Message from Superintendent Blomgren

Thank you once again for welcoming me back to Dowagiac! The transition has been great, and we are off to a fantastic start with the 24-25 school year! It has been great to see so many of you early in this school year at events around the district and community that I met in my previous stint here in Dowagiac when I taught and coached at DUHS.

Here comes October. Can you believe we are starting our 6th week of school already? Summer weather is coming to an end, but we still have some amazing days ahead as we transition into the fall. Below are some highlights and important information you should be aware of as we continue to partner together as a school community to provide great opportunities for our students.

The 1% Intention

I opened the school year with staff and this theme on our first day together as we came back from summer break to begin planning for the upcoming school year. The basic idea is simple, be 1% better today than you were yesterday. That equates to 14 minutes and 24 seconds of your day. If each of us could do this for our students and school community, imagine the impact this could have! We refer to this as, “Collective Efficacy”, and the research indicates that if all us, teachers, parents, bus drivers, counselors, administrators, secretaries, coaches, maintenance, secretaries, and others put this 1% better effort towards our students each day, we could see 3–4 years of academic growth in our students in just one year’s time. Will you join us? What will be your 1%, 14 minutes and 24 second commitment to your student be? Help us grow our school community!

Let us know if you would like a wristband! We have extras at Central Office and the buildings also have some extras as well.

Academics

At our most recent Board of Education meeting, Dr. Dunn, Assistant Superintendent, reported to the Board of Education our most recent data scores for Literacy and Math. It was very encouraging to see the trend in our academic data and the continual growth our district has started to show in recent years. We were most excited to note the data that compared us to districts around the state that have similar demographics; enrollment numbers, socioeconomic, racial breakdown, free-reduced, at-risk, and so on. Our academic data consistently put us in the top 2 or 3 when we compare ourselves with those “like” districts. Great news!

Count Day

As many of you know, count day is this Wednesday Oct. 2nd. This is an extremely important day for school districts. Student count day is a major source of funding from the state in order to cover our operating costs. With that being said, we would be ecstatic to see all of our students and smiling faces in school on Wednesday for a full day of school. Parents, you can help us with this! A couple of incentives students can plan for on Wednesday as we encourage perfect attendance. We will be serving favorite lunch items for students at school that day and any student in full attendance at school on Wednesday will receive a free homecoming football game ticket for Friday night’s game against Brandywine!

Go Chieftains!

Greg Blomgren

Superintendent

Building Highlights

Justus Gage Elementary

It’s All About Me projects, hanging on walls outside classrooms!

Sister Lakes Elementary

Students enjoying recess.

Kincheloe Elementary

Mr. Leazenby’s 2nd grade class writing letters.

Mrs. Soderbloom's 1st grade class looking at graphs.

Patrick Hamilton Elementary

Students running for Student Council!

Dowagiac Middle School

Staff at opening day professional development and planning for our students!

Dowagiac Union High School

Check out the Auto Shop, Mr. Tilly and his crew had a busy shop!

Our girls golf team continues to dominate this year! Let's Go Chieftains!

BUS DRIVERS WE NEED YOU!

Newsworthy

DOWAGIAC — The Dowagiac Union Schools Board of Education welcomed new leadership to the district on Monday. The district held its first Board of Education meeting with Greg Blomgren serving as the superintendent. “I’m excited about the people I’ve had an opportunity to meet with,” he said. “There are a lot of committed people here in Dowagiac. We want to see the school and the community do well and we’re excited to get to work.”

DOWAGIAC — Greg Blomgren is home, in more ways than one. The Dowagiac resident – and former Dowagiac Union High teacher and basketball coach – has returned to the district in the role of its new superintendent. Blomgren assumed the role July 1 and replaces Jonathan Whan, who retired after serving the district for five years. “It’s been something in my professional career that I’ve been seeking for a while,” Blomgren said. “There’s no better place than being here.”

