Initial Reaction to School Start Date Change

As many of you have probably heard, Governor Branstad has directed the Iowa Department of Education to no longer allow waivers for an early school start date.  School districts are now being told they can start no earlier than the week of September 1st. 

Judging from our community's reaction to my initial calendar proposal last year, the Governor's decision will not be a popular one here locally.  If you recall, my initial calendar proposal had Central starting later and ending later (last week of June).  I revised the calendar because your feedback stated you wanted out of school no later than early June.

I strongly believe voted school board members should make calendar decisions that meet the needs of the communities they represent.  Information I consider in making this decision includes:

• Last night the Central School Board voted in favor of a first reading to expand our college course offerings from 6 college credits to 24 college credits.  Most of these college classes are taught in conjunction with Northeast Iowa Community College.  Unless community colleges are also required to change their calendars Central students taking online classes will have several weeks of courses when other students are in or out of session.  As we look to expand college course opportunities for our students, we need the flexibility to develop a calendar that supports college level learning.
• Sports practices start late July/early August with games also starting in August.  To my knowledge the athletic associations are not being held to the same standards as the school districts.  So we will have practices and games a month before classes even get started.  This will have a negative affect on school spirit and culture. 
• An argument for a later start date is the loss of instructional time due to early dismissals for heat.  This is not an issue at Central, since both buildings have air conditioning.
• Parents state students are ready to get back to school in August.  Teachers state students shut down when the weather gets nice in June.  
• Colleges begin summer courses in early June.  Unless four-year colleges and universities change their summer schedules, both teachers and students will be unable to attend summer school classes in June since school will continue to be in session.
• No research or data shows students starting school in early September learn more or better than those starting in August.
• The difficulty of employing high school students for the tourism industry is invalid for students in our school district.  Jobs in tourism are not available for the youth of our community.  Jobs like the community pool which opens Memorial Day weekend are available.
• The existing law already allows school districts near tourism attractions, e.g., Iowa State Fair, Adventureland, etc. a starting date allowing students to be employed in tourism.  I believe it is inappropriate for the state to dictate when all school districts start because many school districts in tourism areas have chosen not to start later to accommodate the tourism industry.
• A clear message is being sent by local school districts that an earlier start date is better for their students since 99% of Iowa School Districts have requested the early start waiver for this school year.

I believe local control of our schools districts should mean just that.  Let the voters hold our voted school board members accountable for the decisions we make locally.

Pay For College Night

Central will be hosting a "Paying for College" night on Tuesday, December 16th.  This night is open to ALL parents.  Paying and planning for college should start the moment your child is born, and if you are like me you have not done this!  On this night we will have experts that will share simple ways you can prepare for paying for college, no matter if you have a senior or a new born.

1.  6:00-6:30 pm 529 plan info via skype session with Heather Doe from the Iowa College Student Aid Commission - all families need info on saving for college, the ease of setting this up, the best people to hold the 529 so it does not count against financial aid for a student, and how it can be used....she will cover all bases.

2. 6:30-7:00 College classes in high school - 6-11 grade families.   Both NICC and UIU will be present to talk about offerings and readiness.  Mrs. Metcalf will address philosophy that we are not a college but these are offerings that extend what is taught at Central when students are ready, counseling available to understand readiness, how a four year plan helps.

3.  7:00-7:30 Scholarship Searching - Mrs. Metcalf & college reps - tips on how to begin, what you need where to look...for seniors and any interested junior parents.

 4.  6:00-7:15 Applying for the FAFSA- ICAN rep will present this session for seniors and any interested junior parents.

Iowa Food & Fitness Highlights Central

I am always proud when Central gets good press!  A big thank you to Cassie Panther and her work in promoting wellness at Central.

Enjoy the articles: http://iowafoodandfitness.org/wegrow/author/cassie-panther/

3D Printer Coming to Central!

I was notified today that Mr. Ungerer received a grant for a new EKOCYCLE Cube 3D Printer.  This will be a valuable tool as Central looks to expand STEM and Project Based Learning intiatives.

Here is the email:
3D Systems and The Coca-Cola Company are pleased to partner with FIRST® to support theFIRST® Robotics Competition and the FIRST® Tech Challenge, bringing 3D printing technology to FIRST teams in the US and around the Globe.  Congratulations on being awarded an EKOCYCLE™ Cube® 3D printer, which uses post-consumer recycled plastic for its printer cartridges. We are excited to see how you use it to prototype and build your robots!

A very big thank you to Mr. Ungerer for writing the grant and bringing this opportunity to our students!

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone enjoyed the full week of fall break.  As an educator, breaks like these help us reflect on our practice and stay energized throughout the school year. 

With three full weeks until winter break I will be busy preparing for our Department of Education Site-Visit as well as working with teachers in aligning our curriculum with the Iowa Core and placing a stronger emphasis on the individual student.  The Central School Board will also host a work session that will focus on our vision and give clear goals to achieve that vision.  Sometime in the next three weeks Central will also find out if they are awarded the Teacher Leadership and Compensation grant. 

