Springville www.springville.k12.ia.us Superintendent: Amy Kortemeyer 400 Academy Street Springville, IA 52336 854-6197 Ext. 1001 Springville Secondary School 400 Academy Street Springville, IA 52336 Principal: Nick Merritt 854-6196 Ext. 1022 Springville Elementary School 602 Mill Avenue Springville, IA 52336 Principal: Amanda Potter 854-6195 Ext. 2002 MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Springville Community Schools is to instill a lifelong love of learning, while promoting the achievement of the individual student within a positive learning climate where high expectations are cooperatively set by school personnel, students, parents and the community. The next School Board Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 19th, at 7:00 p.m. November 2014 From the Desk of Superintendent Amy Kortemeyer This month brings us Thanksgiving and we have a lot to be thankful for in our school district! We are thankful for our students! They are the reason we are here. It is our mission to instill a lifelong love of learning, while promoting the achievement of the individual within a positive learning climate, where high expectations are cooperatively set by school personnel, students, parents and the community. We are thankful for our staff! Our staff members are top notch and each one of them plays a critical role in the success of our students. It is a true team effort with many staff members wearing multiple hats. This is one thing that has truly impressed me in my short time here. We are thankful for our parents and community members! We receive incredible support from so many people and appreciate what you do to encourage our students. Elementary School Project Last month a portion of the school board work session was devoted to discussing the next steps with the elementary building. The board and administration revisited the work that had been done with our facilities since the end of the 2007-2008 school year. At that time a community meeting was held to gather input regarding facility needs. Neumann Monson initially helped categorize these needs and itemize costs. The board and administration moved forward with completing projects at the secondary building with plans to move to the elementary building upon completion at the secondary. During this time smaller projects were completed at the elementary building such as removing the portable classrooms, moving these classrooms inside the building, and rewiring a classroom to create a lab for computers. At the work session it was determined that we would move forward by reviewing the facility needs once again since six years had passed since the original study. This will be done in two ways. We will invite an independent group in to do a brief study of our facilities and provide feedback as well as hold a community meeting to gather input from our stakeholders. Iowa Core The Iowa Department of Education has launched a new Iowa Core website this past month. The Iowa Core is utilized in kindergarten through twelfth grades and contains academic standards for literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, and twenty-first century skills. This helps ensure that students across our state are all accountable for the same rigorous standards. The Iowa Core is not a curriculum. Each school district determines, at the local level, how to meet these standards and selects its own curriculum aligned to these standards. The Iowa Core website contains three sections: searchable standards, resources for educators, and resources for parents and the community. The website can be found at: www.iowacore.gov Continued from page 1 Early Literacy Implementation Last month I shared that there is a new state initiative that involves early literacy implementation in kindergarten through third grade. The legislation that was enacted requires school districts to implement several new rules for students in kindergarten through third grade. It aims to close the achievement gap and have all students proficient in reading. One new requirement has schools choosing from a state approved list of assessments. Our school district, like the majority of others across the state, chose to go with the FAST Assessments. The FAST universal screener is given three times a year. Currently students who were not proficient on the FAST universal screener are progress monitored once a week. They will continue to be monitored weekly until the next FAST universal screener is given this winter. This process is useful for us for instructional decision making as it provides frequent information on our students’ progress. Teacher Leadership and Compensation System Last year the Iowa General Assembly approved $50 million per year for three years totaling $150 million for Teacher Leadership Grants. Districts were asked to apply for this last year and 39 schools were selected in the first round. Our school district is applying for the Teacher Leadership Grant again this school year. We submitted the grant this past