[News] January Waukee School Update

Mon Jan 1 13:55:14 EST 2007

For those receiving this for the first time, welcome to my monthly update of
happenings in the Waukee School District.  Please feel free to share with
others who may be interested or let me know if you would like to be taken
off the mailing list.  Others can get on the list by sending me an e-mail.  

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January 1, 2007

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www.waukee.k12.ia.us <http://www.waukee.k12.ia.us/> 

Hope all of you had a great Christmas and a restful and safe New Year’s Eve.

With December full of holiday concerts and parties at each of the buildings,
winter sports activities and just a busy month with personal activities, I
know that this update will not touch on many great activities by our
students, so forgive me if I don’t mention an important event in your
student’s month.

Wishing you all a great New Year!

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Farewell to Deb Snider, Walnut Hills Principal!

Mrs, Snyder has announced her retirement at the end of the school year after
serving our district since 1994.  She served at Eason elementary for 11
years before opening Walnut Hills in 2005.  Mrs, Snyder has been a leader in
our district and for education in our State, setting a culture in each
building she served where parents and community became an integral partner
in the education of our students.  Please take the time to thank Mrs. Snider
for the outstanding leadership she has provided to our district.

New leadership opportunity now available to WHS and PV students:

The Waukee High School and Prairieview chapter of Family, Career and
Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) participated in a weekend leadership
conference held November 17-19, in St. Louis, Missouri.  Attendees
participated in a weekend of trainings and sessions that challenged,
informed, and motivated members and their advisers to become leaders through
FCCLA.  Along with more than 4,700 other members and chapter advisers,
Waukee's FCCLA chapter advisers, Lisa Carlberg and Lisa Stange, accompanied
members Josh Beyers, Cami Conlon, Laura Dickerson, & Winnie Lejukole to the
meeting.

The "LOL” (Live Out Loud) theme was reinforced in the Opening General
Session by guest speaker Matt Glowacki who addressed how to tackle ignorance
and accept diversity. Saturday's agenda included training in FCCLA's peer
education programs such as Community Service and STOP the Violence-Students
Taking On Prevention. The March of Dimes, KP Education Systems, i-Safe
America, and Disney 

also presented collaborative project ideas. Keynote speaker Justin Boudreau
closed out the meeting by inspiring attendees with his motivational message,
"Be YOUnique," and encouraging attendees to make the most of their powerful
leadership potential.

FCCLA: The Ultimate Leadership Experience is a dynamic and effective
national student organization that helps young men and women become leaders
and address important personal, family, work, and societal issues through
Family and Consumer Sciences Education. FCCLA has more than 220,000 members
and nearly 7,000 chapters from 50 state associations and the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The organization has involved
more than ten million youth since its founding in 1945.

Connie and David Gaffney sent the following details on Waukee students
selected to perform in the Iowa All-State Band:

 Jennifer Gaffney, flute

Jennifer Slaughter-first alternate on flute

Carli Conner-first alternate on saxophone

Alex Gustafson-bassoon

Elizabeth Lohstreter-first alternate on clarinet

23 choir members were also selected with 1 alternate-too many names to
mention-check with Mr. Beeken.

On Saturday, October 21 there were 5,498 high school students representing
323 high schools in the state auditioning for places in the band, choir and
orchestra. From the total number auditioning, 602 were selected for the
chorus, 282 for the band, and 203 for the orchestra.  These musicians
represent 184 high schools in our state. Only 17% of those that audition
actually achieve this honor.  This is a huge event and truly an honor to be
selected!  Jennifer Gaffney on flute, and Alex Gustafson on bassoon
represented Waukee in the All-State Band on Nov. 18 in the Hilton Coliseum
in Ames. 

Countless hours of practice and preparation by our students and teachers
goes into an event of this magnitude and ALL students involved need to be
recognized.  

Thanks to Marie Rainforth for sharing the following:

I wanted to let you know that the WHS Dance team has had some successes to
note...in September Liping Vong, Megan Reisburg and Lexi Rainforth tried out
for the All Iowa Dance Team.  Liping and Megan made the Kick Squad and Lexi
made the Pom Squad.  They will be performing at the Girls State Basketball
tournament Championship games in March. 

