[News] October Waukee School Update

Sun Sep 30 13:04:21 EDT 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.  

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

October 1, 2007

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

Welcome to our exchange students who joined us this fall:  Giorgia
Castelletti from Italy, Charlotte Duriez from France, Filip Maksimovic from
Montenegro and Arisa Mase from Japan.  

The September 29 Color Guard Kid's Camp was another huge success!  Thanks to
the Regiment Color Guard, instructors and adult volunteers who made this
annual event a fun day for hundreds of our elementary students.

Did you know that Superintendent Dave Wilkerson has been appointed to serve
on a newly formed Regional Strategic Workforce Sector Board in the area of
Financial Services sponsored by the Greater Des Moines Partnership, DMACC,
Iowa Employment Solutions and Iowa Workforce Development.  The group is also
forming Sector Boards in the areas of Construction, Information Technology
and Advanced Manufacturing.  The purpose of the boards is through career
pathways, aligning individual and regional economic development goals with
student preparation in these four sectors - all have been identified as
worker shortage areas for the metro in the not-too-distant future.  I'm
proud that Dr. Wilkerson and others from our district are leaders in
improving the education across our State and Nation.

Just a few tidbits about the Waukee Girls Varsity Volleyball team.  They won
their season opener at home against DM East on August 30th.  This past
Saturday, the same Varsity team participated in the West Des Moines Valley
Volleyball tournament all day.  The Warriors came in 2nd behind Ankeny, AND
WE BEAT VALLEY!!!  It is huge for the volleyball team to start the season
with these great wins.  Just thought I'd share the information.  Sandy Raike

Jenny Brown, a Waukee Middle School 6th grader, spent the summer competing
in various triathlons. She placed 13th in the Hy-Vee triathlon ( after a
collision on her bike, she had been first out of the water and was ranked
second in the run). She went on to win the Stevenson's triathlon in
Bettendorf, the Ankeny Y triathlon, the Ames Youth triathlon, and the Lost
Island triathlon in Waterloo. These led up to the McDonald's youth triathlon
in Chicago the weekend of August 25 where she placed third out of 98 girls
in her age group. The triathlon being changed to a duathlon because of high
bacteria levels in Lake Michigan. Instead of swim, bike run it was changed
to run, bike, run. Jenny also place second in the Sara Lee Iron kids
triathlon yesterday, September 2, in Lawrence, Kansas. Jenny competes in the
11-12 age group. The swimming is usually 200 yards, with a five or six mile
bike ride and a 1.24 mile run.

Her brother, Tim, a 5th grader at Eason, has also competed in the triathlons
in the 10 and under division with his highest place being a third place
finish in the Ankeny triathlon. He placed 66th out of 126 kids in the
Chicago triathlon and 8th in the Sara Lee triathlon. The distances for him
are usually 100 yard swim, 2.5 mile bike and a .5 mile run.  

Congratulations to WSH Seniors selected to participate in the 2007 National
Council on Youth Leadership held at Drake University Sept. 16 and 17.
Brittany Angell, Jessica Baueister, Eric Bean, Kim Cooper, Amaura Cope,
Lauren Frawley, Jeff Getting, Staci Gillum, Kathryn Harrington, Jon
Housholder, Slade Kemmet, Megan Storjohann, Jessica Strandemo and Krista
Tippin.  Pictures will be on display at various malls this fall.

Did you know that Eason Elementary received a check for $486.65 on behalf of
Target's "Take Charge of Elementary" program?  Thanks to all families who
designated Eason as their recipient.  Visit Target.com/tcoe or call
1-800-316-6142 to sign up for the free program. Eason also won $500 from
Valley West Mall in their "Class Cash" program.  The Hy-Vee "Smiles for
Education" program is another opportunity to win funds for your favorite
building.    Thanks to all of our retailers who find unique ways to help our
schools!

Allison Fayard, Senior, has been recognized by the College Board's National
Hispanic Recognition Program.  The National Hispanic Recognition Program is
a College Board program that provides national recognition of the
exceptional academic achievements of Hispanic high school seniors and
identifies them for post-secondary institutions.  Congratulations Allison!

Anyone interested in swimming on the Waukee YMCA Rays Swim Team, please
contact Coach (Dan) Briggs or the Waukee YMCA ASAP. Sign up is limited and
many spots have already been filled. (dbriggs at waukee.k12.ia.us or by phone
x-2562.)

Meggan Bebout, art teacher at Maple Grove is encouraging parents to provide
art supplies to kids at home and encouraging them to do an art project when
"stuck" in the house and displaying it proudly on the refrigerator or other
prominent space.  Taking time for the arts is proven to help students
academically.

Congratulations to all our sports teams for an outstanding start to the
school year.  The boys and girls cross country teams, swim team, volleyball
team and football team are all having excellent seasons and providing great
spectator events.  If you haven't heard, the football team is undefeated
going into our game this Friday with undefeated Valley.  Let's help pack the
stadium Friday night!