month. If awarded Springville Community School District’s appropriation would be $115,000. The majority of this funding would go towards hiring teacher leaders, from within our current staff, beginning next school year. Our grant states that we would hire a full time instructional coach, 5 lead teachers, and 3 model teachers. The instructional coach’s position would be a full time release from the classroom position. The lead and model teachers would remain in their classrooms full time and receive stipends for these positions. Winter Weather Winter weather will soon be upon us. As mentioned before we will be utilizing three television stations (KCRG, KGAN, and KWWL), four radio stations, One Call (which sends out a phone call using information pulled from our PowerSchool student information system), the school website, Facebook , Twitter and Iowa School Alerts. If you have not already signed up for Iowa School Alerts and are interested be sure to sign up through the website: https://schoolalerts.iowa.gov/ Please let me know if you have any questions about these or any other items. I can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 319-854-6197. Have a great month! From the Desk of Secondary Principal Nick Merritt First, we want to thank all of the parents that were able to make it to conferences and talk with the teachers. We appreciated having the opportunity to speak with you and hope you were able to take some important things from it. If you did not make it to conferences, we will be mailing out report cards soon. If you have questions at that point, we encourage you to set up a time to meet with the teacher that you feel you need to meet with. During the month of October, our secondary students got the opportunity to do a lot of great things. We went to the elementary and read and we participated in Fall Fitness Day with a campus-wide scavenger hunt. We also incorporated an intervention period into our school day during SSR. During this time, our teachers are able to bring students in for a more personalized experience to assist in the grasping of curricular concepts. Looking forward, we have our trip to Lindale planned to turn in our report cards, the Veteran’s Day assembly, an exploratory change for our middle school students, the start to our winter activities, and a little vacation over Thanksgiving. We are extremely excited about the month of November and for the rest of the school year. It is a great day to be an Oriole! From the Desk of Elementary Principal Amanda Potter Conferences were a wonderful success at the end of October. Building relationships between home and school is a priority at Springville Elementary, and we appreciate any opportunity to discuss your child’s learning with you. One of the common questions we heard at conferences was, “What can we do at home to help our child with reading?” Here are some techniques on how to teach your child that reading is enjoyable and valuable, as well as to improve their reading skills (www.FamilyEducation.com): Set aside a regular time to read to your child every day. o Research shows that reading aloud to children, no matter what the age, will result in significant gains in reading comprehension, vocabulary, and the decoding of words. Surround your child with reading material. o Tempt your child to read by keeping a large supply of books and magazines at their reading level throughout the house. Have a family reading time. o Set aside 15-30 minutes each night when everyone reads together silently. When your child sees you reading, it inspires them to do the same! Daily practice (even just 15 minutes) will increase their reading fluency. Encourage a wide variety of reading activities. o Daily activities such as reading menus, roadside signs, weather reports, game directions, and much more are easy ways to make reading an integral part of your child’s life. Also remember that riding in a car or waiting for an appointment are excellent opportunities for your child to read. Develop the library habit. o Take your child to the library every few weeks to get new reading material. Also, many libraries have reading programs for all ages of children and could help further their interest in reading. Use a variety of aids to help your child. o Use books, computer programs, and games to allow your child to have fun as they work on their reading skills. Show enthusiasm for your child’s reading. o Praise your child for their efforts – they will be proud of themselves and work harder in the process! Upcoming Dates to Remember th Tuesday, November 11 Wednesday, November 26th Thursday, November 27th Friday, November 28th Veteran’s Day Assembly @ 8:15 a.m. Secondary, 9:15 a.m. Elementary No School No School – Happy Thanksgiving No School From Desk of the School Nurse Amy Balk We are excited to announce a new addition to our school lunches! Parents of school-age children face even more challenges in keeping kids safe at activities, sports, camp and school. Your school’s administrators and nutrition staff members share your goal: keep kids safe, well-fed and ready to learn! Our food service will now be serving SunButter as a side item. Please be sure to review the upcoming menus for this addition. SunButter® is a delicious and healthy alternative to peanut butter. It is made from specially roasted sunflower seeds, is completely peanut-free, tree-nut free and gluten-free. SunButter® is packed with nutrition and is an excellent choice for people with peanut allergies. