December, 2015 From the Desk of Tom Wood, Superintendent Needs Assessment Survey I wanted to thank all of you who took the time to complete the needs assessment survey and submit comments last month. The results are being analyzed and shared with stakeholder groups in the district to help us continue quality service to families and students as well as improve on the identified areas. As educators our goal is to consistently and continually improve practice and feedback from students, parents, staff, board members, and the community is a key to that. Summary of Results Some of the summary findings are included below. This is not a complete list but rather a compilation of common themes and ideas that were identified in the survey. The Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) assisted with the results and offered recommendations too. There were several strengths: 1. Almost three-quarters of staff members believe that there is a shared understanding of improvement efforts. 2. Over 75% of staff believe that virtually all students can learn at high levels. 3. Almost all respondents in all three groups believe that the school board can have a positive impact on student achievement. 4. Over 75% of parents and students say that parents are well informed of their student‟s progress. 5. Nearly all parents and staff members agree that parents must be partners in education. There were also areas that were identified as needing to improve. IASB‟s recommendations for those improvements follow: 1. Create urgency and consensus among all stakeholders around the belief that virtually all students can learn at high levels, that barriers can be overcome, and that major improvements can and will be made in student achievement. 2. Place major emphasis on effective instruction, the content and rigor of the Iowa Core Standards, and on active student engagement in the classroom. 3. Continue to improve the assessment system to align to the content and rigor of the Iowa Core Standards. 4. Insure that all stakeholders understand how they have a voice in decision making. While these nine points are not inclusive of every response that was submitted, these are drawn from the common themes in the survey choices and open-ended responses that were gathered. Surveys such as these reflect the perception of the people taking it; as perceptions vary, so did the responses. However, we are taking the feedback seriously and are creating plans to address these needs. Your continued help and support will assist us in seeing these plans through. Next Steps School Improvement Plans will be drafted, edited, and finalized with the School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) and the school board. These plans will help shape our professional development as administrators, school board, and teachers. In addition, you will see future newsletters and communications that address these issues regularly. Finally, I invite anyone who has questions to call me or either one of our principals, set up a time to come in, and discuss what is on your mind. Our goals are very much in line with those of our parents, and that is to provide the best education to students at Martensdale-St. Marys. As a district we will strive to continually improve, and as a superintendent I will do the same. Your feedback and assistance with this is crucial. Sometimes a simple conversation can get the ball rolling when it comes to change. With that, I invite any community members or parents to come in for a cup of coffee and talk; I do want to hear from you. Thank you for your continued support; the families of MStM make this school a great place to be!
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December, 2015 From the Desk of Tom Wood, Superintendent ...December, 2015 From the Desk of Tom Wood, Superintendent Needs Assessment Survey ... The Martensdale-St. Marys District
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Transcript
December, 2015
From the Desk of Tom Wood,
Superintendent
Needs Assessment Survey
I wanted to thank all of you who took the time to complete the
needs assessment survey and submit comments last month.
The results are being analyzed and shared with stakeholder
groups in the district to help us continue quality service to
families and students as well as improve on the identified
areas. As educators our goal is to consistently and continually
improve practice and feedback from students, parents, staff,
board members, and the community is a key to that.
Summary of Results
Some of the summary findings are included below. This is not
a complete list but rather a compilation of common themes
and ideas that were identified in the survey. The Iowa
Association of School Boards (IASB) assisted with the results
and offered recommendations too. There were several
strengths:
1. Almost three-quarters of staff members believe that
there is a shared understanding of improvement
efforts.
2. Over 75% of staff believe that virtually all students
can learn at high levels.
3. Almost all respondents in all three groups believe
that the school board can have a positive impact on
student achievement.
4. Over 75% of parents and students say that parents are
well informed of their student‟s progress.
5. Nearly all parents and staff members agree that
parents must be partners in education.
There were also areas that were identified as needing to
improve. IASB‟s recommendations for those improvements
follow:
1. Create urgency and consensus among all stakeholders
around the belief that virtually all students can learn
at high levels, that barriers can be overcome, and that
major improvements can and will be made in student
achievement.
2. Place major emphasis on effective instruction, the
content and rigor of the Iowa Core Standards, and on
active student engagement in the classroom.
3. Continue to improve the assessment system to align
to the content and rigor of the Iowa Core Standards.
4. Insure that all stakeholders understand how they have
a voice in decision making.
While these nine points are not inclusive of every response
that was submitted, these are drawn from the common themes
in the survey choices and open-ended responses that were
gathered. Surveys such as these reflect the perception of the
people taking it; as perceptions vary, so did the responses.
However, we are taking the feedback seriously and are
creating plans to address these needs. Your continued help and
support will assist us in seeing these plans through.
Next Steps
School Improvement Plans will be drafted, edited, and
finalized with the School Improvement Advisory Committee
(SIAC) and the school board. These plans will help shape our
professional development as administrators, school board, and
teachers. In addition, you will see future newsletters and
communications that address these issues regularly.
Finally, I invite anyone who has questions to call me or either
one of our principals, set up a time to come in, and discuss
what is on your mind. Our goals are very much in line with
those of our parents, and that is to provide the best education
to students at Martensdale-St. Marys. As a district we will
strive to continually improve, and as a superintendent I will do
the same. Your feedback and assistance with this is crucial.
Sometimes a simple conversation can get the ball rolling when
it comes to change. With that, I invite any community
members or parents to come in for a cup of coffee and talk; I
do want to hear from you.
Thank you for your continued support; the families of MStM
make this school a great place to be!
