April 20, 2018

Maddy the Therapy Dog - @MaddyTherapyDog

Greetings,

I hope you are having an outstanding Friday and preparing for an even better weekend. It is so important to have a positive attitude everyday. Whether you focus on some part of each day that you are looking forward to or simply focusing on the fact that every morning your eyes open is a blessing – it is all about your state of mind. Your outlook and perspective on each day will largely make it so. Your hustle and tenacity make everything else possible.

Gary Vanyerchuck, or "Gary V”, has a large online presence. He is an entrepreneur, thought leader, and simply a very outspoken critic of those who complain instead of celebrating each moment. Whether it is scientifically accurate I am not sure, but he says the odds of becoming a human being are 400 trillion to one. According to Gary V, you are more likely to win the Lotto 10 times in your life than to simply have a life. Knowing how rare winning the Lotto is, that is an amazing statement. Caution, before you search out Gary V’s podcasts or videos, I want to warn you that he uses explicit language. Despite the language, his messages about making the most of your life are excellent (he can be found @garyvee on Twitter).

Ultimately you can make it a great day or not, the choice is yours! Choose wisely.

Good News Comes in Three’s:
Three bits of good news for MPS:
You may recall last school year after our District budget was approved, an additional $700k was taken away. It was later returned to us but in the form of a loan. After much lobbying and advocating for MPS we were successful in getting that loan turned into a grant that does not need to be paid back.

This year’s state aid was ‘flat’ or the same as it has been for more than 8 years. Well not quite flat since when the snapshot was taken of last year’s budget to determine what we would get this year was taken after the money was taken out leaving the 2018-2019 school budget for MPS short just over $700k. After much lobbying and advocating for MPS we were successful in getting that money returned to the District’s State Aid (*although still drastically below what this community needs and deserves, it is still a victory).

Lastly, as you will recall the MPS District was in a legal dispute with the new full-time Technical School over high school athletics. Specifically, the case centered on whether another school district had the right to force our District to provide and supplement athletics for their District. We received the Judge’s decision in favor of the MPS District. We were successful in defending our position. Unfortunately it does not end here. The new NJ Commission of Education has 45 days to review the Judge’s findings and either support or overturn her decision. Stay tuned!

SHOUT-OUTS

"We would like to recognize the overwhelming love and support we have felt after the passing of our student. The response by our staff and the support from the entire district and community has helped us get through a very difficult time. We appreciate everyone’s willingness to be here to help students and staff and all of the flowers and messages of support. We are very grateful to be a part of the Millville Public Schools family."
~Steve Saul, Principal

"I would like to thank Mrs. Bacon for making arrangements for our wonderful guest speaker for our future Engineering students. This was an amazing opportunity for our students."

"I would like to thank Maddy for being her lovable self in supporting our students and especially our elementary students in a time of need."
~Stephanie DeRose, Principal

"I would like to thank Kim Hallenbeck for her perseverance and positive attitude in working with an enormous student record file with over 2000 records for our upcoming PARCC testing. Kim never gave up and found herself an ""Excel Expert"" in the end. I appreciate your ability to be flexible and work out of your comfort zone. Thanks again!!"
~Pat Wulk, Supervisor

"Thank you to Teale Carroll for assisting with coordinating the Franklin Institute Traveling Science Exhibit this week at LMS. Teale worked with our partners from the Connecting Families to Communities and the Holly City Development Center. We had over 300 visitors participate in the Science Night!'
~Spike Cook, Principal

"Amanda Schreiner, Sue Whilden, Sherry Gromes, Ashley Trovarelli:  Your dedication to our students, families, and staff helps us all provide an education for our students that is World Class. Thank You!"
~Steve Matusz, Exec. Director

"A huge shout out to our fifth and sixth grade special education teachers and case managers for their work this week during our transition meetings at Lakeside. As we go kid by kid and discuss individual needs, I hear all the love and hard work that has been poured into our classified students over the years and the preparedness of our sixth grade team to transition these students to Lakeside and make them successful in their respective programs. Thank you for being the World Class educators our students deserve!"
~Debby Sukinik, Supervisor

"Thank you to Pat Wulk, Trish Curcuru, Susan Trout, and Jackie Cruz for all of the work they have done getting Rieck Ave ready for PARCC. I'm grateful we have such a great team working on making sure everything is ready for the students to take PARCC."
~Brian Robinson, Principal

"Congratulations to Gerald Bruman , Shawn Jenkins and the MHS Robotics Team for finishing 3rd in the TSA Skills Competition at the College of NJ. Great job!"
~Joanne Colacurcio, Supervisor

Dr. David N. Gentile
Superintendent of Schools
“Lead Learner”
@drgentile_mps (Twitter)
856-327-6001

#MPSWC (MPS World Class)
#greatdaytobeabolt

Published by Spike Cook, Millville, NJ