News & Notes

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On Tuesday, February 9^th, during halftime of the Boys’ Varsity Basketball game (approximately 7:45 p.m.) we are going to honor both of Saline’s State Champions from this fall, our Girls Cross Country Team and our Girls Swim and Dive Team. Please join us as we honor and celebrate the remarkable seasons of these two historic teams.

On Saturday, January 31^st, 55 instrumental musicians from Saline Middle School participated in the District 12 MSBOA Solo and Ensemble Festival at Livonia Franklin High School. 41 solos and ensembles performed at the festival. 85% of the Saline events received a First Division Rating (Superior – the highest awarded) and 15% received a Second Division Rating (Good Rating) from the judges. Congratulations to all of the students who performed!

Karina Becker and Chandani Wiersba playing their clarinet duet.

Nick Omichinski posing with his 2 first division medals - one for a violin solo and one for a flute solo.

The purpose of the Extended Day Option-Kindergarten Program is to afford more time for a wide variety of experiences for kindergarten students.  Young children have the opportunity to make new discoveries and participate in self-directed activities that will enable them to apply what they already know.

In addition to your child’s regular half-day kindergarten in the morning, the Extended Day Option-Kindergarten Program (EDO) offers an addition to the day, where parents pay for an extension/enrichment portion.  The Extended Day portion of the day is a quality licensed day care which provides learning experiences in the context of a fun and caring environment in classrooms that are familiar to the children.  This program allows more time for elaboration, enhancement, and reinforcement.  Having children here all day allows the opportunity to reinforce the curriculum with a variety of activities in developmentally appropriate ways.

The yearly fee for this program is $4000. Application requires a non-refundable $450 fee, $400 of which will be applied to the yearly cost. Payments may be made monthly, by the semester, or by the year. There will be a limited number of scholarships available, based on need. Please contact the Houghton School office at 944-8960 for more information.

An early registration period has been established from February 3 to March 12, 2010. During this period, anyone who registers for our EDO program will be granted placement in an EDO class. After this special early registration, regular registration will be conducted on April 22 and April 27 from 6:00-8:00 p.m.  However, guaranteed placement is only during the early registration period of February 3rd through March 12th.

An informational meeting will be held in the Houghton School cafeteria at 6:30 p.m. on    February 2.  Openings for this program will be based on classrooms of approximately 24 students. Additional sections will be opened when the registration count reaches a sufficient number (approximately 24 students). If needed, we will set up a lottery drawing to select which students will be admitted to the program. That lottery will be conducted on Wednesday,
April 28, 2010.

How to Register: Early registration will take place in the Houghton School office from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Monday through Friday beginning February 3 through March 12, 2010. Regular registration will take place on April 22 and April 27 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in the Houghton School cafeteria. Please bring updated immunization records, a copy of your child’s last health appraisal, birth certificate and proof of residency. Application for this program requires a non-refundable $450 fee that must be included at the time of registration. This fee will only be refunded if there are more applicants than the program allows and your child is not selected for one of our EDO openings.

The staff and students from the South and West Washtenaw Consortium are preparing for this year’s annual open house. This is a family career night to assist students and parents from our five Consortium communities with career planning. The event will take place on Monday, February 8, 2010, from 6-8:00 PM at Saline High School.

The SWWC Open House provides the Consortium with an ideal time to share new and exciting initiatives in Career and Technical Education following our current CTE students and programs.

We invite you, your family and friends to join us. For additional information, please contact Jody Gielinski, SWWC Principal/Director at 429-8061.

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Dear Community Members,

Saline Area Schools is committed to maintaining a healthy community, both physically and mentally.

I want to make you aware of a program offered through community education that could help you make a difference in a person’s life.  The program is called safeTALK.

Depression is one of the most common mental health illnesses in the USA, and one of the most treatable.  An estimated 18 million Americans suffer from depression at any particular time, with as much as 20-25% of the population suffering a depressive episode by late adolescence.

Untreated, depressive episodes become worse, more recurrent, with less triggers.  Untreated depression can lead to school/work failure, alcohol or other drug use, and even suicide.  It is estimated that 2/3 of people who complete suicide are depressed at the time.

safeTALK will teach you how to become depression aware and suicide alert by introducing  the signs of depression and suicide as well as teaching you how to get help for those in need.

Most people with thoughts of suicide invite help, but all too often these invitations are missed, leaving them more alone and at greater risk.  This program will allow you to become more aware of warning signs expressed by people with thoughts of suicide and how to connect them to help and care.  Suicide is preventable, and you can help us become a suicide-safer community.

Registration deadline:  February 16, 2010
Class:  Thursday, March 11, 2010, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Location:  Liberty Media Center
Enroll online at www.salineonline.org by February 16, 2010

Sincerely,

Scot Graden

The following Saline High School students took top honors in Washtenaw Community College 22nd Annual Welding Contest Invitational hosted on Friday, January 29, 2010

From left:

Brent Clink - 3rd place, Advanced OxyAcetylene Welding
Ryan Mickevicius - 2nd place, Advanced Gas Tungsten Arc Welding
Josh Newell - 1st place, Beginning OxyAcetylene Welding
Evan Pazkowski - 2nd place, Shielded Metal Arc Welding

Students from 7 other area schools attended the event with approximately 90 students in attendance.  Students were awarded welding prizes for there efforts, which consisted of reading a technical print and assembling a finished weldment in 30 minutes.  Beginning students were allowed to weld in the flat position and advanced students were required to weld in the vertical position.

The students and faculty are looking forward to the Skills USA contest, a nationally recognized professional student organization that allows CTE (Career and Technical Education) students to test there mettle against students from around the entire state of Michigan. The Skills USA contest regionals will be hosted at WCC at the end of February.  Our students will be ready to prove themselves at that contest, which carries them to State and National levels of competition if they do well.  Great Job SWWC Welders!