One of the most exciting happenings is Central's work with Struxture Architects.  The timing of this work couldn't be any better based on your feedback in our Parent Survey.  Many of you commented on the fact that we needed a better flow to our school building and that is exactly what Struxture is trying to address.  Struxture Architects will be meeting with our Facilities Committee sometime before winter break.  If you are interested in being a part of this committee please let me know.  Currently I would like to have more students, parents, and business leaders represented on the committee.

As you can see a lot of exciting work taking place at Central.  I am thankful for all of the support each of you give our school district.

Sincerely,
Mr. Trenkamp

Stand Up 4 Public Schools

I recently signed the pledge in support of public schools and I encourage all of my followers to do the same.  The link is found here: http://standup4publicschools.org/

If you follow legislation and the political process, it is amazing how a small group of people can get a lot accomplished.  The majority of us are products of public schools and send our kids to public schools.  Yet, our voice is currently being overpowered by the minority against public schools.  This is proven through the lack of public school funding (Iowa is currently $1650 behind the per-pupil average in the Nation), the false attacks on the Iowa Core, negative media surrounding public education and public teachers, the lack of accountability for home-school, etc.  Supporters of public education need to start fighting back, and yes I said fight.  If we believe in our local school districts, our voice has to start being heard.

I am currently working with other Superintendents of surrounding school districts to ensure our voice is heard.  We are developing a calendar to ensure supporters of public education are at the State Capital at all times.  We need parents to join us!

The Central School Board also approved the following letter to be sent to our local politicians.  These priorities are vital to ensure Central continues to grow and provide a quality education to our kids.  Please let me know if you are interested in being a positive voice for public education and if you are able to attend a trip to Des Moines.  Together our voice will make a difference!

On behalf of the Central Community School District Board of Directors I would like to thank you for representing us in...

With the 2014/2015 general session about to begin, we would like you to consider the following points in representing our school district:

• In many instances, the areas you represent, public schools are the largest employer of the community.  As our State surplus has grown, funding for education has not.  Iowa is now $1,657.00 per pupil spending behind the national average, with only 10 states lowering educational spending more than Iowa.  Iowa ranks 37^th in the nation in terms of per-pupil spending, and this directly correlates with academic performance.  The States that are making education a financial priority are outperforming Iowa.  Iowa has a strong history of being the best in education, please fund our schools at a minimum of 6% State Supplemental Aid so we can once again provide the resources needed to obtain that tradition.  Without this funding, Central Community School District will have to cut teachers and resources, which means we cut academic programs for our students.  Please make this your number one priority.
• Central Community School District strongly supports the Teacher Leadership and Compensation program.  We thank Governor Branstad for recognizing the need to transform our educational system.  Unfortunately, sustainability of this program can only happen if all other school funding streams are fully funded. 
• Supporting a funding mechanism for school districts’ transportation costs that do not reduce funding for the educational program.  This is a major concern for the rural school districts you represent.
• Education Savings Accounts, Vouchers, and Open Enrollment.  Central Community School District records parent survey data that shows how strongly our community supports their school district.  By supporting ESA’s, vouchers, home-school, and open enrollment, you support a decrease in enrollment to our community public schools.  While we support parent choice, those choices should all be held to the same accountability standards as the public schools are held.
• Central Community School District strongly supports the Iowa Core.  Our teachers are starting to see the advantages the Iowa Core has on their instructional practices and improving student achievement. 

We invite you to come and visit Central Community School District and would enjoy the chance to meet face to face as well as give you a tour of our facilities.  Northeast Iowa has excellent public schools that are severely struggling due to lack of funding and a declining enrollment population.  We look forward to working together to address these concerns and improving Iowa’s future workforce.

Central Elementary Fundraiser and Halloween Parade!

Annual Halloween Parade and Student Share-Out

A reminder to join us tomorrow for our Chrysler Drive for Kids Fundraiser and Student Share-Out Day/Halloween Parade.  Details for the day are as follows:

Chrysler Drive for Kids Fundraiser: Main entrance of the school.

Time:  10:30 am – 2:30 pm

What: A quick 5 minute test drive earns the school $10.00.  If we get 150 test drives, Central Elementary gets an additional $500.  Please remember to bring your license and help us raise money for our field trips!

Parent/Community Share Out: Your child’s classrooms.

Time:  12:45 pm – 1:30 pm

What: Parents and community members are invited to tour elementary classrooms as part of a gallery walk so our students can share with you what they have been learning.

Parent Informational Meeting: High School Gymnasium.

Time:  1:35 pm – 2:05 pm

What: Mr. Trenkamp & Mrs. Tuecke will present on Essential Grade Level Standards.

Halloween Parade: High School Gymnasium.

Time:  2:10 pm – 2:30 pm

What: Central Elementary Annual Halloween Parade.  You can pick up your student in his/her classroom after the parade.

I look forward to sharing our learning together and raising money for our Elementary students!