Thanks to Elizabeth Martin with the Waukee Today for preparing the front
page story of over 350 Waukee students who raised over $3200 for UNICEF
going door-to-door asking for coins instead of candy.  Students from all 4
elementary buildings plus the middle school participated.  Special thanks to
10 year old Talia Leman for her efforts to make this effort a success.  Did
you know that every dollar raised is enough to feed a family of 4 for a day?

Thanks to Pam Gehrls for sharing that the Waukee Varsity Dance Team competed
at State on Friday December 1.  Congratulations to the Waukee Dance Team for
their 4th Place finish in their Jazz routine out of 12 teams and for
receiving a Division I Rating in Pom. Congratulations Dance Team.

On Saturday November 4 some of our Dance Team members competed as soloists.
Sarah Buehler, Lindsay Thielen, Stephanie Gehrls, Madi Williams, Jessica
Strandemo, and Liping Vong all received a Division I Rating.  There were 40
Division I rating out of 86 dancers.  Liping Vong got 3rd Place overall.
Congratulations to all the dancers for a job well done.

Did you know that Jim Duea, our Activities Director is the Chair of the Iowa
Girls High School Athletic Union and Iowa High School Athletic Association
joint Track and Field Advisory Committee?  Another example of the
outstanding leadership provided by Waukee to our State. 

Did you know that our ESL teachers have been selected to present at the 2007
Iowa Culture and Language Conference?  The leadership provided by our
district just doesn’t stop!

Have you heard about the Institute for Tomorrow’s Workforce?  The ITW has
been working hard to redesign Iowa’s educational delivery system and craft a
pay-for-performance plan to be tested in pilot districts beginning next
year.  I think we will hear much more on this initiative over the next year.
Find draft recommendations and provide feedback at their Web site:
<http://www.tomorrowsworkforce.org/> www.tomorrowsworkforce.org.

One of the 2007 priorities set by delegates at the Iowa School Board
convention was funding for increased professional development days for our
teachers.  Why Professional Development?

1.	Research proves that when done well, professional development
improves student learning.
2.	Teachers who have experienced quality professional development know
its value in supporting their work.
3.	Teachers and administrators need to invest in human capital –
updating skills and working together toward a common goal.
4.	Simply paying teachers well, although necessary, is not sufficient
to improve the quality of instruction.
5.	Heightened pressures – whether a moral imperative to educate all
children, a federal mandate to leave no child behind, or state mandated
graduation requirements, require supported teacher learning.

I believe that our parents and community understands the impact that our
professional development has played at Waukee and support additional
emphases.  What gets lost is that professional development takes place
outside the required hours for student classroom time. 

The 8th annual Feast and Frolic, madrigal dinner was another huge success.
At each of the two sold out dinners, the high school A Cappella and
Intermezzo choirs transformed the Prairieview Cafeteria into an English
medieval banquet hall, filled with great food, comedy and the King and
Queens court.  New this year was a visiting court from Spain and the
selection of a new queen for the visiting king.  As always, members of the
audience paid the penalty for various errors by being put in stocks or the
guillotine.  Thanks to all the students and directors Ryan Beeken and Amy
Hall for another outstanding evening.

Did you know that students in each of our buildings continued their year
long efforts to help others in many more ways?  Brookview students collected
food for the food bank, Eason collected items for the Animal Rescue League,
Walnut Hills collected items for local families, Waukee Elementary were
“secret Santa’s of the downtown skywalks.  The Middle School helped out Toys
for Tots, Prairieview held a dance for Character Counts, and high school
students participated in a blood drive.

The Waukee Arts Council continues activities this week:

Students on Stage (SOS) is presented the first Thursday of each month. The
rest of the year¹s lineup includes the Warrior String Quartet in January,
Waukee Middle School Drama Club in February, WMS Creative Writers in March,
TBA in April and the WMS YMCA Choir in May.  Join us at the Chit-n-Chat
Coffee House on Highway 6 in Waukee on Thursday. Doors open at 6:30 and the
performance starts at 7:00 PM. Beverages and snacks are available for
purchase. Thanks to Chit-n-Chat for hosting this event.

