Website Lab
Test 123
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Font Awesome possibilities . . .
SO... for our GLcomets.net website, I used Foxbright and added a "Plain Text / Embed Script" block (this block can be found in the "Special Content" section when you add a new block in Foxbright)... and then I pasted in the embed code from Canva. I think it looks pretty good.
STORY BLOCK block is below
TESTING STORIES FUNCTIONALITY - Story Block
Please view my message
here if you need translation services.
October 16, 2026
GLPS Families,
It is definitely a fall day out there today! The gray skies, cool weather, and changing leaves let us know we are into mid-October. The school year is moving quickly; it will be November in a couple of weeks!
This time of year is important for me, as every fall, the board of education has to complete my annual performance evaluation by November 1st. This year, my evaluation will be conducted at a Special Board Meeting on Monday night. I am sharing this with you today, because a large part of my evaluation is how well we are performing as a district across multiple areas, including the achievement of school improvement goals and student growth, as well as family, staff, and student input. Since all of that data is tied directly to the health of the school district, I thought I would share a couple of highlights with you today:
Last year, across all buildings and departments, we set 44 school improvement goals. We also monitored 10 goals from the previous year. Of those 54 goals, we achieved 33 of them, and 15 remain in progress. Only 6 of those 54 goals were not achieved, and of those 6, most were partially completed or very close, which means that we collectively had an 89% success rate over the last year!
Across the district, we continued to see tremendous growth in our NWEA scores. The charts below represent achievement and growth, K-8, over the year. In reading, we were in the 63rd percentile in growth and the 69th in achievement. That means that GLPS kids grew more than 63% of all test takers nationally and achieved more than 69% in reading. In math, we did even better, as our growth and achievement were both better than 72% of national test takers.
This success carries over to our state assessments, as this chart represents all subjects and all students tested across the district, when compared with state, county, and regional districts. Our overall trend since 2021 outpaces all of them, while the slight drop from last year mirrors that of all three, but our average achievement remains significantly higher.
I shared student and family voice data with the board in July. I encourage you to take a look at that data here.
I am sharing many more data points with the board on Monday. You can take a look at that data here, which also contains my own improvement goals. We continue to strive to improve every day, and this data shows that our district continues to move in the right direction.
Thank you, as always, for giving us the opportunity to work with you and your children every day. I am very proud that I have the opportunity to live and learn in Comet Country, and I am #proudtobeacomet!
Dr. Bill Barnes
Superintendent of Schools
Newsletters via Stories
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4-24-26
GLPS Families,
It is hard to believe, but next Friday is May 1st! I am always amazed at how fast things move after spring break, but this year, in particular, it seems to be moving at light speed. Spring is a busy time of year in a school district, with a lot of events, learning, and celebrations happening, but it is also a time when it is important for us to pause and reflect on all of the people who do the work to make our district run and create a positive impact on students, families, and our community.
To those ends, I often share this graphic with our staff, reminding them that regardless of their role, they are all educators who impact the achievement of our students.
In our strategic plan, one of our belief statements is that We believe the GLPS staff are professionals who are vital to the health and future of the Grand Ledge community , and that is on full display every day across our district and Comet Country as a whole.
Last evening, the Grand Ledge Area Chamber of Commerce held its annual awards dinner, where it recognized Delta Center kindergarten teacher Darbi Carter as the Teacher of the Year, and Willow Ridge Dean of Students Lauren Patrick as the Support Staff of the Year, and they were both deserving winners among many deserving nominees for teachers and support staff. The event, and those nominations, were yet another reminder of how integral our staff is to the success of our community.
I share this with you today, because in the months of April and May, there are a number of days set aside to celebrate all of the people who make such a difference in our schools and communities. These are all listed in this table, and represent a wide range of our employee groups.
Date | Recognition Day | Focus Group |
April 1–30 | National Occupational Therapy Month | School OTs helping students with motor skills and sensory needs. |
April 1 | Paraprofessional Appreciation Day | Instructional assistants and classroom aides. |
April 4 | School Librarian Appreciation Day | Media specialists and library staff. |
April 6–10 | National Assistant Principals Week | APs who handle the "heavy lifting" of discipline and operations. |
April 19–25 | National Volunteer Week | Parents, community members, and boosters. |
April 19–25 | National Library Week | The broader celebration of school and public libraries. |
April 22 | Administrative Professionals Day | Your front office staff, secretaries, and registrars. |
April 28 | School Bus Driver Appreciation Day | The transportation team. |
May 1–31 | Better Hearing & Speech Month | Celebrating Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists. |
May 1 | School Principals Day | Building leaders and instructional heads. |
May 1 | School Lunch Hero Day | Food service staff and cafeteria workers. |
May 4–8 | Teacher Appreciation Week | The entire teaching faculty. |
May 5 | National Teacher Day | The focal point of Appreciation Week. |
May 6 | School Nurse Day | Healthcare staff and clinic assistants. |
May 8 | School Communicators Day | PR, communications, and social media staff. |
May 18 | National Speech-Language Pathologist Day | Specific honors for the SLP team. |
So, throughout the next few weeks, as we wind down the 2025-2026 school year, please make sure that you take time to thank the school staff who make GLPS such a wonderful place to learn and grow. Whether they have an identified day across these months or not, everyone who interacts with our students and schools on a regular basis shapes the positive educational experiences that we are proud to deliver.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve this community, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with you and your children every day. Have a wonderful weekend; as always, I am #proudtobeacomet!
Dr. Bill BarnesSuperintendent of Schools
