Superintendent Fall 2025 Update

Dear New Buffalo Families,

As the leaves turn and fall settles in around New Buffalo, I’m reminded how much there is to celebrate in our schools this season. From outstanding M-STEP results that reflect our students’ hard work, to exciting new course offerings at New Buffalo High School, our district continues to grow and achieve in remarkable ways.

This month’s issue highlights just a few of the things that make our district so special — including a closer look at the BASE after-school enrichment program, ongoing building and operations updates, and introductions to several of our newest staff members who are already making a positive impact.

As always, I’m proud of the dedication of our teachers, staff, and families who make New Buffalo Area Schools a place where every student can thrive. Thank you for your continued support and partnership as we move forward together this school year.

- Adam Bowen

At New Buffalo Area Schools, learning continues long after the final bell. The BASE Program (Bison After School Enrichment) offers free after-school care, snacks, and engaging activities for students in grades K–5 — from Lego robotics and yoga to arts, crafts, sports, and more.

BASE is more than after-school care — it’s a place where students build confidence, explore new interests, and form lasting relationships with trusted adults and community members.

Families appreciate the peace of mind, and staff love seeing students discover new passions in a fun, safe environment.

🎥 See it in action! Watch our short video above to hear directly from families, staff, and students about why BASE has become one of the most loved programs at NBAS.

In Michigan, each spring, over 1 million students in grades 3-8 and 11 are administered the required state assessments. The M-STEP, or Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, is a standardized test for students in grades 3-8 and 11, designed to measure student achievement in various subjects. The SAT is a timed assessment administered to 11th graders as a college entrance exam, and the ACT WorkKeys is a job skills assessment that measures the essential skills needed for success in the workplace. These items are part of Michigan’s state assessment system, with the SAT also serving as a component of the high school Michigan Merit Exam (MME) alongside the ACT WorkKeys and M-STEP science and social studies tests.

New Buffalo Area Schools is proud to share that our students were recognized as the overall best in Berrien County on the combined M-STEP/PSAT/SAT assessments. This achievement is a testament to the team's commitment to excellence. NBAS continues to achieve significantly above the state proficiency on all mandated assessments, while ranking highly in the state of Michigan and Berrien County on several measures. The efforts of our students, the steadfast support of our parents, and the dedication of our staff are greatly appreciated and have been instrumental in our success.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the building principals: Mrs. Melissa Lijewski, Mr. Dan Caudle, and Mrs. Tracy Ripley. Your exceptional leadership and unwavering support for our staff and students are deeply appreciated. We also want to acknowledge and express our sincere gratitude to our dedicated instructional staff. Your commitment to providing differentiated instruction and intervention tailored to students' needs is a testament to your dedication and has significantly contributed to our success.

This is an introductory college-level calculus course. Students cultivate their understanding of differential and integral calculus through engaging with real-world problems represented graphically, numerically, analytically, and verbally and using definitions and theorems to build arguments and justify conclusions as they explore concepts like change, limits, and the analysis of functions.

Students will begin by experiencing the engineering cycle through individual or pair work designing, planning, and engineering constructs for the play. These constructs will include paper and wood, polymers, concrete, and metals. They will present their work on different platforms such as wix, power point, and prezi. These units will be conducted as whole class group work, pod group work, and pairs. This course will focus on building student engineering skills and student guided project management. Individual work will be considered. Basic concepts in understanding Physics and NGSS engineering are taught in this course. The Michigan Merit Curriculum Essentials covered in the course include scientific inquiry, scientific reflection, measurement, properties of materials such as load, current, electricity, circuits, energy transfer, use of computer applications, and the engineering cycle. The essentials may include forces, volumetric calculations, electric charges, energy transformation, kinetic and potential energy, thermodynamics, wave characteristics, electromagnetic waves, wave behavior, nature of light, and flow charts. Hands–on laboratory and inquiry experience is integrated into the course. This course is a junior level course due to the mathematics needed. This course is taught in both the classroom and the STEAM center so safety and personal protective equipment usage is required. This course will only be offered in the fall.

This course examines popular music from the 1900 - 2000’s through the 1960s and how that music connected with the time period. Through discussions, projects, and activities we will learn: what styles of music were popular during the decade, popular artists and songs, what was going on in the world and our country during each decade, how people listened to music, the fashion of each decade, inventions and other firsts of each decade, and how music connects to your life.

This class is geared towards students who want physical activity without the highly competitiveness of some of the other PE classes. There will be a combination of non-sport physical activities like resistance training, yoga, walking, jogging, cycling, use of the Peloton app, and other popular online fitness programs, etc. Some sport activities will be offered as well like tennis, pickleball, volleyball, basketball, badminton, etc. depending on the trimester. There are currently 2 field trips. The first is to a yoga studio in New Buffalo, MI where students will take part in a yoga class and the other is to Go Aerial Fitness Studio in Laporte, IN. Students will learn how to combine yoga movements with aerial arts. Using a yoga swing, you will be guided through a gentle, all level practice with a few tricks and challenges sprinkled in for fun. The class also concludes each week with yoga, meditation, and a smoothie.

This course offers an in-depth exploration of individual and dual sports, providing students with the opportunity to develop skills, strategies, and a lifelong appreciation for activities that can be enjoyed throughout their lives. Students will learn the fundamentals of various sports like tennis, pickleball, badminton, bowling, etc., focusing on technique, rules, etiquette, and the physical and mental demands of each activity. The course emphasizes skill development, sportsmanship, and the benefits of regular physical activity for overall well-being. Whether you're looking to improve your competitive edge or simply enjoy recreational play, this course will equip you with the knowledge and skills to excel in individual and dual sports. This course may be offered in the first and third trimester.

Over the past several months, the Operations team has completed several upgrades and maintenance projects, including:

• Flooring replacement in the Administration Office, Transportation Office, and seven classrooms

• Transportation bus parking pad and gate replacements

• Elementary parking lot resurfacing

• New bathroom partitions

• Tennis court resurfacing

• Landscaping improvements at the High School/Middle School

And more...

These projects reflect our continued commitment to maintaining safe, functional, and inviting learning environments for all students and staff. Together, our team completes the daily cleaning of more than 285,000 square feet of school facilities and maintains over 45 acres of grounds and athletic spaces. In addition to these daily responsibilities, the team supports ongoing safety inspections, compliance requirements, and emergency response efforts across all buildings.

When: Thursday, November 6 (weather dependent)
Where: New Buffalo Elementary School Prairie

New Buffalo Elementary will partner with Chikaming Open Lands (COL) and the New Buffalo Township Fire Department (NBTFD) for an educational event — a prescribed burn of the school’s prairie.

This “Good Fire, Bad Fire” program gives students a firsthand look at how controlled burns help prairies stay healthy and diverse while also teaching about fire safety. COL’s certified burn crew will safely conduct the burn with NBTFD on site to assist and share how firefighters protect our community.

Students will watch from a safe distance as experts demonstrate fire management techniques and explain how “good fire” supports plants, animals, and ecosystems.

This event is weather-dependent and will only occur under safe, approved conditions. For more details, and full tentative agenda, please see the pdf below.