A letter from Mr. Allen
June 2, 2025

End of the Year Principal Letter

A Letter from Mr. Allen Please take a few minutes to read Mr. Allen's letter to parents.
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Hello Norse Families! We are now all getting ready for the transition to our long summer break from school. Thank you again to the families, staff, and students involved at NME for having done their part, and often much more, this school year. I love our school community and am excited to continue to be a part of it next year. With the transition to a “break”, I would like to offer up a few research-based pointers that might help you be the best parent you can be: Parenting is difficult and incredibly rewarding. You are brave for taking it on! Give yourself grace. We adults are under a lot of pressure, and sometimes we pass on negativity to our children. It happens. I suggest you don’t beat yourself up over it, but your response is a chance to help your children learn, grow, and grow closer to you through follow-up conversations and interactions. They learn how to be good humans as much through how you behave as what you say, including after a mistake! Minimize “screen time” whenever possible. No more than 2 hours total per day, on average, is what is recommended to keep a child’s emotional development progressing. Clear limits could be a battle initially, but they will pay off within a week! Kids need sleep. Even when not in school, kids should be getting 9 to 11 hours of sleep each night. Too little means they think more slowly, learn less, get injured more, and are more emotional. Let kids experience conflict and frustration, within reasonable limits. Solving their problems for them will “steal the struggle”. Like a baby chick trying to hatch from an egg, if we do the hard stuff for our kids, they won’t be able to grow into the strong, confident people they can be. It may be hard to watch them wrestle with real challenges, but let them battle through things on their own whenever you can! As far as updates that might concern you about our school: Class placements are due out around the second week of August. Check your email then! We are starting a new reading curricular resource next year, school-wide: Bookworms! Its foundation is in the Science of Reading and was selected using a building-wide, two-year process. We are excited for this step forward! Next year, NME is going to amp up parent involvement with our school. If you need help, have time to volunteer, or want to learn more, please send me an email with your thoughts! Don’t forget to download the North Muskegon Schools App! It makes getting school-related notifications easy. As always, if you have ideas, concerns, or need help from me or our school, let me know! Connecting with people to better serve our kids is why we do what we do. Have a wonderful summer! Humbly Yours, Jonathan Allen Elementary Principal 231.719.4208 JAllen@nmps.net