FPS events prepare students for school year

The summer break is almost over for Fremont Public Schools students. 
 
To help students prepare for the 2021-22 school year, FPS has scheduled various events for 5 to 7 p.m. this week. The middle school has an open house tonight while Johnson Crossing Academic Center has one scheduled for Wednesday night. 
 
Principal Myron Sikora said Fremont High School’s Back to School Bash is also set for Wednesday night. 
 
“Most of the action will be happening in the Al Bahe Gym as well as the cafeteria,” Sikora said. “People can park anywhere they want to as all doors will be open. Teachers will be in their classrooms from 5 to 7 so students can pick up their schedules and kind of take care of fees and all of those types of things they do to start off the year.”
 
Sikora has a simple request for students for the opening day of classes on Aug. 10. 
 
“Just come with a great attitude ready to be engaged,” he said. “We’ve got a new theme this year which is ‘Be engaged, be brave, be kind, be a Tiger and belong,’” he said. 
 
Fremont Public Schools Foundation Executive Director and Executive Director of Human Resources and Elementary Operations Kevin Eairleywine said all seven elementary schools will conduct Back to School Nights on Thursday. 
 
“Last year — because of COVID-19 — we did things a little bit differently,” he said. “We actually had drive-thru Back to School Nights. Families would drive by and meet their teachers as their teachers were on the sidewalk or in the parking lot. It was the best we could do at the time and we made the most of it.” 
 
Eairleywine believes everyone is glad for a return to a sense of normalcy for this year’s events. 
 
“The teachers and staff are excited and I know the kids are excited too about being able to get back in the buildings and get back to normal,” he said. “They can get into their classrooms, meet their teachers and get everything ready to go.” 
 
Fremont educators worked diligently throughout the summer to prepare for the upcoming school year, Eairleywine said. 
 
“The teachers have been working hard all summer putting in a lot of curriculum work,” he said. “They put a lot of time in. Our building, the Main Street Office, was very busy this summer with lots of things happening.”
 
Kate Heineman, executive director of teaching and learning, agreed with Eairleywine’s assessment. 
 
“We started at the end of May and we worked on all content areas,” she said. “Our teachers did a great job of revising and modifying curriculum so that we can really accelerate learning for all of our students in every content.”
 
Heineman said the work continued all through June. New instructional material was adapted for English Language Arts as well as for the Social Studies program. 
 
“We’ve had teachers working on that as well as our PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Support) systems and really doing a great job,” she said. “We’re excited to get the year going.” 
 
There was also elementary summer school at Milliken Park, Bell Field, Washington and Linden. 
 
“It was for (kindergarten) through fourth grade and they did an awesome job,” Eairleywine said. “We had two different sessions. One was a three-week session as soon as school got out and one was a three-week session right after the Fourth of July.”