Very Proud of our Central Cross Country Team

Yesterday Central boys and girls both qualified for State!  Both teams have been a class act all season long and have improved greatly.  The strong showing at the district meet (girls 1st and boys 3rd) follows a very strong showing at the Upper Iowa Conference meet where boys and girls both took 1st place.

A big tip of the hat goes out to the Bauder's.  They consistently produce strong runners at Central, and for the size of school we are with limited student body, this is simply amazing.

I also want to thank our athletes, you prove that hard work pays off!  Another thanks to the parents for allowing your children to compete and supporting them along the way.

Very proud of both teams and the Central Cross County program.  Best of luck at State!

Staying Connected!

On Tuesday, Central staff attended a training hosted by Keystone AEA about the importance of being a connected educator.  We started the morning with a concentration on Twitter and Pinterest.  Both offer excellent resources for not only our teachers, but students and parents.  The late morning portion concentrated on Blogging, both classrooms and teacher Blogs.  Obviously if you are reading this, you understand the importance of Blogging as a communication tool.

Central is also looking into upgrading our district website.  We are hoping this upgrade takes place at the start of the second semester.  Central will now also have a Facebook page, the link is www.facebook.com/centralcommunityschool  Please check us out and friend us!  Lastly, we now also have a Hashtag for our district on Twitter.  If you tweet out any information relevant to our school district, use the hashtag #centcs so we can all share and learn together!

I share a lot of information on my twitter account that may geared towards teachers, but parents can also use to increase learning in the home.  I apologize in advance for the occasional Hawkeye and Chicago Cub tweets you may have to weed through!

Together lets work at making Central a connected community.  Please let me know if you have other ideas as well.

Go Warriors!

Central School Board approves new lunch collection policy

Central Parents/Guardians,

Over the last couple months the Central School Board has been discussing implementing a new school lunch policy to address the concern of delinquent lunch accounts.  At one time last year the District was owed $6000 in unpaid lunch accounts.  As of today, the district is owed $3000 with the number growing monthly and no previous policy to address the concern.  Having a healthy lunch account balance affects all Central Stakeholders and taxpayers equally.  Due to this concern the Central School Board requested me to research and present a policy to address delinquent lunch accounts. 

Much discussion took place on what is “fair” and not punishing Central students.  I feel the approved policy is both “fair” and does not punish Central students.  As long as parents/guardians communicate with the school district, NO CHILD will receive an alternative meal.  If parents/guardians refuse to communicate and work with the school district, then yes, their child/ren will receive an alternative meal until communication and a payment plan are in place.  Parents/guardians are also reminded that at anytime they can fill out a free & reduced lunch application if financial circumstances change.  Central also offers a backpack program to help with ensuring our students are eating at home.  All of this information is kept confidential.

I believe you will find the approved policy, which goes into effect immediately, to be one of ample opportunity to address delinquent accounts and a policy that is very similar to policies used effectively by the majority of school districts across the Nation.  The new policy is as follows:

Code No. 710.5 DISTRICT FOOD SERVICE ACCOUNT COLLECTION

Parent(s)/guardian(s) of students are required to pay for meals and milk in advance and maintain a positive “account” balance.  It is the responsibility of the parent(s)/guardian(s) to keep track of the balance in their account and make timely payments to the school to avert a negative balance.  Payments for meals and/or milk should be made to the school or district office.

LOW BALANCE NOTICE:

The District Office will review accounts on a daily basis.  When an account drops below $0.00, an account statement is sent by mail or email.  Once an account is 30 days past due, a phone call from the Superintendent will be made informing parent(s)/guardian(s) that they have 15 days to develop an agreed upon payment plan with the district.  If a plan and attempt to pay has not been made after 45 days past due, students will receive a sandwich as the main dish until an approved payment plan is in place.  If the family account has a negative balance of $10.00 or more, students will not be allowed to charge ala carte purchases.

PAST DUE ACCOUNTS:

The District may file a claim with small claims court or utilize the services of a collection agency and/or legal counsel to secure the collection of unpaid food service debt that is forty-five or more days past due.  Any charges associated with a small claims court filing or fees charged by a collection agency shall be added to the unpaid debt due the District.  The District will delay such action when a parent/guardian agrees to and makes timely payments in accordance with an alternative payment plan to eliminate the debt.

First Reading:   September 15, 2014           Second Reading:  October 20, 2014

If you have any questions surrounding the new policy please feel free to contact me by phone or email.

Not a Political Ad!

If you are like me, you are burned out of political ads.  My mailbox is full, they found my cell phone number, and I can't watch TV!  So please excuse this Blog post...

While I promise not to tell you how to vote, there is one race that Central supporters should pay very close attention to.  That race is for Iowa House District 55 which was previously held by Elkader's own Roger Thomas.  Darrel Branhagen (Republican) and Rick Edwards (Democrat) are the two candidates running for Iowa House District 55. 

Last Wednesday, the Central government class hosted a debate in the Central auditorium.

