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Parent Newsletter
April 27, 2020

Check out the End of the Year Parent Information in the "Need to Know" section as well as the many important upcoming dates in "Guidance Corner."
Bible Verse
I Am With You!
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
Need to Know
End of the Year Parent Information
Congratulations to students, parents, and teachers as we have made it to the halfway mark for our online learning program!  As the end of the school year approaches, you will find the information below to be helpful in your planning:
  • Online learning will continue full-time through Friday, May 29.
  • The week of June 1-5 has been designated for students and teachers to tie up loose ends.
  • The week of June 8-12 will be used by teachers to finalize and report the 4th Quarter and 2nd Semester grades.
  • We will not hold final exams this semester due to the unusual circumstances.
  • A number of courses will still require some kind of wrap-up test, cumulative project, or final paper.
  • Those tests/papers/projects that serve as a final assessment will be counted as part of the 4th Quarter grade.
  • Our regular grading scale will be used for determining 4th Quarter and 2nd Semester grade (A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, F).
  • A student's 2nd Semester grade will be calculated using the average of 3rd and 4th Quarter grades. Credit is then awarded for all passing (60% or higher) semester grades.
  • Grades for the 2019-20 school year will be sent to students and parents on June 15.

The teachers have been putting in a tremendous amount of hours to provide distance learning for their classes that will allow students to move forward.  Almost all of our students have been fulfilling their responsibilities for the new learning and related assignments.  It is very important for students and parents to understand that even the very best online learning program can only accomplish a portion of what is done when students are meeting face-to-face with their classmates and teacher.  Therefore, we will be prepared to tackle the challenge of providing some remediation and catch-up learning for our students that return in the fall.


We know that many of you are anxiously awaiting information about graduation and other end-of-year events for the Senior Class.  As the picture of the stay-at-home orders for May/June becomes more clear, plans for those events will be finalized.  We hope to be able to share more on May 1.  If you have any suggestions for alternative ways in which to hold those events, please share them with Dr. Brandt ( [email protected] ).

Thank you for your support of this distance learning and for helping your student to have a successful experience.  Here at Valley, we are all praying regularly for you and your family and are very much looking forward to being back with the students as soon as possible!

In His Service,
Lisa H. Meyers, Ed.D.
Academic Dean
Duclos Scholarship
The David and Bonnie Duclos Scholarship Committee is now taking applications for assistance to attend Valley Lutheran for the 2020-21 school year. Eligible students are those who are currently or will be attending Valley Lutheran next year, are members of a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod congregation, and a graduate of a Lutheran grade school. Please notify Dr. John Brandt at [email protected] no later than May 15 if you are interested and eligible.  
Parent AP Information 
For anyone with a student currently taking an AP course and/or planning to take an AP exam in May, please read the attached information sheet provided by Dr. Meyers. 
Guidance Corner
COURSE SELECTIONS
Once re-registration forms are received, Mrs. Mueller will be going over student course selections to verify that selections meet graduation requirements or are a fitting next step towards that goal. She will be reaching out to students and parents via email if there are any questions or red flags. 

DUAL ENROLLMENT 
Mrs. Mueller has posted information on how to start the process for taking a Dual Enrollment class next year. (If you are a current freshman interested in taking a college class next year, please reach out to Mrs. Mueller directly.) Check the Guidance Office section of the Google Classroom "Class of..." pages for more information. This is a multi-step process with hard deadlines at the college level, so do not wait! All VLHS Dual Enrollment Student Contracts (the first step in the process) must be completed and mailed or scanned to Mrs. Mueller by Friday, May 1st so the rest of the process can finish before the end of the school year. Questions can be directed to Mrs. Mueller ( [email protected] ).  
 
CAREER CENTER APPLICATIONS
The Saginaw Career Complex (SCC) is taking applications until May 8th. All SCC applications must first be verified by VLHS and a plan for meeting graduation requirements must be in place at VLHS. In order to plan for this, all SCC applications must be received by the VLHS office by Friday, May 1st . Questions can be directed to Mrs. Mueller ( [email protected] ).  

Students interested in the Bay Career Center that have not yet talked with Mrs. Mueller need to do so by Friday, May 1st

SAT NATIONAL TEST DATE UPDATES
The June national test date for the SAT has been officially cancelled. Registration for the 2020-21 SAT administrations will open the week of May 26. At that point, June registrants will be able to transfer their seat to a 2020-21 administration. All other students in the high school class of 2021 who don't have SAT scores will also have early access to register for the August, September, and October administrations. This includes students who had registered for March or May and had their registrations canceled and refunded. SAT is offering national exams every month from August to December 2020.

Michigan has also announced that they will be providing an SAT with Essay Exam during the school day in the fall to the Class of 2021. This will replace the same exam they were planning to take this past April as part of the MME.

IMPORTANT LINKS
Khan Academy (free test prep) - www.khanacademy.org/sat
Get Involved
An Inside Look
Recently, VL invited our parents to share "An Inside Look" with parents of students they would like to see be part of our school. This 5-part series takes an "inside look" at who we are, at what we value, at how we prepare students, and at how we serve families. If you missed it, if you are not a current VL parent, or if you did not open the link in the first round of emails, we'd still love for you to view and share it!  "An Inside Look" is on our website, please view it and share it as you see fit. Thank you for your help! 
Coca-Cola Give Program
Valley Lutheran Boosters is excited to share that our school is part of the Coca-Cola Give program.  The best part? Donations don't come out of your own pocket. When you make Coca-Cola purchases, simply scan or enter the product codes here: https://us.coca-cola.com/give/schools/ and our school receives a donation. Learn more at coke.com/give
Community Information
Online Driver Education Program
Official Driving School has been approved by the State to conduct online classes for Segment 1 and 2 driver education programs. That means, you can take the class portion online, and after the stay-at-home order is lifted, you'll be able to finish up your driving portion right here in Saginaw.

To get more information about online driver education classes, please call Official Driving School at 248-548-8000 between 9 am and 7:30 pm Monday through Friday or 9am-5pm on Saturday.

You can also go to OfficialDrivingSchool.com to register for online driver education. Students must register before April 30th to take advantage of the online driver education courses.

High School Senior Hall of Fame
News Radio WSGW has published the 2020 High School Senior Hall of Fame. Valley's Skylar Hutchinson is included. Congratulations to Skylar and all the area seniors nominated.  


 Click on the image above to view the latest Valley Vision.







Mission Statement
Valley Lutheran High School believes that Christ is the foundation of our school and everything that we do.  We prepare our students as children of God academically, physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually to serve in the world today and tomorrow.

John Brandt
Valley Lutheran High School