Lisa McLaughlin, who led Waterloo Elementary School to win a nationwide contest to build a new playground and who led the efforts to make Waterloo the only STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) school in Monroe County, has been named principal of Custer Elementary School, the district’s largest elementary school.
“Lisa has been an innovative education leader at Waterloo and has led the school during an unprecedented time of a growth in learning opportunities for her students and staff,” said Julie Everly, deputy superintendent, Monroe Public Schools. “She is a participative leader, one who will lead another very strong staff and a large number of dedicated school parents who strongly support Custer School.”
Mrs. Everly added that Mrs. McLaughlin strongly believes in “connecting” with students as part of the educational engagement process.
“Lisa takes a personal interest in the success of all of her students. Whether it is dressing up like the Cat in the Hat to stress the importance of reading, or creating gardens for her students to experience life sciences, Lisa understands the investment and dedication that creating a true community of learners requires,” Mrs. Everly said.
Mrs. McLaughlin earned her Bachelor of Education Degree at the University of Toledo. She also earned her Masters Degree in Education and her Educational Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University.
Waterloo became the first STEAM school in Monroe County in the 2014-15 school year, under the leadership of Mrs. McLaughlin. That dedication has continued over the summer as Waterloo has started its own summer learning camps, the only Monroe school which has such offerings for its students this summer.
In her time at Waterloo, Mrs. McLaughlin has forged ties with the University of Michigan where U of M Hospital staff take a day hosting Waterloo students, talking to them about career paths that include college. Several times in recent years, U of M football players came to Waterloo to speak with students about the importance of getting a good education. She also led the charge to help Waterloo win a $25,000 playground improvement grant from Bridgestone Tires in a nationwide contest in the spring of 2014. Under Mrs. McLaughlin’s leadership, Waterloo became the district’s first Green School for its environmental activism.
Interviews will begin shortly to choose a successor for Mrs. McLaughlin at Waterloo.
See what has been going on at Monroe High School this summer when the Summer Learning Academy “Goes Public” on Thursday, July 30. Doors of the school will be open for the public viewing of summer projects and learnings from 8:45 a.m. until noon. Stop out and appreciate all the students have done this summer. The event is so big it takes the entire Monroe High School C wing to hold it. We will “C” you there.
Make sure you bring your “A game” for the first Monroe Boys and Girls Basketball Tournament August 8-9 in the Monroe High School gym. Registration is $15 per person and players are encouraged to sign up as a three-member team. Games begin at 10 a.m. each day and players who are under age 18 must have a waiver signed by a parent or guardian. Persons with questions can contact either MHS varsity basketball coach Delmar Hoskins, 734-799-2488, or Darin Hoskins, 734-652-0050. Registration and payment can be mailed to Coach Hoskins at 334 Conant Ave., Monroe, MI 48161. The registration blank is attached to this document. Registration deadline is July 27.
Nicole Shaughnessy, who has taught science and related subjects at Monroe High School since 2006, has been appointed assistant principal at Monroe Middle School.
The appointment of Mrs. Shaughnessy was affirmed by the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education at its July 14 meeting.
During her time as a Monroe High School teacher, Mrs. Shaughnessy taught biology, biophysics, chemistry in the community, ecology and freshman seminar courses, and spent considerable time teaching at the Knabusch Math and Science Center. She chaired the Monroe High School Improvement Committee which led Monroe High’s achievement of Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) and national accreditation. She also created the popular SurvivorKids Camp for elementary-aged students to learn outdoor skills and celebrate nature. The program now is in its second year.
Her time at Monroe High School also included six school years of working with the school’s Upward Bound Program, where she tutored students in all science courses twice weekly during the school year, and ran workshops for the students on how to prepare for the science portion of the ACT.
Mrs. Shaughnessy earned her bachelors degree with high honors in biology and chemistry from Michigan State University. She also earned her masters degree in curriculum and teaching from MSU.
“We are proud of Nicole and what she has achieved in her years as a classroom teacher at Monroe High School. She is a great example of the kind of dedicated teachers we have at every level of our district,” said Mrs. Julie Everly, deputy superintendent, Monroe Public Schools. “We are confident that the great relationship she had with her students as a teacher and the track record she had as education innovator and leader will translate to great success for her and Monroe Middle School as an administrator.”
In her new role, she will work with Monroe Middle School Principal Cindy Flynn. Mrs. Shaughnessy succeeds Jessica Shultz, who left Monroe Public Schools for a principal position in another district.
Two Monroe High School seniors-to-be recently completed the College Summit Future Corps Training Workshop at Redlands University, Redlands, Cal. Banty Hill (left) and Aurea Williams, and their chaperone, MHS staff member Savannah Garcia, represented Monroe High School, one of only 25 Michigan schools invited to participate in the national training. With their training, Banty and Aurea now will be able to run school-wide peer-to-peer campaigns to increase college application submissions, help students to understand how to complete Federal Applications for Student Loans and increase academic enrollment. The training also equips them to train teachers and fellow students in the latest college access and success technology applications. The training also will help Banty and Aurea to increase the reach of the college counseling staff at Monroe High School by helping to institute an eight-student corps to help counselors maximize their impact to reach all students. MHS is the only high school in Monroe County to have students from its student body attend the national seminar.
