New Class Offerings at Central

Central Community School District will be offering these new classes starting with the beginning of the second semester.   Students are encouraged to sign up for any of these classes during the schedule change week of January 3- January 6.    If you have any questions about these classes, please talk to Mr. Yanda or Ms. Huster.

Psych of Human Relations (College & HS Credit)

3 hours credit from NICC

This class covers all types of interactions among people, their conflict, cooperative efforts and group relationships.  Class starts on Feb 27, 2017.

Pre Employment Strategies (College & HS Credit)

2 hours credit from NICC

This is a hybrid class that is a basic introduction to skills necessary for an entry-level employment position.  Networking with local employers will be a key component of this class.  Class starts on Feb 27, 2017.

Welding Fundamentals (College & HS Credit)

2 hours credit from NICC

This class will be taught by a certified instructor from Mobile Track Solutions in the Central Industrial Arts area.   This class will run from 8:00 a.m to 8:58 a.m.  Monday-Thursday and will focus on the welding techniques that are used in the industrial world.

Industrial Technology Cabinet Making Class (College & HS Credit)

5 hours credit from NICC

This class will be taught at the Clayton Ridge School and is part of the NICC Construction Diploma Program.   It is a class to develop skills that can be used for a lifetime around the home or workplace, with projects individualized to student interest with approval of the instructor.

Dr. Ryan Wise, Director of the Iowa Department of Education visits Central

Yesterday afternoon Central was visited by the director of the Iowa Department of Education, Dr. Ryan Wise.  Dr. Wise has been a key figure in Iowa's Teacher Leadership System and is making an effort to visit all Iowa school districts over a 5 year period.  In Dr. Wise visit we discussed STEM/PBL, Early Literacy, TLC, CTE, At-Risk/Drop-Out prevention funding, and Operational Sharing.  I'd like to share with our stakeholders what our leadership team and students shared with Dr. Wise.

STEM/Project Based Learning
Central's 4th/5th grade students shared their recent STEM project titled Mystery Build.  In this project students were placed into teams of three and were given a mystery build (rocking chair, swing-set, rocket, bridge, etc.) as well as a $10 budget.  They were given a list of materials they could use to meet the requirements of their build, each material coming with a cost.  Struxture Architects came to Central and launched the event discussing the challenges of remodeling our own K-12 building.  Students followed a scripted plan for their build and ended by presenting their final project to a panel of judges, their peers, and family members.

Students from Ms. Gritzner's Global Science classes also presented the many PBL projects they are currently developing and sustaining.  Last year Central received the Governor's Award for having the 1st student developed compost in Iowa, decreasing tons of waste at Central.  A team of students is now working on using worms to more efficiently break down the compost.  Other projects include but aren't limited to working with Clayton County Supervisors on recycling tires, working with Clayton County Pheasants Forever in developing habitat, energy efficiency, etc.

Early Literacy

Taken from 2016 IASB Convention

It was with great pleasure I was able to share Central's early literacy data with Dr. Wise.  Central Elementary has successfully implemented a new reading curriculum with aligned interventions that meet the needs of individual students.  Dr. Wise was impressed with our summer school data as well as our overall results with Fundations and Wilson.  Dr. Wise and I also discussed concerns with high stakes 1-minute tests (which I have previously written about) and he assured me I would be happy with new guidance coming from the Department of Education on this.  I shared retention based on a 1-minute test was simply unacceptable and we need our students to be more than just good test takers.

TLC

Dr. Wise met with four of our six full-time teacher leaders.  Again, Central is unique from the State as we are participating in a four district consortium for TLC.  While this has had challenges in regards to budgets, our teacher leaders shared how attending four different districts has grown their capacity and how they have been able to use that to help teachers and administrators in the consortium.  Everyone agrees this will have a positive effect on student achievement.

CTE

I shared with Dr. Wise the challenges of the new CTE guidance for rural schools.  Central students currently do not have access to a CTE center, which puts our students at a significant disadvantage compared to the districts that do have access to these centers.  I did share that we are partnering with Mobile Tack Solutions, Clayton Ridge, and NICC.  Through that partnership we will have one of Mobile Track Solutions certified welders teaching a welding class next semester.  I also asked for less restrictions on the use of our technology to teach classes, specifically offer/teach classes.

At-Risk/Drop-Out Prevention

Dr. Wise had the opportunity to meet Ms. Briggs, Central's new Family Liaison.  I shared that Ms. Brigg's position was created due to fewer restrictions on the At-Risk/Drop-Out Prevention funding streams.  Ms. Briggs is able to work with families in a way that previously Central was unable to meet those needs through current staffing.  With the rise in mental health concerns and poverty, it is crucial we maintain flexibility with that funding stream.

