Students, volunteers honor local military unit

In preparation for the departure to Afghanistan of a local Michigan National Guard unit, students participating in Kid's Street, an after school program at Trinity United Methodist Church in Lapeer, prepared some unique table decorations.

The decorations will be used at a community send-off on Monday evening, April 6, 2009 at Lapeer East High School.

Students from Schickler, Maple Grove and Mayfield Elementary Schools, along with high school volunteers from Lapeer East and Lapeer West and Schickler teacher Mrs. Beth Shemanski made the soldier figurines from tin foil and camouflage cloth.

Retired elementary school teacher Mrs. Phyllis Lange, who volunteers at the Kid's Street Program said the students enjoyed making the decorations to honor the local men and women who will be going off to Afghanistan.

The project was particularly meaningful to Mrs. Lange, who lost her father when he was killed fighting during the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Lange taught at Irwin Elementary School for 35 years, after teaching five years in Imlay City. She retired in 2005.

To see the students and their hand made creations go to this photo album.

Star Lab: Out of this world

Students in the Lapeer Community Schools are privileged to share Star Lab, a portable planetarium made available through the help of the Lapeer County Intermediate School District.

Lapeer West teacher Mr. Ted Tomczyk coordinates the program for the District with assistance from Ms. Dawn Mosher at the ISD. The program began about seven years ago at the request of elementary school teachers who needed a reliable, trained group of people to run the expensive equipment.

Students from Lapeer West, who are trained and selected by Mr. Tomczyk, set up and lead the planetarium programs throughout the District. The 16 students' volunteer work is not for school credit, but to help younger students learn about science.

The students who volunteer to help with Star Lab are: Seniors, Brad Grobbel, Claire Athmer, Pat LaJoie; uniors, Catherine Benscoter, Landon Warren, Jarrett Peplinski; sophomores, Eric Birkle, Kendall Clair, Elizabeth Jolly, Alayna Klinke, Nathan Irelan; freshmen, Trevor Krehel, Christian Knoerr, Jeff Acton, Harrison Andrezik; and eighth-grader, Spencer Ferrell.

"On average, we present to over 2,500 kids through out Lapeer County every year," Mr. Tomczyk said. "This year, the number should be even higher."

On Thursday, students at Maple Grove Elementary School spent one half hour in the Star Lab learning about the planets, stars, constellations and universe.

To see a small album of photos on the event click here.

Lapeer West's Andy Serrels to dive at State Finals at Eastern Michigan University

Lapeer West High School senior Andy Serrels is going where no other Lapeer student diver has ever gone before – The State Finals.

Andy will be competing against 36 of the best high school divers in Michigan on Friday at Eastern Michigan University.

Congratulations and good luck to Andy in the competition.

Updated total on Lapeer East "Spirit" donations to the Food Bank

The latest tally on the donations by Lapeer East High School to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan is 17,162 pounds of food. So far, East is ahead of all the schools. You can see all the donations of all the schools at the website for the Food Bank.

You can see the WJRT-TV, Channel 12 coverage of Lapeer East here.

The Lapeer West event is accessible here.

Jazz Band Concert holds American Cancer Society benefit tonight

There will be a Jazz Band Concert tonight at Lapeer East to benefit the American Cancer Society.

This concert was put together by two senior students at Lapeer East for their senior project.
The concert begins at 7:30. Donations will be taken at the door.

This is your chance to check out the Lapeer East Jazz Band and donate to a great cause! Hope to see you there!

New Rolland-Warner construction photos taken

New photos of the progress of the construction work at the Rolland-Warner Middle School site were taken Monday, March 9, 2009. Those pictures, and others from the school construction that began last May can be found here on the District's photo gallery.

Hadley-Murphy hosts "Chili & Dogs" dinner fund raiser on March 20th

Supporters of Hadley-Murphy Elementary School have found a great diversion from winter and cabin fever with a “Chili & Dogs” dinner at the Murphy campus on Friday, March 20th, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

In addition to great food and fun, there will be a 50/50 drawing and a chocolate sale.

