SCHEDULE NOTES
- December 22: 1:50 p.m. ELEM and 2 p.m. MS/HS Dismissal
- December 23: January 1: Christmas Break
- January 2: Classes Resume
- January 15: No School Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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District Announces New Athletics Hall of Fame |
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The Forest City Community School District is excited to announce the creation of a new Athletics Hall of Fame, which will recognize and honor former athletes, coaches, teams, administrators and patrons who have made significant contributions to the district’s athletics program. Forest City will recognize the recipients of the inaugural class during Forest City Homecoming weekend, currently scheduled for September 27, 2024. Future classes will be recognized during Homecoming each year.
“This is an opportunity to appreciate and recognize the success of our athletes of the past and introduce their accomplishments and impact to new generations of Forest City athletes,” said Chad Moore, Forest City athletic director. “It’s also a great way to connect these athletes and other accomplished individuals back to the community.”
The Athletics Hall of Fame committee will announce further details regarding the nomination process in January. Nominations will be accepted from January 15-February 16, 2024. Inductees will be notified mid-May and plans are in development for the recognition ceremony to be held during the September 2024 Homecoming weekend.
Consideration criteria have been established for each category of nominees —player, coach, administrator, contributor/patron and team. A player nominee must be a graduate of Forest City High School and out of school for at least four years. They also must have received all-conference and/or all-state recognition in their respective sport and contributed at a high level both in athletics and in the community. A coach nominee must have been a head coach at Forest City High School for a minimum of five years with their teams competing in a consistent and exemplary way. An athletic director or administrator must have served in the district for a minimum of five years and supported or contributed to the development of athletics at Forest City High School in an outstanding way. A contributor/patron nominee must have supported or contributed to the development of athletics in an outstanding way. A team nomination must be an accomplished group.
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Forest City students enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving meal with locally grown turkeys and vegetables! This was made possible in part by an Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship grant that new Food Service Director Chris Wellendorf applied for and received.
Forest City received $3,000 in funding and the funds are available to purchase local and unprocessed foods. In the case of the pre-Thanksgiving meal, locally purchased turkey and squash were used for lunch. Turkeys were brined, roasted and pulled in-house and the squash was made from scratch.
The Food Service department has also used the funding to supplement some of our typical produce on the high school salad bar and to purchase apples used for breakfast at the elementary.
Wellendorf, who replaced longtime director Glenda Keough this year, is enjoying his new role at Forest City Schools. He plans to continue to pursue more funding for locally grown and raised products. He is interested in increasing student participation in our program by learning what students appreciate most and is also exploring what we can potentially grow ourselves. He enjoys "from scratch" cooking. He looks forward to getting to know all students and continuing to foster the awesome work culture in our district.
Chris and his wife Laura are both Forest City graduates. He has loved cooking since he was a kid and was influenced by his grandmother and father. He worked in several kitchens while in culinary school and at several different kitchens in the Chicago land area. He was a head chef and later a general manager at a Brew Pub in Sycamore, Illinois. Chris and his wife also opened a restaurant.
When the opportunity came up last year to return to Forest City as assistant food service director, Chris was excited to make the move. Join us in welcoming Chris to the district!
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COACHES VERSUS CANCER
JANUARY 19, 2024
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The annual Coaches Vs. Cancer event will be held on Friday night, January 19 during the basketball games against North Iowa.
THE DEADLINE TO ORDER IS JAN 1
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FFA Students each receive $1,000 Supervised Agricultural Experience projects (SAE) grants |
Congratulations to students Aaliyah Wicke and Olivia Eastvold!
They were each awarded $1,000 Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) grant to advance their projects!
SAE grants are designed to help FFA members create or expand Supervised Agricultural Experience (projects, a
requirement that all FFA members must complete.
An SAE requires FFA members to create and operate an agriculture
related business, work at an agriculture-related business or conduct an agricultural research experience.
Upon completion, FFA members must submit a comprehensive report regarding their career development experience.
Their applications were selected from among 1,258 applications nationwide.
WAY TO GO AALIYAH AND OLIVIA!
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Parents of Seniors (Class of 2024)...Take Note! |
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The FAFSA Form is expected to open on December 31.
While the priority deadline is May 1, 2024, federal aid is disbursed on a first-come, first-served basis. Once the form is open, encourage your son or daughter to file as soon as possible.
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INFORMATION TO GATHER
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Federal Student Aid Account (username and password you create to gain access to the U.S. Department of Education's online systems).
- Social Security Number or ITIN Number.
- 2022 federal tax information or tax returns.
- Records of untaxed income.
- Cash, savings and checking account balances.
- Name, DOB, SSN and email address of parent (if dependent student).
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High school graduates in the NIACC district who meet program eligibility requirements can now attend NIACC tuition-free. |
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Chemistry students are learning about the properties of light and how light interacts with the electrons of an atom. They are learning about the electron configuration of an atom, and how light has properties of both waves and particles.
In this lab, students used a Bunsen burner, in which the electrons release a photon at a specific frequency when it relaxes back to the ground state. They learned how fireworks create such beautiful colors!
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Elementary students earned a pajama day as a PBIS award! |
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The High School Life Management class recently spent time with Beth Bilyeu and Shawn Keeper of Forest City Economic Development. They took a tour of one of the new houses in our community and then learned about the process of buying a home and home loan options.
This collaboration was in conjunction with a unit about living on our own. The students learned about budgeting and the costs of furnishing an apartment. They also discussed the pros and cons of living with roommates.
