FROM THE DESK OF THE SUPERINTENDENT...
October 18, 2015
NOVEMBER 2015 DISTRICT DISPATCH
With November here, we know that winter weather conditions are just around the corner. Please start to make plans now regarding late starts, early dismissals, or school cancellations due to hazardous winter weather conditions. Tune in to radio or television stations KMA (960 AM), KFAB (1110 AM), KNOD (105.3 FM), KMTV (Channel 3), WOWT (Channel 6), and KETV (Channel 7) and make arrangements with your spouse, friends, relatives, and/or our latch-key program regarding where your child or children will go when the weather turns bad. In addition, our school district subscribes to the SchoolMessenger Instant Parent Contact System. This automated telephone broadcast service enables school personnel to notify all households and parents by telephone within minutes of an emergency, an unplanned event, or a winter storm that causes a late start, early dismissal, or a school cancellation. If you have not signed up for this service and are interested in participating, please contact the principal’s office of the building where your child or children attend. Please note that there will not be breakfast on days that we have a two-hour late start, and all practices are cancelled whenever we have a two-hour early dismissal because of incoming bad weather.
On Tuesday, October 6, 2015, new school board members Jim Kuehn, Rick Larson, and I attended an “Orientation to School Governance” workshop in Glenwood sponsored by the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB). At that meeting we reviewed the IASB standards for effective school boards, learned the difference between board and administrative roles and responsibilities, considered effective strategies to focus the board’s attention on student learning, discussed various policy and legal responsibilities of the board, reviewed important basic facts regarding school finance, and examined the critical role that school board members play as advocates for public education.
Please make plans to attend the Road Trip USA Variety Show under the direction of Mr. Eric Wyler at Underwood High School in the performing arts center at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, October 30, 2015, or on Sunday, November 1, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. The show will consist of three genres of music including Surfin’ USA, Country, and Broadway and will feature the high school concert choir, the seventh and eighth-grade choir, small groups, and various soloists. There will also be performances by the Underwood Unlimited Show Choir and the Eagle Marching Band. Call the high school at 566-2703 for ticket information. We hope to see you there!
Another major musical event coming up is our Grandparents’ Day which is always on the Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving. Our elementary music teacher, Mrs. Sonya Schiphoff, and our elementary students have been working very hard on their numbers for this very popular event. We are looking forward to another huge turnout. Don’t forget that we have a 1:30 p.m. dismissal that day. Best wishes to each of you for a great Thanksgiving holiday!
