by Mary Jo David

At the 2026 Staff Welcome Back breakfast, Jeff Trapp unveiled the theme for the 2026-2027 school year: We are all in this together!

The new superintendent emphasized that everyone in the school district needs to believe in each other, encourage each other, play nice together, and work as one team. Although he’s a die-hard MSU fan, Trapp took one for the team by quoting the famous words of U-M’s Bo Schembechler: “The Team. The Team. The Team.”

“We are all in this together,” he announced, adding, “Together we make an impact,” and that’s when Trapp introduced TEAM 190 to a room full of puzzled onlookers. Trapp went on to explain that the first Stockbridge school was established 190 years ago in 1836, and he reviewed more school history from there:

1836  First school in Stockbridge.

1895  First graduating class.

1931  Stockbridge schools had 13 teachers, one for each grade.

1945  The year “Team 109” hired Richard Howlett as a teacher. He’d later become a principle and then superintendent.

1970  Mike DeMint was hired 57 years ago and still works for Stockbridge schools today.

2026  Team 190 begins the school year with an emphasis on “We’re all in this together!”

To commemorate this history and celebrate that “we are all in this together,” all staff members were presented with a Team 190 shirt.