I went into that debate not knowing either candidate, so I was very excited to attend and learn about both candidates.  In terms of the education for our students (and as a parent, for my kids) it did not take long to determine Mr. Branhagen would not be a supporter of our public schools.  Mr. Branhagen has stated his support for waivers, which in my opinion shows how out of touch he is with our rural communities he is supposed to be representing.  If we get a waiver, we aren't Des Moines, so where are we supposed to go?  Does he want our kids on a bus for hours? Does he not know that over 90% of parents strongly support their child's school?
I also asked Mr. Branhagen about State Supplemental Aid and the importance of setting that at no lower than 4% due to Central and surrounding districts dealing with loss of enrollment.  His response was curious at best.  He started by stating teachers are underpayed in Iowa when compared to the nation, even though Iowa teachers outperform 90% of other States in the Nation.  He then went onto state that teachers in Iowa are underpayed when compared to other State positions in Iowa.  Yet, while recognizing these problems, Mr. Branhagen ended by stating he would not support an increase in State Supplemental Aid!  I stood there with my mouth open, looking confused?!  Iowa has a huge surplus, and one thing we want as parents is our tax money to go to our students.  An educated population leads to a stronger economy. 
Mr. Barnhagen also has to be aware that State Supplemental Aid doesn't just go to our teacher's salaries.  It goes to transportation costs, utilities of our buildings, instructional materials, professional development, and the ability to provide more opportunities for our students.
Currently Iowa is $1600 below the national average in terms of per-pupil funding.  Our small communities need and heavily support their local schools.  Many times, the local schools are the largest employer in their perspective towns.  Ask your local business owners what having a school district in their community means to them.  Look at the communities where schools have been closed, they die.
Sorry for the political rant, I was just heavily taken back by Mr. Branhagen's lack of support for our local schools.  He seemed very out of touch with rural Iowa.  If you know and support Mr. Branhagen, please challenge him to rethink his position on our local schools.  Obviously I am biased as the leader of one, but it should also be noted I graduated from a public school and I am the parent of three children that have attended a variety of public schools.  Iowa has great public schools, we need leaders in Des Moines that support and fight for our schools.
I welcome any discussion on this topic and encourage all voters in District 55 to share this information. 

Thoughts from a football mom!

Good Morning!

Just a Saturday morning thought to share...

Our Central Warriors are have a great season with their currently undefeated record.  We all love the football games with the Friday Night Lights and sitting around afterwards and rehashing the games.  We visit about individual players and the great things they did or things to work at and improve upon, how everyone is feeling or if there were any injuries, sending up a silent prayer for all our players.  We discuss passes, tackles, great plays and touchdowns made, interceptions caught, onside kicks and fumbles recovered, holding the line and each player doing their job... working together as a team to overcome the opponent and end on top with a win.  But at the end of the night the lights get turned off and we have sweet dreams about the game of football.

Then as we awake and begin a new day the "Saturday Morning Lights" come on... and this is what I see!  Guess we all know what I (and all football mom's out there) will be doing today... Friday Nights Laundry!

Have a wonderful day!

Love, Christina, a football mom

Positive note from Central City's Superintendent

I received the following email from Central City Superintendent Tim Cronin.  I love getting emails like this and I am proud of our Central athletes and coaching staff for being a "class-act" both on and off the field.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Nick

Thought I'd pass this along.  Quite honestly, part of the reason I went to the game bc I was thinking you guys would score a 100 and run up the score.  As I retold people over the weekend, you were up 62-0 and no points were scored in an obvious attempt to run up the score.  Thanks.

Nice note below.

Take care.

Tim

 

 

Dan, I am Jason Mclaughlin, Central City Jr-Sr High principal.  I wanted to let you know so that you can pass this along, but you guys were class acts on Friday night at our football game.  I am not sure if you were there or not, but if you weren't, you guys were up 62-0 at halftime.  

Our kids/team has really struggled this year, but they are working hard.  You guys could have really put the wood to us second half but did not.  We appreciate not putting our kids in a position where they are read about giving up 100 points or something crazy like that.  

Anyway, thanks a lot for the great sportsmanship that your kids and coaches showed Friday night. We really appreciate it and it shows a lot of class.  Your kids worked hard, they are a tough team, but they are also very good sports and it is nice to see.  Good luck to you guys the rest of the season and good luck in the playoffs.  Hopefully you can hoist up that trophy at the end of the year, we will be rooting for you. 
Jason McLaughlin

 

After School Programs offered at Central

I wanted to share an email I received from Shannon Durbin, who coordinates a lot of our after school programs.  Many of you may not realize all the programs currently being offered at Central.  If you have interest in volunteering to help with an after school program, or you have a child that is interested in participating, please contact the school.

Theater Program-  We just completed a puppet theater series and the group will be traveling to Dubuque this Sunday for Curious George at the Heritage Center.  We will start Acting for the Camera in November.  I am trying to get my former classmate and meteorologist, Justin Roberts, to visit with the group.

First Lego League- they have chosen the name Cyborg Narwhals and are doing great learning the new programming and EV3 robots that I was able to get with a 3M grant.  I also received a Rockwell Collins Grant to pay for our admission and challenge set.  Double checked on the whereabouts of that today, it was held up for a reason they weren't sure of but will be sending it today.  The kids are doing well with core values and are starting their project next Tuesday.  The youth wanted to learn about flight for their project so we are taking a field trip on Tuesday to the Elkader airport and talking to a couple of pilots.  If the weather is good (and I get insurance approved) the kids may have the option to ride in the plane. 

