State Superintendent Visits Local Schools

As state superintendent Brian Whiston tours schools across Michigan, he’s on a mission to learn what school districts are doing right, and what resources they still need to make Michigan a top ten education state in ten years. Superintendent Whiston made a few local stops, with visits to schools in Rogers City, Posen and Alpena.

“We’re really excited for the superintendent to be here. We are not sure we’ve ever had a state superintendent visit Alpena, so the opportunity to showcase the great things that our teachers and staff do with kids each and every day… I know on behalf of our board we are just really excited to have him here,” says Alpena Public Schools superintendent John VanWagoner.

Whiston says the goal of his visits is to learn about the good things schools are doing, and share that with other schools across the state. One of his top priorities is to help schools introduce early college programs if they haven’t already.

“What I hope to see is the early college programs, the options that students have. Because I really believe children should be able to make choices as they go through the education system that they’re passionate about, that they care about. I think students who get to make choices and are passionate about those choices will do better,” says Whiston.

Whiston also hopes to see more hands–on, project-based learning opportunities come to Michigan classrooms, an objective governor Rick Snyder has been promoting.

“We are fortunate that we have a lot of support for programs in career technical education. We mix our core content geometry with construction for instance. We also have a lot of kids that have the opportunity to do our Shipwreck Alley program,” says VanWagoner.

After visiting Posen schools, Alpena public schools and Rogers City School District, the state superintendent says its inspiring to see how these smaller school districts operate to fill their students needs.

“It’s really exciting because I come from a big school district. 20,000 kids. So to see school districts much smaller than that and how the staff and community comes together to meet the needs of every student is really exciting to see. Those rich partnerships help students. They bring resources, encourage parent–community involvement, and help those students be successful. They’re very exciting visits,” says Whiston.

The state superintendent’s visits across the state aim to help Michigan achieve top ten education state status in the next ten years. To learn more about the initiative, visit www.michigan.gov/mde.