MLK Teachers Read at Borders Fundraiser

You're going to LOVE these photos of the King School staff reading at Borders last weekend for the PTO fundraiser. Thanks to the staff for volunteering their time, and thanks to our great community for supporting your PTO!

Mrs. Gatonez brought her twins to this year's reading!

The fifth grade team shares a book together. Miss Harris, one of the newest teachers to King enjoys reading to the kids.

Ms. Shah reads a picture book to the kids.

Ms. Lake and Miss Guttman

The kids loved the books!

Mrs. Rutila was the media specialist at MLK School for 34 years before retiring just two years ago. It was great to see her again.

Mrs. Gracey and daughter: reading and having fun together

Mrs. O'Keefe, our new media specialist at King. We're glad she is with us.

Mrs. Jones, who retired from King just last year after teaching here for 36 years. She still draws a big crowd!

Look at those great kids enjoying being read to!

Teacher Appreciation Week! 5/5 - 5/9

Please join me in thanking the MLK teachers for all they do--and frankly, they do a lot and they do it well. I am fortunate to work with the MLK teachers who do such great job, and I echo the words of the national PTA president, Jan Harp Domene:

“Teachers can instruct our students in math, science, and language, but more than that, teachers can give our children the will to continue learning for the rest of their lives. The gift of never-ending education is one for which we cannot show enough gratitude—but we can certainly try. The monumental responsibility of teachers should be met with an equally awe-inspiring show of appreciation, and that is why we are creating the Nation’s Largest Teacher Thank-You Card. During PTA Teacher Appreciation Week this May, please join us in recognizing the imperative and inspiring work our teachers do every day. Working together, teachers, parents, and communities can make every child’s potential a reality.”

Nominate MLK teachers and staff for the Celebration of Excellence!

I recently received the piece below from the Board of Education secretary and thought it would be a good time to remind MLK families that you can recommend MLK teachers and staff for the Celebration of Excellence Award. Thank you for your consideration.

Forwarded message:

We have made some exciting changes to the Celebration of Excellence awards! As you know, awards are given to staff who perform above and beyond what is expected in their jobs, and staff may only receive the award once. We will now award a "Gold Star" to recognize those staff whose nominations are received for a job well done, and will also include repeat nominations up to 1 per year. These "Gold Star" awardees will receive a gold star lapel pin and a $25 Borders gift card. Names of our Gold Star recipients will also be read by the PTOC chair at a Board Meeting.

Information about this change in our selection process will be on our website:

http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/boe.home/celebration_of_excellence

We are happy to continue to offer our employee recognition program. Keep those nominations coming!

New Staff at MLK

Please join me in welcoming two fantastic additions to the MLK staff: Catrice Bridges and Meadow Snyder are two new teaching assistants working in our communications classroom.

If you haven't already, I hope you'll take a moment to stop by and introduce yourselves. :-)

New faculty at MLK for 07-08

Many families already know we have some new faculty at MLK this year, and they bring tremendous skills, dedication, and enthusiasm to their work—all complemented by a good dose of friendliness! Here is a listing of who is new on the MLK faculty roster this year:
• Mrs. Becky Gracey, 3rd grade teacher. Mrs. Gracey taught at Pattengill Elementary School last year.
• Karen Hadddas, 5th grade teacher. Mrs. Haddas taught at Pattengill Elementary School last year.
• Jeff Taylor, 5th grade teacher. Mr. Taylor taught at Clague Middle School last year.
• Veroncia Monford, communications classroom teacher. Mrs. Monford taught at the Preschool and Family Center last year.
• Laura Wayne, art teacher. Ms. Wayne was hired this summer to be a part of the MLK faculty. She brings a vast amount of teaching experience outside of the AAPS, ranging from preschool through adult art education.
• Caroline Hughes, media specialist. Ms. Hughes taught at Abbot Elementary School last year.
• Helen Chamberlain, speech and language pathologist. Mrs. Chamberlain was hired during the summer to be a part of the MLK faculty.
• Patricia Goucher, psychologist. Ms. Goucher was hired during the summer to be a part of the MLK faculty.
Please join me in welcoming these fine teachers to the excellence that represents our collective work in the MLK community.

Curriculum Night, September 11

Curriculum Night 2007 will be on September 11 beginning at 6 PM. This is a perfect opportunity for parents to become better acquainted with the world-class curriculum their child will be learning this year as well as with their child's teacher. It is also a time to sign up for the fall parent-teacher conferences.

The schedule for Curriculum Night is as follows
6:00 Classroom session #1
6:45 State of School address in MP Room, everyone please attend
7:10 Classroom session #2
7:50 Curriculum Night ends, thanks for coming!

CHILD CARE: The PTO will sponsor child care for Curriculum night Tuesday Sept. 11th, 2007.

Advanced reservations are REQUIRED to help insure there are enough adults to care for children (children 4 years and older, not in diapers please). Please contact KingCare/Heather Brescol kingcare@sbcglobal.net or 734-994-4485.

Saying Farewell--and Thank You!

At the end of this school year, we’ll be saying farewell to a few of our finest teachers, representing 113 years of teaching experience! As you can imagine, this doesn't happen very often. Please consider saying your goodbye to these fine teachers at the annual MLK Ice Cream Social on June 1 from 6 - 8 PM.

In addition, if you'd like to make a contribution towards farewell gifts, please contact Mylinda Balint (jrb-myn at comcast.net) or Laurie Barnett (lcbarn at comcast.net).

Teachers leaving MLK at the end of the year:
• Our extraordinary media specialist, Marge Rutila. Mrs. Rutila is retiring and has been a dedicated teacher in Ann Arbor Public Schools for 37 years. She worked at Newport, Bader, Scarlett, Clague and Martin Luther King, spending 33 years at MLK—and the school has only been open for 37 years. In other words, Mrs. Rutila IS the MLK school media center. She has developed a space that is the hub of school activity and a model for other schools.

• One-half of the fantastic 5th grade team, Judy Pietila. Ms. Pietila is retiring and has been teaching for 32 years, spending 27 years in the Ann Arbor Public Schools with 22 of those years at MLK. She also spent two years at Bryant, one year at Eberwhite, and two years as a Language Arts Consultant at Lawton and Abbot. Ms. Pietila’s teaching in language arts and social studies in fifth grade have been fantastic.

• One of our dynamo 3rd grade teachers, Briita Hall. Mrs. Hall is retiring and has been a dedicated teacher in the Ann Arbor Public Schools since 1970 as a teacher with two years at Northside, one year at Clinton II (before it was named Bryant), 21 years at Pittsfield, and 12 years at MLK. Mrs. Hall’s thoughtful approach to teaching won’t soon be forgotten.

• Another dedicated and talented 5th grade teacher, Michelle Oliphant. Ms. Oliphant is taking a one-year leave of absence from the Ann Arbor Public Schools and will be teaching in London, England. She has spent 7 years at MLK after student teaching with Joyce Griffiths. We’ll hope to see her again somewhere down the road.

Please join me in saying farewell to these teachers at the MLK Ice Cream Social on Friday, June 1. I sincerely wish that we had more time with each of these dedicated, intelligent, caring teachers because of the excellence they represent. I’ll hope to see you Friday!