Our first family art workshops will be from 6:00 8:00 PM at the Caspe
Terrace. Sunday, January 14: The second in our family workshops, Garden
Stepping Stones, will be from 1:30-3:30 PM. Waukee art teachers/artists,
Shelly Carlson and Sarah Michaelsen, will lead you and your children in
making one-of-a-kind decorated concrete stepping stones.

Sundays, January 21 and 28:  Shelly and Sarah are back again with a two
session workshop where you will marble paper and then learn simple
calligraphy techniques to make a decorative sign with a favorite maxim or
saying. Adults and children fifth grade and up can participate.

Thanks to our high school drama students for another fun filled evening of
one-act plays.  It’s always fun to watch our students perform these unique
plays before a packed house.  

And, thanks to all of our elementary students and instructors for great
holiday concerts for each of our buildings.  It’s fun to watch the talent,
stage presence and self confidence of our students grow as they move through
their school years!

Thanks to all of our parents, students and staff who helped Waukee host the
annual SCIBA jazz band competition in December.  A record number of bands
participated in the high school auditorium, gym and media center. What a day
of great music.  Congratulations to the two Waukee Jazz bands for great
award winning performances!

 I received an e-mail last month that talked about all the options being
discussed around the topic of school improvement.  I thought I’d share this
portion with you. 

What really works in school improvement? There is certainly a wide-ranging
conversation around school improvement, from changing schedules, expanding
the school year, organizing students into single-gender classrooms, making
sure they know how to behave well, ensuring small class sizes at all levels,
and other ideas. While many of these issues are worthy of discussion,
Harvard University Professor Richard Elmore reminds us to stay focused on
“the core”:

“You don't change performance without changing the instructional core. The
relationship of the teacher and the student in the presence of content must
be at the center of efforts to improve performance.”

Teachers should come to schools well prepared to be teachers, and school
districts must invest in the continuous building of instructional skills
through a quality, collaborative professional development program.  As you
want your physician to continue his or her education to provide you with
up-to-date treatments, so you want the educators in your district to have an
expanding instructional toolkit. This improvement of instruction is at the
core of your leadership responsibilities. Are you focused as a district in
providing effective teaching that can improve student learning?  I believe
Waukee continues to have professional teacher development that’s a key to
our success as a district.

News from the Waukee Family YMCA

Academic Preschool Now Taking Registrations

The Waukee Family YMCA Academic Preschool will begin taking registration
forms from current participants beginning January 8th for the 2007/2008
school year. We will open the registration to the community on February 1st.
You may pick up a registration form at the Front Desk or contact Joelle
Kleihauer-Fincher at 987-3633, ext 230 or via email at
joelle.kleihauer at dmymca.org.

Are you in need of an evening away from the kids?
Bring them to Parents Night Out at the Waukee Family YMCA. We will provide
quality care for children ages six weeks to nine years. Parents Night Out
will be held from 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. on Friday, January 12th and Friday,
February 9th. The cost for members is $10/child with a maximum cost of
$30/family. For program members, the cost is $15/child with a maximum cost
of $45/family.

Foundation Dinner & Auction Coming next month!
The annual Foundation  Auction and Dinner has been moved from November to
February 3, 2007. It will be held at the Seven Flags Events Center and will
have a "Western Waukee" theme. Save the date and gather your friends for a
great evening!

Have some news I can share?  Just send me a note and I’ll be glad to share
it next month.

Wayne Cooper

Waukee School Board

 <mailto:WayneC941 at mchsi.com> WayneC941 at mchsi.com 

Our significant purpose:

*	Create a caring culture where students feel safe and nurtured. 
*	Provide students the skills to be literate and productive citizens
in a democratic society. 
*	Build a foundation for the pursuit of continuous life-ling learning.

Values we are committed to:

*	Integrity, Responsibility, Perseverance, Respect, Trust, Honesty,
Tolerance, Optimism, Loyalty 

We want to be:

*	A caring school community where adults model the district’s values
and build a solid partnership with teachers, students and parents. 

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