experience we gained, we want to pass on so that hopefully (others) can be even more successful in the future.”


Harsh Ahire, on the foursome’s goals for next year: “We really want to collaborate with Mrs. (Colleen) Smith on this, because we found that her guidance was essential for us. The material she provided us and the help she provided us – and especially the way we represented Novi – that was very important…. We want to establish that legacy here at Novi.”



Ishaan Sid, on future goals: “I’m interested in going into finance and economics. It is one of my career passions. I’m definitely considering that as a career choice. Dream school is Michigan. Hope to go to Michigan, Ross School of Business is my Dream School….”


Arvin Salem, on future goals: “Economics is definitely a big part of what I want to do. I’m not as interested in the finance side. I’m more interested in the economic policy side…. Ross School of Business is great. U-M as a whole is a great school that I would be really happy to attend if I got in.”


Lalitaditya Akkaraju, on future goals: “Economics is obviously a big part of it. I was always interested in Econ and I would like to thank Ms. Smith for really introducing me to the subject. She really instilled that passion in me and it carries to this day. In the future I’m kind of planning to pursue a career related to econ …. I’m more interested in the econ plus the business administration aspect, steering a business as their next strategy and whatnot.”


Harsh Ahire, on future goals: “I actually like the finance side of things. Econ is a big part of it and I think the critical thinking aspect is important and can be transferred over to finance. As for my dream school – just like most people, Ross is a great option for me too.”

Novi Adult Transition Center Graduation 2024

Michael Manning, Jason Nunez and Alexandria Wachuku earned their Certificates of Completion from the Novi Adult Transition Center and were recognized by family, friends, teachers, administrators and the Board of Education at the ROAR Center on June 4, 2024.


The Novi Adult Transition Center is a post-secondary life skills and employment skills program servicing Novi residents who are 18-26 years old. The program focuses on supporting students in the four main areas of transition (independent living, community participating, employment and training and functional academics).


The three students – and speech pathologist Abbey Rea – appeared on the last Courageous Curiosity Podcast with Superintendent Ben Mainka. The podcast is available to watch on YouTube or to listen on several different platforms. For more information, visit the Courageous Curiosity Podcast webpage.


The Novi Note also covered the ceremony.

Novi Career Prep High School Graduation 2024

Novi's Adult Education and Career Prep High School proudly honored 20 adult and alternative learners as they celebrated receiving their High School Diploma or GED certificates at this year's graduation ceremony at Novi Middle School on June 13, 2024. Amidst cheers and applause, these individuals showcased perseverance, dedication, and the triumph of overcoming obstacles on their educational journey. Each graduate's story served as a testament to resilience and the transformative power of lifelong learning.

“The ceremony was a heartfelt celebration, attended by family, friends, staff, administrators, and the Board of Education, all joining together to honor the achievements of these graduates,” said Sarah Kraemer, Supervisor of Alternative and Adult Education. “If it weren't for programs like ours, many of our students would not have the chance to earn their diploma or certification. As they move forward, their accomplishments inspire countless possibilities, fueled by the pursuit of knowledge and the pursuit of dreams.”

Novi High School Graduation at EMU 2024

Novi High Seniors celebrate their graduation with the traditional cap toss. Commencement took place on May 29, 2024, at Eastern Michigan University's George Gervin GameAbove Center.

Parent Resources for Families

Parent Guidance Webinar

Our partnership with the Cook Center for Human Resources, allows for all parents to have access to FREE Parent Coaching! Summertime is the perfect time for an extra bit of support! ParentGuidance.org connects you to regularly scheduled meetings with a coach, as well as content created by therapists. Parent Guidance is here to support you throughout the summer with Parent Coaching. Click here to register for ongoing support from a coach: https://cookcenter.info/coaching

NCSD in the News

2024-25 Dates to Remember

The dates below are shared at this time to help you plan for next year.
Please note: some dates are subject to change.

August 26, 2024 - First Day for Students

August 30 – September 2, 2024 - Labor Day Weekend; No Staff/No Students

September 3, 2024 - Classes Resume
September 6, 2024 - Tastefest, Novi High School, 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
September 7, 2024 - NEF Pancake Breakfast, Novi High School, 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM
September 14, 2024 - NHS Band Bottle and Can Drive, 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
September 16, 2024 - Novi Meadows Open House, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

October 4, 2024 - K-6 Professional Development; K-6 Staff Only (No K-6 students)

October 7, 2024 - 7-12 Professional Development; 7-12 Staff Only (No students Grade 7-12)

October 16, 2024 - Grades 7-8 Parent/Teacher Conferences; Half Day - 7-8 Students AM
October 17, 2024 - Grades 7-8 Parent/Teacher Conferences

October 22, 2024 - Grades 5-6 Parent/Teacher Conferences; Half Day - 5-6 Students AM

October 24, 2024 - Grades 5-6 Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 1-4, 2024 - Late Fall Break - No Staff/No Students

November 5, 2024 - K-12 Professional Development; Election Day - No Students

November 6, 2024 -Grades 9-12 Parent/Teacher Conferences; Half Day - 9-12 Students AM

November 7, 2024 - Grades 9-12 Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 12 & 14, 2024 -Grades K-4 Parent/Teacher Conferences; Half Day - K-4 Students AM

November 27- December 1, 2024 - Thanksgiving Break - No Students

December 21, 2024 – January 5, 2025 - Winter Break – No School

January 6, 2025 - Classes Resume

January 17, 2025 - Half Day - Students AM, PM Records Day

January 20, 2025 - MLK Day – No School, No Staff/No Students

February 14-17, 2025 - Mid-Winter Break - No Students

February 18, 2025 - K-12 Professional Development; No Students
February 25, 2024 - State of the District Event, Novi High School, 6:00 PM

March 5, 2024 - Grades K-4 Parent/Teacher Conferences; Half Day - K-4 Students AM

March 6, 2024 - Grades 5-6 Parent/Teacher Conferences; Half Day - 5-6 Students AM

March 7, 2025 - K-6 Professional Development; No K-6 Students

March 10, 2025 - 7-12 Professional Development; No Students Grades 7-12

March 12, 2024 - Grades 9-12 Parent/Teacher Conferences

March 13, 2024 - Grades 7-8 Parent/Teacher Conferences

March 29-April 6, 2025 - OS Revised Spring Break –No Students

April 18, 2025 - No Staff/No Students

May 26, 2025 - Memorial Day – No School

June 6, 2025 - Last Day for Students AM Only; PM Records Day - Staff Only

Benjamin Mainka
Superintendent, Novi Community School District