For Thursday, August 6
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
Editor's note: This edition of the Mustang Minutes is being sent out today only to last year’s students. That means this year’s freshmen will not be receiving it. In the transition to the new student information system, we had some system errors, and as a result we can’t access email addresses for all our families. I am really sorry about this. So if you know a family of an incoming freshmen, would you mind forwarding this to them? Thanks a ton! And we will also post this to our website.
Construction out on Westnedge Avenue
The city has had crews working on repaving Westnedge between CMS and our athletic facilities for much of the summer, and they have also been making improvements to storm drains and a host of other things. And the crews (led by an awesome PC graduate) feel confident that they will be done before the school year begins.
But, band camp is moving along, many practices are starting to heat up, and at any one point in a day we could have 300-500 students here on campus at the same time. So please keep these things in mind:
From the intersection of Centre and Westnedge, only drive south. Good friends of mine in the Portage Police Department are hanging out in this area, and a great day of practice can be ruined by one ticket.
As you head south, you can turn right on to Melody to get out to Shaver Road to get home. But, officers have been watching this 25-mile-an-hour zone as well, so please continue to be thoughtful.
As you head further south on Westnedge, know that crews are still working at the Austin West lake drain that goes under Westnedge. Currently the road is down to one lane, and there are temporary stop lights.
Continue to be the thoughtful drivers you are, drive carefully, and we all can have a great run-up to the start of the school year. Thanks!
Attention, incoming freshmen!
Arrive at 7:45 a.m. on Monday, August 24 for Freshman Orientation
Freshman Orientation will take place from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Monday, August 24th. It will be held in the Portage Central High School Gymnasium. Incoming 9th graders should be here by 7:45 a.m. and wait outside the gymnasium doors until they are welcomed in by our Link Crew Leaders. We can’t wait to meet you all and are excited to welcome you to the PCHS family! If you have any questions about Orientation, please contact Nikki Smith, Activities Director, at nsmith@portageps.org or 269-323-5265.
And on Monday, August 24th, there is a Code of Conduct Meeting at 11:30 a.m. in the Auditorium. If your child is a 9th grader, or simply has not done the Code of Conduct meeting before in high school, and plans to participate in Athletics or Activities such as Archery, Debate, DECA, E-Sports, the Fall Play, Forensics, HOSA, Marching Band, Model UN, and the Spring Musical, please attend this meeting. More information will be forthcoming.
Don’t forget to join us for Open House – plus have dinner with us!
Tuesday, August 25th from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. is our PC Back-to-School Open House
The Portage Central High School Open House will be held on Tuesday, August 25 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. There will be an Activities Fair in Centennial Park, weather permitting (otherwise it will be held in the Commons), so students can get club information before school starts. Too, we will be selling parking passes and this year’s yearbook, and we also have raffles for free stuff, like t-shirts, blankets, stuffed Maverick, athletic passes and parking passes! There will also be an open Meet and Greet to get to know your students’ teachers and other staff, find your lockers, classes, purchase Athletic passes, and visit the Corral, our school store!
And food trucks will be here – so skip dinner and eat with us!
Sweet Caroline’s and their amazing ice cream!
Off the Cuff with a whole variety of dinner options!
Students wishing to purchase a parking pass at Open House must first register on the GLIC (pcglic.com). The student is responsible for filling out the Google form and bringing their valid driver’s license, vehicle registration, and $20 payment to the Welcome Center. Parking passes will not be sold if the student does not present a valid license and registration at the time of purchase.
Lunch passes will NOT be sold at Open House, but parents/guardians will be able to fill out the permission form if they haven't already done so. Forms were emailed to the address listed in Skyward. Stop at the Welcome Center counter to submit the permission form using one of the available Chromebooks.
PC Yearbook wants your summer photos for the 2027 yearbook!
Did you travel? Hang out by your pool or on the lake? Volunteer? Condition for sports? Chill with friends and family? Work a summer job? We'd love to see what you did after school got out in June! Students can click on this Summer Fun Photos link to share their summer photos and stories! Got questions? Email yearbook adviser Ann Alburtus at aalburtus@portageps.org.