DOWAGIAC — Dowagiac’s new band director, Benjamin VanRoekel – a 2019 Southwestern Michigan College graduate and tenor saxophonist from Paw Paw – capped his first band camp Aug. 10 previewing this fall’s halftime show. VanRoekel’s Chieftain Marching Band performed selections from John Williams-themed “A Night at the Movies.” VanRoekel, a veteran of Western Michigan University’s Bronco Marching Band, said of Williams as his musicians took Chris Taylor-Alumni Field, “He’s an incredibly prolific composer with a career spanning seven decades. (With 54), he’s the second-most nominated person for Academy Awards after Walt Disney. We’re playing a ‘Star Wars’ compilation. Second is themes from ‘Jurassic Park.’ Later in the season our closer will be a mashup of ‘Jaws’ and ‘Superman.’

DOWAGIAC — Dowagiac Union Schools’ 2024-25 school year got off to a promising start Monday morning. During Monday’s Board of Education meeting at city hall, Superintendent Greg Blomgren discussed the district’s opening day staff meeting and breakfast held Monday morning at Dowagiac Middle School. Blomgren told the board that the event was well-attended by both teachers and staff and served as the starting point for the establishment of a strong, positive culture for the district. He said he received feedback from multiple people in attendance regarding the strong turnout.

“They said it’s been a long time since we’ve had this many people show for opening day breakfast,” he said. “They couldn’t believe how many people were there. There’s a little buzz there and that just carried over to the opening day activities. There was a lot of good feedback.” “I think this morning was a success and we were very happy to be there,” added Board President Robert Ickes.

DOWAGIAC — Dowagiac elementary and middle school students posted improvements on standardized test results, with most scores surpassing pre-pandemic levels, according to district results the district shared during its Board of Education meeting Monday.

Dowagiac Deputy Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunn delivered an education report stating the district is making gains in M-STEP testing and that it is performing well compared to districts with similar enrollments and socioeconomic levels.

According to the Michigan Department of Education, the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP), is a computer-based assessment administered to grades 3-8 designed to gauge how well students are mastering standards developed to outline what students should know in order to be prepared to enter the workplace, career education training, and college.

DOWAGIAC — The Dowagiac boys soccer team came up short against Three Rivers in its season-opener Friday night. The Wildcats used a strong first half to defeat the Chieftains 3-1. Three Rivers led 2-0 entering the second half, where Dowagiac’s Eli Stout scored the team’s lone goal. An own goal in Three Rivers’ favor rounded out the scoring.

DOWAGIAC — The Dowagiac football team’s season opener was a success last Friday. The Chieftains defeated South Haven 21-11 to win its first season opener since 2018.

DOWAGIAC — It was a birthday to remember for Duane Davis. The Dowagiac Union football coach saw his team shut down visiting Parchment in the second half and roll to a 48-16 win. “I love those kids,” Davis said. “They did a great job. They went downhill and they punished them. That was awesome.”

BENTON HARBOR — The Dowagiac football team ran over and around host Benton Harbor Friday night. The Chieftains dominated in all phrases to the tune of a 63-6 win over the Tigers in Lakeland Conference play. Dowagiac led 42-6 at halftime.

Laura McIntyre

Patrick Hamilton Elementary

Educators and staff are perhaps the greatest population of unsung heroes in Berrien and Cass County. This school year, Leader Publications will publish spotlights featuring teachers and staff throughout the Dowagiac Union Schools district, giving the community a chance to get to know the hard-working individuals shaping their children’s lives.

Homecoming Game and Parade

High School Sports Digital Fundraiser Wednesday, October 2

Dowagiac Union High School has been selected as one of the high school sports programs to receive funds from the 2024 McDonald’s High School Sports Digital Fundraiser!

On October 2nd, local area McDonald’s restaurants will be raising money for local high school sports programs. Restaurants will be donating 10% of all digital sales made in the McDonald’s App to your athletic department.

The more orders made in the McDonald’s App, the more money raised for your school! Attached is a graphic for your school that you may print or share online!

Dowagiac Union Schools and Dowagiac District Library Collaboration

Our schools and the Dowagiac District Library have come together to encourage reading. Elementary students who attend the Adventures in Bookland Club (ages 6-8) and Inkwell Explorers Book Club (ages 9-12) will receive Hero Tickets they can use at their school's Hero Store.

Dowagiac District Library: https://www.dowagiacdl.org/