Jonesville Middle School

Good Afternoon, I don't know about you, but fall is my favorite time of the year; cooler weather, leaves are starting to change, I can relax by a campfire, and the wonderful sounds of football pads. My name is Brian Stroble, and I am the Jonesville Middle School Coach for the 2022-2023 season. I am excited to invite your child to sign up to join the football team. Below there is a link to a survey, so we can understand how many boys are interested in playing. Last year, there were only a few of the boys that played which required the 7th and 8th grade team to join together and play. This year, we are hoping that we can have enough boys that sign up to have two teams, if not then we will combine teams once again. Currently, our first practice is August 24th Practice times currently are unknown due to trying to find another coach. Our games are on Wednesday nights. The following is the current schedule but could change depending on if we have two teams or one. : Wednesday, September 7th @ Homer (scrimmage) Wednesday, September 14th Home against Union City Wednesday, September 21st @ Bronson Wednesday, September 28th Home against Springport Wednesday, October 5th @ Reading Wednesday, October 12th Home against Quincy Our schedule is found at: https://jonesvillecomets.org/main/teamschedule/id/3761937/seasonid/4711411 Please fill out the survey if your child is interested: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd16aKv-R9dV8Ak8CTXxy8awhobAYJANfjlio0rgLGanpqSmQ/viewform Thank you for your time, Coach Brian Stroble

Hello! Welcome back to the start of the 2022-23 school year. Instead of posting or attaching 10 different files, I've put them all in one place for you to find. You can find the open house letter, new student welcome letter, school supply lists, school calendar, handbook, and any other information that has been posted this year by clicking the link below. All of this information will be arriving in the mail next week, along with class schedules and additional forms to sign. We are looking forward to seeing you at the open house on August 16th! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VDurZXGEKkHURQyjhDfVuEEE4zWvj3a5/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111374203965522483858&rtpof=true&sd=true

Parents, as of right now, all information about the upcoming school year that is ready so far can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VDurZXGEKkHURQyjhDfVuEEE4zWvj3a5/edit That document will always be updated with the most current information that I have. The school supply lists, school calendar, and handbook are all current, just click on the blue links to see them. School Starts Tuesday, August 23rd Orientation and open house will be on Tuesday, August 16th: 5:30-7:00 6th Grade Orientation & Open House (Meet in Spott’s Gym) 6:00-7:00 P.M. 7th & 8th Grade Open House (Enter open doors and visit classrooms) I will have more specific information, including welcome letters and more information about open houses, by the end of next week.

Jonesville Community, In cooperation with the Jonesville City Council, Jonesville Community Schools will be swapping a portion of existing land between our maintenance garage and Sunset View Cemetery with land owned by the city south of the cemetery. The City of Jonesville approached Jonesville Community Schools about a need for cemetery expansion and wondered if we could partner with the city and community. This will allow the city and community to have a more suitable area for future expansion for the final resting place of our loved ones. City Manager Jeff Gray and I would like to thank the Jonesville City Council and Jonesville School board for being so agreeable to this and making the process that much easier to the benefit of the entire community. Sincerely, Erik Weatherwax Jeff Gray Superintendent, Jonesville Community Schools Jonesville City Manager

Please read the attached! JCS band program is in need for our band camp!

Comet families! We are happy to let you know that the USDA and MDE have partnered again to provide the “Meet Up/Eat Up” program. Beginning Tuesday, July 19th we will have 100 free meals for the kids in our community. Each meal contains 7 days worth of breakfast and dinner. The meal pickup will be at the Williams Elementary parking lot. It begins at 10 am and will go until all of the meals have been handed out. We will continue this service each Tuesday until the beginning of school. Here are the list of dates: July 19th July 26th August 2nd August 9th August 16th We hope that this is something that you find helpful! We would like to thank the Jonesville Community food service department for making this possible. Go Comets!

JCS would like to thank Jonesville Lumber and Louie Morris for their donation to improve our crossing. I know the school and community appreciate it! I would also like to thank John Taipalus and his industrial arts students for building our new entry to our ballfields. It looks much better! Go Comets!

Jonesville Mission will be giving away food boxes tomorrow, Friday at the Carl Fast Park beginning at 4:00 pm. All community members welcome!

Comet families! We have great news for our elementary students for the 2022/23 school year! We will be picking up elementary students at select stops south of 12. We know for some families this was a barrier and hope this helps you out. I know it's not even July, but we continue to enroll students for the upcoming school year. Get your slot as soon as possible! I Hope you are all enjoying your summer and go Comets!