Hyperstream Club- I have four high school students in this group.  They are doing a service project this weekend with Harvest Fest.  They made the posters and newspaper ads as well.  If all works out they also will be doing a film making day on Monday with a professional film maker presenter.  Although this event will mostly be geared torward the Hyperstream group, we are going to do it as a day camp so anyone who wants to learn can come.  We thought of this idea kind of late, so if it doesn't work this time we will do it on another break.  The high school students are super busy so a full day immersion is best for their schedules.

I know we talked about this really briefly when I first met with you but for your records
Partnership with the ISU Extension and Outreach

4h Afterschool Clubs-
Open to everyone.  If the group meets regularly we register the group as a 4h club.  It costs $30 to the state to be a 4h member.  The Extension council pays $10 of it so the youth pay $20.  If the youth is already in a 4h club they don't have to re-enroll.  We provide insurance, screening and educated leadership, volunteers when available, training, researched based curriculum, and the youth are welcome to put their project (whether it be robotics or garden, etc) into the county fair, which also provides them free admission all week.  They can also participate on county council, 4h camp, and citizenship trips, etc.  They are also provided access to our materials (robotics kits, computers, etc) through the grants we get.  We are a nonprofit lead education agency.  4h Afterschool has its own website if you want more information of the possibilities we can do together.

Extension Programs-
Open to everyone.  These are approximately 6 hours of researched based education.  We provide this through day camps, summer camps, after school series (like theater).  These youth don't register in 4h.  Usually there is just a small fee to cover supplies and snack and additional insurance we take out when there are non-4h youth involved.  We provide screened leadership and free training to volunteers and research based curriculum for youth, but these youth are not eligible to participate in fair or other 4h experiences through this group, they must join a club to do so.

We partner with all area schools for use of space, additional supplies, and volunteers.
We are super happy to continually have Central as a partner in all of the above.

A special thank you for your willingness to pay MacKenzie to co-lead robotics.  She has a very positive attitude and is picking it all up pretty quickly.

We are also very happy to have Food and Fitness melding so well within the school.  I did not update you on their progress as I am sure you are already getting it from Mr. Arnold and Ms. Panther, but can if you would like more info.

Thank you,

Shannon Durbin
Program Coordinator

Community within a Community Service Project

The Food Science students spent two days doing a "community within a community" service project.  Students worked in teams to produce items for the Central Volleyball bake sale, with proceeds going to support the cancer fundraiser they participate in.  Students worked collaboratively to choose recipes, bring in/purchase the needed supplies, and problem-solve how to prepare the products.  Who would have thought learning could be so fun!

Central Students take on Japanese Knotweed! The winner, Central!

On Wednesday, September 24th the Central Global Science class led by Ann Gritzner traveled to Brush Creek Canyon State Preserve near Arlington with Clayton County Naturalist Brian Gibbs.  The purpose of the trip was to stop the spread of Japanese Knotweed into the preserve.  Japanese Knotweed is an invasive species that has escaped from landscaped areas.  It can quickly take over and out compete local vegetation when left unchecked.  If caught early, when patches are small, it can be controlled by cutting and then spraying with herbicide.   The Global Science class is currently investigating invasive species and how to control and prevent them.  A special thanks to Brian Gibbs and Bruce Blair for helping with the project.

Central students examine a knotweed patch prior to cutting.

 
Central students attacking the plant!

Students carrying Japanese Knotweed away from the stream so the seeds do not spread.

The victory pose!  Great job students!

Weekly Update- 9/12/14

Another school week in the books!  Apologies for no update last week, I took a small vacation and had a pretty short week.

Multi-age classrooms continue to progress.  Not only am I asking teachers to take on a different set of students, I am asking them to teach differently than they have ever done in their careers.  I read something this morning from A.J. Juliani titled Stop Teaching Kids to Play the Game of School.  My biggest take away is that the game of school is similar to treating life as a marathon.  In a marathon there is a start and there is a finish.  Some will finish faster, most will finish, and some will never finish.  In a marathon there is a clear path to follow and everyone is expected to stay on the same path.  But is life really this way?  The author states "Real life has no signs, and no straight lines.  There's just a maze of infinite options: some paths, like careers, take five times longer to get where you want.  Some paths, like some relationships, are dead ends".  The author asks, "are we teaching students that life is a marathon, or a maze?"  Those of you that believe life is more like a marathon, should be perfectly happy with public education's current system.  I believe life more resembles a maze and want better for my children and Central students.  Each of our students has a path that will take them somewhere in life.  Our education system should help guide them on whatever path they choose, not assume because of an "age" or a "curriculum" that all students should follow the same path.  If we accomplish this change the possibilities are endless for our students and I am encouraged to see the middle school and high school making similar changes in regards to grading and adding a 9th hour intervention/enrichment period.

