For Thursday, March 26
Hit the GLIC!
The Grade-Level Information Center has information that is relevant for each class.
An index and archive for this year’s weekly Mustang Minutes
Our Daily Announcements to our students
We just met with seniors on Wednesday…
… and here is what we shared with them so they can take care of all their loose ends
There are so many loose ends to tie up before graduation, having to do with transcripts and email accounts and a whole bunch of other things. And if seniors get them done before graduation, they are easy. But if one were to wait until after graduation, it could be impossible.
So we walked all our seniors on Wednesday through this presentation, and they also had time to get this all done that morning too. So my hope and prayer is that they all got all the pieces completed. But as an anxious old dad, can I ask you a favor? Can you ask them if they have all these loose ends done? If they do, awesome! If they don’t, they can accomplish it all by following along on the presentation. If you need a hand with anything, reach out to me anytime – soon. Thanks!
One of the things we talked about Wednesday morning, so just a reminder…
Seniors – Please request your final transcript in Parchment ASAP
Be sure and select the option to ‘Hold for Grades.’ If you will be attending a school that is on your Common Application, please request the transcript to the Common App, and NOT the college directly. Colleges will require a final transcript that shows your graduation date, and sometimes schools will put your account on hold until they get your transcript. Once grades are finalized in mid-June, your final transcript will be sent to the requested college. So get this done now to avoid issues later.
Save the date!
Underclassmen Achievement Awards Assemblies will be taking place on Thursday, April 30 during the school day
…and you are invited to attend! Freshmen, sophomore, and junior award recipients are invited to their grade-level assembly and will have an opportunity to mingle with family and friends for photos in Centennial Park for a short time following their assembly. Stay tuned to Mustang Minutes for the awards program and a specific assembly schedule in the weeks ahead.
Some important reminders if you want a 2026 yearbook!
Future you will thank you for getting a yearbook now, if you haven’t already done so. Plus there is an additional book just for seniors! We still have some copies of both the 232-page full-color main yearbook left for pre-order online, as well as copies of the 24-page soft cover Senior Book. Go to yearbookordercenter.com and use school code 3604 to see if you’ve already ordered a 2026 Roundup yearbook or to purchase yours today! As long as copies are available, the online order center is open through April 25. Got questions? Reach out to yearbook adviser Ann Alburtus at aalburtus@portageps.org.
As spring comes in, so does severe weather
Our first responsibility is to make sure kids are safe and feel safe – and that includes responding thoughtfully to bad weather. We work closely with our Portage Police Department and Portage Public Schools colleagues to keep watch when severe weather threatens. All our kids are well practiced at our tornado drills, with how they are to respond and where they are to go. If we were to be directed by local authorities to shelter in place, we would go quickly to our appropriate positions and stay there until authorities confirm that the coast was clear. As always, if you have any questions or thoughts, throw them my way!
Thinking about next year and course requests
The PPS Counseling Team has completed the course registration for the 2026-2027 school year. Please take a look in your child's schedule tab in Skyward Family Access. In this schedule tab, you will see what has been entered for course requests and alternatives for the 2026-2027 school year. If you would like to make any changes to your child's requests or alternatives, please use this link.
This year we are taking schedule requests for the 2026-2027 school year through a paper form that can be found in the Portage Central High, Central Middle and West Middle counseling offices.
The schedule request period will be open until Friday, April 10 at 3 pm. Using this approved form, you are allowed to request two scheduling considerations. Those considerations may include a request for a specific hour or for a specific teacher. Please understand that we cannot guarantee that we can carry out your requests. But, as always, we will do our best.
A final reminder…
Spring Testing is almost here!
Soon after we get back from Spring Break it will be time for spring SAT/PSAT/WinWork/M-STEP testing. Remember that these tests are required by the State of Michigan and are also a Portage Public Schools graduation requirement. Here is a quick summary of the schedule on those testing days:
Students with extended-time testing accommodations will obviously be done later than the schedule listed above.
9th and 10th graders will have a Seminar period in their testing rooms after their test while the Juniors are finishing up. They will have access to their Chromebooks, but will not be able to access any books or other materials during this post-test Seminar period.
All students will have class in the afternoon of both days.
Students with virtual seminars and/or off-campus classes
Due to the adjusted bell schedules on April 8 and 9, students may have conflicts with their virtual seminars and/or off-campus classes and may choose to attend their off-campus classes instead of their Portage Central classes. Please communicate with our attendance office if that is the case so that absences are recorded appropriately.
On April 8 and 9, the shuttle bus heading to the Career Connect building will leave at 12 pm to provide time for CTE and KAMSC students to eat lunch. These instructors understand that students from Portage Central with afternoon CTE/KAMSC classes will arrive late on April 8 and 9. If a student takes an afternoon shuttle to any other location besides the Career Connect Campus or KAMSC, transportation will not be available on these days. If this applies to you, please see Mrs. Kaylor about attendance that day.
Opioid Education: Our final report
If you were able to attend one of our Opioid Education events, thank you. We were grateful to have you there. We submitted a final report to the City of Portage to thank them and provide information for the grant we received. We hope to apply for and receive funding for years to come and one of our goals is to have Becky, the author, back in two years to speak with our current 6th, 9th & 10th graders who will at that point be in the grades she met with this year. We will be planning something different for next year, assuming we receive the next round of funding and have some ideas in the final report. We invite you to view the report; it contains data, photos, feedback, and those future ideas.
The PC Main Office is closed during spring break
Catch us again when we are back together on April 7. Thanks!
As we start spring break, if you have six minutes…
I would encourage you to watch this, about one of our incredible former students
I hope this spring you have a chance to slow a bit, to breathe, and to check in with yourself and with others you care about. Watching this video helped me gain perspective: one more example of how our kids continue to teach me so much.
Anne Karns (Dettloff) was one of our former student/athletes. She’s the only PC kid to be All-American in two different sports and was inducted into our first Hall of Fame class in 2008. More importantly, she may have been one of the best examples of what it means to be a great teammate. She was definitely one of those individuals that we think of as being a “different maker”…and she still is.
Here is that video about an incredible Mustang.
Breathing in spring,
Eric Alburtus
And if you want even more PC news…