Money raised from the dinner will help eliminate some of the door-to-door fund raisers and continue to provide worthwhile projects for the school, such as busing for field trips, scholastic learning magazines, student scholarships, assemblies, science and art fair awards, classroom allowances, education materials and much more.

“It’s also just a fun way to bring the community together for a night out,” said Debbie Bridges, one of the event’s organizers.

The dinner, which will be catered by E.G. Nick’s, will include a main menu choice of chili, minestrone or a hot dog. All dinners will include salad, breadsticks and a beverage. Tickets are $5 and children 2 and under are free. Tickets will be sold in advance and at the door. The 50/50 raffle tickets will be sold the night of the dinner for $1 each or 6 tickets for $5. There will be no carry out orders.
For more information contact Debbie Bridges at (810) 441-3023 or Missy Olejniczak at (810) 678-3737.

Welcome!

Welcome to the new LCS weblog, or blog as it is called.

The new blog will be another place to obtain important information about the District, its offerings and activities. We plan to offer stories, pictures and links to videos on interesting people and activities in our District. From time-to-time you will hear from our board of education (picture above), superintendent, principals, teachers, students and parents on this forum.

In our various surveys, parents have always told us that school communication was high on the list of priorities for them. A blog is just one more tool in the communications toolbox to make that happen.

A blog is a two-way communication. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Because we anticipate a wide audience for this blog, we simply ask that comments be civil. Because it is an open type forum, we will moderate comments before posting them.

We hope you will make us one of your "favorites."

A tough loss for the Lapeer West Girls' Basketball Team

Coverage of the game can be found here at the Flint Journal.

Phones at A&SC out this morning - Now back up!

Phone service at the Administration & Services Center is out this morning due to a technical problem which is being worked on. As soon as service is restored, we'll let you know. Until then, the e-mail system is working.

AT&T has restored phone service to the A&SC as of 10:45 a.m. today.

Coffee House Poetry Night coming to Hadley

First-graders at the Hadley campus of Hadley-Murphy Elementary School will read their poetry at the Annual Coffeehouse Poetry Night from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 26th.

Students have been working on their poetry to share that night with the help of their teachers Karen Allmen, Gayle Budzynski, Jodee Collick and Emily Miles.

Three classrooms will be turned into a coffeehouse atmosphere for the presentations to the students’ parents and staff.

Hadley-Murphy to collect books for literacy groups

Donations of new or gently used books will be collected at either campus of Hadley-Murphy Elementary School between March 16th and March 23rd as a school project to help two literacy groups.

Books collected during the drive will be donated to the Family Literacy Center of Lapeer and Ethiopia Reads. The Family Literacy Center is a local non-profit organization that helps adults learn or improve their reading and assists school-age children and their parents to improve reading and literacy.

Ethiopia Reads is a non-profit organization focused on improving the lives of Ethiopian children by fostering a love of education through the use of books.

The books can be for children or adults, fiction or non-fiction, but should be in good condition, said Lisa Schultz, a parent volunteer who is coordinating the drive. Cash donations will also be accepted and used for the cost of shipping books as necessary.

“We invite the community to support this worthy cause and drop your spare books off at either school during the week of March 16th to March 23rd,” Schultz said.

For further information click on the links to the Family Literacy Center or Ethiopia Reads to learn more about each organization. Additional information on the book drive can be obtained by calling Schultz at (810) 797-5537.

Michigan firms win in Lapeer West gym construction

Bids to build an auxiliary gymnasium addition to the Lapeer West High School campus were approved Thursday, March 05, 2009, at the Board of Education meeting.

Michigan construction firms were the winners of a dozen bids totaling $1,001,807.77. The bids were approved for the construction and finishing touches to the new gymnasium at West. Construction on the gymnasium is scheduled to start in late April with completion at the start of classes in September 2009.

