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Superintendent Update
Winter 2018
Darwin Lehmann
Superintendent
641-585-2323
dlehmann@forestcity.k12.ia.us
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We have completed our 2016-2017 financial health report. This report is published annually to outline the financials of the district.
Page 5 of the report provides a summary. If you have questions on anything in the report, please contact me.
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Potential Reconfiguration of Grade Structures
Elementary and Middle School
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During the January Board of Education meeting, our administrative team discussed the possibility of reconfiguring the grade structures at the elementary and middle school with Board members. Preliminary plans have been outlined and the goal is to present a comprehensive proposal to the Board in May. At this point, the recommendation would be to implement this change effective with the start of the 2019-2020 school year.
With this proposed reconfiguration, the elementary school would serve grades PreK-4 and the middle school would serve grades 5-8. Grades 5 and 6 would occupy one “wing” of the middle school and grades 7 and 8 classrooms would occupy the other part of the building. The 5th grade instructional model would follow the current 6th grade model. The students would rotate classrooms and have designated grade-level teachers for math, reading, social studies, science and specials versus the single teacher plus specials model that is in place at the elementary school today. There are no changes to the 5th grade curriculum and staffing decisions have not been determined.
There are 56 districts in the state that operate as grade 5-8 middle schools including some in our immediate area. For our district, one of the key drivers is to better balance the number of students per building. The elementary school would move from housing 550 to 470 students and the middle school would move from housing 255 to 335 students. The middle school has classroom space available to support this recommendation.
Another driver is that the district could help support the child care shortage in our community. The current partnership between the Forest City Y for four-year-old preschool/childcare at the elementary is successful and could potentially be extended to three-year-olds as well. If we are a partner when families need our support for childcare, families are more likely to remain in our school district and in our community. Additional classroom space in the elementary school would allow us to add or adjust class sizes as families move into the district.
With the current teacher structure (by subject) in the middle school and high school, it is more feasible to accommodate the mobility of families. Staffing-wise, the timing is favorable to make changes due to staffing patterns and the early retirement package.
Between now and May, the administrators will continue to study and plan. A community meeting will be held in the spring to outline the proposal and answer any questions.
The administration feels the creation of this 5-8 building structure at the middle school will benefit our students, our teaching staff, our district and our community.
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The Iowa School Report Card is a system to show how each public school is performing on several educational measures. Schools receive a score for each measure, and then the scores are combined into an overall score. Based on the overall score, one of the following ratings is assigned to each school: Exceptional, High-Performing, Commendable, Acceptable, Needs Improvement, and Priority.
The vast majority of state schools fall into the "commendable" and "acceptable" categories.
The Elementary and High Schools were rated "acceptable" and Forest City Middle School was rated "commendable."
The ratings are given on a basis of district students’ proficiency in reading and mathematics, college and career-ready growth, annual expected growth, closing the achievement gap, college and career readiness, graduation rate, attendance and staff retention.
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The
Iowa School Report Card
was developed by the
Iowa Department of Education
. The site meets a legislative requirement and aligns with Department efforts to provide Iowans easier access to meaningful education statistics and to pair accountability and support for schools
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Mr. Lehmann's comments:
The elementary and high schools were 1.4% and 1.5% respectively from being included the "commendable" category. The middle school was .8% from being included in the "High Performing" category, which is the top 5 % of middle schools in the state. There are improvements we continue to make in the areas of curriculum, instruction and assessment. Overall, tools such as these are always helpful to improve.
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T
he 2018 Legislative Session Begins
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On November 29, Forest City, in collaboration with the Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, North Iowa, and Lake Mills school districts, hosted a legislative forum. We invited local legislators to hear our collective school district legislative priorities as they head into the 2018 session.
"I would like to thank our legislators Tedd Gassman, Sharon Steckman, Jane Bloomingdale, Terry Baxter, and Dennis Guth for attending and providing their insight on education initiatives. I would also like to thank members of our respective school boards and members of the community for attending and advocating on behalf of our districts. We also appreciate KIOW broadcasting the forum," said Darwin Lehmann, superintendent of Forest City Schools.
