Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Team Cooper Updates


Well, it’s hard to believe it’s the end of another terrific school year!   This summer Cooper will be undergoing a major make-over as part of the Phase 1 schools bond renovation.  Cooper will look completely different in the fall.  Here are some of the renovations taking place this summer:
·       All new double pane insulated windows
·       All outside doors replaced
·       New foyer with entrance through the main office
·       New entrance way with signage, columns, and benches
·       New ceiling tiles
·       New floor tiles
·       New painting
·       Redoing the bathrooms
·       New lighting
·       New lockers
·       Vertical unit ventilators
·       New white boards
·       Upgrade to WiFi capability
·       New PA’s, phones, bells and alarms, clocks, exit signs
Due to the renovations, the building will not be open this summer.  All staff must be out of the building as of Friday, June 13 at 3:30.  The District is asking that students, staff, and the community please stay off Cooper property during the renovations as it will be very unsafe.  As of right now, we are being told that the first day we may have access to Cooper is Thursday, August 28.  This means that teachers will only have one day in their classrooms before students arrive on Tuesday, September 2.  The rooms and building will not look as good as usual but we will do our best to have it ready to welcome our students on the first day of school!
Packet pick-up for 5th and 6th grade students will be held at Hayes Elementary School, 30600 Louise Westland, MI, on August 22.  Students will receive their packet which contains school information and their classroom teacher assignment.  We will not hold our usual Parent Orientation Night in August due to the lack of access to the building.  Parent Informational Nights for incoming students were held June 5 and June 9.  Due to the renovations, Cooper Curriculum Night and Open House will be held much later than usual.  Cooper’s Curriculum Night and Open House for 5th grade students will be held October 13, 2014 and for 6th grade students on October 20, 2014. 
Just another reminder that Livonia Public Schools has  two millage renewals on the ballot in August.  Again, these are renewals of two millages that have been in place for the last 20 years.  The first is a tax on business only and the state expects that all districts will pass this millage. It is essential to our operation, as it raises in the neighborhood of $20 million annually. The second is our sinking fund renewal, which generates money each year for projects outside the scope of the bond issue, such as emergency repairs, roofs, parking lots, etc.   This is also key to maintaining our schools.  The total request is the lowest amount in the past 20 years. There is information on our website: www.livoniapublicschools.org/millages.  Cooper will not be a voting precinct this summer due to the renovations.  Our precincts will be moved to Hayes Elementary for the August election.
We hope you have a wonderful summer sharpening the saw!  Thank you for sharing your children with us.  We look forward to seeing everyone in the fall!

Monday, June 9, 2014

Parent Lighthouse Team Forming

As a Leader in Me school, we currently have a Staff Lighthouse Team as well as a Student Lighthouse Team. The next phase of our Leader in Me implementation is to create a Parent Lighthouse Team, which will help us continue our mission of Learning & Leading at Cooper. We met this past week with some parents to brainstorm ideas on how to develop this team. The list below are just some of the ideas that came out of this meeting:
  • Include at least one parent from each classroom on the Parent Lighthouse Team.
  • Host a book study around the Leader in Me book by Stephen Covey.
  • Increase communication with families to inform and support the 7 Habits at home (i.e. email blasts,  blog posts, notes home in backpacks, and social media).
  • Reach out to new families to welcome them and to help foster a sense of community (i.e Class of 2022).
  • Support a student driven community outreach activity.
We are so grateful to the parents who were able to join us to help generate so many suggestions and ideas. We are excited to get this team up and running in the fall! Stay tuned for more information when we return to school in September.

In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about the Leader in Me, you may be interested in reading the book as well as The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families. Both of these books were written by Stephen Covey.

The Leader in Me by Stephen Covey