The 12 successful low bidders were all from the southeast Michigan region.

Money for the gymnasium came from the sale of the former Administration & Services Center and Attica Elementary School. At the time of the sale of those two buildings the Board of Education committed to using the majority of those funds to enhance the District’s high school facility needs.

Winning bidders were: Johnson & Sons Excavating, concrete and site work, Goodrich, $157,725.77; HMC Mason Contractors, masonry, Shelby Township, $308,200; Men of Steel, steel work, Marlette, $65,995; J. Perez, general trades, Flint, $87,300; Royal Roofing, roofing, Utica, $72,900; Glasco Corporation, glass, Detroit, $37,880; Foster Specialty Floors, wood gym floor, Wixom, $54,700; Artistic Installations, floor work, Warren, $7,277; Duncan Painting, painting, Lapeer, $13,030; Foster Specialty Floors, gym equipment, Wixom, $38,000; Dickerson Mechanical, mechanical, Davison, $86,800; Great Lakes Power & Lighting, electrical, Marine City, $72,000.

Lapeer East, Lapeer West choirs perform well at Festival

Choirs from Lapeer East and Lapeer West High Schools represented their schools and themselves in an exemplary manner at the Michigan Schools Vocal Music Association festival at the Flint Institute of Music on Tuesday, March 3, 2009.

Two choirs from each school participated in the festival and the Lapeer East Concert Choir was one of nine choirs, out of 43 participating, that was selected for further judging at the State Festival in April.

The East Concert and Treble Choirs received “Excellent” ratings. The Lapeer West Concert Choir received an “Excellent” rating and the West Treble Choir received a “Good.”

Lapeer West’s Concert Choir missed going to the State Festival by just a few points, said West Choir Director Thomas Kaiser.

“They represented themselves and our school very well through not only their performances but their behavior as well,” said East Choir Director Cheryl Burnside.

A virtual tour of Rolland-Warner Middle School

Join with Zemmer Junior High School Principal J.W. Dunlop for a virtual tour of the construction of Rolland-Warner Middle School. Put your mouse over the screen and click on the "Play" button and enjoy!

Tony Strump named as new Rolland-Warner Middle School Principal

A veteran Lapeer Community Schools administrator, Tony Strump, was selected to be the first principal of the new Rolland-Warner Middle School set to open in the fall of 2010. It is a return trip for him to the place he began his career in 1988.

Mr. Strump has been assistant principal at Zemmer Junior High School for eight years and will continue in that job until the end of the 2009-2010 school year.

A graduate of Kalamazoo College, Mr. Strump began his career as a lead teacher and principal for the alternative education program at the Woodside School, the site of the ongoing renovations of Rolland-Warner Middle School.

Later, he worked in the District’s central office as a supervisor for at-risk students until becoming assistant principal at Zemmer.

In addition to his bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College, Mr. Strump has two master’s degrees from Michigan State University, one in curriculum and teaching and the other in adult and continuing education. He is currently working at Oakland University on an Education Specialist Program.

“We want to provide Lapeer Community Schools with a true middle school program at Rolland-Warner and Zemmer and have it be the focus of the community,” he said. “We are putting together this program for our community so that it will become well known throughout the State. That starts at home with the community taking ownership and moving forward with it and doing what is right for kids.”

Mr. Strump lives in Lapeer with his wife, Susan, who is a counselor at North Branch Community Schools.

Mariah Wallace: Lapeer East singer hits the high notes

From the time she started talking as a toddler, Lapeer East High School junior Mariah Wallace said she has also been singing.

In recent months, her singing voice has gotten her noticed in a lot of great ways.

Last year, a performance at a Detroit Habitat for Humanity event brought her an invitation from the executive producer of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels fame, to do back up vocals for Ryder.

“That was so fun,” Mariah said.

Last summer, Mariah took part in radio station’s CK105.5 singing competition and made it to the final 8. Marshall Block, sponsor and judge of the competition, invited her to a Fenton recording studio where she worked on a song co-written by Dick Wagner and Steve Perry.

