Good morning from TheWeek@DMPS. Just two more weeks of classes until the Winter recess. This week we report on Central Academy and Roosevelt becoming the first metro schools to offer the AP Capstone diploma, visit the annual band extravaganza at Lincoln High School, and look at the start of the basketball season. Read on for those stories and more.
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STORIES ABOUT OUR STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS
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Central Academy and Roosevelt High School will join approximately 1,000 schools worldwide to implement AP Capstone, an innovative diploma program that allows students to develop the skills that matter most for college success: research, collaboration, and communication. Central Academy and Roosevelt will be the first two high schools in the metro area to offer this opportunity for students. It is one more example of the significant effort by DMPS over the past few years to expand and improve Advanced Placement course offerings throughout the school district.
For more about AP Capstone please visit our web site.
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Mention recruiting and what comes first to most minds are college sports and the military, not musicians. But Tuesday morning at Lincoln High School an annual event demonstrated that the fine arts too must make their sales pitches to youngsters while they're still weighing their extracurricular options before they reach the high school fork in the road.
Click here to read and see all about the Lincoln Band Extravaganza
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The high school basketball season is underway and two DMPS boys' teams - Hoover and North - have been on several preseason watch lists. We dropped by a recent practice session at North to see how the Polar Bears are getting ready for 2016-17 and met two brothers on the team - Jal and Gatdoar Bijiek - whose parents fled war-torn Sudan to raise a family in the U.S.
Click here to read and see more about the upcoming season
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According to Iowa Wrestling, girls competing in high school wrestling is on the rise. In fact, they report the sport has seen an increase of nearly 29% in female participants since last year. And the school with the most girls on its wrestling team? Lincoln High School (team members Jolynn Harris, Eh Ku Ku, Annatastacia Larpenter, January Paw, Chloe Pearson pictured at right). East and Roosevelt both have female members of their wrestling teams, too. Click here to read more.
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DMPS partners with DART to provide thousands of bus rides to our students each week. Would expanded bus service, increased frequency, or longer hours of operation benefit you or your student
s
? DART is now collecting feedback from the public on three transit plans for the future. Visit the DART web site between now and December 20 to learn more about the proposed plans and complete a brief survey to provide your input and feedback.
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MEASURES OF ACADEMIC PROGRESS TEST RESUMES NEXT WEEK
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DMPS emphasizes growth. We want to know the precise extent of our students' academic gains throughout the school year. To better track growth in the classroom, this year we begin a new and improved way to gauge learning: the Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, which provides a timelier tool for teachers, students and parents. Starting next week students will take the second round of the MAP test. These will be given at various times between December 12 and January 31. Visit our web site for more information.
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PHOTO GALLERIES OF THE WEEK
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Harding Celebrates Cultures
Harding Middle School held an open house Monday night to celebrate their cultural diversity. Regional foods were served in the cafeteria, ELL projects were on display in the library, and dances were performed by the Siklee Team and Los Ninos del Tepeyac Danza Folklorica in the auditorium.
Enjoy photos of the event on our Flickr page
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Student Research Presented at Weeks
More than 700 students in grades 6-8 presented their semester's research on Tuesday night during the 6th annual Science Fair at Weeks Middle School. And thanks to more than 50 volunteer judges who helped out with this exhibit of student brain power.
Check out photos from Weeks' Science Fair on our Flickr page
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December 13
School Board Meeting - Central Campus (6:00 PM)
December 23 - January 2
Winter Holiday Recess - No Classes (offices closed December 26, 27, 30 and January 2)
January 3
Classes Resume - All schools
January 7
Winter Sports
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ICYMI: DMPS IN THE NEWS
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Recent items in the news or online about or of interest to students, teachers and parents at Des Moines Public Schools:
- Congratulations to Roosevelt High School senior Piper Mauck on her selection to the Des Moines Register's All-Iowa elite volleyball team. Her teammate, sophomore Grace Cumming, received All-Iowa honorable mention recognition. Click here for a complete list of all of the high school volleyball players recognized by the paper.
- The Council of the Great City Schools monthly magazine Urban Educators featured DMPS twice in its latest issue: once about student reactions to the election as well as a story on our recent Males of Color conference. Click here for a PDF of the CGCS's magazine.
- Stowe Elementary teacher Amy Moore had an open letter to the President-elect published in the Des Moines Register. She wrote about the importance of public service, whether as a school teacher or President of the United States. Click here to read her article.
- The Iowa Clinic Foundation and its #RiseUpIowa campaign awarded $20,000 to Harding Middle School to support students with more sports and extracurricular activities as well as nutritional support. Click here for a video of Principal Joy Linquist talking about what this grant will mean for Harding, and how she and teachers are working hard to focus on what the kids have as opposed to what they don't.
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TheWeek@DMPS is a recipient of the 2016 Award of Merit
from the National School Public Relations Association.
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It is the policy of the Des Moines Community School District not to illegally discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, creed, age (for employment), marital status (for programs), sexual orientation, gender identity and socioeconomic status (for programs) in its educational programs and its employment practices. There is a grievance procedure for processing complaints of discrimination. If you believe you have (or your child) has been discriminated against or treated unjustly at school, please contact the Equity Coordinator, Isaiah McGee at 2323 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50312 or 515-242-7662 or isaiah.mcgee@dmschools.org.
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