Superintendent's Update: December 15th, 2023
Weekly What’s Going Well:
That’s a wrap on our last full week of school in 2023! Next week school is in session Monday and Tuesday with a 1pm dismissal on Wednesday for Winter Break. This week our music departments really sparkled sharing their hard work and talents throughout the district. Enjoy taking a glimpse at some of the performers. Check out this week’s video for a brief message from me.
GMS Carolers Perform at Festival of Trees
Davis and Fairview are full of music with 4th and 2nd grade informances
Students at all 3 elementary schools have been preparing for winter informances. An informance is like a concert but in an informal setting and highlights parts of a typical music lesson. Included are songs they sing, movement activities, a short skills demonstration from the music literacy portion of class. In addition, there is one audience participation activity, so everyone can join in on the fun! Second graders at Fairview performed on Monday, December 11th, and Davis 4th graders on December 14th. Bailey Park second graders will wind up the winter season on Monday, December 18th. Keep an eye out for the spring schedule for the rest of the elementary informances.
High School Band and Choir impress crowd with Winter Concert
Miss Iowa connects with Davis Elementary sharing her inspirational story
Davis students had the opportunity to welcome Miss Iowa to Grinnell this week. She shared her story of staying focused, working hard, and overcoming obstacles to accomplish her dream.
Capstone Project Receives Grant Money for Community Impact
Congratulations to Max Mintle, Carson Penyich, and Ethan Walker on their recent success with their Senior English Capstone class. The purpose of the course is for students to develop a project (which can be a product, performance, or presentation) that provides an impact for others. During 1st trimester, they worked to write grants to raise $35,000 on behalf of the Ahrens Park Foundation to construct a new dog park. This week they were awarded $5,000 from the Poweshiek County Alliance and $7,500 from the Grinnell Mutual Foundation. They are anxiously awaiting news on two other grants to support the project. Great work, guys!
Katie Osborn Receives Above and Beyond Award
Special thanks to Katie Osborn for her hard work on maintaining accurate student records and ensuring the district is able to obtain all the funds possible to help our students.
Breakfast Book Club at Elementary schools on Tuesday
Join your K-4th grader next Tuesday December 19th for Breakfast Book Club. Each student will get breakfast and a new book to enjoy reading in their classroom with their guest. Thanks to Connected PTO for putting on this fun event!
Elementary Radon Tests Return Fresh Results
The results are in and our elementary schools and classrooms have below threshold levels of radon and no mitigation measures are needed at this time.
Superintendent Search
The results of the Stakeholder Survey can be found here. If you are interested in being a volunteer on the interview panels for the Superintendent search, please reach out to Lisa Briggs at lisa.briggs@grinnell-k12.org to be placed on the list.
The Virtual Backpack can be found here:
The Activities Calendar can be found here:
Have a great weekend!
Steven H. Barber