[News] FW: Waukee School Update - July 2007

Sat Jun 30 20:58:56 EDT 2007

  _____  

From: Wayne Cooper [mailto:waynec941 at mchsi.com] 
Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2007 7:58 PM
To: waynec941 at mchsi.com
Subject: Waukee School Update - July 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.  

============================================

July 1, 2007

============================================

I'm sure you will be glad to know this is a short update for the month, not
because of lack of topics, but because I got lazy and just haven't gotten to
all the great activities that continue in our district during the summer
vacation.  

Michael Goodall, junior, and Sam Thompson, sophomore, at WHS were selected
to participate in the 2007/2008 Youth Leadership Initiative class which is
sponsored by the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute.  42 high school
students from 11 different metro Des Moines area high schools will
participate in a year long program which will introduce, develop and nurture
leadership skills and involvement in all levels of community life.
Congratulations gentlemen!

AJ Nowack bowling in Vegas

We attended the Miss Iowa Competition on June 9 in Davenport that had a
significant Waukee flavor again this year.  In the teen division, we were
proud parents as Kim Cooper (holder of the Miss Jordan Creek Outstanding
Teen title) received the  People's Choice Award and was named first runner
up for Iowa's Outstanding Teen.   Madelyn Overton, Li'l Miss Capital City
was also named first runner up in the Li'l Miss competition.  

In the Miss Iowa competition, the winner was Diana Reed, Miss Capital City,
the runner up was Jessica Colwell, Miss Jordan Creek, Michelle Yoshimura, a
Waukee Grad was 4th runner up and Ara May Hubbard, another Waukee grad made
the top 10 along with Jenny Neal, Miss Greater Des Moines.

The weekend seemed like a Waukee reunion as parents, friends and former
Waukee title holders gathered to support this year's competitors.  (Both the
Miss Capitol City and Miss Jordan Creek competitions were held at the Waukee
auditorium last fall.)  Let us know if you daughter may be interested in
competing at any age level this fall!

Honor for Wayne Kischer!

Earlier this spring the Waukee High School Theatre Program and Wayne
Kischer, Auditorium Manager were recognized with an honor sponsored by
Wal-Mart.  Mr. Kischer was chosen as "2006 Educator of the Year" which
recognizes someone in education who is involved in an extracurricular
activity that makes a difference at their school.  The recognition awards
$1000 in continuing support of that activity.  Wayne also received a $100
Wal-Mart Cash card to spend as he wished.  This monetary award allowed the
Drama portion of our program to end up in the black this year as the program
is charged with "breaking even" on our presentations.

In a note from Wayne, he also wanted to particular thank you for your
support of the "Friday Night Live" series.

"To me, it is the heart of our high school drama because it really belongs
to the kids."

"Thanks for all you to support our great kids and programs at Waukee - we
are amazingly blessed - great kids, great parents, great teachers, great
administrators, great board, great community, great facilities.  It sounds
like a broken record, but it really go to show one the power of a positive
work environment where no loses sight of kids' needs."

Just glad to be a Waukeean!

-Wayne Kischer

Have you taken your kids to see Officer Bob yet?  The remote-controlled
talking puppet has been on hand at the Wednesday evening farmers market at
the Waukee triangle, greeting kids as school resource officers, Scott
Cunningham and Rod Schettler assisted behind the scenes.  Stop up on
Wednesday after work for some good food and locally grown products, then
move over to Waukee Elementary for the weekly ice cream social.

And, in another first for Waukee, the "Are Your Smarter than a Fifth Grader"
took the gazebo stage on June 13 where 5 adults were matched with local 5th
graders.  Thanks to Mike Schnoes for the invitation to participate and for
MC'ing the event (even if he did give me all the tough questions!)  If you
weren't present to heckle the adults, we won by two questions over the 5th
graders!  Don't laugh.

Do you know what planet would float if you could put it in water, or how
many odd multiples of 9 are in 100, or the capitol of New Hampshire, or who
became President after Lincoln was shot?  

The Waukee YMCA will continue to offer Parents Night Out events on the 2nd
Friday of each month throughout the summer.  The cost for members is $10 per
child with a maximum cost of $30 per family.  They offer quality care, fun
activities, and a light snack.  To register your child, contact the YMCA
Service Center at 987-9996.  You may have been reading that the YMCA has
outgrown the facility next to the high school.  With over 7000 members, all
involved found it is time to build at a new site with a larger building and
room for future expansion.  The paper reported that the new location is
expected to be just West of the Medicap pharmacy north of Highway 6.

