Our first week back to school has wrapped up and we are enjoying the return of routine, renewed connections and new connections with our students, staff and community. As our schedules get more full and our time becomes increasing precious, I wanted to write about the importance of communication as we begin this year together.
When we did our communication survey last winter, our results suggested people like to hear from us in a variety of ways, so we work hard to meet everyone where they are. If you find we are communicating with you in ways that do not work well for you, please know we are utilizing those methods because they do work well for others. Our ultimate goal is to keep everyone as informed as possible about all of the important events in Maple Valley Schools. You can control a good amount of the automated communication that goes out by entering your PowerSchool Parent Portal to indicate your preferred communication. Click on the Swift reach tab in the upper left corner, and then the Alert Preferences in the upper right hand corner to modify your notifications to your preference.
Should anyone need to contact us regarding concerns or compliments, please follow the flowcharts in our website mvs.k12.mi.us under the Our District/District Communication Process tabs. We know concerns are best resolved when starting with the immediate person of influence for the need. Should you not get resolution at that level, follow the chain of concern charts to talk to the next level of staff who can help you resolve your needs.
I also want to issue a request that if you have a need for information, please contact us directly. I believe we short circuit any frustration or aggravation by going directly to the source. Social Media is an excellent outlet for getting information out quickly to people but it is not always the most accurate source of information. We want to be your partners in education and we want to ensure you have all of the information you require to be assured of the excellent work that goes into the education of our children every day. Please reach out to us and let us be your partners. In a year when we are striving to get our communities back into our schools, I want to welcome open and active connections through strong communication. The more we talk to one another, the better we work together to give our kids a fantastic year of school.
We look forward to seeing you, hearing from you and working with you to create a phenomenal educational environment for our students and community.
It is a Great Day to be in the Valley!
Dr. B