Good morning Comet families, staff, students, and community members. Last night, the JCS school board voted unanimously to move our athletics to the Cascades Conference beginning the 2023/24 school year. This was not an easy decision given the history that JCS has had with the Big 8 but it is the right one for our students. It provides them more athletic opportunities, including JV. This will be especially true for our lady Comets. It will allow our bowling team a shot at winning a league championship. It will provide our football team points to be eligible for the postseason. There are some challenges but they are not insurmountable. The average distance to a Big 8 school is 21.1 miles. The average distance to a Cascade Conference school is 29.6 miles. We think the benefits outweigh the distance. We are excited to provide this new opportunity to our Comet athletes and we look forward to what the future will bring. Go Comets!

The Jonesville Community School Board will have four openings this year. There are two six year terms, one four year term, and one two year term available. Please be sure to specify which one you are running for. The deadline is July 26th by 4:00 pm. You can either come to JCS central off at 115 East st. to get a petition for signatures, or go to the county clerk's office and pay $100. Come be a part of the Comet community!

Comet families! As you have probably heard, we have been in talks about a potential athletic conference change to the Cascades conference. This is something that has been, loosely, discussed for years but a formal invitation was sent out to JCS on June 10th. We have had committee meetings that included community members, coaches, board members, principals, etc. so that we can hear all the perspectives. We also held a community engagement meeting last night. We know the history of the Big 8 goes back many decades and has a proud tradition, so why even have this discussion? With declining enrollment amongst schools, other Big 8 schools have had to cut athletic opportunities altogether whether it's golf or JV sports to name a couple. This has limited the opportunities for our students and has made finding make up games very challenging. In meetings with the Big 8, they have said they will work to bring those programs back but there is uncertainty with that due to enrollments and budgets. Please take a look at the attached form to see offerings of the Big 8 and Cascades to get a better idea. A couple of questions from the community have been about the history and the distances. History is important and tradition matters no doubt about it. However, it doesn’t solve the opportunity issue for our kids today. If that history deprives our kids of what could be a better future then we have to think about that. As for the distance difference, the average distance increases from 28.71 in the Big 8 to 37.2 in the Cascades Conference. I know this is no small decision for our community. The other schools in the Big 8 have good people and kids and want what is best for their students. This is not a reflection of them at all. However, we also have to advocate for our kids and when you remove all other aspects, this is what is best for them. The coaches, JCS staff, and community members we have engaged with have all been supportive but with good questions. The board will vote on whether to make this switch on Monday, June 27th. If it passes, this will take effect in the ‘23/24 school year. Whether it passes or not, we look forward to great things from our Comet athletes. Go Comets!

The Jonesville Community School Board will have four openings this year. There are three trustee positions and one secretary position. The deadline is July 26th by 4:00 pm. You can either come to JCS central office at 115 East st. to get a petition and signatures, or go to the county clerk's office and pay $100. Be sure to check the terms because they are different. Come be a part of the great things going on in JCS! Go Comets!

Comet families! Jonesville Community Schools has been in conversations with the Cascades Conference about moving to their league. Last week, they extended a formal invitation to the Cascade Conference. I am well aware of the history that Jonesville has with the Big 8 and this is not a decision to be taken lightly, so we have had small committee meetings with community members and staff about this potential move. We would now like to extend an invitation to the larger community about this. We will be holding a Q&A on Tuesday, June 21st for families interested at the Jonesville High School at 6:00. Please come with any questions you may have. This is an exciting opportunity for JCS, but I want to be sure that all questions and concerns are answered before a formal decision is made. We hope to see you then! Go Comets!!!

After 25 years of dedicated service, Mr. Eyre retired today. He will be sorely missed by staff and students. We wish him the very best!

Today, we had six very qualified nominations for our schools highest honor, the Brad Boyle award. This award is given to a student athlete who excels in academics and citizenship. This year's nominees were Grant Broesamle, Ryder Cornett, Brookie Lewis, Meah Prater, Grace Soltis, and Cody Udzik. They were all very deserving of this award, and it was a very hard decision to make. This year's winner of the 2022 Brad Boyle Award is Grace Soltis. Congratulations Grace!! And thank you to all our nominees. We're very proud of all of you.

Congratulations to Maddie Tracy for breaking the middle school records for the 100 meter and 200 meter dash. Maddie placed 1st in both events at the Mid Michigan Megastar Meet in the small school division. Maddie broke the 100 meter dash record from 2011 with a time of 13.35 and the 200 meter dash record from 2004 with a time of 27.9!

Even though it can get crazy during last weeks of school, Mrs Mandrelle’s 6th grade science class didn’t spend Friday afternoon counting blades of grass to keep busy! 😅 We were taking random samples in an area to extrapolate data for estimating the dandelion population! Definitely more complicated than simple counting for our ecology unit! #OneComet

CONGRATULATIONS GIRLS! The 4x200 relay team of Maddie Tracy, Miley Dunlap, Amelia Means, and Payton Nichelson broke the middle school record from 2003 with a time of 1:54.34 at the Onsted Relays.

Jonesville Mission will be providing their fresh food boxes tomorrow at the Carl Fast Memorial Park at 4:00.