School Bell … 3/3/23

From the Superintendent
HPS Superintendent recently posted this letter to students and families on social media:
As you may have heard, I was recently reinstated as superintendent by the Hamtramck Public Schools (HPS) Board of Education. For those that do not know me, my name is Jaleela Hassan Ahmed, and I have
been the superintendent at Hamtramck Public Schools since 2019. As a lifelong educator committed to supporting the growth of our community’s children, I am eager to continue to work in partnership with you as we seek to provide our students with the high-quality educational experience they deserve.
HPS is fortunate to have an incredible team of educators and support staff at every grade level in every school building across the district. In the remaining months of this school year, the education team at HPS will build on the momentum established since September while identifying additional areas to provide supplemental support to aid our students in their ongoing development.
I am looking forward to establishing the Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Committee, which will work towards strengthening our partnership. It is my great privilege and honor to serve at Hamtramck. I am excited to hear from you as we work together to give our scholars the very best experience. One of my priorities is
to reconvene with our Special Education Parent Committee as we work together to address areas of concern.
While the district has made positive strides in the allocation of COVID-relief funds (ESSER funds) – with the introduction of summer programming for K-8 students and after-school tutoring – there is still much work ahead to best utilize those funds. To that end, we must ensure our students have the necessary resources to thrive in their educational journey by offering intervention programming and making
technology improvements and substantial building renovations so that we can provide our students with a safe, warm and engaging environment suitable for next-generation learning. I look forward to working with the team at HPS and our community to introduce these transformational improvements throughout the district.
With Spring on the horizon and a bright future facing HPS, I am reminded of the following passage by the American poet, Henry David Thoreau:
“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. … Convince me that you have a seed there and I am prepared to expect wonders.”
I am certain you will agree with me that each of our students is a seed, and I cannot wait to work and watch with you as these wonders grow.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to Hamtramck Public Schools and our school community.

Holbrook Elementary School students participated in a new reading program this year.

Reading program
Holbrook Elementary School Principal Thomas Talmadge has some exciting news about a special reading program. Here is his report:

Students made great gains this winter.
Over 50% of the building have already made their annual years growth target. Now we are focusing on student achieving their stretch growth.
Stretch growth is greater and more difficult to obtain in comparison to the annual growth. Reaching annual growth is great, but basically keeps the student on track at their current learning level.
For example, if a student is 2 levels below grade level and reaches their annual growth, they are still 2 years behind, but not decreasing in any way. By reaching the stretch growth goal, they will begin to close those educational gaps and begin to surpass grade level expectations set by iReady.
iReady has been an amazing addition to the HPS district. At Holbrook we use iReady to support the MTSS model as it provides as a progress monitoring tool as provides the staff with targeted student needs resources.
During reading workshop or math centers, one center student will have daily is their iReady learning path. The path is set for individual students for their individual needs based on their Fall and Winter assessment scores.
Teachers also can set the students learning path to what they are working on in small group and a way to reinforce and check for understanding. They can also make it less or more challenge based on the results of the lesson being completed on the path.
We are seeing great growth from our students the more they familiarize themselves with the program. I believe this growth will result in a steady growth in our State Standardized assessments as our highly qualified staff continues to do the amazing job they do and continue to utilize this program to its fullest potential.
As an added incentive, we will have an end of the year raffle. He prizes will be shared with students prior to the assessment window. If students reach their annual goal, they will get 5 tickets.
If you reach your annual and stretch growth you will get 10 tickets. If you are the highest score in the class, you will receive 10 tickets. If you are most improved, you will receive another 10 tickets.
If you did not obtain any of these but did show good test taking effort and grew some, they will receive 2 tickets.
Posted March 3, 2023