MCSD leaders prepare for start of 2024-2025 school year | News, Sports, Jobs

TR PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM A crew works on Marshalltown High School’s new greenhouse on Friday. Construction on the Career and Technical Education (CTE) wing is on schedule and will not impact the first day of school on Sept. 3. MHS Principal Justin Boliver said crews started just a paver slab for the greenhouse on Friday.

Students will be in person at Marshalltown High School (MHS) on the first day of school – September 3. Ongoing construction on the Career and Technical Education (CTE) wing will not impact this.

Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) Superintendent Theron Schutte said the project is still on schedule and teachers are setting up classrooms this week. After the CTE project began, classes and equipment were temporarily moved to Meadow Lane Mall. Schutte said the equipment was moved back to the high school last month.

MCSD human resources director Jacque Wyant, who is new to the position after previously serving as a high school principal, said the CTE students will have everything they need except for the fancy new furniture that is scheduled to be delivered.

While MCSD Superintendent of Instruction Shauna Smith said the start of the 2024-25 school year has been postponed to allow construction projects to progress as much as possible, she added that this does not mean classes will be held online or that students will not be able to sit in classrooms and walk the hallways.

“Students will return to high school in person,” she said. “For some reason, there’s also a rumor that we might teach virtually, and that was never part of our conversations. I don’t know where that came from.”

On the first day of school, Smith said teachers will focus on getting to know the students in their classrooms and communicating their expectations.

Wyant wanted to reassure MHS students on the first day that staff will be in the hallways to help them find their next class and answer their questions.

“Everyone is pitching in, in every building I can think of, to welcome the students, make them feel good and take away any anxiety that comes with the first day of school. It’s exciting,” she said.

Political priorities

As the new school year begins, Schutte wanted to inform parents that more attention is being paid to the issue of school absenteeism. He said MCSD’s rules have not changed dramatically compared to the past.

“But I think there’s more emphasis on accountability and that we address those absences more frequently,” Schutte said. “Ultimately, things are changing in terms of student and parent accountability, because all we can do is do what we can to get kids to school on a regular basis. The state is exceeding expectations in terms of monitoring and notifying, holding meetings and communicating.”

On July 1, a law signed by Governor Kim Reynolds that addresses chronic absenteeism in schools went into effect. State law defines chronic absenteeism as a student being absent for more than 10 percent of a school year.

If a student is considered chronically absent, the district must notify parents and the district attorney. The law states that the district attorney and the district can agree on how many absences can trigger a warning. If a student is absent 15 percent of the time in an evaluation period, an investigation into the reasons will be conducted and a conversation will be scheduled. The law also gives districts permission to hold the conversation before the 15 percent threshold.

In the Iowa Department of Education’s 2021-22 student reporting, MCSD had a chronic absentee rate of 37 percent of students. The state average is 25 percent.

Schutte said school officials were asked if there would be a ban on smartphones. The district relaxed its cell phone policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, but expectations were relaxed again afterward.

“Some kids and adults had a hard time getting back to it,” he said. “We would collect them for a short period of time and then go back to ‘Keep them out of sight and put them in a trash can.’ But this is not a new practice for us. It’s just something we need to be more diligent about and make sure it’s enforced.”

New possibilities

New to MHS this year are state-required career and technical student organizations such as the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. The district already has the FFA, which had a strong showing last year. Wyant said the FBLA is also present but needs to be more formal.

“These must be available to students and integrated into the curriculum,” she said.

As for academic instruction, Smith said teachers have been trained to teach the materials for the new math and science curricula. She also said the district is implementing ALEKS, a digital platform for in-person learning at all grade levels.

Schutte expects a new work-based learning program with a student-run cafe to be offered at the Orpheum in the first semester. He said they are also in the process of converting the Orpheum’s kitchen for small-scale production and expect that to be completed in October.

Student, teacher

Pay

With students returning to classrooms soon, it’s difficult to track student numbers, Schutte said. Some households have not yet registered students, which is why many school secretaries are tracking children in the last two weeks before school starts, he said.