Outstanding fines and unserved consequences
This morning, notices were sent to students entering 10th through 12th grade who have outstanding materials and/or fines. They were also sent to parent/guardian email addresses that are registered in Skyward. Outstanding materials may be returned and fines may be taken care of in the main office. If you received a notification and believe it is an error, please encourage your student to talk to the appropriate teacher or staff member when school resumes.
For those students who have unserved detention time from a previous school year, there are summer community service opportunities available to take care of that time. Please reach out to Eric Alburtus (ealburtus@portageps.org) to set that up. Remember, all unserved detention time must be cleared if a student wishes to purchase an off-campus lunch pass. Thanks for taking care of these outstanding issues!
Final Forms and athletic eligibility
It's August and the Portage Central Athletics office is back in action. We are incredibly excited for the start of the 2026-27 school year. Here are some important reminders:
Please complete your Final Forms registration.
Once again, RED means NO, GREEN means GO! All registration information and parent/guardian and student-athlete signatures are required in order to go Green. Make sure to remind your student-athlete to log into their account and sign their permissions ASAP. Here is the link for the Final Forms site.
Once again, we are very excited for this upcoming school year; it's always a great day to be a Mustang!
Want to go off campus for lunch? No problem – as long as you have parent permission
Parents/guardians will receive an email within the next 2 weeks with a link to the Google form (make sure to submit a form for each student). Please note that permission does not carry over from the previous year. Paper copies of the permission form will be available at the Welcome Center during Open House for parents to complete. Students will need parent permission before they are allowed to leave the building for lunch, which starts the first week of school. In order to purchase a $2 lunch sticker, students must present their school ID. The September lunch pass can be purchased at the Welcome Center during the first week of school, after the permission form has been submitted – and as long as the student meets other eligibility requirements.
Yes, the Corral is open!
Show your Mustang Pride in style with some new gear. The Corral (located in the Commons at PCHS) will be open during Freshman Orientation from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and during the PC Open House. We have a variety of new apparel, blankets, and lanyards. Go Mustangs!
An important note about keeping medications at school
We always recommend that medications be kept at home if possible. We understand, though, that this may not always be possible. If a need to keep or carry medication at school arises, please understand that, to keep our students safe, any prescription or non-prescription medications (like Advil or Tylenol), vitamins, herbal remedies, or nutritional supplements a student possesses at school (or at any school-related activity) must have a medical authorization form on file. Even if the medication is locked in your car or locker, an authorization form to possess medication on campus (or to school related events off-campus) is still required.
Completed forms must be submitted to the Main Office the first time you bring the authorized medication onto campus. In other words, if you need to carry a medication on the first day of school, please submit your completed authorization form to the Main Office on the first day of school. Here is a copy of the medication authorization form. Paper copies are available in the Main Office prior to August 25 during summer office hours and will be available at Open House. If you don't have a need to keep medication at school now, but you have a need later, this form can be found on the GLIC. Possessing any medication on school grounds, even if it is over-the-counter medication, without a form on file is a code of conduct violation that has school consequences. If you have questions about medication authorization, read through the form closely first and reach out to our awesome Main Office colleagues at 323-5200.
Some useful instructional videos for our freshmen!
Want to know how to navigate the lunch line? Easy – hit this link! Need to leave early sometime? No worries: learn how to get an early dismissal by clicking right here. And don’t forget: keeping this place clean is important; click here so you are confident about what that means.
All these instructional videos were made by our amazing PCTV students, and you will see more in the weeks to come!
Be sure to move your car out of the West Student Parking lot after 3:30 p.m. on specific days
Our Portage Central Marching Band uses the surface of the West Student Parking Lot on all Monday and Wednesday evenings for their rehearsal, in addition to the evenings of any home football games. On those nights, we ask for all vehicles to be moved from the lot by 3:30 p.m. Any student involved in after-school activities and practices should park in the East Student Parking Lot. If a vehicle is left in the West Student Parking Lot, it will be towed and the owner will be responsible for the cost. Thank you for your help and support of the Portage Central Marching Band!
From the Counseling Office…
Schedules and schedule changes for the 2026-2027 school year
We are thankful to be able to see all of our students in person very soon! We will release the student schedules in Skyward on Monday, August 24. Remember that Skyward has been updated over the summer, so it is new to all of us.
