Business for MMC School Board included the following for 2023: Steve Avery from Spencer was approved as district attorney for MMC. The Marcus News was approved as newspaper of record. Approved banks were Farmers State Bank, State Savings Bank, United Bank of Iowa, UMB, and ISJIT as depositories for the district with a limit of 7 million.
Brandon Weisert (new Principal)) and Alecia Regennitter were approved as Level I Investigators and Brian Flikeid, Marcus Police Department was approved as Level II investigator.
Approved 504 Coordinator was Kayla Schroeder. Approved as Homeless Liaison Coordinator was Alicia Hergott.
The Board took a few minutes to approve the 100 Series Policy revisions.
The sale of School bus #4 was approved. Brandon Weisert was approved as MMC Foundation Representative.
There were new hires approved by the MMC Board. Carol Braun was approved as Cook. New Paras approved were Steven Schuetz, Michaela Nelson, and Emily Pedersen. Jill Alesch resigned as Board Secretary/Human Resources Director/Accounts Payable Coordinator.
Toby Young, MMCRU Middle School/Remsen Elementary Principal reported that the school year is of to a great start! Students and staff are settling into their classes and daily routines. JH (Junior High Cross Country, Football & Volleyball) have begun as well and we’ve already seen great things.
Our Elementary CKLA reading curriculum implementation is off to a good start. Our teachers have shared many positives that they enjoy about the new curriculum. We’re also allowing our two elementary buildings to collaborate before or after school hours, so they can work together to build a collaborative/consistent educational curriculum between our elementary buildings. We’re still working through questions we have about the curriculum and will continue to use PD (Professional Development) time to make our new elementary reading curriculum as impactful as it can be for our teachers and students.
PS through Grade 8 Enrollment is as follows: PS=14; TK=11; Kindergarten=25; Grade One=20; Grade 2=19; Grade 3=20; Grade 4=25; Grade 5=36; Grade 6=36; Grade 7=47; and Grade 8=54. Elementary Enrollment is 134 students. Middle School is 173. Total for Elementary and Middle School now is 307.
Comparing Elementary 134 now to 141 in 2021; 135 in 2020; 127 in 2019; 129 in 2019 and 138 in 2017. Middle School is 173 compared to 191 in 2021; 202 in 2020; 205 in 2019; 198 in 2018 and 205 in 2017.
Total of Elementary and Middle School is now 307 compared to 332 in 2021; 337 in 2020; 332 in 2019; 327 in 2018 and 343 in 2017.
JH participation Numbers in Football is 23 (14 in Grade 8, 9 in Grade 7). Volleyball is 29 (17 in Grade 8 and 12 in Grade 7). Cross country is 7 (3 in Grade 8 and 4 in Grade 7) with 4 Boys and 8 Girls participating.
The Fifth grade students went on two field trips last week. Tuesday (Sept. 13) to Cherokee Farm/Ag Tour and to Des Moines (Friday, Sept. 16) for a social studies field trip. They toured the capitol building, state historical museum, as well as Living History Farms. Both field trips are wonderful opportunities for our students and we plan to continue these trips each year. Thank you to our staff and community partners for making this happen.
I am the Mentor for the new middle school principal (Matt Malausky) at Cherokee this year. This partnership is set up by SAI (School Administrator’s of Iowa). This will be a year long mentorship in which I collaborate with him to support and build positive rapport. We’ll be attending a mentorship meeting on Tuesday, September 20 in Ames with other new administrators and their mentors from across Iowa. We will also have a handful of zoom meetings throughout the year through SAI as they continue to provide support to all new administrators and their mentors. I’m thankful for the opportunity and look forward to supporting Matt in his leadership role.
FAST (Reading & Math) Testing—TK—8—(Fall Window). Homecoming Week is Sept. 19-23. School Pictures are Sept. 21.
Upcoming State Reports are Fall BEDS that are due October 15; Preschool Desk Audit is due December 15 and K-Grade 12 Desk Audit is due December 15.
Job Openings for 2022-2023 at Remsen are Substitute Teachers and Substitute Paraprofessionals.
Brandon Weisert, MMCRU PK-Grade 4 and Grade 9-Grade 12 Principal reported that it has been an eventful start to the school year in Marcus and homecoming is already here. The theme for this year is “Board Games: Game On”. Our student council and sponsors have been working hard to plan a fun week for students and staff and our FCS students are planning to put their learning to the test to prepare a tailgate inspired lunch for staff. The pep rally on Friday will be held in the gymnasium this year and Coronation will be on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. in the gymnasium.
In terms of professional development at the high school, we have continued working to vertically align our state standards and will be working with teachers to use our 1:1 technology in a way that can reduce time spent grading and improving student learning with Google classroom and other tools that we already have available.