Operational Sharing

Lastly I hit the importance of continuing and extended Operational Sharing.  Currently Central shares a business manager, human resource manager, curriculum director, school counselor, and transportation director.  Without Operational Sharing we would not be able to maintain many of those positions.

I give a lot of credit to Dr. Wise for making an attempt to visit each school district in Iowa (and wish our politicians would do the same).  While I do not always agree with everything coming from the Iowa Department of Education, Dr. Wise and his staff have always been welcoming and willing to listen to my concerns/ideas.  It was a pleasure to "show-off" all the great things we are doing at Central-- even for myself it was nice to take a step back and reflect on all the wonderful things we are doing for our students.

Behavior Changes and Tracking at Central Elementary

Central Elementary Families,

Central Elementary has made some minor changes to our behavior system that I would like to share with all of you.  Hopefully everyone knows Central Elementary is a PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention & Supports) school.  Our PBIS motto is CCS (Caring, Commitment, & Safety) and we hold CCS assemblies celebrating our students once a month where we welcome you and the community to attend. 

The focus of our PBIS training is to not concentrate on negative behaviors, but instead focus on the positives.  Research shows that almost all behavior (positive or negative) is attention seeking.  Think of a toddler crying, what happens more times than not when you leave the room they are in?  They quit crying until you come back into that room or they chase after you and start crying again once they see you.  This behavior is attention seeking and if you give negative behavior attention, kids will use negative behavior more.  Behaviors in schools are pretty much the same as behaviors at home and we work really hard to not give attention to the negatives, but instead focus on the positives.

Central is blessed with an excellent student body.  Because of that we often take behavior for granted here at Central Elementary.  Our team felt this year we needed to focus on being more consistent with behavior as a staff and more consistent upholding our common area expectations.  We purchased and have implemented a behavior curriculum called “Stop & Think” for all elementary grade levels.  At the elementary level, our most important step is to teach our students what is right and what is wrong. 

How we track behavior has also changed.  In the past, if a student got into trouble a referral was sent home.  A referral was sent home for both minor and major behaviors, using the same sheet.  This year we decided to do a better job of separating the two.  Students no longer receive a referral for minor behavior, instead students are given time to reflect on their behavior and a teacher is given time to reteach the student.  Depending on the grade level the student may bring their reflection home and share that with you, but remember this is not a referral.  Referrals still exist for major behavior problems.  If a student gets a referral, that means they have been sent to the office and I am now involved.  Depending on the level of severity I may call home or sometimes I may just send the referral home and ask for your signature back.

I’ve heard in the past from parents sharing concerns about tracking students.  Yes, we track behavior data and let me explain why.  Through tracking data I can see the following:

• Time of day behaviors occur
• Day of the week behaviors occur
• Staff member giving the behavior
• Behavior type
• Behavior location
• Consequence for behavior
• Number of behaviors a student has

The PBIS team uses this data to make staffing decisions, training for our staff, focus areas for our CCS assemblies, etc.  These decisions are not submitted to the State and typically behavior is not kept in a student’s permanent file, exceptions to this are if a student has a behavior plan and/or IEP.

I want to end by saying thank you for taking the time to read this and for your ongoing support at home.  We have had 59 days of school as I write this and only 12 major behavior referrals.  That is an awesome statistic!  Please remember if you have a concern about behavior to always start with your teacher first as more times than not I will not have the details they will have.  If problems consist after discussing with your teacher, please email me, call, or stop in.

Sincerely,

Mr. Trenkamp

Clayton Ridge & Central set to merge… Okay, so not really!

This has been one of my favorite rumors since my arrival at Central three short years ago.  One would think after three years (or longer) this misconception would just go away, but with both districts failing in their recent bond efforts and with both districts now sharing a common calendar, the merge rumors are still going strong.  So as you can see in my title, if you can’t beat them, join them!

All joking aside, Central is implementing steps to partner with Clayton Ridge on a variety of initiatives that Superintendent Shane Wahls (Clayton Ridge) and I are very excited about.

Clayton Ridge and Central will share the same district calendar in the 2016/17 school year.  This is a major accomplishment in which both districts had some give and take.  I feel this is one of the more important pieces to have in place for real sharing opportunities to exist.  Everything becomes easier when you are on the same schedule and timeline.

