The First Week of School is complete!
It has been a busy and exciting return to school this past week. Routines are being reestablished and students and staff are reconnecting and forming new relationships together as our children progress through their school experience. It is a major undertaking to start the whole district into motion once again and from reports I am receiving throughout the district; we are off to an excellent start.
I want to remind everyone to continue to access our website at mvs.k12.mi.us for any information you need regarding contacts, calendars, times of school for full and partial days as well as teacher and staff contact information as you get to know who works with your child.
Our athletics are in full swing and I encourage you to come out and enjoy our Fall sports programs. Information for those events can also be found on our website. It is a great season to be a Lion and we love to have full stands cheering on our students’ efforts.
We continue to be fortunate with our staffing status compared to many of the districts around us and while we continue to have shortages in our Special Education and paraprofessional roles, we keep seeking folks to fill those critical roles for our operation and support of our students. If you know of anyone who would like to pursue a career in education, please let them know Maple Valley is an excellent place to work and learn!
Our student count was high on the first day of school with 958 enrolled students. Once any students who have not appeared or moved away are accounted for we will have our anticipated count for this year. This is a strong recovery of students following the pandemic and we hope to keep a stable enrollment in our district as we look forward. With our focus on student engagement, celebrations of success and positive growth, I have every expectation that the good word about the Valley will continue to grow.
As the election for our five open school board seats approaches in November, please stay tuned for the Town Hall Meet the Candidates night that will be sponsored by the Teachers Union. It will be a good way for you to learn more about both the incumbent and new candidates for these positions. The board has the very important job in stewardship of our district so I encourage you to learn as much as possible about all of the candidates to ensure we have a group which is representative of the various stakeholder roles throughout our district.
I look forward to establishing our routines so we can dig even deeper into the learning and growing processes that make a school year productive. Enjoy the wonderful weather and remember to keep a sharp eye for pedestrians, bike riders and new drivers as we all get back into school mode.
It is a GREAT day to be in the Valley!
Dr. B