Some 110 new Apple iPads will be available to students at Arborwood, Custer and Waterloo elementary schools for the 2015-2016 school year after recent action by the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education.
The iPad purchases, as well as 200 more Dell Chromebooks for use throughout the district, two new servers and eight ceiling-mounted classroom projectors for Arborwood, were among the nearly $400,000 in technology-related purchases approved by the school board.
The purchase of the additional iPads extends the number of one-to-one devices in each school. The additional hardware purchases were made to replace aging equipment and equipment which no longer worked as efficiently as needed. Those changes are expected to be implemented before school starts in September.
“All of the equipment will be used to enhance the learning experience of our students as well as providing our staff with the supporting technology tools to accomplish this,” said David Payne, Director, Technology, for Monroe Public Schools.
The largest portion of the nearly $400,000 in expenditures is in license and maintenance renewals for existing equipment. Among the $278,000 approved was money to support computer system security for cloud-based systems, desktops and laptops, phone system support, Microsoft Office and Windows licensing, the PowerSchool student information system and a replacement system for the Honeywell notification system.
“Although it was not among the most costly of purchases, the switch to a new provider for parent notifications via telephone, email and text now will have a tremendous impact on our families,” Mr. Payne said. “The new system – called School Messenger -- will be operational by the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. It will allow us to get important messages to our families much more quickly and allow us to more efficiently direct the messages to the people who need to hear them.”
All children up to age 18 – including all Monroe Public Schools students – will be able to enjoy a free lunch every week day this summer thanks to a program administered locally by the Speckled Frog Early Learning Center. Seven sites throughout the Monroe Public Schools district are hosting the open free lunches, including Monroe High School where the Summer Learning Academy is being held.
“We are glad to make our sites available this summer for this nutritious lunch program. With seven places offering public lunches, there is a pretty good chance no one will have to go far for lunch,” said Julie Everly, assistant superintendent, Monroe Public Schools. “It is a real benefit for our Summer Learning Academy students to be able to have lunch as part of the school day. Siblings are invited to lunch, too, as long as they meet the age requirement.”
No registration is necessary and anyone 18 and younger is welcome to come and have lunch. Any child five or younger will have to be accompanied by an adult.
Here are the participating locations open for the public and their hours of operation. Note that lunches are served Monday through Friday, with one exception.
- Monroe High School, 11:45 a.m. through 12:45 p.m., through July 30. Lunches served Monday through Thursday.
- Monroe Family YMCA, 11:30 a.m. through 12:30 p.m., through August 28.
- Oaks of Righteousness Church, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., through August 28.
- Speckled Frog Learning Center, noon to 12:30 p.m., through August 28.
- Village Pines, noon to 1 p.m., through August 28.
- Waterloo Elementary School, 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., July 13 through August 14.
- Willow Green Mobile Home Park, noon to 1 p.m., through August 28th.
Free lunches also are provided at the Riverside Early Learning Center for pre-school only who are registered in those classes.
Waterloo Elementary School begins its Summer Camps and Family Fun schedule of daytime classes the week of July 13 with special programming lasting well into August.
Waterloo Principal Mrs. Lisa McLaughlin said the camps have proven so popular with Waterloo students that many of the classes which are provided free of charge have waiting lists of up to 20 students. In addition, lunch is provided free each day.
Here is this year’s schedule of camps:
July 13-17, Super Scientist Camp, all day.
July 20-24, Robotics Camp, morning (older students); Readers Theater Camp, morning (younger students); Robotics Camp, afternoon (younger students); Readers Theater Camp, afternoon (older students).
August 3-6, Video Announcements and Wild Wind Camps, presented by the Monroe County Intermediate School District staff, all day.
August 10-14, Engineering Camp, all day.
In addition, Waterloo will schedule a program of 4-H fun for students in the 3rd through 6th grades this fall. The group will attend the Monroe County Fair to plan for a year of 4-H activities at Waterloo.
Families can get in on the fun, too, with Family Geocaching Nights at the Knabusch Math and Science Center in Bolles Harbor. The two remaining nights are July 13 and 27. In this activity, participants will learn the principles behind the Global Positioning System and how it is used is business and for fun.
Monroe High School will host a summer Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Tuesday July 21. The Red Cross is in desperate need of life-saving blood. Persons willing to donate should contact blood drive director Sven Wollschlaeger through either email at corinasinbox@yahoo.com or by phone or text at 734-790-5318.
Monroe High School track star Stephen Blunt has been named the Region Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year by the Monroe News. So what did he accomplish to earn the honor? According to the Monroe News, “He set a school record in the 100-meter dash. Won the 100 and the 200 in the team state meet, was a Regional champions, won Track Athlete of the Meet honors at the Mason Invitational, ran anchor on the state champion 800 relay team that set a Monroe County Region record and was part of a state runner-up 400 relay that also broke the record. The secret to his success? Stephen told the Monroe News “he usually listen to slow hip-hop music until about a minute before a race ‘just to calm myself down and not get overly excited.” He plans to run track in college, study criminal justice and possible become a border/customs agent. His teammate Corey Goodloe also was considered for the Track Athlete of the year honor.