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the school nurse at 854–6195 ext. 2001 or nutritional services ext. 1105. From Desk of Elementary Secretary Jenny Malanaphy November is upon us, which means cold and snowy weather is soon to come. I want to remind elementary parents to make sure that your students are prepared. I know that sometimes things are forgotten. We have extra clothing in the office for that reason. It is very important for each child to have everything they need to stay warm. Students will have outdoor recess unless we have extreme weather situations. The elementary recently rolled out a new program from SchoolStore! Your elementary student may have signed up already and invited friends and family to their site. After receiving the invitation friends and family members may shop online. Please remember to sign into SchoolStore first and then shop at one of over four hundred stores. The school then gets a percentage of every order placed. Students may also earn prizes depending on what is purchased. There is an option that allows your student’s teacher to earn gift cards for school supplies. If you have any questions contact me at the office at 854-6195 ext. 2000. I would be happy to answer any questions you have! From the Desk of Music Teacher Kellie Jorgenson The third-fifth grade Winter Concert will take place in the high school auditorium on Monday, December 8 th, at 6:00 p.m. This time is different from the one listed on the school calendar you received in the fall. Third through fifth grade parents received a letter regarding this on October 23rd. The extended information has also been sent to the e-mail address listed in PowerSchool AND is given again on Mrs. Jorgenson's website: www.oriolesongs.weebly.com. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Jorgenson at: [email protected] Please look below to see the casting list for our upcoming musical “The Big Chill”. We have started practicing and are very excited to show you all of the talent of the 3 rd through 5th grade students in December! Character Name of Student Weather Reporter 1 Weather Reporter 2 Weather Reporter 3 Teacher 1 Teacher 2 Math Teacher Coach Choir Director Bus Driver Teacher 3 Teacher 4 Teacher 5 Teacher 6 Student 1 Teacher 7 Student 2 Teacher 8 Student 3 Teacher 9 Student 4 Principal Solo: 7 Feet of Snow Grace Matus Emma Close Kailee Hoge Isabel Guerrero Kailee Jacobs Dylan DeMean AJ Unash Morgan Nachazel Levi Beck Lauren Wilson Savannah Nealman Maggie Gorman Lilly Clark Alli Fah Danielle Besta Ashlynne Zaruba Brooklyn Misaur Kamerin McLaughlin Gabi Anguiano Jenna Foley Liz Blakely Soloist #1 Soloist #2 Solo: A Day at Home (Teachers) Soloist #1 Soloist #2 Soloist #3 Emmie Ripple Kennady Breitfelder Abi Christiansen Kelsie Clothier Autumn Rickels Sponsored by: As of October 27th Springville CSD is in 1st place in the School Cents competition. Please be aware that the standings can change very rapidly so we don’t want to get too comfortable! Sometimes receipts are saved to turn in later so that each competitor is unsure of where they really stand. Strategy plays a big part in this too. Please see the next page for the current standings. ALWAYS FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR STRATEGY WITH THE SCHOOL & FELLOW ORIOLES! If you are one who says, “I just never shop at the mall”, please consider the following: American Express and Visa Gift Cards ~ These can be used anywhere those cards are accepted. So if you are a gift card “giver” you can purchase these from the Lindale Mall Office and your recipient can use it wherever or for whatever they want. They can be purchased in any amount between $20-$500. Meals/ Holiday Dinners/Group Events ~ Consider driving the few extra minutes it takes to shop the Collins Road Hy-Vee. Don’t want to cook? Planning a group function? (Turn those receipts in to the school offices and we can apply that dollar amount toward the Cash 4 Students program.) Phone Numbers for Lindale Mall Locations Hy-Vee catering 393-8910 Lindale Mall Subway 395-7757 Cranky Hanks Pizza 365-4265 Pizza Hut 395-7602 Maid Rite 395-0886 Arby’s 393-7447 Great American Cookie 393-7111 Cheddar’s Casual Café 393-4557 Chick- fil-a-378-3200 Chipolte 393-4025 Panda Express 378-3994 Red Lobster 395-0450 Village Inn HuHot Mongolian Grill 393-6000 Tic-Tac-Toe Café 294-9420 Pretzel Maker 395-9666 Planet X 294-2237 JoAnn Fabrics 393-4529 There are many possibilities to consider. You might be surprised that some of these businesses