Wagner is the lead guitarist and songwriter for Alice Cooper and Perry was the lead singer for the group, Journey. After she fell in love with the song she was asked to do a whole CD. Mariah is working with songwriters, Jimmy Henterley and Katrina Hawkins, and the band, Zen, to fill out the 10-track CD called “Coming Clear.”

Mariah said laying down the tracks has been fun, but also business.

“It’s really hard work,” Mariah said. “I practice on my own every day, I practice with the band once a week and two Saturdays ago I spent all day in the studio.”

With some good fortune, Mariah, 17, said she hopes the CD will be released sometime in the spring.

Since eighth grade, students at East have been treated to Mariah’s voice at talent shows and as the National Anthem singer at many athletic events, something that has caught the attention of folks outside the school. Mariah has also performed at numerous local festivals, fairs and charity events.

At Lapeer East, Mariah works with and sings in the choir taught by Ms. Cheryl Burnside.

“Ms. Burnside is awesome, I love Ms. Burnside,” Mariah said.

On Thursday, February 19, 2009, Mariah received a letter inviting her to sing the National Anthem at the 2009 Class C Boys Basketball Finals on March 28, 2009 at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center at Michigan State University.

After high school, Mariah plans on majoring in music at college and hopes to have a music career.

“It’s the only thing I see myself doing,” Mariah said. “My parents have been extremely, extremely supportive.”

In her off hours she works at her father’s pizzeria, The Parlor, in Hadley.

Her parents are John and Jackie Wallace and she has a sister, Olivia, 14, and a brother JonPaul, 10.

Aaron Moskal: Lapeer East student goes Hollywood

A chance visit to Royal Oak last summer may have infected Lapeer East High School junior Aaron Moskal, with the movie bug.

Moskal, 17, of Metamora Township has made a number of appearances as an extra in movies being shot in Michigan. Coincidentally, he is currently a student in Bill Spruytte’s American Film Studies elective class at East.

Last summer, Moskal accompanied his father to work in Royal Oak and while visiting in Royal Oak stumbled across the filming of a Lifetime movie “Prayers for Bobby” and was asked to be an extra.

“It was a little nerve-wracking,” Moskal said. “In my first scene there was a crane camera, a huge machine aimed at you, and they said ‘don’t look at the camera, pretend it’s not there’”

Before that, Moskal’s closest movie encounter was a trip to Flint to watch the filming of “Semi-Pro” from a distance behind barricades.

That volunteer spot, one that ended with a scene where it was Moskal and movie star Sigourney Weaver in the same shot, ignited an interest in moviemaking for Moskal.

Since that time, he has been an extra hired for a Drew Barrymore movie, “Whip It,” along with other feature films, “High School,” “All’s Faire In Love,” and “Youth in Revolt.” Some of those feature films will soon be in theaters.

Moskal has worked with a number of high profile movie types, including Sigourney Weaver, Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page, Jimmy Fallon, Kirsten Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Ray Liotta, Christina Ricci, Ann-Margret and Adrien Brody.

In February, he was invited to and flew out to California for the premiere of “Friday the 13th.” His new acting connections have also landed him an invitation to the Saturday, February 28th, opening of “America,” at the Charles H. Wright Museum. Moskal was asked to be an extra in that movie, but was unable to do so. Cast and crew from “High School” garnered him the invite. It was his first trip to Hollywood, but not likely his last, Moskal said.

While he loves acting, and is only a few more appearances away from his Screen Actor’s Guild card, Moskal really wants to work behind the camera in the production and direction. Moskal is hoping for a starting job as a production assistant.

While acting may seem glamorous, Moskal said it is mostly hard work.

“It’s not very glamorous,” Moskal said. “You work very long hours, you get up early and work until late at night. Sometimes you do the same thing over and over again and spend a whole day doing one scene.