This year the 7th grade musical will be Cinderella KIDS. The performance of
the junior version of the Disney classic will take place in the Waukee
Auditorium at 7:00 pm on Thursday, October 18th and Friday, October 19th.
Students are busy rehearsing and working on the sets and costumes for the
production. This is a great chance to introduce little ones to the theater.
We do ask those attending the Friday night show to park on the YMCA side of
the high school because there is a home football game. Tickets will be sold
at the door. Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!  Sarah E. Schaefer    The musicals are
always great, and will be a good chance for you to take your elementary
students to a special night out.  See you there!

Mark your calendars to save the date.  You will want to participate in the
first ever Prairieview Buyers Bazaar to be held on Saturday October 20, 2007
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Prairieview School in Waukee, Iowa.  Artists,
crafters and vendors from three states will be at Prairieview to help you
get started on your holiday shopping with candles, jewelry, kitchen
products, purses, Warrior Ware, baby gifts and furniture, hand carved wood
bowls, baskets, ceramics, holiday items and so much more to choose from.
Admission is free and the first ten shoppers through the door will receive a
prize.  More door prizes will be given away throughout the day. Concessions
will be available with the help of the Art Club and the Drama Club.  In
addition, you could win a video iPod with a $250.00 iTunes card as first
prize or an iPod mini as second prize just by purchasing your raffle tickets
today.  One ticket is $5.00 or five tickets for $20.00 and they are
available at Prairieview School and at the bazaar on October 20th, or by
calling 987-0676.  Proceeds will help Prairieview and the Waukee District
PTO support programs that will benefit students and staff.  Keep looking for
more information about this fabulous event.

At our Sept 25th board meeting Dr. Ross and Dr. Buck presented an overview
of the Districts "Adequate Yearly Progress" report required by federal
legislation.  The report details 4th, 8th and 11th grade scores in Reading
and Math and 5th , 8th and 11th grade scores in Science.  The data shows
Waukee students are doing very well, ahead of federal and state goals.   In
almost every category we have over 90% of our students at the proficient or
above proficient level.  In addition to the federal reports that compare
last year's 4th graders to this year's 4th graders (etc), we also track the
progress of each class as they move from grade to grade and find again that
the longer students are in Waukee the better they are doing academically.
The important factor is that with the variety of tests we use at Waukee,
teachers can pinpoint specific students who are having difficulty with a
specific subject and can quickly work as a team to develop strategies to
help that student catch up.  

With our continuing rapid growth in students and our continuous increase in
new teachers, a key to meeting the needs of our students is having
consistent, relevant professional development for our teachers.  At our
first board meeting this month, we received a report on how Waukee allocates
our professional development budget and how that helps us bring new teachers
up to speed on the wide variety of expectations.  All professional
development ties directly into improving student achievement, and
understanding test data and using it to manipulate lesson plans to help
individual student needs, is one key component.  Thanks to all of our
teachers and administrators for their dedication and time to make this a
priority, and thanks to our parents for understanding the importance of
professional development!

You may continue to see articles in the media about needing more "rigor" in
school curriculum.  For years Waukee has been proactive in developing K-12
aligned curriculum to ensure our students are ready for the next grade.
Last month, Waukee invited a team of curriculum "experts" into the district
to review our progress and provide idea for how we can do a better job.
This was not a process to be told we are great.  We asked for and expect to
receive some very honest and challenging feedback in the report coming back
in the next couple of months.  

On behalf of Larry Lyon and myself, thanks to those who turned out to vote
in the school board election last month and allowing us to serve you for
another term on the board. It is an honor and responsibility that we don't
take lightly.  Board meetings are the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of most months at
the Administration Building.

Trivia:  Are you smarter than a 5th grader? Test your spouse and children at
dinner tonight.

1.	Did you know pencils didn't have erasers until a hundred years ago
because teachers felt they would encourage students to make mistakes?
2.	A good sized tree can make 300,000 pencils?
3.	Pencils don't have lead, they actually have graphite.
4.	The No. 2 pencil is called that because it's the 2nd darkest of the
four major grads of pencils?
5.	Pencils are yellow because in the 1800's, China provided the best
grade of graphite and manufacturers wanted to use yellow because yellow
designated royalty and respect in China.
6.	A typical pencil can draw a line 35 miles long.
7.	Pencils can write upside down and underwater.

A few featured events in October:

Oct. 5  football vs Valley at stadium

Oct. 13: State marching band competition and Warrior Regiment invitational
that evening.  Volunteer are still needed!

Oct, 13:  Brookview Family Carnival  (2:00 - 4:00)

Oct. 15:  Eason PTO meeting  (7:00 media ctr)

Oct 26:  No school.  Show Choir Kiddie Camp.

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 

Check out the District Web site at www.waukee.k12.ia.us
<http://www.waukee.k12.ia.us/>  for calendars, school lists, power school
(your children's grades), contact info, newsletters and much more.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://waukeebands.org/pipermail/news_waukeebands.org/attachments/20070930/a1e320ca/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 3428 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://waukeebands.org/pipermail/news_waukeebands.org/attachments/20070930/a1e320ca/attachment-0001.gif 