We Still Have a Lot of Work to Do This Year!

Once we return from spring break, it seems as though the remaining weeks of the academic calendar quickly begin to evaporate. My message to the faculty and staff when they return from the break is to maintain their focus, keep their eye on the ball, and a foot on the gas all the way to the finish line. Admittedly though, it does get a bit tougher as the weather starts to warm up (any day now please), and the sun shines a bit longer in the evening. Even so, it is important to remind everyone that we still have a sizable amount of instruction left and a lot of learning to do. I don't think we realized how important that last quarter of the school year really was until March of 2020 when we didn't have it!

So then, this next week our testing window for ISASP opens and we will begin the statewide assessment. This is high stakes testing at its finest. Love it or hate it (let's be honest, no one loves it), the results of these tests make up a significant portion of our school ranking on the Iowa Performance Profile. And just so there's no confusion, our students knocked it out of the park last spring with both attendance centers ranking as Exceptional (K-6) and High Performing (7-12). My request for everyone is to make certain our students get plenty of sleep the night before the tests and a good breakfast that morning! Students, make sure you do your best!

Unfortunately the data collection doesn't end there. You should have recently received an invitation to complete the Conditions for Learning Survey. While our students will be completing this survey during the ISASP window, we also encourage our families to complete the survey as well. Building administrators sent the link out to this survey last week. I encourage you to check your inboxes and complete the survey; it provides us with valuable information to use in our improvement efforts. While I am hopeful that we don't end up creating survey fatigue, we have one more survey request in the hopper that I'll ask for your input. Next week you should see a survey come out regarding the high school renovation project. We are taking initial steps to determine if a referendum is in order and you input will help us navigate our path forward. We are requesting all residents complete this survey. 

There is no doubt about it: we are starting to run out of track when it comes to the 2021-2022 school year. But as you can see, much work remains. Concerts, track meets, awards assemblies: you name it, the calendar is becoming compressed as we march toward May 24! 

Keep working hard and enjoy this time of the school year. It will be gone before you know it!