Since my last post I have also been very busy working on the Iowa Teacher Leadership & Compensation grant.  As I stated back in our calendar discussions I feel very strongly school districts need to begin working together for all of us to be successful.  I am extremely happy to report that we have started a coalition to apply for this grant.  Central will be working with Starmont, West Central, and East Buchanan to provide teacher leadership positions that will enhance our professional development and in turn our student's academic experience.  I will provide more information on this in the coming weeks.

We just finished our FAST testing in the elementary and will begin MAP testing next week.  Already elementary teachers have gotten students into like ability groups based off the results of these tests.  I am honored to be the administrator of such an amazing, data driven staff.  Our teachers are working extremely hard to ensure each student gets the education I mention above.  Help me in thanking them every time you see them!

Have a great weekend everyone, and I have to say it... Go HAWKS!

Weekly Update- 8/29/14

Another school week about to be placed into the books and a lot of positive things to share with our public!

Multi-Age Classrooms
While there have been and will be bumps in the road as we are in our first year of rolling this out, early signs have reaffirmed my belief this is the right approach to education.  I have sat in all grade level meetings and watched as teams of teachers review student data regardless of an "age".  I have seen kindergarten students with higher scores than 1st grade students, I have also seen kindergarten students not ready for 1st grade materials and standards.  This can be said about all the age groups.  The multi-age approach is putting a spot light on individual needs, not the needs of an age group.  Our teachers have been much more focused on individual student data and meeting the needs of each student instead of the age group.  I do not feel this focus would be as strong if we remained in single age groups.

Vision
This week the Central School Board hosted a Vision Work Session in which Structure Architecture presented.  I am very excited to work with Structure in ensuring our building and facilities align with our goal of a 21st Century Education.  We will be forming a Facilities Committee so if you are interested in being a part of this process please let me know.

Teacher Leadership & Compensation
Our sub-committee met with sub-committees from West Central, Starmont, and East Buchanan.  Together we are going to be applying for a grant that would create the following positions: 4 Instructional Coaches, 2 Technology Coaches, numerous Collaboration Coordinators, Mentor Teachers, and Model Teachers.  A lot more information to come on this, but I am very encouraged to see school districts working together to better meet the needs of our students!

Fall Sports
Boy and Girls Cross Country both took 1st place in their first meet of the year at Ed-Co on Tuesday.  Last night the Central Girls Volleyball team swept West Central in three matches for the win.  Tonight Central Football takes on Tripoli, 7:00pm at Tripoli.  It is great seeing how our coaches and student athletes are representing our district, keep up the great work!

STEM
This past year I made a push for teachers to apply for STEM grants, and they answered the call!  Central will be incorporating many different STEM opportunities for our students in the 2014/15 school year.  These opportunities will be for all grade levels. 
Mr. Ungerer received a STEM grant for FIRST Tech Challenge as well as a Rockwell Collins grant to support STEM learning.  FIRST Tech Challenge is defined as: FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is a community-focused robotics program while teaching students the value of hard work, innovation and creativity while going beyond the robotics competition by teaching teenagers the importance of working together, sharing ideas and treating each other with respect and dignity.
Central is also offering an after school program where students can compete in a LEGO League robotics competition.  Ms. Schultz will be this year's coach and we are working with the ISU Extension office to offer this opportunity to our students.  Central is also hosting the tournament on November 22nd.
More information to come as we get into our STEM curriculum.

Community Service
New this year I have asked each grade level to participate in a community service project.  The communites of Central give so much to our school district, we feel it is time to give something back.  Mr. O'Brien's Ag Construction class got us started by moving tables and chairs for the Elkader Care Center.  Coomunity Service is a life-long lesson that doesn't show up on a paper and pencil standardized test!

Mrs. Scherf Challenges the Student Athletes

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/eRcLatk-0JA

Welcome our New Staff at Central

Below you will find a picture and a little write-up on our new staff at Central.  I can tell you already that these new staff bring a lot of energy and excitement to Central.  Please help me welcome them to our community.

Brittany Barnard
 

My name is Brittany Barnard and I am from Marion, IA. I graduated from Wartburg College with a degree in Music Education in May 2014. One interesting fact about myself is that my family and I are beekeepers and we have a small honey business. We have kept bees and sold honey for about 10 years now. Before moving to Elkader this summer I worked on a family friend's vegetable farm. 

My hobbies include music...obviously...making lanyards, watching movies, and always learning new things (mostly about history). I chose to come to Central because I absolutely fell in love with the school atmosphere, staff/community friendliness, and the town of Elkader in general. I may be new to the town but I feel that I am right at home and that is due to the friendliness of this community! 

I cannot wait to get to know everyone and really become a part of this wonderful community here in Elkader.