cater or offer deals on purchases in larger quantities. Purchases made during November 28th-30th include triple points! Thank you to Sarah Matus, Ashlee Bell, Charley Hall, Hallie Corum, Olivia Dlouhy, Jenna Nulle, Megan Wagaman and Madi Wagaman for your help to earn 25 extra points at the trick or treat for special needs kids on Sunday, October 26th! School Cents Update as of 10/27 High School Grand Total Points Alburnett HS 512 Anamosa HS 159 Cedar Valley Christian 3rd place 618 Center-Point Urbana HS 173 Central City HS --2nd place 899 CR Washington HS 101 East Buchanan HS 77 Edgewood-Colesburg HS 126 Kennedy HS 102 Marion HS 162 Metro HS 350 North Cedar HS 42 North-Linn HS 199 Springville HS 1st place 1590 Xavier HS 415 SPRINGVILLE COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT Springville, Iowa BOARD MINUTES – October 15, 2014 NOTE: These minutes are unofficial until approved by the board at the next regular meeting. BOARD WORK SESSION A Board Work Session was held at 5:02 p.m. on October 15, 2014 prior to the Regular Board Meeting with Lee Ann Grimley, Tami Gillmore, Todd Nulle, Dee Wagaman, Superintendent Amy Kortemeyer, Secondary Principal/Instructional Leader Nick Merritt, PK-5 Elementary Principal/Curriculum Director Amanda Potter, Board Secretary Stacey Matus and guests present. Board member Laura Riley entered the board work session at 5:39 pm. President Grimley left the board work session at 5:49 pm. Mrs. Kortemeyer shared a power point entitled “Elementary Project-A Look Back” to give an illustration of board agenda topics, discussions, and action concerning the facilities from 2008-2014. Mrs. Kortemeyer also shared property tax rates and enrollment during this time period. Discussion on how to proceed with addressing facility concerns included: Revisit the district’s goals and master plan; New leadership within the district and community since 2008 when the district began the process of developing a master plan for our facilities; Makes sense to have another community workshop due to new leadership within the district and the community; What is the end goal?; Develop a combined strategic facility needs plan that is aligned with our financial resources; Organize a community meeting to revisit the vision and priorities and have the facility committee work from the results of that meeting; Many of the items prioritized as needs from the community on the 5/4/2008 Master Plan List have been addressed or improved upon; Suggested contacting GWAEA to inquire about a facilitator for the community meeting; Contact previous professionals that completed the facility study in 2008 as a neutral third party professional to update the facility study; Plan for use of PPEL funds; Step 2 is implementation of the strategic plan; Make decisions based on the data collected through the process; and Invitations will be sent to district taxpayers via postcards, as was done in 2008, to notify community members when the meeting date is established. The board and administration team discussed Chapter 3 entitled “Setting Clear and Focused Goals” from the Iowa Association of School Boards Leadership for Student Learning book. Topics of discussion were as follows: District has worked hard to improve student learning; Make the district goal more visible to parents and community members; Success breeds success; Keep focused on the goal and celebrate wins along the way; Steps to achieve the goal of “All students will be proficient in reading comprehension and every student will have one year’s growth in reading comprehension each year” can be overwhelming but the board, administration, and teachers are not willing to leave one child behind as they work together; Much work is being done in professional development to support the district literacy goal; Need to champion academic success and recognize growth along the way; Important for students to have an intrinsic motivation to do well because they desire to do well and not simply to receive a reward; Professional development is very focused on literacy but the technology piece has to be a focus as well; Implementation of the intervention program; Lighthouse Study allows for open communication and common language with the board and administration; and Student achievement has become more of a focus nationwide. Board work session ended at 6:26 pm. The board took a dinner break. No action was taken. REGULAR BOARD MEETING Vice President Tami Gillmore called the regular meeting of the Springville Community School District Board of Directors to order on October 15, 2014 at 7:00 pm. Other members present were Todd Nulle, Laura Riley, and Dee Wagaman. Also present were Superintendent Amy Kortemeyer, Secondary Principal/Instructional Leader Nick Merritt, Elementary Principal/Curriculum Director Amanda Potter, Board Secretary/Business Manager Stacey Matus and guests. Board President Grimley was absent. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Laura Riley made a motion to approve the agenda as presented. All ayes, motion carried. PUBLIC FORUM No one addressed the board during public forum. