Welcome to November! For my update this week I'd like to speak a little bit about the rising number of COVID cases that we are seeing at the national, state, and local levels. Each week our district administration sits in on two update meetings from the Health Department, one from the Bay County Health Department and the other for the Central Michigan Health Department, which services Arenac County. These meetings allow for us to hear directly from the medical field as to what is going on, trends in the numbers, and recommendations for action. These weekly meetings have been very informative and helpful in that they have provided us the data that we need to make the best decisions possible to keep our staff and students safe.

Numbers are on the rise everywhere and that includes our county and our community. It is very easy to be feeling the effects of COVID fatigue (see article link about this below) right now, but this is the time that we need to be most diligent with our safety measures. We continue to work with our students (and they've done an excellent job) about the importance of properly wearing masks and we appreciate you doing the same at home. To avoid fatigue, sometimes we all need a reminder about the importance of washing our hands or hand sanitizing frequently and to avoid touching our faces. At this point it would be easy to settle into this "new normal" that we now find ourselves in, but the reality is, while we respect the routine and are working with it, we don't want this to be normal and we want to defeat COVID and move on. Until that time we must remain steadfast in our precautions.

You, as a community, have done an amazing job of being a true partner with our district on the COVID front as we continue to provide the face-to-face instructional option that is so desired in our district. Thank you for your commitment to keeping us informed. I received word from our health department this week that they are getting very backed up once again and at times the contact tracing and calls are being delayed. I would encourage all of our AGS families to not wait for the health department to call us, but rather to reach out directly to the school when they have information that will help us with the process in a timely manner. We all truly appreciate the precautions you are taking and the notifications you are making to the school and urge you to continue you with your diligence.

We have intentionally designed our learning paths this year to allow for students to transition into a parallel lane of instruction should they have to be out of school for any amount of time. If your son or daughter has to be out because they are feeling under the weather, that is okay, their learning can and should still continue. This is one of the many reasons why we continue to do a virtual Wednesday for the entirety of our district, so that we may all maintain (and hopefully continue to build) our virtual learning capacity.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for commitment to our community and our schools and for being a partner in the education and safety of our students. No one can predict what is going to happen, but when we all work together we can overcome any obstacle that is thrown our way.

Stay safe everyone and have a great weekend. #AGSInThisTogether #WolverinesLead

-Mr. Ming

Now that we’re starting a new marking period, we all have a fresh new start. We all have no missing assignments and we all have A’s! Please make sure that you are staying on top of things and asking questions to your teachers if you don’t understand. Take advantage of every day in class as we never know when we’ll be directly impacted by Covid and in person learning is taken away.

Because this is the traditional time of the year for the flu, it is difficult (if not impossible) to determine whether you “just” have the flu bug or if it’s something more. Please make sure you are taking your child’s temperature at home if there is any question at all about a possible illness. The health department is using the following information to determine if families should be Covid tested or quarantined: You should be tested or quarantined if you have one of the following symptoms: cough, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, new smelling disorder, or new taste disorder. They are also recommending quarantining or being Covid tested if you have two of the following: fever, chills, rigors, myalgia (aches and pains), headache, sore throat, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, congestion, or runny nose. Thanks for consistently doing the many little things that allow us to still be in session.

As we continue to get back into the routine of being back on campus, it is still important to remain vigilant about what is happening in our region regarding COVID-19 and to be prepared for all possible scenarios, whether it be a classroom quarantine or a school-wide closure. Part of our Return to Learn Plan required by the state was to prepare for each different possible scenario and to be prepared to move fluidly between each one. Therefore, it is important for students to remember to take their electronic devices back and forth from school each day along with any other materials that they are using for specific classes. In the unfortunate event of a school closure by the Governor or the Health Department, we want to be prepared to continue school without missing a beat by continuing with instruction like it was when we began remotely.

Elementary teachers and parents were able to meet this week for our first set of virtual parent/teacher conferences for our youngest students. Although it was an unconventional way to hold conferences, it was wonderful to be able to make those connections. If you missed your conference with your teacher, or if you had an IRIP meeting with myself or Mrs. Gordon scheduled and weren’t able to attend, please be sure to reschedule so that we can pass along all important pieces of information!

Anxiety

Regardless of age, gender, race or socioeconomic status, we all face stressful situations in life. For many people, including students, stress is uncomfortable, but manageable. For others, stress leads to feelings of anxiety and interferes with the ability to function at work, at school and/or at home.

Anxiety is intense feelings of being afraid, nervous, tense or worried that are too strong for the situation, go on too long and get in the way of normal life. Being afraid is normal for survival in situations of real danger but sometimes the feelings are transferred to situations that are not actually dangerous. The same is true about worry. Worrying can be helpful when it is important to be prepared and consider possible things that could go wrong. But worrying about many things all the time is unhelpful and distressing. All anxiety problems involve being overly afraid or worried. When fear and worry are not necessary, are too strong and interfere with life it is a problem and important to get help.

Are you, or someone you know suffering from anxiety? Anxiety is a very common mental health problem. As many as 30% of youth experience elevated anxiety and its prevalence in school seems to be on the rise. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is being cited as a likely reason for the increase.

Many cases of anxiety are treatable with short term therapy, but sometimes, especially if the person with anxiety is exhibiting self harm, antidepressant medicine may be prescribed.

More can be learned about anxiety here. Contact the school if you would like to talk to someone or receive additional resources related to anxiety.

• Wed. Nov 11: Virtual Day for all students
• Mon. Nov. 16: School Holiday for staff and students, Board of Education Meeting at 6pm

Email: web@ags-schools.org
Website: www.ags-schools.org
Location: 310 South Court Street, Au Gres, MI, USA
Phone: (989) 876-7150
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Twitter: @agsschools