As part of the schools continued partnership with the YMCA, we are looking
at partnering with them on the swimming pool so both the school and the Y
can begin holding meets at Waukee.  This should prove to be a great benefit
for both organizations and to the city where participants and families will
be shopping, eating and staying in hotels.

Thanks to Jesse Hunt, high school math teacher for sharing another great
honor.  For more information, you can contact Jesse at
jhunt at waukee.k12.ia.us.

The Mathematical Association of America holds an annual contest known as the
American Mathematics Competitions at two levels: a level 12 AMC contest for
juniors and seniors, and a level 10 AMC contest for eighth graders,
freshmen, and sophomores. 

Waukee High School recently received a very distinguished award for making a
significant improvement from its performance in the 2006 AMC contest to the
performance on the 2007 AMC contest. The award is known as the Pedagoguery
Award.  One award is given annually to the school in each state/province
with the best difference in team score at either the level 10 or 12 contest.
Chariton High School was the only other school from the state of Iowa to
receive the award, and only ninety-two schools worldwide received the award.
Seventy-five schools and over 5000 students from the state of Iowa competed
in this year's contest.  Over 4000 schools and nearly a quarter of a million
students participated worldwide in the contest in 2007.

Each contest is an individual exam consisting of 25 multiple-choice
questions over material covering a wide variety of topics including algebra,
geometry, probability, and various other genres of mathematics. Last year,
seventeen seniors and twenty juniors participated in the level 12 contest
Forty-three sophomores, twelve freshmen, and two eighth graders participated
in the level 10 contest.  The top five finishers for our school at each
level are listed below.  

Level 10
Level 12

1. Byron Smith                                                        1.
Keenan Nightingale

2. Jordan Jones                                                      2. Sami
Johnson (tie)

3. Elise Hill
Adam Vaught (tie)

4. Sean Laughead                                                  4. Ted
Brewer

5. Ryan Klumpers                                                  5. Colten
Llewellyn

The Iowa School Boards Foundation and Iowa Association of School Boards are
among the primary sponsors of a major national educational symposium later
this summer. On September 14 and 15, 2007, esteemed researchers will convene
in Des Moines to present and discuss their latest research during School
Board Research: Main Lines of Inquiry. News of the symposium is spreading
fast with calls from New Zealand and around the country coming in.  I'm sure
the symposium will result in some "NEWS" that I can share after the event.

Did you know that elementary school supply lists for next year are posted on
the district Web site:  www.waukee.k12.ia.us <http://www.waukee.k12.ia.us/>
?  Our first day of school will be August 22 this fall.

Did you know free school and sports physicals will be available at the Des
Moines University Clinic Medical Education Center, 3200 Grand Ave in Des
Moines on July 28 from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Call 271-1041 or visit
www.dmu.edu <http://www.dmu.edu/>  for more information.

U Got Music?  Jennifer Ghelf, vocal instructor at Walnut Hills encourages
children and families to vist the K8KidTunes Web site: www.musick8kids.com
<http://www.musick8kids.com/> .  It features family-friendly songs on a wide
variety of topics.

Congratulations to everyone who participated or contributed to the Relay for
Life event held on June 8-9.  Waukee Alum Cory Wierson was this year's
honorary survivor and over $58,000 was raised! It is becoming another great
opportunity for our entire community to pull together for a great cause!
Special thanks to Kelly Robinson and Sandy Swallow, this year's co-chairmen.

Want a nice family outing some evening?  Check the schedule for our home
softball and baseball games.  We slipped to watch part of the joint double
headers against Marshalltown on the 21st.  What a great complex and fun
games to watch, especially as we won both games!

At our June 12 Board Meeting, Assistant Superintendent Brad Buck, Director
of Teaching and Learning, Cindi McDonald and parent Julie Berns presented
information on the district student achievement goals for the 2006-2007
school year. They also shared the data on how we did in meeting the national
"No Child Left Behind" goals along with next years goals as developed by our
School Improvement Advisory Committee.  As expected, our students did very
well again this year.  The specific goals were for 4th grade reading, 8th
grade science and 11th grade math, all having an increase in the percentage
of students' proficient or above.  For 4th grade reading we missed our goal
by .5%, but that grade also showed a large increase in those reading above
the proficient level, so progress was made.  We just made our goal for 8th
grade science, and did well in 11th grade math, both in reducing the percent
who are not proficient and increasing the percentage who are above
proficient.  A full report with detailed information will be ready for our
review next fall.