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Applied Chemistry recently tried their hand at making rock candy after learning about solutions and supersaturated solutions. |
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Conceptual Physics students were busy during the month of December designing and building paper roller coasters. This project requires students to use engineering principles and apply those to the energy conservation and changes we have been learning about in class. |
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Check out the new floor in the Elementary gym! |
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Thank You For Your Service! |
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The district recognized three departing Board of Education members during the December meeting.
Please join us in thanking Gary Ludwig, Keila Buffington and Eric Kingland who collectively served on the Board for a total of 49 years!
Gary, who most recently served as board president, served four terms for a total of 19 years. Keila, is the outgoing vice president and completed 18 years of service. Eric served on the Board of Education for 12 years.
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Members of the High school Student Council traveled to the Salvation Army to help distribute gifts through Toys for Tots. They had a wonderful, service-filled day, by helping families select gifts, clothing, books, and games for the holiday season. |
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Through this initiative, Christmas gifts including clothing, toys, pajamas, socks, underwear, and shoes were provided to more than 165 kids (55 families) in our community this year! |
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There's the saying, "Many hands make light work" and this is especially true for the Forest City Education Association's annual Giving Tree initiative.
The Giving Tree is a committee of teachers and members who volunteer their time to organize this project each year to provide children and families with Christmas gifts. Christmas trees at local businesses are decorated with anonymous tags that community members can choose and purchase gifts for. There are also online tags and the committee partners with several businesses and individuals who sponsor a family or a group of tags. The gifts are dispersed to deserving families just in time for Christmas.
New milestones were reached this year and second-grade teacher Mrs. Treloar, the committee's coordinator, and committee members Mrs. Schmidt, Mrs. Urbatsch, Mrs. Leitch, Mrs. Eastvold, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Taft, and Mrs. Nye are grateful for the generosity of many.
- Lichtsinn RV, Holland Contracting Corp, and Swanson Trucking sponsored employee trees and shopped for families.
- Cabin Coffee Company, Hy-Vee, Bomgaars Supply, MBT Bank, NSB Bank, Winnebago Industries Visitors Center, Forest City City Hall, Shooterz, and Fertile Lutheran Church hosted table tents, signs, tags and trees.
- Many community members, businesses, clubs, PEOs, churches, and organizations of Forest City donated money, gift cards, toys, clothing, reusable gift bags, and support.
- This year, memorials were donated in memory of longtime Forest City teacher, Carol Shirk. These memorial gifts, along with others, totaled more than $3,000 which allowed the committee to restock the school’s extra supply of clothes, shoes, coats, underwear, socks and boots. The committee was also able to purchase blankets, toiletries, essential items, and clothing/toys for late tags with these funds.
Mrs. Treloar said, "More than 650 gifts came through our doors this year. Our committee wishes to thank everyone who donated and supported this project. It is your continued generosity that helps make this program a success in our community each year."
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Partner in Education Spotlight |
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The district appreciates our partnership with the Mason City Youth Task Force. They offer a comprehensive program that pairs high school mentors with middle school mentees and their staff provides training and supervision. Eight Forest City High School students are currently paired with eight Middle School students and they have enjoyed their time together. The students meet each Thursday during book club time. Recently the students worked together to make blankets to donate to Crisis Intervention Services. |
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The AFS team is looking for the following items for AFS Fun Night on Friday, March 1.
Please bring items to the High School office:
- Gallon ice cream pails WITH matching lids
- Children's books in new or very good condition, board books or young children's books
- Stuffed animals in new or gently used condition. Please wash & dry first on gentle cycle.
- Coffee mugs (clean and dry)
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Host Families Needed!
- New kids are getting released now for this fall, so if you are interested in hosting for the fall, please contact Tami McInroy at the High School at 641-585-2323 or tmcinroy@forestcity.12.ia.us. Students come with their own spending money and our local AFS chapter pays for school fees and school lunches. Host families provide a bedroom, closet/dresser space, and other meals.
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As the weather starts to turn, we are reminding you that the district now allows up to 8 E-learning days. As with all weather-related announcements, the district will notify parents and students of an E-learning day via SchoolMessenger.
Here are the basics of E-Learning by building:
Elementary students:
- E-Learning packets and instructions will be sent home with elementary students and electronic copies of the packet are available to download from our school website (Schools<Elementary School).
Middle School Students:
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6th, 7th and 8th Grade students should check Google Classroom at the start of the E-Learning day for directions as to what is expected and they should also check email throughout the day in the event further instructions are needed. Parents should expect that a student should have 15-20 minutes worth of review work for each class; new learning would be rare. E-Learning work is required work. Students have 2 days to complete E-learning work, but we encourage students to complete necessary work promptly during the E-Learning day.
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5th Grade students will need their Chromebook for e-learning. All students should start each day by checking the 5th Grade Website. All assigned work will be paperless, but a math notebook or piece of paper may be needed to complete math problems.
High School Students:
- Students should check each class in Google Classroom at the start of the E-Learning day for class resources/E-Learning expectations.
- Content will reinforce current learning or expand on a topic that has been introduced.
- A 'formative assessment' may be included as part of the e-learning activities (formative assessments are 15% of a student's grade at FCHS).
- No summative assessment(s) will be part of an E-Learning Day.
- Students who do not complete the E-Learning activities will have up to the next (2) school days to complete the activities. After that point, an 'Absence' will be recorded.
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Our official daily calendar is available within the Forest City CSD app (search for
the free app called Forest City CSD in your app store) or on www.forestcity.k12.ia.us. If there’s a schedule change, it’s updated here.
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FOREST CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
www.forestcity.k12.ia.us
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