Friday, April 24, State Interim Superintendent Sheila Alles visited the Monroe Public Schools district, stopping at the MHS campus to see the school and the programs at MHS.

Alles makes visits to districts regularly, making time to visit different districts in both the fall and spring.

“The Michigan Department of Education has a goal to visit five to seven school districts every year, and my goal is to visit 10 in the fall and 10 in the spring,” said Alles.

These visits are aimed at seeing what goes on in each district and how the Department of Education can best help the school, the staff, and mainly the students in each part of the state.

“My goal is to get into the districts to be able to have a better understanding of the programs and the services the schools provide to students so that the Department of Ed. can be more responsive to your needs,” said Alles.

This specific visit to MHS was set up by MPS Superintendent Julie Everly after meeting with the first female State Superintendent, Alles. Similarly, Everly is also the first female superintendent at MPS.

“We passed each other on the way to a coffee shop for a session and thanked her for her words earlier that morning…and at that point in time, I invited her to come to Monroe. She asked me a little bit about Monroe, and we made some connections on different things that we’re interested in in education,” said Everly.

For both students and administrators alike, it was very exciting to have Alles visit.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for us to showcase all the wonderful experiences that our students and staff have in our school district that is so special to our hearts,” Everly said.

“It was interesting to have the State Superintendent visit our school and made us feel appreciated, especially with how she was really interested with everything that we were doing,” said senior Avery Morales.

Overall, Alles was impressed by MHS and MPS as a whole due to what she saw on her visit.

“I was impressed by so many things, the passion of the staff who work here, the variety of programs and services available to students, the caring of each other is evident in the experiences that I had here. There really is a sense of community and family, and I was so very impressed,” said Alles. “You have much to be proud of in Monroe Public Schools, you are doing great things.”