At the Elementary level we are growing more comfortable with the new CKLA reading curriculum and have begun noting things that worked well and things that could be improved for next time. Overall, the feelings are positive and that this work is going to pay off long-term.
High School Student Count for 2019-2020 (there was NO count); for 2020-2021 the number was 175; for 2021-2022 the number of students was 190 and for 2022-2023 the number of students is 202.
Elementary School Student Count for 2019-2020 was 186; for 2020-2021 the count was 160; for 2021-2022 the count was 171 and for 2022-2023 the count is 183.
September 21 is Picture Day; September 23 is First Quarter Midterm and October 21 is when First Quarter Ends.
There are NO current teaching or paraprofessional openings in Marcus.
Superintendent Dan Barkel reported the following: Staffing—The biggest challenge of the year thus far is the lack of substitutes. Our building principals and secretaries have often had to assign current teaching staff to fill in. We are concerned about how to navigate this problem as the weather gets colder. We are doing our best to recruit substitute teachers as well as grow our own subs by way of the para sub authorization. We have made some progress hiring paras. We will also soon be getting to a critical point with the shortage of bus drivers. If you are interested, or know of someone interested in driving a school bus, even if it is for activities, please let me know.
Construction at the Marcus site has slowed somewhat since our last meeting. A shortage of structural steel is holding up progress. The MMC building committee met with Ryan Wiltgen of Wiltgen Construction to strategize the current situation with structural steel. Ryan Wiltgen has changed the schedule somewhat so progress can move forward despite the lack of steel. The Royals community has done a good job navigating the parking challenges ongoing during construction. We appreciate their tolerance and understanding. (Goal A)
Previous to tonight’s board meeting, in a special meeting, the RU board acted on the bids for the RU HVAC Retrofit Project. I will share the result of that meeting at the combined board meeting. (Goal A)
Previous to tonight’s meetings with the board, the RU Building Committee discussed some architect’s renderings of a proposed update to the RU Auditorium. The building committee will need to decide if this is a project that the RU district can do considering our financial limitations. A recommendation will ultimately be brought to the RU board. (Goal A)
The building principals have been reaching out to our building staff for ideas on how to better retain and recruit staff members to MMCRU. The administration, marketing committee and our HR department will be putting together ideas, and ultimately a plan this year to make employment at MMCRU more attractive to current and future staff members. (Goal C)
Please reserve Monday, November 7 at 6 p.m. in your calendars for a board workshop led by Lou Ann Gvist of the IASB. Since last year’s workshop was held in Marcus, we will probably meet in Remsen for this year’s workshop. (Goal E)
I have held meetings this past month with curriculum coordinator, Cait Dreckman, as well as the curriculum director at Le Mars CSD, Rachael Leavitt. Our elementary teaches have been doing a good job of rolling out our new CKLA reading curriculum. We have several thousand dollars in ESSER III (federal COVID) funds that can be utilized for academic enrichment. I want to make sure we are carefully taking advantage of those dollars for the benefit of our students, and are spending them in a way that will give our students and teachers the most “bang for the buck” in terms of overall student achievement. (Goal B)
In my meetings with principals, one discussion point has been how we can better market our schools and utilize technology and social media tools that better share the story of the Royals community. I also had a meeting recently inquiring about a school district app that could help parents and community members better and more quickly be aware of events and activities within our districts. Of course, all of these tools come with a cost. After homecoming, our marketing committee will meet to discuss these and other issues for better sharing the Royals story with the public, and making the case for an MMCRU educational experience. (Goal D)
I have received notification from the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors that they plan to create a “Wind Urban Renewal Area” that will encompass the area surrounding the new wind turbines that went up in Plymouth County over the last year. The purpose is to fix bridges and culverts and also reconstruct L14 north of Hwy 3 and provide an overlay for other roads in the area. In order to accomplish this, they will use TIF (tax increment financing) authority. Basically, what this means is that the increase in value of the property will be used to finance these projects rather than the increase going to the county, city, school district and community college supported by property. This TIF district will encompass a portion of the RU district and a sliver of the MMC district as well. Again, neither school district will LOSE income with TIF financing, but the growth in income from property taxes in both districts due to the wind turbines in Plymouth County will be depressed somewhat by the county supervisors using TIF financing for this area.
The Marcus-Meriden Cleghorn Board of Education met in regular joint session on Monday, September 19, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. at the MMCRU Media Center in Remsen with the Remsen-Union Board of Education. R-U Board members present were Tentinger, Loutsch, Harpenau, and Penning. Absent was Krier.
MMC Board members present were Olson, Prunty, Dreckman, Staab, and Leavitt. Absent: No one.