Weekly Update: February 25, 2022
Dear Grinnell-Newburg Board of Education, Staff, Families, and Friends:
This has been a short week for our students as we culminate the end of the second trimester. I want to thank our families for your patience as we monitor the weather. Let’s hope spring is around the corner. We will make a determination in the next few weeks, pending weather, if we need to extend the school year for students. I am working through some scenarios for when staff will make up the snow day. I will keep you posted. The Board will amend the calendar at their business meeting in March as needed.
Board Meeting Update:
This past week the Board of Education held a meeting and participated in a training session with our Legal Counsel on roles and responsibilities, as well as reminders about the duties of the Board. This session is always helpful as new board members come together to serve our community in their capacity. Thank you to all of our board members for your service and continued efforts in learning more about serving your community.
The Board also discussed State Funding and penned a letter to our Governor and Legislators about the lack of funding to support our students, staff, and programs. There is also a call to action to not implement the Voucher plan that would take away public dollars for a private purpose. Take a look at their letter attached here: Letter from School Board on State Funding
Above & Beyond:
We want to thank Kim Sieck for nominating the High School kitchen crew for the above and beyond recognition. Kim writes: The kitchen staff at the high school (Chantel Eisen, Megan Mitchell, Jean Pebbles, Mary Dudley) has been going above and beyond the call of duty all year! Every kitchen staff member in our district has been going above and beyond since the pandemic hit, as most of us have worked non-stop since March 2020 serving meals at the HS to finish out that school year, serving over the summer, adjusting to how we needed to serve meals last school year and then summer meals again. But, the ladies at the high school have always stepped up to every challenge thrown their way!! I know it was not easy for them last year when I was splitting my time between the HS and MS to cover a staffing shortage nor was it easy to know how much food to prepare any given day due to the hybrid model used at the high school for the first 2/3rds of the school year. They powered through that and they are powering through the staff shortages in our kitchen again this year as well as the issues with the supply chain. I am proud to work alongside each of these ladies to continue to do the best we can to serve the students of the high school and our community!
Way to Go Team! This crew was recognized at a board meeting just before break!
Legislative Coffee News Release
We have made it through Funnel Week! The second of three Legislative Coffees will be on Saturday, March 5th from 9 to 10 AM via Zoom. The event will be moderated by Marta Miller, who will be conveying questions supplied by the audience. The last Coffee will be on April 2nd.
Representative Dave Maxwell (House District 76) will make a brief remark and then answer questions on the legislation being debated. Senator Dawn Driscoll (Senate District 38) has declined the League’s invitation to participate in these Coffees.
Please register in advance for the coffee using this link (also available at the Grinnell League of Women Voters Facebook page): https://us02web.zoom.us/
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. If you registered for the first Coffee, you are already registered for this Coffee, and your Zoom link will work for this Coffee.
We encourage you to submit questions in advance to GrinnellLWV@gmail.com. The deadline for submitting questions via email is 5 PM on the Thursday before this event so that the moderator has time to organize the questions. Questions will not be shared with anyone before the Coffee. Attendees will also be able to post questions in the Zoom chat while the event is underway, but priority will be given to questions submitted in advance.
Legislative coffees are sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Grinnell Chamber of Commerce to provide residents the opportunity to learn about current legislative proposals as well as to ask questions and raise concerns.
The event will be recorded. The recording belongs to the LWV, and we respectfully ask that others not record the event.
Mental Health Seminar for Families:
The Grinnell-Newburg School District, in collaboration with the Grinnell Area Mental Health Consortium, is hosting a community resource fair followed by a Mental Health Advocate Speaker, Lyndsey Fennelly. The speaking series will begin on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, in the High School Auditorium. Meals and childcare will be provided. More information will be forthcoming in the coming weeks. Please watch for the informational flyer that will be distributed next week.
Congratulations to our Speech Team!
The Grinnell Newburg Group Mime Team was awarded the “Critics Choice Award” at the 2022 IHSSA All-State Speech contest. This is the first time that Grinnell has received this honor. Congratulations to all students and coaches, Hosbond and Flinspach.
Calling all volunteers to help out at the IE Speech State Contest: This will be a fairly small group. We are still looking for a few more volunteers. Please see the link below to sign up for this amazing opportunity.
Volunteer Form for IE Speech State contest held at GHS March 12:
GMS sixth-graders travel to Museum of Natural History:
On Wednesday, our 6th-grade students were fortunate to travel to Iowa City for a field trip. As part of the day, students toured the Museum of Natural History to learn about the native people, ecology, and geology of Iowa. They also had the privilege of touring the Old Capitol building and visiting the rotating exhibit about Anne Frank. It was a great day for all!
Math Counts News:
GMS has two students that will move on to the state MathCounts competition on March 25th, Zachary Eastwood and Jason DeRidder. There were 140 participants, and these students scored in the top 30. The state competition will determine the students from Iowa that move on to the national competition held this summer. Congratulations Zachary and Jason!
Be sure to check out the Virtual Backpack as new items are posted often.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Janet