The priorities discussed included: Transportation funding, Foundation Formula Equalization, sharing of incentives and assistance between school districts, State Penny tax (SAVE), standards and accountability progress, Supplemental State Aid and teacher leadership and development initiatives. Additional information about each of these priorities that are deemed critical to the school district can be found at
www.forestcity.k12.ia.us
.
I encourage you to get informed/get involved! Our legislators need to hear from as many people as possible so that they can advocate for education on our behalf.
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The importance of SAVE (Secure an Advanced Vision for Education) to our district:
This funding stream is formerly known as the statewide school infrastructure sales and service tax and also known as local option sales and services tax for school infrastructure, the “State Penny” or “One Cent” Sales Tax. This tax has helped schools address the problem of equity and adequacy for school facilities.
You may be surprised at the age of our facilities.Our elementary school was built in 1984. The original middle school/high school was built in 1960 and an addition took place in 1975. Our elementary school is 34 years old and our middle school/high school (with the addition) is 43 years old.
For our district, past uses from this fund include roof replacements, tuck pointing, new school building entryways, the new elementary drop off/pick up area and the Hanson Family Fine Arts Center. Recently, our district invested in a facilities assessment to guide our board in planning infrastructure improvements well into the future.
With regard to SAVE, we are advocating for and support eliminating the sunset permanently (currently set to expire in 2029), which will allow districts to maintain facilities and technology without needlessly addressing increasing property taxes. Future state penny revenues should remain dedicated to school and property tax equity/relief.
If SAVE disappears, deferred maintenance will catch up and money for school infrastructure improvements will have to come from other funds including the general fund.
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Iowa is #1 in Graduation Rates
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Dec. 5 Iowa Department of Education News Release
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“We’re proud that Iowa continues to be the national leader in high school graduation rates,” Wise said. “At the same time, we have work to do to ensure all students are prepared to succeed beyond high school. This work supports the
Future Ready Iowa
goal of 70 percent of Iowans having education or training beyond high school by the year 2025 to ensure the workforce is equipped with the skills and education employers need.”
In Iowa, 91.3 percent of students in the Class of 2016 completed high school within four years. The state’s graduation rate has climbed 3 percentage points over a six-year period.
The NCES report shows that the nationwide graduation rate is at an all-time high of 84.1 percent. The only other state with a graduation rate higher than 90 percent was New Jersey, at 90.1 percent.
Forest City has an average 94% graduation rate, based on the last four of data.
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Hanson Family Fine Arts Center Update
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The Hanson Family Fine Arts Center construction is still on track for a fall 2018 completion date.
The crews are busy working on the interior of the building. One of the next steps is to begin work on the stadium seating. You can follow
Kingland Construction Services
on Facebook for photos and updates on the progress.
The Hanson Family Fine Arts Center is a 29,743 square foot, two-story, $10 million state-of-the-arts fine arts facility. The auditorium seats more than 600 people. When completed, the facility will be used for school performances such as concerts and the musical as well as Waldorf University performances, local theater performances and regional and national touring group performances.
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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) district announcements, 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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The 2018-19 School Calendar is now available!
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Our school district participates in proactive Radon testing in all buildings on a rotating schedule. The testing is not harmful to students in any way.
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Open Enrollment Notification
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The
deadline for students entering Grades 1-12 is March 1st. The
deadline for students entering kindergarten is September 1st.
Students that open enroll in Grades 9-12, shall not be eligible to participate in varsity contests and competitions during the first ninety (90) school days of transfer. Please contact the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union at
(515) 288-9741 or the Iowa High School Athletic Association at (515) 432- 2011 for questions regarding eligibility.
The r
eceiving district has an obligation to
deny applications filed after March 1 unless the application meets good cause or if the resident district is in an agreement to approve.
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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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