Weekly Update: December 8, 2017
Weekly Update: December 8, 2017
Dear Families and Friends,
As winter approaches, I would like to continue to remind our school community of ways to stay in tuned to school start times, hard surface routes, or school cancellation. The district will be sending a voice reach out to parents in the event that the weather complicates the opening or delayed start for school. Please be sure to check your Infinite Campus phone and email addresses to ensure that they are accurate so that you do not miss any important announcements.
This weekly update highlights several activities from this past week. Please mark your calendars for next week’s music events. It will be a festive week.
Please take a look at our Virtual Backpack for student activities and upcoming events. This changes quite frequently!
GMS Geography Bee: The Grinnell Middle School hosted their annual Geography Bee today. The winner is……. Alex Smith! Congratulations Alex!
Presentations to City Council, Kiwanis:
This past week I had the opportunity to share information with our Grinnell Kiwanis group regarding the facilities proposed plan. This concept plan includes a pre-K through 5th grade new school facility that would be located on 4th avenue, complete renovation to the current middle school and some renovations to the high school. I encourage you to stay informed regarding the upcoming bond referendum. Please feel free to contact me at any time for information regarding our plan.
Labor Management Committee:
I had the opportunity to meet with our union leadership group and administrators to continue our review of the current handbook. This collaborative effort enables us to consider practices and procedures to support our employees. I want to thank this group for their work. Our next steps will be to take a closer look at our district’s evaluation procedures. We will be getting together to discuss the process and potential evaluation committee members this January.
Update on the Facility Plan with MS & HS Staff:
I shared the facility plan presentation with the middle school staff and high school staff this past week. These conversations lead to some great feedback as we begin to share the plan with our community. We want everyone to be informed. If you have not had an opportunity to learn about the specifics of the plan, please let me know and I will be happy to sit down with you to share the details of the recommended facility plan.
RPP Meeting:
As you may be aware, I currently chair the Iowa Collaborative Committee known as the RPP for region 6. The Partnership was established to assist school districts in providing an effective, efficient, and economical means of delivering high-quality secondary career and technical education programs, as required under Iowa Code chapter 258 and 281. We are in our first year of development. Currently, 14 school district superintendents, principals and staff within our region, along with members of the AEA, Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Valley College Representative, and local business representatives meet monthly to discuss how we can best serve our students to provide equitable programming in the areas of Career Technical Education.
AEA Advisory Committee:
Today I met with the AEA advisory committee to discuss upcoming professional development for superintendents and administrators. Plans are also being developed for teachers to participate in several trainings over the course of next year. I would like to gather our Administrators, PLC leaders, and Instructional Coaches to discuss some of the opportunities that are coming up and prioritize our needs. We will be setting up a date for this group to collaborate in order to review options for next year. I will keep you posted!
Upcoming Events: Please visit the Calendar page on our website for further details
December 11 - HS Winter Concert
December 12 - 5th & 6th Grade Concert
December 14 - 7th & 8th Grade Concert
December 25 - January 2 - Winter Break
Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Janet
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Dr. Janet M. Stutz
Superintendent
Grinnell-Newburg Schools