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District Newsletter
Spring 2017
Darwin Lehmann
Superintendent
641-585-2323
dlehmann@forestcity.k12.ia.us
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Forest City Community School District
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Superintendent's One Minute Message
Class of 2017 Graduation
Celebrate Teachers!
FCCSD Recognizes School Board Members
Elementary Teachers Lead the Way on STEM
Hanson Family Fine Arts Center Construction Underway
Top of Iowa Art & Writing Festival
Online Registration Coming Soon
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We extend our heartfelt condolences to the Schleuger and Trunkhill families. Our thoughts and support continue to be with you.
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Announcements:
- The last day of school is set for Thursday, June 1. School lunch will not be served. Dismissal times: Elementary 11:30 a.m. and Middle School/High School 11:40 a.m.
- There is also an early dismissal on Friday, May 26. Lunch will be served. Dismissal times: Elementary Noon and Middle School/High School 12:10 p.m.
- Food That's In When School is Out program (free breakfast and lunch for children age 3-18) is available again this summer, June 5-August 4.
- Contact the Elementary or Middle School for information on Summer learning opportunities.
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Superintendent Lehmann's One Minute Message
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As an educator and parent, I have a lot of thoughts that go through my mind on any given day around keeping our kids safe, but one topic that has been on my mind lately is digital citizenship. Specifically, how as we as parents and educators can keep kids safe in this increasingly online world.
You've seen the headlines nationally and locally around cyberbullying, inappropriate content, sexting, privacy, online gaming, technology addictions among many many others. We, unfortunately, are not immune to this with our kids and in our district. With everything going on around us, and frankly the overwhelming amount of apps and online dangers that have popped up since we were youth, it's natural not to be as informed as we probably should be or would like to be.
So what can we do about this? As a district, we talk about digital citizenship in the schools frequently. And, we will be doing more in the coming years I'm sure.
For parents, we've been sharing tips in each of the e-newsletters around these important topics. Please take a few seconds to read them.
Two great resources that I will leave you with:
These offer some practical suggestions, reviews of various apps, tips and more.
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Congratulations 2017 Graduates
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Baccalaureate
Sunday, May 14
3 p.m.
First Baptist Church
Senior Awards Night
Forest City Education Foundation
Wednesday, May 17
6 p.m.
High School Gym
Graduation
Sunday, May 21
2 p.m.
High School Gym
Doors open at 1 p.m.
Graduates arrive by 1:30 p.m.
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Teachers give us so much. A boost of confidence when we really need one. Extra help when we’re having trouble. A welcoming presence when everything else seems out of control. And though we know we can’t ever thank them enough, we can take a moment during National Teacher Appreciation Week to share our appreciation for the special educators in our lives.
We would like to extend a thank you to MBT Bank for providing lunch to our teachers during this appreciation week.
MBT Bank Marketing Officer Ryan Arndorfer said, "All of us at MBT Bank are so grateful to the staff of the Forest City school system! We’re proud of the incredible work they do shaping the minds and future of the youth in our community. Bringing in lunch is our way of saying thank you, and letting the teachers and support staff know how much we appreciate everything they do for our community.”
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National Opportunity
Join NEA and the National PTA in saying “Thank You” by sharing one of the following on social media during Teacher Appreciation Week, May 7-13:
- A picture of yourself with your favorite teacher, past or present;
- A picture of your child with his or her teacher;
- A picture of yourself holding a piece of paper with a simple message saying Thank You to a teacher and why you’re thanking him or her.
Be sure to use the hashtag #ThankATeacher when sharing.
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School Board Leaders Honored
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Although May is officially School Board Recognition month,
we wanted to be the first to honor our FCCSD Board.
Across the state, there are 1,900 elected, non-salaried board members who are entrusted with the task of providing the direction for the education of students. Today, public schools are being asked to raise the bar on academic achievement, while remaining good stewards of the public's investment in education. This demands sound knowledge in several key areas including leadership, school improvement, school finance, advocacy and more.
For FCCSD, they are responsible a
n annual budget of $22,453,216, 1091
students, 242 employees and 4 buildings.
Our Board members and their years of service include:
Bruce Mielke, President, 5.8 years of service
Cindy Carter, Vice President, 19.6 years of service
Dave Bartlett, 18.6 years of service
Pat Hobbs, 10.6 years of service
Eric Kingland, 5.6 years of service
Keila Buffington, 11.4 years of service
Jesse Olson, 1.6 years of service
Please pass along your sincere thanks when you see them during the month of May!
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Elementary Teachers Lead the Way on STEM
Grants awarded for 3rd consecutive year
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More research is pointing toward engaging children in STEM activities at an early age and Forest City Elementary is among the early adopters in doing so. Three teachers, Melissa Taft, Kris Reece and Tammy Egesdal are strong advocates and recently presented their activities and efforts in securing funding to the Forest City Board of Education.
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Click the link above to learn more about the project and to pledge your support!
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Construction of the Hanson Family Fine Arts Center Underway!
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A great crowd turned out for the Hanson Family Fine Arts Center groundbreaking ceremony on April 7.
The Hanson Family Fine Arts Center is a $10 million, two-story, 29,743 square foot state-of-the-art fine arts facility. When completed in the fall of 2018, the facility will be used for university, school and local theater group performances, as well as regional and national touring groups.
Thank you to those who have donated! We believe this amenity will provide
significant educational, cultural and economic benefits to our community.
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Top of Iowa Art & Writing Festival
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Waldorf University will host the Top of Iowa Art and Writing Festival May 10-12, 2017, with students from 18 schools participating.
The festival starts with an open house reception for students and their families in the Luise V. Hanson Library from 5-7 pm on May 10. On Friday, May 12, awards will be presented, and students will also have the opportunity to listen to presentations and watch a demonstration from the judges.
The public is invited to view the students’ work May 11-12 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Luise V. Hanson Library.
“You’ll be amazed at the different art and writing areas that will be represented at the festival,” said Waldorf University's Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Vince Beach. “There are 25 art categories represented that range from ‘Tradigital’ art to video animation to mixed metal. In the writing category, entries range from metafiction to reverse poetry. These students do amazing work. It’s an honor for us to have this festival on our campus.”
It’s anticipated that over 250 students and their families will attend over the three-day event.
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We are excited to announce that parents will be able to register students for the upcoming school year online!
Enhancements are being made to the web-based parent portal called Infinite Campus. Infinite Campus provides families with access to student records, attendance, announcements and lunch account balances. Schedules and grades are also posted for middle and high school students.
Beginning in August, parents will also be able to register for school, complete authorization forms and make payments for registration fees and lunch accounts within Infinite Campus.
Watch for more information this summer.
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FCCSD is committed to keeping you informed! Please review the following to ensure you are "in the know."
- SchoolWay: Messaging application that sends you (via the app, text or email) weather-related announcements, schedule changes and activity/sports updates. Look for the app in the Apple or Android store. Don't have a smart phone? No problem! Go to www.myschoolway.com/forestcity and select "Web App." Upon signing up, you can see the messages sent and have notices emailed to you.
- Forest City Community Schools Website
- E-newsletters: One per month per school sent via email
- Social media: We're on Facebook and Twitter. Search for us! Also there are many teachers that have Twitter accounts so that you can follow along in the classrooms.
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Forest City Community Schools
(641) 585-2323 District Office
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We use SchoolWay to notify our community about weather related changes to our schedules. Share this with family and friends. More information at SchoolWay
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