In addition to Mr. Spruytte’s class, Moskal said he appreciates the support of East teacher Mrs. Jan McKeachie.

Also supporting Moskal’s acting is his parents, Alan and Cheryl Moskal.

Tim Bradley - A Hall of Fame High School Coach

Tim Bradley, Lapeer West High School’s baseball coach, was named to the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame this week.

In a sport where statistics rule, Coach Bradley thinks more about the great players and great memories of a 29-year baseball coaching career, 27 years at the varsity high school level, than the numbers.

But still the stats are good. A career total record of 556 wins, 315 losses and two ties along with Bradley’s teams that won eight Flint Metro League titles, eight District titles, six Regional titles, one trip that ended in the Semi-Finals and two appearances in the State Finals, both losses.

A fierce competitor, Bradley said he remembers the tough losses more than the big wins.

Quoting tennis great Jimmy Connors, Bradley said: “I hated to lose more than I liked to win.”

But he has memories of great teams, whose pictures and trophies adorn the walls and cabinets of his classroom. Bradley has taught at Lapeer Community Schools for 32 years.

“Our teams went far very often, we expected to win and the losses were tough,” Bradley said. “I wanted my teams to battle, be competitive and play the game the right way, the way it is supposed to be played. We put Lapeer on the baseball map.”

In past years, Bradley coached both boys’ golf and baseball, but when the boys’ golf season was moved to the spring, Bradley had to make the difficult choice last year to put his baseball coaching behind him.

“It was a very tough decision,” Bradley said. He has also coached freshmen football for five years and junior high football for the past two years. He has coached boys’ golf for 26 years. He has also coached Metamora Little League teams.

One of the highlights of his career was coaching his two sons in baseball. Scott, now an engineer in Phoenix played golf and baseball and Nick, who attends medical school in the Caribbean, played golf, baseball and basketball during his time at West. Daughter Jill, who is a junior at Michigan State University, played basketball, tennis and softball at Lapeer West.

Another highlight was coaching the high school All-Star game at Comerica Park.

One of his players, Brandon Reed, made it to AAA farm teams of the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees, the closest Bradley came to having a former player make the major leagues. Another player, Steve Bradshaw, had a great college baseball career.

Bradley said his coaching kept him out of the house often, but his wife, Quinn, was always supportive and often came to watch his games.

“I treated everyone tough, but I hope I treated everyone fairly,” Bradley said. “You could say I was an ‘old school’ coach. I wanted things a certain way.”

Bradley credited his father with instilling a passion for the sport, taking him to games, listening to games on the radio and keeping score.

“The neighborhood kids played baseball everyday. “we made our own fields and could hardly wait to get to the ballpark,” Bradley said. In high school, Bradley was a good player and was going to try out for the Michigan State University team when he broke his hand just before tryouts.

He coached the varsity softball team at Monroe Jefferson High School during his first year of teaching. Coaching was a part of the reason he went into teaching and when the freshman baseball team at West needed a coach, he jumped at the chance. When the opening for the varsity baseball position opened two years later he took that job.

A career that ends in a hall of fame selection means a lot to Bradley, but he hopes it means a lot to another group of people as well.

“I hope my players feel good about this because they are the reason I’m getting this honor,” Bradley said. “We always emphasized team. I always taught attitude, hustle and giving it your best. I used to say, when we’re done with the season if you looked into a mirror ‘did you do everything you could to make us a better team?”

Over the years he made a lot of friends in the coaching fraternity and enjoyed the friendly rivalries with Fenton, Davison and Lapeer East. Even after he retires someday, Bradley plans to continue coaching.

“I think other teams knew we played good baseball and people knew whether we won or lost that we always gave it our best,” Bradley said. “We provided a lot of good public relations for Lapeer.”

A date has not been set for the Hall of Fame induction, but it will coincide with the High School All-Star game in June at Comerica Park. Bradley is one of four coaches selected for induction in 2009.