Allison DeShaw

 

Hello, I am Allison DeShaw. Pictured next to me is my mother, brother, and nephew from my graduation from Loras College last May. I actually am a 2009 graduate of Central Schools. While in high school and college I have been a member of many organizations and activities. I have played and coached various sports, ran after school programs, been a Morale Captain for Dance Marathon, and been involved in many other organizations. I love being involved and working with kids! There's no greater reward then helping a student learn. When I do have free time I enjoy spending time with my friends and family, being outdoors, and hiking. Presently I reside in Elkader, and am recently engaged to my high school sweet heart Jared Burkle. I am very excited to be back here at Central, and cannot wait for the school year to begin!

Caroline (soon to be) Erickson
 
My name is Caroline (soon to be) Erickson.  I moved to Elkader in August and will be getting married in September.  This is my first year teaching at Central Community School District.  Prior to this I taught in the Western Dubuque School District at Bernard Elementary.  I have two adult children; Ashley and Tony, a son-in-law, Clayton and two awesome grandsons; Kasin and Will.  I also have four school-aged children Noah, Reegan, Miya and Gabe all who attend Central. 


Kelli Jacobsen 
 
I grew up on a farm outside of Clermont with my parents and two sisters.    My parents are both teachers, my dad teaches 2nd grade at Valley Elementary and my mother currently teaches at UIU.  My sisters are also in the teaching profession; my oldest sister teaches High School English at NFV, and my youngest sister is a junior at UIU majoring in Early Elementary Education.  I graduated from Valley in 2007 and later received my teaching degree from UIU in 2012. After graduation I took a teaching job in Phoenix, Arizona, where I taught preschool special education for two years. This past May I moved to West Union to be closer to family and friends. I loved being in Phoenix, but am very excited to be back in Northeast Iowa and teaching at Central.  Central has so many great things going for them and it’s great to be part of the team! I have always been a strong believer of Early Childhood Education and can’t wait to see the success of the full day preschool program.  Outside of school I enjoy spending time outdoors! I love to go on motorcycle rides, canoe, help on my fathers farm, and spend time with my niece and nephew.  I also love to travel in my spare time. I went to Hawaii this past spring and am in the process of booking a trip to Africa this coming summer! 

Welcome our New Staff to Central!

Below you will find a picture and a little write-up on our new staff at Central.  I can tell you already that these new staff bring a lot of energy and excitement to Central.  Please help me welcome them to our community.

Staci Werger

A little about me!

I grew up on a farm in Garnavillo, Iowa where I also attended elementary school up until the 5^th grade, when Garnavillo merged with Guttenberg. At this time, my parents felt that my siblings and I would receive the best education at Central. It was difficult to leave behind the great friendships I had built in Garnavillo, but I cannot express how thankful I am for my parent’s decision. Central offered a wonderful education, social and athletic opportunity for me. I participated in cross-country, football & wrestling cheerleading, track and softball. I take great pride in Central because of the wonderful community that raised me. Central taught me that great things come with hard work. 

After graduating high school, I attended Coe College for two years and then transferred to UW-Whitewater, where I received a degree in Special Education, Cross Categorical. I chose education because I was greatly touched by the staff at Central. I have always wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, and teaching was the way I wanted to do it. I started my journey in education as an Elementary major. I took a couple classes that were introductory classes to Special Education and completely fell in love with it.  When I think about education, I think about equal rights; every student has an equal right to an education and advocating that is deep within my heart. I believe it takes a village to raise a child, and I know I will be working with a wonderful village here at Central.

In case you are curious; some of my hobbies include being outdoors. I love hiking and canoeing. If you live in town, I am sure you have seen me out and about walking, running, riding bike or playing a game down at the sand volleyball court. I enjoy traveling, especially when my family and friends can join me!

I cannot express how excited I am to start my teaching career here in Elkader! I look forward to working with each and every student that walks through the school doors. My door is always open, literally (actually, I don’t even have a door) so don’t hesitate to stop in and see what is happening in the classroom!

Alison Matney

Hey all! I would like to introduce myself to the community here. My name is Alison Matney, and I am the new English Teacher in the Central School District. I am so thrilled to be working in this beautiful town that is full of opportunities! There are so many activities to be a part of in this town, and the activities fit in perfectly with my interests. I really enjoy fishing and biking, along with writing and reading (that kind of comes with the territory!).

    I am from a small town much like Elkader. It’s a little place called Conrad in Central Iowa. I grew up there, attended school there, and went to community college in the next town over. After completing two years there, I continued my education at the University of Northern Iowa. Go Panthers! And from there, well, here I am!

    Working in this school district is really my dream job. The community is wonderful, and the support the community gives the school is evident everywhere you look in town. That’s such an amazing thing. I also love the direction in which the school is going, with the emphasis on using projects, collaboration, and creativity to not only make sure we have educated graduates, but also graduates who will have real world skills to deal with the real world that comes after high school. I am so excited to be a part of this, and I’m looking forward to meeting all of the community members and students in the upcoming school year.

Weekly Update

New this year I will try and do a weekly update on the happenings of Central.  We are also looking at creating a District Facebook page and have added all events onto our district calendar. 

