Mid July Update

Side-by-side traffic, voices on the bay, fireworks popping, and birds chirping – summer is in FULL swing in Grand Marais.  The 4th of July was a great opportunity for me to get out into the community to both talk to people who are interested in hearing about my thoughts on the school and also listen to people and their thoughts on the school.  My wife and I had our families out here from the “west end” of the UP and we watched the parade, played the kids games put on by the Irvine family (Superior Hardware), and shopped local to support the people who keep this small town going.  The school was even lucky enough to be given almost $200 in donations, raised by the folks who were in town riding the Joy Box Express.  A wholehearted thank you to them.

Mark Braun playing his mobile piano on the 4th of July.

My day to day work at the school has been steady with emails, phone calls, facilities updates, and infrastructure planning.  I’ve been busy getting up to speed with the help of Olivia, Louis, Gary, and Jane.  They’re all doing double duty this summer, working hard completing their typical summer tasks but also fielding all of my questions and providing me with the necessary information I need to do my job effectively.  They say it takes a village to raise a child but it also takes a village to run a school.  We’re undoubtedly stronger together.

Solar panels on top of the school roof.

On the teaching and learning side, I’ve been pursuing a sustainable social-emotional/mental health program.  I’m currently looking at Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) as a potential option.  PBIS is part of a multi-tiered system of support for helping all students, targeting support for some students, and providing individualized interventions for students who need it the most.  I’m not quite convinced with PBIS but it’s still early days.  We are lucky enough to get support from Alger County Communities that Care (AC3) to provide funding for MARESA’s mental health specialist Amy Baranek to drive out from Marquette once a week but we need to be doing more, much more.  In my research, I came across this article from Second Wave Michigan that talks about how nearly dozens of Michigan schools are using telehealth to provide mental health support for students in need.  I absolutely love this idea since it is not geographically-bound and will continue to look into how we can provide “virtual visits” to our students in Grand Marais.

Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) graphical representation.

Lastly in this post, I’d like to address the Covid-19 protocol for the 2021/2022 school year.  I had a meeting with all of the MARESA superintendents on the morning of July 14th along with representatives from the local public health departments from Marquette and Alger County.  Everything we do this year will be based on level of community transmission of Covid-19.  I am happy to announce that currently community transmission is low and as such we are currently planning on begining the upcoming school year by making masks optional for teachers and students.  I have updated our Coronavirus Hub page on our school website with further recommendations that we will be following to start the school year.  Please be sure to check that page for updates.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to serve this community.  I’m very much looking forward to a fun, productive, and safe upcoming school year.  Until then though, please everyone continue to enjoy your summer!