The Au Gres-Sims School District

www.ags-schools.org

Hello Au Gres-Sims Families,

The holidays are almost here and with the snow this week, the feeling of winter has certainly become real. Just a reminder to all of our families that we do have school on Monday and Tuesday, the 21st and 22nd. Winter break will officially begin on December 23rd and our staff and students will return to AGS on Monday, January 4th.

This afternoon a press conference was held to address the restrictions that the state has been under. There were a lot of positives to take away from the press conference, including big improvements made in our state's battle with the pandemic. In the interest of continuity and consistency with learning, we will keep our high school students virtual for next Monday and Tuesday. The news today out of the Governor's office, however, means that we will be able to welcome our high school students back to in-person learning, along with the rest of our preK-8 grade students, on January 4th.

As we prepare for the holidays, we know that things are not yet back to normal. The holidays are the time for friends and family and unfortunately, the pandemic will make that difficult this year. While I know that every family faces a difficult decision with their holiday planning, please keep in mind that we have all learned new skills this year that we didn't have before that make connecting with family much easier. Use of virtual meetings, games, and get togethers through Zoom, Google Meet, and other platforms have provided an opportunity for us to "be" with family, while still being safe and doing our part to stem the spread of the virus. Many people made the decision not to travel during Thanksgiving and it had a positive impact on the spread in Arenac County (meaning that transmission is decreasing). Making a similar decision for the Christmas and New Years holidays would help even further.

There is light at the end of the tunnel that has been the pandemic. My hope is that we can continue to navigate these choppy waters together to ensure that everyone has the very best of holiday seasons.

Have a great weekend,

-Mr. Ming

Update

The Holiday Season is a great opportunity to talk to kids about online safety and responsible social media use. As kids get new devices and spend more time online, now is the time to have these important conversations. At school, we use a monitoring system called Bark to oversee student activity. It notifies us when in areas such as profanity, bullying, depression, violence, sexual content, and many more. Here are 5 more tips to help keep kids safe online.

Create a Family Technology Agreement

Set the rules and repercussions for online behavior before giving your kids devices. This will help limit inappropriate behavior as new apps constantly emerge.

Implement a digital bedtime

The common theme between cyberbullying, sexting/sextortion (a new trend), online predators and screen addiction is that most times this occurs after parents have gone to bed. Set a time each night to stop technology use. Most importantly, store and charge all devices outside of their rooms at night. Don’t allow kids to have access to the devices after parents have gone to bed.

Discuss how to report online predators

Reports of online predators have increased more than 90% this year during COVID-19. Make sure your kids know they can come to you if an online predator tries to communicate with them.

Review social media accounts and past posts

Understand that there are long lasting consequences of social media posts. 70% of employers and 35% of college admissions counselors now look at social media. Take the time to sit down with your kids to review their past social media posts.

Give careful consideration before purchasing new devices

The sad truth is that social media has been linked to increased levels of anxiety and depression amongst young people. Now combine that with online predators, sexting/sextortion, inappropriate content, and cyberbullying and it can make for a recipe of bad results.

So, what else can you do as a parent? There is a product called Bark Jr. that lets parents set daily screen time schedules for their child's personal devices and block specific websites and apps as well as general categories like streaming, gaming, and more. You can even restrict access during school hours to educational sites only. From now until Dec. 31, 2020, Bark Jr. is offering free lifetime Bark Jr subscriptions to all parents. Sign up today to take advantage of this special offer.

From the Desk of Mrs. Socha

I am happy to announce a partnership with Graduation Alliance, to further support our students here at Au Gres-Sims. We are fortunate to be taking part in a program called Engage Michigan, which is helping to support students across our state during the pandemic. Over the next several days, I will be working with a representative to identify students at Au Gres-Sims in grades K-12 who would benefit from this program, based on their engagement, grades, and attendance. After the first of the year, coaches and mentors from Engage Michigan will reach out to families in the effort to increase attendance and academics. The coach will help to identify any obstacles that are preventing engagement, and help the student with necessary skills needed to be successful in a remote learning environment. The coaches will monitor the student’s pace and progress, and will support the student to stay engaged. Not to be confused with tutoring, these coaches will help students develop a plan to stay on track with their academic work.

We are very excited about the opportunity to take advantage of this important support tool. This is being fully funded through grants from the Michigan Department of Education, and will be staffed by individuals who have a background in education or social work. We could not pass up the opportunity to provide even more support to the students here at Au Gres-Sims.

Please see the flyer below for more information about this program.

Athletics Update

Winter store items will be available for pick up at the school Tuesday night at 7 pm. Distribution will be at the main gym entrance and you can drive up and we will bring out your items for you.

Merry Christmas and thank you for supporting the AGS school store.

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Mark Your Calendars

Mon, Dec 21: School Board Meeting 6pm
Dec. 23-Jan. 1: School Holiday - Winter Break
Jan. 4: First day back to school for in-person learning

Wolverine Wake-up! Written by the students of Au Gres-Sims

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The Wolverine Wake-Up is a weekly newsletter written by Seniors in the current events seminar class with Mr. Freeman. Each week students participate in discussions, centering around current events occurring locally and internationally, and their impact upon society. The newsletter, summarizing these current events, is emailed to Au Gres-Sims School District students and staff in grades 6-12 each Friday morning.

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The Wolverine Wake-Up December 18, 2020.pdf

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1.7 MB

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AGS Receives a $500 Grant!

Thank you to Exxon and Dore’s Mobil M65 Jerky Outlet for awarding the Au Gres-Sims School District with a $500 grant from the Educational Alliance School Grant Recipient. Exxon and Mobil are fueling young minds and helping create aha moments through the Educational Alliance. Since its inception, Exxon and Mobil have committed over $34 million to this national program, which funds math and science programs at schools in need. It’s part of their ongoing effort to support science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education within the communities they serve.