Superintendent
Message from the Superintendent
Please view my message here if you need translation services.
May 3, 2024
GLPS Families,
It was another busy and productive week here at Grand Ledge Public Schools! To start this week, I have a couple of recognitions and reminders for you:
- May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We serve many families who have Asian or Pacific Islander Heritage, and I want to take this opportunity to recognize their contributions to our district and our community.
- High school parents, we know that some of the rooms at the high school are warm, now that the weather is consistently into the 70’s. As I communicated in previous messages, the next two summers are dedicated to bond work on the high school HVAC system, which will permanently fix the problem with the outdated components. In the meantime, our maintenance team is troubleshooting issues and making repairs, but it is a slow process with a system on its last legs, so we appreciate your understanding and patience.
- At last night’s Caregiver School Improvement Team meeting, we focused on strategic plan goals in the areas of Communication and Community Engagement, Personnel and Leadership, and Learning Environment and Culture. I appreciate the conversation we had, and encourage all of you to take a look at our strategic plan goals, as these are the elements that guide our day to day work.
- I want to give a heartfelt congratulations to the educator of the year nominees from last week’s Grand Ledge Chamber of Commerce Awards dinner! We had 18 nominees across all levels and buildings, and all were very deserving. A special congratulation goes to Lauren Read, high school social studies teacher, who was named Educator of the Year at the ceremony!
Aside from these important notes, I also wanted to take a moment this week to highlight all of the amazing things that happen in our district outside of the regular school day. From athletics, to arts, to community recreation, to clubs and service organizations, our buildings and facilities are always full of students and families. Last weekend, for example, I spent time on Saturday at my youngest daughter’s community rec soccer game at the Community Stadium, and over multiple fields, there were thousands of people on our campus throughout the day. Then, on Sunday, the GLPS band instructors pulled together all of the 6-12 band students for a “Band-o-Rama” concert in the high school gym, which I was able to attend to watch my older daughter play in the beginning band. Every seat in the gym was full (and it was warm, see #2 above!), but the show was outstanding! At our district leadership team meeting yesterday, athletic director Steve Baker reminded us that last night alone, 9 different teams had home games on our campuses, again, bringing thousands of people into our facilities. I always like to say that as a school goes, so goes the community, and as the community goes, so goes the school. It is clear from these events and others that GLPS plays a huge role in our community, and creates opportunities to bring members of the community together, and we are really proud of what we accomplish in these areas. I talk a lot about our academic work in these messages, as student learning is our most important job, but the impact of our extra and co-curriculars on that learning and creating well-rounded, successful students, while also engaging huge portions of our community, cannot be overlooked.
As always, we appreciate your support and we are thankful that we get to work with you and your kids every day.
Have a wonderful weekend; I am #proudtobeacomet!
Dr. Bill Barnes
Superintendent of Schools