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA Dee Wagaman made a motion to approve the consent agenda. All ayes, motion carried. - Minutes from the September 17th Regular and Organizational meeting and September 23rd board work session. - Financial reports as presented. - List of bills presented for payment. - Hiring of Janet Youngblut as High School Special Education Paraprofessional at $8.50 per hour. - Hiring of Christina Zaruba as Middle School Girls Basketball Coach, Step 6 at $1,983.00. - Contracts from Linn Mar Community Schools and Center Point Urbana Community Schools for students receiving educational services. Springville APPROVAL OF PERSONNEL HIRING Dee Wagaman made a motion to hire Laura Riley as Varsity Girls Softball Coach, Step 1 at $2,266.00. Vice President Gillmore inquired if there are any laws against hiring Riley as a coach due to her current role as a board member. According to Iowa Code 279.A this scenario is permissible as long as the compensation stays below the conflict of interest statutory maximum of $2,500.00. Gillmore, aye; Nulle, aye; Wagaman, aye; Riley, abstained. Grimley, absent. Motion carried. COMMUNICATIONS/REPORTS Amy Kortemeyer, Superintendent/Transportation Director reported on the following: Attended SAI New Superintendent’s Mentoring meeting on September 25 th with learning on mentoring, community relations, effective evaluation process, and leadership role of principal learning; September 23rd Superintendent/Board workshop provided discussion on areas of focus for the Superintendent, role of Superintendent, role of the Board, communication, and the evaluation process; Continue work on the Teacher Leadership Grant due October 31st; District will be notified if awarded the grant in December and would be approximately $115,000.00 to hire teachers for leadership positions; September 26th professional development centered around improving student achievement in reading; Attended ISFLC New Superintendent’s meeting on September 24th with topics on legislative advocacy and school finance; State reports completed; Certified enrollment is currently at 367.7 students which is down 5.41 from last year’s certified enrollment; however this number may change as districts and the State continue the verification process with final counts due to the Iowa Department of Management by December1st; Certified enrollment determines the amount districts receive in State funding; however the number of students in “seats” PK12 is 379; October 2nd bus inspection mandated various repairs that need to be done and reported to the State upon completion; If repairs can’t be completed in 30 days an extension needs to be filed; Imperative to accurately record repairs on the State site; Technology meeting with ITS provided information on services they can offer our district; Need for an updated technology plan; Updating the district’s School Crisis Manual; GWAEA Superintendent meeting on October 1st focused on how to create, encourage, and sustain a culture of engagement. Nick Merritt, Secondary Principal/Instructional Leader/AD reported on the following: Intervention program will focus on four core areas of instruction to provide additional support to students by re-teaching concepts and standards where needed; MAP testing is complete and data will be reported at the November board meeting; October 6th DIT team meeting worked on updating our School Crisis Manual; Homecoming week activities; October 7 th participated in the Healthiest State Initiative by completing a campus wide photo scavenger hunt that went very well; Mr. Merritt expressed his appreciation to Mr. Martin for organizing this event and to the teachers and students for participating; Student Senate and National Honor Society plan to Adopt a Roadway as a volunteer service program; Fall activities update; 2014 Springville graduates scored above all state average ACT scores. Amanda Potter, Elementary Principal/Curriculum Director reported on the following: Final meeting to review TLC grant; MAP data for reading and math will be used to guide instruction in the classrooms and will be shared during Parent/Teacher conferences; October 6th DIT team met to discuss areas of focus for the rest of the school year; Conducted a fire drill and tornado drill at the elementary; Building Advisory Committee met to help clarify and solidify procedural and management issues at the elementary building; Parent/Teacher conferences are next week; Participated in the Healthiest State Initiative by walking around the community. BOARD LEARNING – EARLY LITERACY IMPLEMENTATION Mrs. Kortemeyer and Mrs. Potter presented information on the new legislation and updated guidance. There are 23 rules that have to be implemented for our K-3rd grade students. Sixteen of these rules need to be implemented right away and the remaining seven need to be implemented by May of 2017. Highlights of the