s pay a fine of up to
$20,000.
This young mans life will never
be the same. Sadly, these events con-
tinue to occur across the state and the
nation in school settings, and are of-
ten amplified at this time of year with
the excitement of school ending in
June.
In Novi, we have been very fortu-
nate to date in that no serious events
of this nature have occurred, and it is
our goal as a school district to make
sure that all of our students and fami-
lies know that any kind of threat, in
writing, via tele-phone, online, or
otherwise communicated is
not acceptable and most im-
portantly, can ruin the lives of
those students who do such
things.
Parents need to know
that in this post 9/11 era,
anti-terrorism laws and punish-
ments have become extremely
serious with implications for
all of us.
Our kids are constantly ex-
posed to media which showcases
violence, threats, and many dangerous
behaviors. We must all act as caring
and concerned adults, and emphasize
that the consequences of such thought-
less acts can negatively impact them
for the rest of their lives. With spring
now here, and all of the exciting end
of the school year activities ahead,
please be sure to talk with your sons
and daughters about the importance of
respecting themselves and each other
throughout the coming weeks and
months.
Staff members at Novi Middle
School know Coffee Express well,
and now, the program, which is part of
the Middle Schools special education
curriculum, will be known around the
state. It has been chosen as a recipient
of a 2006 Michigan Association of
School Boards (MASB) Education
Excellence Award.
Coffee Express began nearly five
years ago, when special education
teachers and paraprofessionals at Novi
Middle School were looking for a cre-
ative and fun way to teach life skills
and social skills to their students with
cognitive impairments and autism,
physical and health impairments as well
as language and learning disabilities.
The group developed a plan for sell-
ing baked goods, prepared by their
students, to staff throughout the build-
ing during planning periods once a
week. The students do the shopping for
baking supplies, read recipes and pre-
pare the baked goods, collect money
from customers, and politely thank
them for their business. Teachers An-
drea Jacobs and Gary Sutherland, along
with four paraprofessionals, coordinate
the program.
Coffee Express incorporates a wide
range of lessons, from math to manners,
while boosting the students confidence
and exposing the community to the
skills and talents that they can offer.
This project enables students to be-
come familiar with teachers and other
adults with whom they would not have
built a relationship otherwise. Students
see the anticipation as they arrive at each
classroom with their cart, and feel the
satisfaction of providing a service and
giving back to their community. This
year, with money they raised from their
sales, students were able to make a do-
nation to the American Cancer Society
Relay for Life.
Coffee Express earns Education Excellence Award 2
The notion that your imagination can
take you anywhere is something that sev-
eral Novi students are all too familiar
with. Their imaginations have taken them
to the Destination Imagination (DI) State
competition.
Destination Imagination is a program
designed to build creativity, problem
solving, and teamwork. Teams of five to
seven members work together to solve
one of five Team Challenges that they
take to competition. Parents serve as
coaches, but must not assist in any way.
Teams sign agreements that all of the
work will be done exclusively by the stu-
dents. They have eight weeks to complete
their team challenge.
At competitions, teams are also given
Instant Challenges that they cannot pre-
pare for. Teams have five minutes to work
together to come up with a solution to a
challenge from the judges that they must
present on the spot.
Eleven teams from Novi Schools
competed in the DI regional competition
in March, and seven of them qualified
for the state competition held at Central
Michigan University on April 22.
One team from Novi Meadows placed
first in their team challenge, Inside
DImension! at the regional competition.
Their task was performing a skit that re-
2005 MEAP SCORES
GRADE 3 GRADE4 GRADE 5 GRADE 6 GRADE 7 GRADE 8
Math
Novi
98
96
91
90
91
89
Oakland County
91
88
82
75
70
72
State
87
82
73
65
60
63
Reading
Novi
97
93
92
93
92
83
Oakland County
90
89
86
84
82
79
State
87
83
80
80
76
73
Writing
Novi
71
69
74
88
85
84
Oakland County
60
63
71
70
75
74
State
51
55
63
63
67
65
Science
Novi
88
87
Oakland County
82
82
State
77
77
Social Studies
Novi
89
Oakland County
84
State
79
vealed the inside secrets of an architec-
tural structure that incorporated two
weight bearing structures built of wood
and glue. At the State Competition, their
structure, which weighed less than 14
grams, held more than 500 pounds of
weight!