 The annual Waukee all school alumni dinner was held on June 9.  This annual
event is a great time for alumni of all ages to catch up with each other and
what's happening in the district.  Did you know that Hal Manders who
graduated 70 years ago is the only Waukee grad who became a Major League
pitcher (for the New York Yankees). Manders grew up on the family farm where
the high school now sits.

An article I recently read asked educators:  "Is teaching  an art or a
science?"  It would be interesting to see if our staff shares the responses
that were quoted in the article.

"The best teachers are artists who know the science of teaching."

"Of course the answer is both, but more art than science.  A teacher can
know all the best theories and methods, but applying them by relating to
different personalities, keeping students engaged, building relationships,
and balancing curriculum is definitely an art."

"For me, teaching is both.  You must be able to think like an artist to get
the students truly engaged in what's being taught and have the skills of a
scientist to analyze observations and assessment data to make sure learning
is taking root."  

Want to check your knowledge of historical figures?  What did each of the
following contribute to education that is still a key today?  Anne Sullivan,
Socrates, Horace Mann, Theodore Geisel and Maria Montessori.

Waukee Area Arts Council presents Metro Arts Jazz in July!

Join us July 12, 2007, on the Triangle for the free concert and fun
activities-

6:00 PM - Brownian Motion

7:30 PM - Wayne Page Quartet

Food and drink stand, children's art activities and much more! Bring your
lawn chair.

Volunteers needed to help with children's art activities, set up and clean
up. To volunteer or for more information, call 515-402-7870.

Thanks to Ryan Companies US, Inc and Doug Dieck for supporting the Brookview
Elementary "Four to the Core" character initiative.

Without the great support of our community, we wouldn't be able to provide
important initiatives like this in each of our buildings.  If you or your
business are interesting in partnering with our schools this fall, contact
the building principal or our district office. Some of our greatest
successes come from one person with the ability to make a dream come true!

Thanks to the athletic boosters  for their generous contributions to coat
the floor of the new concession stand at the stadium and for purchasing a
new "basketball gun" for use in practices and camps.  

Special thanks to Jeff Menz who chaired this years Foundation golf
tournament that raised over $12,000 this month, and all who played or
contributed to this great fundraiser.  Thanks to the Waukee School
Foundation for their continuous support since being formed n 2004.  Here is
a summary of some of their donations over this time:

Summary of items purchased:

1

Math Calculators, Baby Simulators, Softball Complex, Bag Pipe Band

2

Microscopes, LabPro devices, HS A Cappella Choir trip, Percussion Equipment

3

Defibrillators, Multi-torso human model, DLP projector & Plexor converter,
band equipment

4

Defibrilators, HS Science Instructional DVD's, Electric upright base, Swings
at Waukee Elementary, art supplies, sound system for Waukee stadium

5

Defibrilators, Camera System for HS auditorium, funding for English as
Second Language, HS Science Equipment

6

Every Day Math partial funding for teacher training

7

HS Math projectors, seed fund for Art Club, Positive Behavior Program, Pro
Start Program for Consumer Science Dept.

8

Kitchen equipment for ProStart, AED, Drama Troupe, Digital cameras for HS

Are you interested in serving on the School  Board?  Election is set for
September 11 and nominations papers are due August 2.

We have two positions open this year. Those are currently held by me and
Larry Lyon.   We will both be running for re-election, but welcome others
who have a passion for helping set the operating policies for the district
and who want to promote public education in our communities. The board is an
unpaid elected position that takes a fair amount of time commitment, but
with a reward of knowing you can help guide our successful and growing
district.  Let me know if I can answer any questions.

Did you stop at the big art festival downtown this weekend?  If so, I hope
to stopped at the tent featuring art from our local schools.  We had several
pieces of work from our elementary and middle school students on display.  I
think we have some professional artists in our future!  Also, on Saturday
afternoon, our daughter Kim and the rest of the cast from the Des Moines
Play House "High School Musical" performed on stage.  It will be a great
show to take your upper elementary and middle school kids, but it sounds
like tickets are going fast, so get them soon.

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 

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