Welcome to the latest edition of TheWeek@DMPS. It's hard to believe just over a month remains in the school year, which means another busy week around the district. Track and field got a lot of attention this week as high schoolers head to the Drake Relays, middle schoolers competed in the All-City meet, and an Olympic medalist spoke and ran with elementary students. Also, big news for Scavo as they receive a grant to address childhood trauma, and the spring theater calendar is overflowing as students across all grade levels present plays and musicals. Plus, see the 'coming soon' notice about an upgrade to the DMPS mobile app. Read on for these stories and much, much more.
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STORIES ABOUT OUR STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS
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Student-athletes representing East, Hoover, Lincoln, North and Roosevelt high schools will be competing in 13 different events today and tomorrow at the 2017 Drake Relays.
Click here for a list of DMPS qualifiers
, and a link to schedule and ticket information.
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Middle Schools Compete at All-City Track Meet
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Olympian Shares Stories, Strides with Carver Students
Leo Manzano was born in Mexico, grew up in Texas and ran as a U.S. Olympian. He's crossed all sorts of finish lines including track, college and citizenship. The silver medalist, who has raced on every continent except South America and Antarctica, visited Carver Elementary on Monday to run laps with students on their new track and share a personal backstory that resonates in a district as diverse as DMPS.
Click here to read and see more
.
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Scavo to Become a Trauma Sensitive School
Studies have shown childhood trauma can affect everything from the way a student behaves to the ability to learn. Thanks to the Mid-Iowa Health Foundation, Scavo High School teachers and staff will soon be learning new techniques to help students affected by trauma reach their academic goals.
Click here to learn more about the grant.
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Read to Succeed Reports on Progress
One year ago Read to Succeed was launched at Greenwood Elementary School. Yesterday morning the program's sponsor, United Way, and DMPS came together at Willard Elementary School to provide a progress report on the campaign to boost reading proficiency and urge community members to take time to read with children.
Click here to read and see more
about the event and how you can help.
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Meredith Wins Regional Iowa Knowledge Bowl
Meredith Middle School competed in the Regional Iowa Knowledge Bowl at the Ankeny DMACC campus this week. The 7th Grade A team won the event, competing against 13 other top teams from around Central Iowa. The champs are "Coach" Bryan Berg, Uyen Pham, Andrew Milne, Sean Houchins-McCallum, Sophia Mordini and Billy Dang. Way to go, Meredith!
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Rotary Honors Teachers of the Year
Congratulations to three DMPS teachers honored by the Rotary Club of Des Moines as Educators of the Year during the club's annual awards luncheon last Thursday at the Wakonda Club. The honorees are (pictured left to right) Sandra Kirkman of Brody Middle School, Lindsey Smith of Roosevelt High School and
Robert Williams of Findley Elementary School.
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Day "Off" Teaches Lessons for Lincoln RAILS
Last Thursday may have been a day off from classes for the Lincoln RAILS, but that didn't mean it wasn't a day of hard work and valuable lessons. The Lincoln 9th graders did a day of service, helping more than a dozen organizations with volunteer work. As one student noted: "This is a great opportunity to do something meaningful."
Click here to read and see more
about the good work performed by the RAILS.
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Bike Safety Focus at Walnut Street School
Summer is just around the corner, and that means more kids on bikes. Thanks to Bike World and the Walnut Street School staff PTO, kindergarten students now have a new appreciation for bike safety along with shiny new helmets to start the summer. Click here to learn more about how this project came together and see additional photos.
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The Spring Theater Calendar is Full at DMPS
Spring is always an artsy time of year in the district. Year-end concerts by bands and orchestras and choirs ring out like heralds for the coming summer. Portfolios burst at their seams with visual creations. But this spring is also overflowing with theatrics as plays and musicals are being performed by students across all grade levels.
Click here for a review
of Findley's recent production of Sleeping Beauty and more about the theater scene at DMPS.
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UPGRADE COMING SOON TO DMPS MOBILE APP
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Thanks to the DMPS mobile app Iowa's largest provider of education fits in the palm of your hand. And the app is about to get even better. Later this spring Infinite Campus will be integrated with our app. This means you can access information about your students on your phone through the same app that also provides lunch menus, school calendars, directories, and more. If you haven't yet downloaded the DMPS app be sure to do so at either the
App Store (for iPhones) or
Google Play (for Android devices).
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PHOTO GALLERIES OF THE WEEK
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Hypnotic Brass Meets Hoover Brass
The Civic Center became a classroom for Hoover band director Ryan Rowley and ten of his brass musicians last Friday. They had the opportunity to take a master class from the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, an award-winning group of musicians who combine jazz, funk and hip-hop to take the classic brass ensemble in a new direction.
Click here to see more.
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Busy Lanes as Students Bowl
The alleys of Des Moines were crowded with traffic last Thursday morning, as 360 4th and 5th graders participated in the district's 3rd annual bowling tournament. Students did their best to stay out of the gutter, while high-fives and jumps of joy came from strikes and spares, as students competed at three locations around the city.
Click here for photos and results from the tournament.
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April 28-30
April 29
May 2
School Board Meeting - Central Campus (6:00 PM)
Spring 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:
- The Des Moines Register recently reported on how DMPS works with immigrant families, including helping new members of the community know their rights. On Sunday the paper presented the district with a "rose" for this work, noting that "Everyone in the U.S., citizen or not, should know his or her rights." Click here to read why the paper supports this important work.
- We shared a story above about a grant Scavo High School earned to help address childhood trauma. Iowa Public Radio also shared this news, noting that the grant will help pay for teacher professional development efforts to help understand what's going on in some of their students' lives outside the classroom. Click here for IPR's report.
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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 (or your child) have been discriminated against or treated unjustly at school, please contact Anne Sullivan at 2323 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50312 or 515-242-7709 or anne.sullivan@dmschools.org.
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