The team, whose members are Jor-
dan Blanchard, Callie Collins, Elizabeth
Ortwine, Megan Parikh, Varsha Raju,
Felix Zhu and Logan Chio, created a
story about a fictional architect, Charles
Berry, who built Big Ben.
continued on page 3
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In DI, creativity is the name of the game 3
Tinberg earns MAASE
Award of Distinction
Novi Community School
Districts Director of Student
Services, Donna Tinberg, has
been awarded the Michigan
Association of Administrators of
Special Education (MAASE)
Michigan Local Directors Asso-
ciation (MLDA) Award of
Distinction.
The Award is presented
annually to a local district
special education director who
has shown outstanding service and leadership.
In the nomination submitted on Mrs. Tinbergs behalf, it
was noted that She is quick to step in to meet the needs of
students, staff and fellow administrators. Her commitment
to the systematic improvement of services and rapid
response to changing mandates is exemplary.
Mrs. Tinberg holds a specialist degree from Eastern Michi-
gan University. Over the course of her career she has worked
as a teacher of students with disabilities, a teacher consult-
ant, and an intermediate school district consultant.
She has held many leadership roles within the profes-
sional community, including president of MAASE, and
president of theSpecialEducation Administrators of Oak-
land County.
The students from Novi Meadows qualified for the DI
Golbal Competition at the University of Tennessee to be held
at the end of May. They will be joined by a team from Novi
High School whose members are Kyle Tice, Stephanie Chen,
Nathan van Nortwick, Jordan gavin, Tyler Odom, Claire We-
ber and Andi Li.
Their challenge was titled Back At You! The team cre-
ated a device that feeds 50-60 ping-pong balls per minute.
Team members intergrated this device into a story about a
mysterious disapperance of an underwater research station
mission.
Novi parent Shelley Wright is the Districts Destination
Imagination coordinator. (DI) is a very well-rounded, orga-
nized extracurricular activity that offers kids life lessons in a
team supported atmosphere, she said. Students enjoy work-
ing together and using their imaginations.
DI is open to all students in grades 4-12. For more
information, contact Shelley Wright via e-mail at
ShelleyKayWright@aol.com.
from page 2
Novi Woods students
create community
The third graders at Novi Woods were involved in a cre-
ative social studies simulation which taught them about
communities and the people who live there.
The children planned and developed a community which
they named Rainbow Valley and made decisions about
what kinds of homes, shops and recreation areas, and citi-
zens the community had in it.
Next, a time line of the events that happened in their
community was developed to give Rainbow Valley its his-
tory. As these activities unfolded, Rainbow Valley began to
feel like a real place which came to life.
Then, a critical event occurred and the students had to
decide whether a shopping mall should be built on some
empty land. The students had to take a stand on this issue,
and wrote pro and con articles defending their choices and
presented these at an authentic Rainbow Valley City Coun-
cil meeting.
As a concluding activity, planned and worked on Rain-
bow Valleys celebration complete with miniature floats,
songs, dances, cheers and games. Some students even wrote
a Rainbow Valley Newspaper detailing all the events of the
festival.
Co-workers choose
Valentine for award
Cindy Valentine is a people
person. Her ability to work with
others has earned her the Trans-
portation Excellence Award, a
honor bestowed by her co-work-
ers.
Each year, transportation de-
partments from school districts
across the county nominate em-
ployees for the award. Winners
are chosen by a committee of
transportation directors during a meeting held at Oakland
Schools. W