presentation: Early Literacy Legislation will have great impact on elementary instruction; FAST assessments; Weekly progress monitoring, identifying students at risk, and intervention; Parent notification; Intensive instruction; Research based reading instruction; Reading curriculum requirements; Data to be reported to the Department of Education; and Early Literacy legal requirements. OLD BUSINESS NONE NEW BUSINESS ACT ON OPEN ENROLLMENTS-TRENTON PORT, SHYLIE PORT, CASH PARKS, WYATT SCHRADER Todd Nulle made a motion to accept the recommendation to approve the open enrollment requests from Trenton and Shylie Port from Springville to Central City due to a move; Cash Parks from Springville to Mt. Vernon; and Wyatt Schrader from Springville to Alburnett. All ayes, motion carried. APPROVE REQUEST FOR MODIFIED ALLOWABLE GROWTH FOR 2013-14 SPECIAL EDUCATION DEFICIT $68,701.12 Todd Nulle made a motion to accept the recommendation to approve the request for Modified Allowable Growth for the 2013-14 Special Education Deficit for the amount of $68,701.12. Superintendent Kortemeyer explained that this action allows the district to levy for property taxes on the 2015-16 certified annual budget to make up for the 2013-14 shortfall. All ayes, motion carried. APPROVE SNOW REMOVAL BID Laura Riley made a motion to accept the recommendation to approve the snow removal bid from Mysak Grading & Landscaping, Inc. for 2014-15. The board received two bids for snow removal and Mysak’s bid was the lowest. All ayes, motion carried. Springville APPROVE DISSOLUTION OF 28E AGREEMENT WITH CENTRAL CITY FOR HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING DURING THE 2014-15 SCHOOL YEAR Dee Wagaman made a motion to accept the recommendation to approve dissolution of the 28E Agreement with Central City for high school wrestling during the 2014-15 school year. Springville students currently have not shown any interest in going out for this sport this year and this agreement is causing Central City CSD to move up in classification from 1A to 2A. All ayes, motion carried. APPROVE EARLY GRADUATION REQUEST FOR KENDRA BRASWELL Dee Wagaman made a motion to accept the recommendation to approve an early graduation request for Kendra Braswell. Mr. Merritt shared that Miss Braswell and her parents have been made aware and have agreed to all conditions and stipulations to the early graduation requirements. All ayes, motion carried DISCUSSION ITEMS Professional Development on October 17th; Parent/Teacher conferences on October 21st and 23rd; Vacation day October 24th; RSAI Annual meeting October 25th; and ISFIS /GWAEA Superboard Meeting on School Finance/Advocacy on October 29th. CLOSED SESSION Laura Riley made a motion at 8:19 pm to go into closed session as provided in Section 21.5(l)(i)of the Open Meetings Law to evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose performance is being considered to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation, as that individual has requested a closed session. Roll call vote as follows: Nulle, aye; Gillmore, aye; Wagaman, aye; Riley, aye. Grimley, absent. Motion carried. The board resumed open session at 8:32 pm. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business Vice President Gillmore declared the meeting adjourned at 8:32 pm. __________________________________________ Stacey Matus, Board Secretary _________________________________________ Lee Ann Grimley, Board President Springville SPRINGVILLE COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT Springville, Iowa BOARD MINUTES – October 22, 2014 NOTE: These minutes are unofficial until approved by the board at the next regular meeting. SPECIAL BOARD MEETING President Lee Ann Grimley called the special board meeting of the Springville Community School District Board of Directors to order on October 22, 2014 at 5:33 pm. Other members present were Laura Riley, and Dee Wagaman. Also present were Superintendent Amy Kortemeyer and Board Secretary/Business Manager Stacey Matus. Board members Todd Nulle and Tami Gillmore were absent. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Laura Riley made a motion to approve the agenda as presented. All ayes, motion carried. NEW BUSINESS Dee Wagaman made a motion to accept the recommendation to approve the resignation of Buildings and Grounds Director, Curt Morrow, effective October 16, 2014 and the resignation of Elementary Special Education Paraprofessional, Debra Wall, effective November 29, 2014. There was discussion on surveying surrounding districts for the salaries they pay their Directors of Buildings and Grounds. All ayes, motion carried. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business President Grimley declared the meeting adjourned at 5:36 pm. __________________________________________ Stacey Matus, Board Secretary _________________________________________ Lee Ann Grimley, Board President Springville Springville Springville Springville
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