Students will start the first half day of school in enrollment rooms assigned by grade and last name on August 31.
This year, with the arrival of a new Skyward system, schedule changes will be processed exclusively by a parent-approved schedule change form. These forms are available in the Counseling Office starting on August 24. Changes will be processed beginning August 26. The completed schedule change form, along with a parent signature, is required for all schedule changes. Keep in mind that the students have the first five full days of the semester to make changes in courses, as long as there is room available in the classes they are requesting. Changes in lunches and requests for teachers are not available at this time.
An upcoming visit from the Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services Department
Technicians from the Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services Department (KCHCS) will be at our school on Thursday, September 3rd to conduct vision screenings for our freshmen. Students with corrective lenses should plan to bring them in preparation for screening. These state-mandated screenings are conducted by trained vision technicians and do not require any further action by freshmen students’ families. Students will be summoned for screening by last name via PA announcement throughout the school day. Have questions? Please reach out to Adriana Davies at adavies@portageps.org.
Food Facts from the Mustang Café
Thanks to the Governor and Michigan Legislature, students in Michigan will once again have the opportunity to eat one breakfast and one lunch at no charge every day this school year!
Meal Prices are as follows for the 2026 – 27 School Year:
Secondary Breakfast - $ 0
Ala Carte second breakfast - $ 1.60
Secondary Lunch - $ 0 (depending on the station)
Ala Carte second lunch - $3.50 / $3.75 (depending on the station)
Ala Carte Entrée - $3.50 / $3.75 (depending on the station) – meal presented at register does not have all required components.
Extra Entrée - $1.75 - $2.00 (depending on station and with “purchase” of a full school lunch)
Milk - $ .60
All meals will still require students to have at least ½ cup of fruit or vegetable when they go through the register. Students will also be able to purchase ala carte items as long as they have money in their food service account. No charging of ala carte items into the negative is permitted.
Breakfast is served at all PPS schools every day school is in session. Breakfast will be served on the first day of school, Monday, August 31st.
School meals are healthy, affordable, and deliciously convenient! Did you know that your student might qualify for free or reduced-price meals? The application only takes a few minutes to complete. Your information will be kept safe and confidential and will only be used to determine your students’ meal eligibility. Education and Nutrition Benefit applications are now available for this school year and benefits from the previous school year will expire on Oct. 13th. Parents are encouraged to apply online at https://portage.familyportal.cloud to avoid long delays in processing of applications.
Are you hungry and want to see what’s for lunch? Need carb counts? Want to know how many calories your favorite school lunch has? Have a food allergy and need to find a safe meal? Then check out Portage’s exclusive Nutrislice website! https://portageps.nutrislice.com or download the app to your smart phone and have the info at your fingertips each day before lunch!
Low Balance Email Alerts – tired of last minute texts or emails asking for lunch money? Sign up for our low balance email alerts. When your student’s balance falls below $5, you will receive an email that lets you know you need to replenish funds on their account. You can sign up at https://portage.familyportal.cloud .
Lunch Money – Yes, your student can pay cash for his or her ala carte items each day, or they can bring in a check or cash to put on account, but did you know you can add money to your student’s lunch account electronically? Simply sign on to https://portage.familyportal.cloud, setup your account (you will need their student ID number—also known as their “Other ID” in Skyward), and then you can add funds, see their order history, set up email low balance alerts, and even transfer funds if you have more than one student.
Looking for a part-time job that fits into your student’s school schedule? The food service department is hiring. Apply online at careers.compass-usa.com search by location of Portage, Michigan.
Speaking of lunch money, even though one meal is free we still have to make you aware of our charging policy . . .
Meal Charge Policy
Ala carte entrees, extra entrees, beverages or snacks are never allowed to be charged into the negative. Students must pay off any negative balances that carried over before being allowed to purchase ala carte items.
Negative Balance Policy
Negative balances are required by law to be paid to the Food Service Department by the end of each school year. At the end of the year all outstanding negative balances will be forwarded to the district Business Office to begin collection proceedings.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Susan Livingston, Director of Dining Services at 323-5154 or via email at slivingston@portageps.org.
We are almost there, to starting a great new year,
Eric Alburtus
And if you want even more PC news…