From the Desk of Josh Moser,
Secondary Principal
“The future starts today, not tomorrow.” Pope John Paul II
If I were to go backward in time to visit my 14-year-old self as
a high school freshman, and then tell my teenaged self that in
25 years I would be a middle school/high school principal in
Martensdale, Iowa, I would have laughed out loud (partially
because I‟d be in disbelief and partially because the “LOL”
abbreviation had not yet been invented). At that time in my
life (the fall of 1991), while I didn‟t know exactly what I
would be doing when I grew up, I was 100% certain it had
nothing to do with being in school any longer than I had to. As
I went through my various high school coursework, I often
found myself asking these questions and making similar
statements:
“I won‟t need to know this after high school.”
“When will I ever use this in the real world?”
“I already know what I will be doing, so I don‟t
really need to learn this.”
In spite of that wonderful teenaged gift of knowing
everything, it turns out I didn‟t know where I would end up or
what kind of skills or knowledge I‟d need to get there. In fact,
I was totally off-base from the beginning. To illustrate this
point, the English language arts textbook assigned to me as a
high school junior (which I didn‟t really bother to read at the
time) turned out to be the very same textbook I had to teach
from my first few years at MStM. At that moment of
realization and clarity, it occurred to me that had I made the
effort in high school to learn the material when the
opportunity presented itself, then my instruction would have
been that much better. Instead, I spent the two weeks I had
before the school year started (I was hired at MStM in early
August) putting in long days and nights not only reading the
texts but rather learning them well enough to teach them to
juniors in high school.
The students at MStM are pretty amazing in many respects –
they are gifted athletes, talented artists, and promising
academics. One area in which nearly all are lacking is
clairvoyance – that is, the ability to see into the future. Now
this is nothing to be alarmed about; it is not a skill tested on
the Iowa Assessments nor is it tied to any class‟s final exam.
What it does mean, however, is being able to accept the fact
that while our students generally have a pretty good idea what
they want to do beyond high school and/or after college, none
of us can see exactly where our students‟ lives will take them.
Many students have goals for what they want to do and where
they want to be in 5/10/25 years from now. Goals are
definitely important to have in that they can help guide
decision-making for the here and now while looking forward
to what‟s next.
This has another implication: we must prepare students to deal
with some uncomfortable realities – things like ambiguity,
failure, disappointment, and, in the end, resilience. These,
coupled with more academic skills like problem-solving,
critical thinking, and effective communication, should really
be the foundation for a student‟s education. Content-area
knowledge and skills are effective means of presenting
opportunities to learn these other skills and demeanors. Math
homework is seldom about getting the right answer and more
about how to learn and practice problem-solving skills and
process evaluation. Writing several drafts of a paper in
English class is less about correct comma placement and more
about developing reasoning and defending arguments. They
are both opportunities to learn how to fail at something and
relearn it as a means of building capacity for resilience and
withstanding ambiguousness. Sometimes homework is less
about getting it turned in and more about organization and
time management. In turn, perhaps tests shouldn‟t be so much
about memorizing disconnected facts as they should be
practical applications of knowledge. This is not to say the
content-related skills and concepts are any less important; they
simply don‟t have the same weight as those other skills when
it comes to long-term learning and skill sets.
For those of us who have already been through high school
and are now in college, the work force, and even parenthood,
we know things don‟t always turn out the way we had planned
when we were teenagers. The point is we want our students to
begin seeing beyond the here and now in order to adapt to
what is coming next – which seems like a paradox, since we
don‟t always know what is coming next. Getting to that next
step involves planning, goal-setting, hard work, and using
one‟s resources. It also means taking into account how our
decisions today affect our ability to make decisions tomorrow.
This is a team effort, and we are supporting MStM students as
they begin their futures today.
MStM Students Visit DMACC Southridge
In alignment with my column‟s theme for December, a group
of over 40 MStM sophomores and juniors attended a field trip
to DMACC‟s Southridge Career Academy to learn about the
many opportunities available to them as juniors and seniors
next year. Accompanied by Mr. Randy Folkerts, these students
toured the facility, met with program advisers, and even
participated in some hands-on learning with other students
currently in the different programs. The Southridge Career
Academy caters to the students of Warren County schools as
well as other surrounding districts. It is a tremendous
opportunity for students to expand their learning and focus on
an area of interest aligned with their talents and future
12/14 Day 6B 12/15 Day 1A 12/16 Day 2B 12/17 Day 3A 12/18 Day 4B
Cereal or Toast Sausage/Biscuit/Gravy Egg Taco Bagel Breakfast Pizza
Milk & Juice Milk & Juice Milk & Juice Milk & Juice Milk & Juice
Pasta/Red Sauce Mac & Cheese Hot Ham & Cheese Pork Roast Chicken Nuggets
Broccoli Peas Whole Grain Bun Mashed Potatoes/Gravy Baked Beans
Carrots/Pineapple Vegetables Corn/Broccoli Normandy Green Bean Casserole Carrots
Bread Mixed Fruit/Bread Peaches Apple crisp Pears/Bread
Milk Milk Milk Milk Milk
12/21 Day 5A 12/22 Day 6B 12/23 Day 1A 12/24 12/25
Cereal or Toast Egg/Sausage Biscuit Breakfast Pizza
Milk & Juice Milk & Juice Milk & Juice
Cheeseburger w/g Bun Orange Chicken Breaded Pork Pattie
Baked Beans Broccoli Mashed Potatoes/Gravy
French Fries Carrots/Pineapple Carrots
Peaches Rice Applesauce
Milk Milk Milk
12/28 12/29 12/30 12/31 1/1
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To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-
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**** THIS MENU IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE ****
In addition to the breakfast items listed, yogurt, breakfast bars and fresh fruit are offered daily!!
Grades 4-12 have a fruit and vegetable bar available to