Weekly Update: March 3rd 2023
Weekly Update: March 3rd, 2023
Dear Grinnell-Newburg Board of Education, Staff, Families, and Friends:
Happy Friday! This week has been packed with many activities! Take a look at what has been going on and what is coming up this weekend into next week!
March 7th Election:
The Grinnell-Newburg School District is holding a special election on March 7, 2023. The tax rate will remain the same.
This one ballot question asks our voters to approve an additional $.67 Physical Plant and Equipment Property Tax and Income Surtax (PPEL) Levy. However, this WILL NOT RAISE THE OVERALL TAX RATE OF THE DISTRICT since the board will reduce the Management Levy by $.67. PPEL revenues may only be used for facility improvements and will be used for necessary school building work.
You may vote on March 7, 2023, at the Elk's Lodge for Poweshiek County school district residents or The Kellogg City Hall, for Jasper County school district residents. The Polling Places are open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM.
Please contact Dr. Janet M. Stutz (janet.stutz@grinnell-k12.org)
English Language Learner Family Night Highlights!
The district’s English Learner program held its second EL Family Night of the school year earlier this week, on February 27th. For this event, the District Director of Special Programs, Dr. Melissa Ford, collaborated with the local group CoSI (Community Support for Immigrants) to co-sponsor the evening’s meal, community & district information sharing, and games. A free soup and the sandwich meal was catered by Jay’s Deli, and dessert was made by GHS’s culinary arts students, all made possible through financial support from CoSI and a Racial Equity grant from Grinnell-Newburg School Foundation (GNSF). Every EL student and their family received a Tiger coffee mug with hot chocolate to tie in the “Winter Warm Up” theme. Stay tuned for more information about an end-of-year ice cream social!
Students pictured with our wonderful interpreter, Grinnell College student Wiralba Pichardo.
GHS Spring Play:
The high school performance of “Crimes of the Heart” opened on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium. Two additional performances will be held tonight and Saturday at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased online at: https://www.vancoevents.com/
The students have been working super hard on this production, and your support is greatly appreciated and needed! Refreshments will be served at intermission in partnership with Mrs. Skouson’s culinary classes. Please note: This show contains adult themes, and it is not suitable for young children.
GHS Robotics Team:
The Grinnell High School Robotics Team recently participated in a scrimmage event in Cedar Falls with ten other teams from around the state. It was an opportunity for testing, calibrating, and practicing. They brought home a long to-do list of what they learned and have just a few weeks left to test and update their competition robot ahead of their regional event on the UNI campus. They will be competing with 56 teams representing five states in the three-day event.
Even with a busy build season, they recently still took time to staff an interactive booth at the middle school’s engineering fair. This is their 8th year as a team.
23-24 School Registration
The 2023- 2024 Online Registration is now open. Every student needs to complete online registration each year. This ensures that all information in Infinite Campus is up to date, especially in case of an emergency.
For current families, please log in to your parent portal account, select 2023-2024 year, and follow the prompts. If you are having issues logging into your account, please reach out to me at katie.osborn@grinnell.k12.org.
For New Families or students who are not currently enrolled in the district, click HERE
Parents will want to select New Student Registration and then select 2023-2024. The first series of questions will ask for parent first name, last name, email, confirm email, enter the "I'm not a robot code" and a separate link will be sent to the email provided. That link is the Infinite Campus link and official registration. Parents will not need an activation code. If asked for one before starting, they selected the incorrect area and will need to select NEW STUDENT REGISTRATION.
Preschool Registration 23-24:
It’s preschool registration time!
Preschool registration for the 23-24 school year will be from February 24 - March 10. This registration is for the Grinnell Newburg School District, UCC preschool, and Grinnell Community Early Learning Center. These three programs are a part of the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program and provide free four-year-old preschool and 3-year-old tuition preschool.
Filling out this form does not guarantee a spot in the preschool but includes your name in the drawing. We work hard to ensure all students in our community have a spot somewhere in town to receive preschool.
If you are a current student or a sibling of a current student and have already filled out your child's teacher's survey, you do not need to fill this out.
If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Seney at sarah.seney@grinnell-k12.org
Mental Health Speakers Series
“Suicide Awareness & Prevention Support & Strategies" is the next co-sponsored presentation as part of the Mental Health Event Series and will be held this Saturday, March 4th at Hotel Grinnell starting at 10:00 am. See the attached flyer for more details. This event is open to students, staff, and community members, and we hope you'll join us.
Unplug Night:
Unplug night will be held on March 29, 2023, this school year! During this time, we encourage family activities and connecting~ Let’s UnPlug and enjoy time together!
Legislative Coffees
The League of Women Voters will host the first of two Legislative Coffees on March 4th from 10 AM to 11 AM at Drake Community Library and via Zoom. The event will be moderated by Terese Grant, who will convey questions supplied by the audience before and at the event as time allows. The second Coffee will be on April 1st.
Representative Dean Fisher (House District 53) will make a brief remark and then answer questions on issues expected to be considered by the Iowa Legislature in the current session.
If you will be joining via Zoom, please register in advance for The Coffee using this link (also available at the Grinnell League of Women Voters Facebook page): https://us02web.zoom.us/
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. This same link will work for both Coffees.
We encourage you to submit questions in advance to GrinnellLWV@gmail.com. The deadline for submitting questions via email is 5 PM on Thursday, March 2nd, so that the event host has time to organize the questions. Questions will not be shared with anyone before the Coffee. Attendees will also be able to write down questions at the event or post questions in the Zoom chat while the event is underway, but priority will be given to questions submitted in advance.
Legislative Coffees are sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Grinnell Chamber of Commerce to provide residents the opportunity to learn about current legislative proposals as well as to ask questions and raise concerns.
The event will be recorded. The recording belongs to the LWV, and we respectfully ask that others not record the event.
Band Concert Tuesday, March 7, 2023
The concert will be held at 7:30 in the GHS Auditorium. The 108-member Concert Band will be presenting a wide range of literature that will be sure to move the audience. 24 Seniors will be recognized! Please join us for this special evening event.
The virtual Backpack can be found here:
The activities Calendar can be found here:
Have a wonderful weekend!
Janet