Right up to almost school to begin, there were still hirings. It was approved to hire Natasha Yong as paraprofessional and Samantha Murphy as paraprofessional.
Last month the Board/Superintendent Goals were tabled until the August meeting. Approved at this meeting were the following Goals: (1) Continue steps to improve facilities at both Marcus and Remsen centers. (2) Continue updating curriculum in core areas in order to improve student academic performance. (3) Develop plan for attracting and retaining instructional talent at MMCRU. (4) Continue committee work of marketing our schools and ramp up efforts of branding and outreach to families in and out of our districts. And, (5) Continue utilizing IASB opportunities for board development and encourage board member attendance at IASB Annual Conference.
Approved as Delegates for the IASB (Iowa Association of School Boards) Delegate Assembly were Belinda Leavitt from MMC and Talon Penning from RU to attend the Delegate Assembly.
Legislative priorities for Delegate Assembly were approved by the Boards. There were 33 to choose from. After much discussion the following were approved: #16. Teacher Recruitment & Licensure. This supports additional tools to attract individuals to the teaching profession, especially for teacher shortage areas including (1) Alternative teacher licensure upon completion of research-based teaching pedagogy training in addition to content knowledge in a curricular area; (2) Pathways for individuals with non-traditional or international educational backgrounds to meet licensure qualifications; (3) Reciprocity agreements with other states with high-quality education programs so as to increase diversity among our certified teachers and administrators: (4) Expansion of programs such as: Teach Iowa Scholar, Troops to Teachers, Teacher Intern Program, and others as approved by the Board of Educational Examiners; (5) Programs designed to recruit and retain teachers that will better match the demographic makeup of our student population; and (6) Advocate for funding of loan forgiveness programs, grants, and stipends that will make education careers a more attractive and affordable option.

20. Supplemental State Aid—Supports setting supplemental state aid: (1) at a rate that sufficiently supports local districts’ efforts to plan, create and sustain world-class schools; (2) For FY 2023, by January 28, 2022 and (3) For FY 2024 and future budget years, at least 14 months prior to the certification of the school’s district budgets. (4) Within the statutory requirements allows districts to make sound financial decisions on programs and staffing levels in order to provide the best possible education to all students. (5) By a formula driven method for establishing the supplemental state aid growth rate if it is not set within the statutory requirements. (5) That maintains an appropriate balance between using the state’s general fund and property tax revenue.

21. Budget Guarantee—Supports increasing the budget guarantee amount to 3% to provide additional stability to school districts with declining enrollment.

23. Bond Issues—Supports allowing school bond issues to be passed by a simple majority vote.

32. Sharing and Reorganization—Supports continuation of sufficient incentives and assistance to encourage sharing or reorganization between school districts including the establishment of regional schools. Supports expanding the positions eligible for operational sharing incentives.

The last two issues on the agenda were for Remsen to discuss as the issues were on HVA Retrofit Project and City of Remsen Football Scoreboard.
The MMCRU Middle School/Remsen Elementary Principal Toby Young reported: The 2022-2023 school year is right around the corner. Our building and classrooms look great and our staff is putting the final touches on things to make sure everything is ready to go. All teachers are required to put in at least one 8 hr. day prior to the first day of school or use Friday, August 19. Our Professional Development calendar for the upcoming year has been shared with all staff and we’re excited about the opportunities to collaborate with each other to continue to build our teaching and learning capacity and support the overall well-being of our students and staff. I encourage our school boards to attend any of our PD days to meet staff and see all of the great things we’ll be working on this year. We have great students, staff and communities and I know the 2022-2023 school year is going to be great! GO ROYAL
Upcoming Events
Monday, August 22—All Teacher’s—PD
Tuesday, August 23—First Day of School
Tuesday, August 23—First Day of JH (Junior High) Athletic Practice—CC, FB, VB
Wednesday, August 24–1:25 p.m. Dismissal (Teacher PD)
Monday, September 5—No School (Labor Day)
MMCRU Marcus Elementary & MMCRU High School Principal, Brandon Weisert reported the following: The MMCRU Marcus Elementary and MMCRU High School are preparing to welcome students on Tuesday, August 23. The asbestos removal is finished in the high school and Les & Linda Pederson and Kaden Neddermeyer have done outstanding work to get high school ready for Open House.
August 2nd and 3rd we attended SAI in Des Moines which was a great opportunity to learn and network with other administrators around Iowa.
Professional Development this year will focus on Achieve training for special education teachers, implementing the CKLA curriculum in the elementary, and Iowa Core standards alignment in the high school.
Fall sports have officially begun, our fall sports numbers are strong: Football (43), Volleyball (28), Cheerleading (16), Dance (9), and Cross Country (7).
Tentative Class Numbers for 2022-2023 are 184 enrolled in PK-Grade 4 and 200 enrolled in Grades 9-12.
Important Dates: August 16: New Teacher Orientation; August 17: Open House (5 p.m.-7 p.m.) and August 23: First Day of School
Superintendent Dan Barkel reported the following: Staffing: The only teaching position left unfilled is the FCS position at the high/middle school level. Ann Muller will be long-term subbing in that role, and Katie Pratt, Iowa State student from south of Remsen, will be student teaching in FCS for eight weeks into her student teaching experience under the auspices of former counselor and FCS teacher, Renea Ogren. As of Thursday, August 11, we have three open para positions at MMC and one at RU. In addition, we are always in need of subs throughout the system, including bus drivers.
Construction at the Marcus site has ramped up quite a bit since our last meeting. Many footings for the new structure have been poured, and much steel has arrived for the framing. The biggest challenge has been to make allowances for parking for school and athletic events while construction is underway. (Goal A)
The Remsen-Union HVAC Retrofit Project will be let out for bid in the near future conducted by EDA. The actual bid day will be on September 15 with bids received until 2 p.m., and the RU board will need to approve bids on September 19 at 6 p.m. in the RU board room, just prior to our joint board meeting in the RU Media Center. Information on the HVAC project from EDA is listed in the board packet. (Goal A)
Courtney Koch and Shelbie DeLaughter of CMBA spent some time on August 9 to look over the RU Auditorium to see if there are some cost-efficient ways in which we can refresh the space to make it more attractive and functional. They shared some ideas that we will consider at a later date. (Goal A)
The Little Royals Daycare Board and the MMC Playground Committee are sponsoring a BBQ Pork Dinner conducted by the Cherokee County Pork Producers on August 31 between in the hours of 5:30-7 p.m. in the Marcus City Park. We invite all to help support the cause to help fund new playground equipment for the new Marcus elementary school and daycare next year. (Goal A)
At this month’s meeting we must select one representative from each board to serve on the IASB Delegate Assembly to be held in November in Des Moines. In addition, we must select our legislative priorities for the 2023 Iowa Legislative session. (Goal E)
Our teachers and staff have been preparing for the new school year to begin with students on August 23. The buildings are looking fresh, shiny and clean thanks to the efforts of Les and Linda Pedersen at the Marcus Center and Doug Wurth and Karla Pierce. Please thank our hard-working custodians when you see them. In particular please thank Les and Linda for all they have done while working through asbestos removal and construction. They even put down a sealant on the cement floors in the high school classrooms. I appreciate all that our custodians are doing to make our buildings as good as they can be for our students and staff.
The Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn Board of Education met jointly with Remsen-Union Board of Education at their regular board meeting on Monday, August 15, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. in MMCRU Commons.