This week MANS members began to receive petitions with a request to assist in a signature collection effort to allow for Michigan Student Opportunity Accounts. This petition drive places the issue of expanded school choice before the legislature, and if passed, would become law. The effort to obtain signatures is headed by Let Michigan Kids Learn, and a coalition of organizations including the Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) and the Michigan Association of Non-public Schools (MANS).

Click above for a quick video explanation of Let MI Kids Learn from Brian Broderick.

For the first time in 50 years, the MANS Education Conference and Expo will be held in Lansing, Michigan. We look forward to welcoming nonpublic school educators from across the state to the capital city. As we begin the countdown to the conference, here are some fun facts about Lansing:

This premier event is the only one in Michigan that gathers a broad group of faith-based educators with a commitment to Christian mission and excellence in education. Join us on November 3 and 4, 2022 in Lansing, Michigan for this exceptional event!

This event will be held at the Michigan Catholic Conference in Lansing, Michigan from 8:30 to noon.

Registration will be open soon.

Join Kiersten Nolan, Strategy Assistant for High School Innovation for an MCAN 101 webinar, on March 24, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. for an informational session about the Michigan College Access Network. They'll share their mission, values, and resources for students, administrators and counselors.

The Michigan State Police (MSP) Office of School Safety Competitive School Safety Grant Program (CSSGP) is now open. The purpose of this grant is to improve the safety and security of students and staff in public and non-public schools through the purchase and installation of technology and equipment for school buildings or to upgrade hardening measures. 

Completed and signed applications must be received, via email no later than 12:00 p.m. (noon) EDT on Thursday, March 24.

Questions about the CSSGP can be directed to MSP-SchoolSafety@michigan.gov.

This is the final opportunity to gain access to the remaining funds for EANS I. MDE has established $100/pupil as a reasonable target for budgeting purposes. If you require more funding, please include that in your application and budget. 

Please refer to the MANS EANS spreadsheet here for language for your application.

If you have questions, please email them to the Nonpublic Schools email address at MDE, found at Nonpublicschools@michigan.gov

The Michigan Association of Non-public Schools (MANS) invites you to submit nominations for the 2022 MANS Faith-Based Educator Award. This award is one of five awards that recognize excellence in education in MANS member schools. Award winners demonstrate the very best in faith-based education and are leaders in the field. Educators may be nominated by administrators using the electronic submission below. The deadline for submission is June 30, 2022.

For more information: Expanding, Enhancing Emotional Health program NR.pdf. 

Beginning at 5 p.m. today, March 18, 2022, the Michigan Department of Education is launching a new website. The MDE webpage will be easy to navigate and search. Click on the “Services” dropdown menu at the top of the page to access MDE content by program. 

Michigan’s Public Act 87 of 2021 requires the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) to administer a survey that allows teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators to provide feedback to the department. As a part of this, MDE must provide an opportunity for the educator to share insight on the department’s effectiveness in achieving goals within Michigan’s Top 10 Strategic Education Plan.

The survey is open and can be found here. Deadline is April 15, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Testing Collection and Coordination Team would like to provide updates regarding school testing. There will be a more streamlined approach to ordering testing supplies, along with the expectation that your district remains at or above 80% utilization rate (identified through reporting) to ensure MDHHS can fulfill your requested testing order in full. 

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) requests public comment on the proposed Michigan Part C of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (aka Early On^®) federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2022 application. The period of public participation extends to April 19, 2022, with a window of public comment being accepted only March 11 through 5 p.m., April 11, 2022.

For the FFY 2022 application and public comment instructions: Part C Notice of Public Comment.

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) has developed and launched a series of seven videos for all school food service staff, agricultural educators, school food producers, and anyone interested in learning about bringing fresh local foods to schools and early childcare centers. The video series features topics including procurement, sourcing local, school gardens, agricultural education, food safety, and meal quality. Video Series on Farm to School Topics

Students reading below grade level? Beyond Basics delivers data-driven literacy solutions—90% of students in the program achieve grade-level movement in an average of six weeks.

Diverse books help children to broaden their understanding of the world by seeing themselves and others in words, images and stories. Celebrate diversity in your school or classroom with this specially curated book assortment from Scholastic Book Fairs.

The Meemic Foundation, in collaboration with Scholastic Book Fairs, will award 29 selected schools with a preselected assortment of over 300 diverse books for the K-6 grade reader, primarily hardcover and library-bound titles with a few paperbacks mixed in!

Friendzy provides low burden turn-key SEL for students K-8th grade. The Friendzy program teaches SEL skills one time a week for 20-40 minutes using low-burden, turn-key social-emotional learning tools and resources including:

It’s not too late to take advantage of your EANS (Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools) funding! Help your students reduce summer and COVID learning loss and prepare them to start the new school year on the right foot with Catapult Learning’s COVID Recovery services. Catapult's established solutions for non-public schools as well as our COVID Recovery Program combine to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of students, families, and school communities. Best of all, our programs can be customized to fit the unique needs of your school.

Click here to learn more about EANS funding and how Catapult Learning can help you invest in your students.

With support from the state of Michigan, the most comprehensive mental health and prevention education program and social emotional learning (SEL) programming is now available to schools and districts at no cost! This highly customizable, scaffolded curriculum contains more than 1,000 lessons that address real issues that K-12 students encounter every day. Administrators can utilize free data reporting to see the real-time effectiveness of the SEL and mental health lessons.