1. Because of the common calendar, Central and Clayton Ridge are better able to serve our students through expanding our course offerings, specifically our duel credit course offerings.  This upcoming school year, Clayton Ridge students will be able to register for Mrs. Walz early childhood education classes (8 students have already registered!) and Central students can register for Mr. Mueller’s duel credit advanced carpentry courses.
2. Teachers from both districts will now have common professional development days to work as teams.  In both of our districts, all of our middle school and secondary teachers are the only people that teach those subject areas (singletons).  Now with common professional development, these teachers can collaborate with peers who teach the same subjects. 
3. Central and Clayton Ridge students do not have access to a learning academy and have minimal Northeast Iowa Community College presence (NICC does not have a site in Clayton County).  Neither school district has the budget to hire extra staff to provide more duel credit courses.  Getting creative and working together (something public schools traditionally haven’t done well) is something both Mr. Wahls and I recognized as a way to protect our individual identities and better serve our communities. 

Those that want the school districts to merge will always find an example of something we are doing to spread that agenda.  The silent majority (according to our survey results) realizes what would happen if the communities of Central lose their school or the communities of Clayton Ridge lose theirs.  Your school district is the lifeblood of any thriving community.  Mr. Wahls and I truly believe by working together we can offer more to our communities while maintaining our individuality and furthering the longevity of our school districts. 

Creating a Culture of Student Choice

Tuesday I attended the Governor's 2016 Future Ready Iowa Summit, and after returning to my hotel, jumped on the #personalizedPD Twitter chat.  While it was a lot like "drinking water out of a fire hose", I can't believe how rejuvenated I am for Iowa Public Education; thanks primarily to the learning I received from both of these sessions.  Changes are happening all around our State to move away from content delivery and standards, and move instead towards individual passions and creativity.  These are systemic changes to an institution that is in heavy need of change.  If you think about it, our current school system model was developed to meet the needs of the industrial revolution.  As our economy has now surged ahead into the technology revolution, our education system largely remains unchanged.

One speaker at the Summit showed the gap existing between rural and urban districts in terms of post-high school education.  I'll be the first to admit, I am jealous of our larger school districts that have colleges located in their school districts and places like the RAMS Center in Oelwein, Waukee's APEX program, and Iowa BIG in the Cedar Rapids area just to name a few.  It is undeniable that with these expanded resources at their fingertips, more opportunities exist for their students.  Centers like these are popping up all over the country as it is easier to build new in a larger district over implementing systemic change district wide.  If you click on any of the links above, you will take a virtual tour of striking new buildings with state-of-the-art technology and a philosophy built around student choice and innovation.  You will also find a strong partnership between education and the business community.  As superintendent of a small, rural school district, I know I can't compete on the same scale of building a new center for this type of learning.  I also know that I do not have access to a college (nearest center to Central is a 40 minute drive) and the Central staff I currently have can barely cover the mandatory "offer & teach" classes the State says we must provide.  So how do we in rural Iowa (which is the heavy majority of school districts) keep pace and make systemic changes we all know needs to happen to prepare our students for a future workforce?

Believe it or not, whole scale systemic change can actually be easier to accomplish in our rural districts due to our smaller size.  Example, imagine changing the district calendar to a more balanced calendar in a district the size of Cedar Rapids.  Unlike here at Central, Cedar Rapids has numerous buildings they have to align as a district and a much larger population they need to foster "buy-in" to move any new idea forward.  This is why you see "centers" of change in our larger school districts but not whole scale systemic change. Systemic change on that scale moves much slower.  

So what are some things we can do in our rural school districts to allow more students choice and opportunity?  Let me share a few of my thoughts and seven things we are doing at Central:

1.     First and foremost, it takes strong leadership.  Without strong leadership, any attempt to change a system as long standing as public education will fail.  Leaders in schools of change share many of the same qualities, which include; ethics, vision, approachability, delegation, trust, collaboration, humility, and a sense of humor.  Leaders must cultivate their vision and grow buy-in from not only the staff, but also the school board, students, parents, and community.  Leaders must also have the courage to tackle and stand firm against staff trying to sabotage the vision. I have found this to be the one thing many leaders in public education are weakest in.

2.    We must develop and recognize teacher leaders and give all teachers access to coaches.  Larger districts had teacher leaders and coaches in place well before Teacher Leadership & Compensation (TLC) came along, and for good reason. With TLC being fully implemented in Iowa, all school districts, no matter the size, can implement some form of teacher leaders and coaches.  Central is working in partnership with three other school districts (Starmont, East Buchanan, and West Central) and I believe we are the only four-district partnership in the TLC program.

3.    If we want teachers to personalize their learning environments, then we need to do the same with our professional development times.  Central has implemented Personalized Professional Development that takes places ever second Friday of the month.  This gives teachers the opportunity to pursue their own passions.  If a teacher is passionate about something, wouldn't it make sense that teacher's students would feel that passion?  More information can be found on our Personalized PD Website and by following the personalized PD hashtag I shared above.