8-22-14
Just finished our first full week.  Students and staff are adjusting well and we hope to begin fall assessments next week.  These assessments help us better ability group each student in our guided reading.
Fall sports have all been practicing with competition starting next week.  Today I received a letter from the Iowa High School Athletic Association congratulating Central coaches and student athletes for not having a single ejection in the 2013-2014 school year.  Central prides itself on character on and off school grounds and I thank our students athletes and coaches for representing us in this manner.
This week the Central School Improvement Advisory Committee met and voted to pursue the Teacher Leadership and Compensation grant.  The committee developed two job descriptions for the positions that would be created if Central receives the grant, Instructional Coach and Technology Coach.
Please keep Mrs. Kremer and Mrs. Wenger in your thoughts and prayers.  Mrs. Kremer's father passed away and Mrs. Wenger's mother is being put on Hospice.

Stay cool this weekend and more to come next week.

8-15-14
We have started!  New staff were trained last Friday, which include 6 new teachers.  I will post a separate Blog about them soon!  On Monday teachers had a work day and Central hosted the Elementary Back to School night and iPad Roll-out.  We also held our Drive for Kids fundraiser which raised $2440 for the district!  Thank you so much for all of you who drove!  Tuesday we held our first Professional Development of the year.  I welcomed our staff back, reflected on the many accomplishments from last year and shared my goals for the district in the 2014/15 school year.  After that the Clayton County ALICE Coalition led ALICE training for the entire staff.  ALICE is an emergency training that I will share more about in a separate Blog post, as well as how that training is effecting the district.  Wednesday-Friday we welcomed our Central students back!  It was a very good first week and happy to be back into a routine.  More to come next week, off to enjoy the great weather and weekend.

Changes to Central Elementary Handbook

Last night the Central School Board of Education approved my recommended changes to the elementary handbook.  The changes align to moving Central into a 21st Century Education System and are the same changes I shared in my parent forum at the end of the school year.  The elementary handbook is available at registration and will be posted on our district website.

Changes:

Academic Achievement & Behavior Plan

Every student comes to us with a unique toolbox of prior knowledge.  It is our duty as educators to develop individual education plans for each student and move away from the factory model of education where one size fits all.

 In an effort to move Central Elementary to a 21^st Century learning institution, the following changes are being implemented in the 2014/2015 school year:
1.     Students will be moved along based on ability, not their age.  Before a unit of study begins, teachers will administer a pre-assessment to determine each student’s individual skill set.  Central Elementary will incorporate multi-age classrooms to ensure individual ability and not a student’s age to drive instruction. 

2.     Students will be given multiple opportunities to show they have met the standard.  In our traditional school model, units are taught and if a student fails, we still move on.  In essence the traditional model goes from chapter 1-30 in a set time frame and students that struggle get left behind.  At Central Elementary we believe students can only learn if they are allowed to fail.  By human nature, we learn from our mistakes!

3.     Homework as practice and will not be graded.  Homework should only be given to a student if the instructor feels it is essential to student learning.   If it is essential to student learning, the teacher has an obligation to monitor homework and provide students with precise feedback based on individual needs.  This means homework should not be reviewed in class as a one size fits all model, instead teaches should meet with students individually to address individual needs.  Homework should also never be graded as it is impossible to determine:
a.     Who did the work?
b.     If errors exist, why and how those errors happened.
c.      Each “home” is different in homework.
Students will no longer receive a zero for not completing their homework.  Because the homework given is essential to learning, students will be required to complete the work before they are allowed to retest on a standard.

4.     No longer will Central Elementary students be graded on points for homework assignments, work completion, and classroom behavior.  Instead, grades will be based on a student’s mastery of each standard.  In a multi-age classroom, students will have two years to show they have met the standards.  Example, a kindergarten aged student in a K/1 classroom, will be assessed on both kindergarten and 1^st grade standards.  The 1^st grade standards are a set of standards students should know when they complete 1^st grade.  Kindergarten aged students will have two years to complete that set of standards and parents should not expect high marks immediately.  Each student will be assessed on a 4 point scale:
1= Emergent: Student work is beginning to show progress/understanding with support.
2= Developing: Student is able to meet the multi-year grade level standard with support.
3= Proficient: Independent work at this level meets end of the multi-year grade level standard.
4= Exceeds: Work exceeds standard and shows in-depth understanding that goes beyond what was taught.

Cell Phone/TelephoneStudents are not to carry or use cell phones during the school day unless approved by their teacher.

Classroom BehaviorEach teacher is expected to work in collaboration with their class to develop classroom expectations and consequences for when a student does not meet those expectations.  Students should have a voice in this process and all behavior expectations should align with the Central Elementary PBIS program.  At all times teachers should manage the behaviors in their classroom and students should not be excluded from learning unless sent to the principal.

Emergency DrillsStudents take a textbook to use as a hard hat and go to designated areas.

Report CardsCentral Elementary uses a standards based report card that shows students mastery of learning as well as employability skills.  Parents can access these reports anytime through our JMC student information system.  Teachers are expected to communicate on a regular basis with parents and parents are welcomed to contact their child’s teacher at anytime if they have concerns

Student Lockers
A locker is issued to each 4/5 student at the…