Gobles Public Schools now has the ability to send general or emergency messages via email, phone or text to the contact of your choice. Using the Gobles Parent Portal, you can update phone numbers, emails and contact information in real time, ensuring messages get to the right person, at the right time.  Messenger with Voice provides you with:

• Emergency Notifications – Receive emergency messages via email, phone or text. 
• Message Options – Receive general messages regarding attendance, behavior, assignments and more. 
• Preferred Communication – Set your preferences to indicate how you would like to receive messages (general, emergency, attendance, etc.). Choose from voice, text and email options.

See detailed instructions on how to make these changes in the Parent Portal.

If you have additional questions regarding Campus Messenger with Voice, please contact the school in which your child attends:

• Gobles Elementary: 269-628-2131
  
• Gobles Middle/High School: 269-628-2113

Educators at all levels understand that learning to read is the basis for much of the learning that happens inside and outside of school, so there is reason to be very excited about reading results teachers are seeing in the kindergarten class this year.
At the semester break in mid-January, tests showed that students are progressing as readers at an unprecedented rate. This school year more than 95% percent of all kindergarten students in Gobles are achieving at grade level or have passed grade level already this school year. Students who are not yet at grade level are also showing a great deal of improvement as they work closer to grade level achievement.
The early elementary team at Gobles Elementary is thrilled with the results, and they are working hard to understand the success they are having, to keep it going and build upon it, and they agree that the most important factor in the success is the attention they pay to the progress of each individual student in the grade. The team consists of teachers and aides from the elementary school, plus the principal, and also itinerant staff from the Van Buren Intermediate School District.

Gobles school psychologist Roger Coates recognizes the impact that reading success has for a student, both immediately, and all the way through that child’s education. Coates helps review student reading results and monitor student progress as part of the elementary literacy team.
“Reading is such an important part of everything we do with kids in school,” Coates said. “It’s a skill that builds upon itself, so that progress today builds on your progress from yesterday and leads to progress tomorrow. If you aren’t progressing today, tomorrow just gets tougher. That’s why it’s critical to catch kids early and help them make that progress.”
According to Gobles Elementary Reading Specialist Geanice Miller, teachers are constantly talking about students and the progress they are making in class.
“We have meetings all the time to monitor the progress of our students,” she said. “We keep a close eye on all the kids, and that keeps the entire team on the same page with of our students as we work with them in our classrooms. Because we touch base frequently, we are not allowing students to slip through the cracks, and we are able to carefully track the progress.”
Last year Gobles Elementary School began piloting the Eight-Step Process, a method of assessing students to see where their skills are and planning specific instruction to teach exactly the skills students need to progress. The process uses real learning data and constant monitoring to help teachers address the needs of their students, but implementation of the process usually takes a few years to show such dramatic results.
But for elementary principal Terry Breen the results come as no surprise. He credits the hard work and dedication of the teachers as the reason kindergarten students, and students all over the elementary school, are blossoming this year.
“Teachers are really working hard this school year to understand their students ability levels and teach the skills those students need,” Breen said. “You can go to all the meetings you want and look at all the data you want, but it’s the implementation teachers make in the classroom every day that really impacts student success.”
Coates also sees the success in the classroom. “It’s so exciting to see teachers using research as the basis for their instruction,” he said. “Teachers are able to make really good decisions in their classrooms, and as a result can teach in a smarter and more focused way. What I see happening is giving students the best result in the amount of time teachers have with them.”
Learning to read at an early age is one of the most important factors in success from early elementary all the way up to graduation, and beyond. This is true both during the school year, and during breaks from school, especially the long summer break when skills can drop if students don’t make time for reading every day.

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! I hope that you are staying warm and being safe.

The last thing we all imagined when we went on the holiday break was to come back to the weather that 2014 had in store for us.February 18, 2014 marked the eleventh day of school that the Gobles Public Schools have missed due to inclement weather for the 2013-2014 school year.

Michigan law requires students to be in class for 1098 hours of instructional time or at least 170 days. We are only through the month of January and part of February and we have already exceeded the State limit of six "snow" days, with the likelihood of more weather problems before June. Barring any change from the Michigan legislature, it is likely that we will need to extend the school year to make up missed class time.

When considering how instructional time needs to be made up, the goal is to make it as least disruptive to students and their families. As we go forward from here and in cooperation with the Gobles Educational Association, the district will continue to examine our options. One thing the school community can plan on, there will be no changes to Spring Break.

It has been a frustrating winter so far and extremely challenging for sure. I empathize with parents scrambling to make child care arrangements. The last thing we want to do is call off school, but please know that our first priority is child safety.

To help give parents and community members a better perspective, I will explain the decision-making process that I implement on whether to call school off or not. Again, student safety is my top priority and is the number one consideration in all school closings.

Several factors aid my decision to keep school buildings open or closed, as follows:  

1. Weather conditions from our transportation department as they relate to our bus fleet;

2. Road conditions provided first hand by district official that travels roads between 3:00 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.;

3. Temperature, wind, and wind chill information from local meteorologists;

4. Drifting and snow accumulations information from police and the county highway department;

5. Parking lot conditions;

6. Building conditions;

7. Discussions with other district superintendents;

Some of these factors are difficult to assess before the morning in question which often leaves parents less time to plan. There is no way to be perfect with this. I can only make the best decision in real time with the best available information. Please know that I will do whatever the weather warrants, no matter how many school days we will need to add to the month of June. I will always be guided by doing the right thing for student’s safety and transportation.