“We constantly have so much mobility in the labor market here,” said Schutte. “It will take until the counting day on October 1 before we really know where we stand.”

After this summer’s enrollment, the number of kindergarten students has increased, Smith said, and there are more than 400 students for the first grade.

“That’s a lot for our district,” she said. “I don’t think kindergarten has 320 students yet, but that’s a strong ‘not yet,’ because we’re still adding more. Our preschool numbers are also high, which is a snapshot for the early grades.”

Also new this year are many new teachers and bus drivers. Wyant said that hasn’t been the case in a long time. She said the human element of hiring, like making contact and making students feel welcome, is key to keeping them in the district. Schutte added that despite recent hiring successes, the district is struggling to fill special education positions.

“We have to reorient ourselves and figure out in this reality how we can meet the individual educational goals of all of these students,” he asked. “There was a lot of anxiety this year because we had to consolidate programs in certain schools and move some children, teachers and support staff to other buildings. But there is no doubt that we are in a better position.”

Back to school

To prepare for a successful year at Marshalltown, Smith had some tips for students. She suggested they start by establishing a healthy sleep routine.

“Go to bed on time and get up for school, turn summer habits into school habits,” Smith said.

She also highlighted the locker policies.

“Students have the option to have a locker,” Smith said. “All schools have lockers. If parents want to talk to someone about it at open house, they can. I hear parents say that sometimes the backpack is too heavy and they don’t like their kids carrying stuff around all day. If they have those concerns, they can talk to the child’s teacher because it’s very rare that a student is carrying something like that around all day.”

She added that in many cases, students prefer not to use lockers.

The district is hosting a back-to-school night on Wednesday. The event will be held at the elementary schools from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.; at Lenihan Intermediate from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.; and at Miller, MHS and Marshalltown Learning Academy from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

NEW MCSD TEACHERS

Anson

• Makayla Baking First Class

• Monica Blanchard Nurse

• Kathryn Bryant Special Education

• Sofia Lence Fourth grade

Headquarters

• Elizabeth Harris-Medina Attendance Coordinator

Fisherman

• Jennifer Woods Kindergarten

Franklin

• Kathleen Frana Preschool

• Kimberly Hurley Second Class

• Tayiah Wins Second Class

Lenihan

• Megan Kasprzak Fifth Grade

• AnneMarie Tate 5-12 Orchestra

• Maria Whitaker Sixth Grade

• Madison Wilkerson school therapist

• Erin Wisecup 5-8 Vocal music

Marshalltown High School

• Eric Coop English and Language Arts

• Michael Gabler ELL

• John Halverson English and Language Arts

• Julie McGrew Family Consumer Science

• Garrett RolencArt

• Shana Schneider, reading interventionist

• Kathryn Stonner Special Education

• Adam Van Arkel College and Career Preparation Advisor

• Patrick Zhao Consultant

Marshalltown Learning Academy

• Dawson belt cutter

High school at risk

• Megan Steim Therapeutic Classroom

Marshalltown Virtual Academy

• Anna Bader Special Education

• Elizabeth Dooley 0.25 FTE

• Laura Musser .29 FTE Science

Miller Middle School

• Reagan Boyken, English and Language Arts, 7th grade

• McKenzie Fahrni Social Studies, 7th grade

• Jairo Figueroa Bilingual Social Studies

• Regina Gill Special Education

• Brian Goodvin 7th grade science

• Colin Martin, eighth grade mathematics

• Joseph Otten Special Education

• Lilly Otterson, eighth grade math interventionist

• Whitney Spies, seventh grade math

• Cindy Velazquez-Avila, seventh grade art

Rogers

• Steve Dreyer Physical Education

• Terry Eisenbarth Third Grade

• Gretchen FreelELL

• Susanne Ridout Library

• Gabriela Robinson Fourth Grade

Woodbury

• Pablo Cuevas Montes ELL

• Melissa Mintle Preschool

• Nicole Velez-Betancourt Kindergarten

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 extension 210 or

[email protected].

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