4.    Small districts must share their resources to offer our students more opportunities and choice.  In the 2016/17 school year, Central and Clayton Ridge will have a common calendar.  This will allow Clayton Ridge students access to Central's Early Childhood Duel Credit classes and Central students will have access to Clayton Ridge's Duel Credit Advanced Carpentry classes.  Another advantage to the common calendar is stronger PD.  How often do our small districts state concerns about "singletons" for PD purposes?  By having PD at the same time, we can match "singletons" from both districts.

5.    School districts must move away from traditional grading practices that don't give a true representation of what a student really knows.  In the 2016/17 school year, Central will move into year two of implementing Standards Based Grading.  I've shared my thoughts in a previous post on why I believe this change is needed in public education. 

6.    Utilize research and best practices.  Why are schools denying Dyslexia and best practices surrounding Dyslexia when research shows one in every four students is affected by some form of Dyslexia?  If students can't read, it makes it very hard to do any other type of learning, correct?  Central is wrapping up its first year of implementing the Fundations and Wilson literacy programs specifically designed for Dyslexic learners. What is good for Dyslexic learners is good for ALL learners. Our data is showing great gains with these programs, which should free up more time for teachers.  And time is a scarce commodity!

7.    Last, and maybe most important, less is more.  Research states that if teachers were to spend just 30 minutes (not a lot of time to teach to mastery) to cover each standard of the Iowa Core, we would need another nine years of education.  We MUST move away from a direct content and standards delivery model and embrace student choice through STEM and project based learning opportunities that cover multiple curriculum areas.  Central has made some really awesome gains in this area over the last few years.  This starts at our school board meetings where we added a Leadership & Learning agenda item.  In the past year we have had student groups present to the school board on why we need to move toward plastic milk bottles (which we ended up doing because of their research and presentation), two elementary students raising money for the hungry, and another group presented solutions to keeping used tires out of the landfill.  Currently, Central has a group of students that have developed a student-led composting project (the only student-led composting project in the state).  These students have started a Go Fund Page to raise money for their project and made many connections throughout the state that we could never teach through our typical content and standard delivery model.  Let me share a very rewarding email I received in regards to this project:  

        Good afternoon Nick,

My name is Jenny Trent from the Iowa Waste Reduction Center at the University of Northern Iowa.  I have visited Central Community School three times this school year and have been working with a group of students on their food waste composting project.  These students are Jacob Jansen, Brandon Hach, Blake Rochleau, Tom Shirborun, and Ben Whittle.

I personally have been working on the issue of food waste through out the State of Iowa for four years now.  I've met many people in many different industries and have discussed the issues associated with throwing away so much food in Iowa landfills.  This is a "hot button" issue with the USDA and EPA joining efforts to reduce food waste in the United States by 50% by the year 2030.

Not once, have I had the experience I've had with your students.  They are committed, engaged, interested, and compassionate about making a difference in our state.  There is not one other school I know of throughout the entire state that is doing what your students are doing.  There are larger corporations that won't or can't do the things your students are doing.  Your students are a cut above the rest when it comes to dealing with food waste and the issues associated with throwing away food.  

There are other schools in Iowa that are composting their food waste, but they simply hire a private hauler to take the food waste to a county landfill or a large private composting operation that offers this service (there are only four of these permitted composting sites in Iowa that accept food waste).  Very few communities in Iowa have access to permitted food waste composting sites. The schools that are composting food waste also generally administrator or teacher led initiatives.  

So, the students at Central Community School are indeed special.  They have worked very hard to get a food waste composting site in operation before they graduate this spring.  This undertaking is huge.  They forge ahead and solve problems as they arise.  They find solutions, do research, speak at meetings to get community support, and understand the regulations for such an operation.  They have spearheaded a project that will put Elkader and Central Community School on the map in a positive environmental and sustainable light for the rest of Iowa and the Midwest to follow as a model for replication in reducing food waste in both schools and landfills.

It has been a sincere pleasure working with these outstanding kids from Central Community School!

Jenny Trent

Environmental Specialist

Does anyone think Ms. Gritzner (teacher of the class) had all of these answers she could have taught the students?  Of course she didn’t, instead she peaked her students’ interest and gave them the freedom to soar.  Did these students learn more than just science (which Ms. Gritzner teaches)?  Absolutely, just look at Ms. Trent’s last paragraph. 

These are the opportunities ALL of our students need in order to create a "Culture of Passion and Choice".  To accomplish this, school districts will have to embrace systemic change and stand-up against the Federal & State push for test driven classrooms.  I am excited about the direction of Central and confident a move in this direction will meet the needs of a future workforce far better than reading a set amount of words per minute or any other standardized test.  We have a few other things in the works so I plan on writing more about this topic in the near future.  Until then, stay tuned and thank you for your support!  Oh, and don't forget to donate on the Go Fund Page!