We are currently putting the finishing touches on the 1:1
initiative presentation for our students and parents. Meetings will be held from 7-8 pm on Sunday
and Monday night. The presentation will
highlight the reasoning behind the initiative, including the six years we spent
preparing. We will also explain student
responsibilities and procedures for care of the laptop. Mr. Ries will discuss the AUP and CIPA
requirements, internet safety, cyber bullying and identity theft as well as
providing resources for parents regarding online safety. The information from this meeting will be
shared with board members at our meeting Monday at 4:00 pm.
A lot of time this week was spent entering and revising
information for our state C-Plan. This
document replaces our Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) and our
Annual Progress Report (APR). On
Thursday afternoon, I web conferenced with a representative from the Department
of Education on the BEDS and Certified Enrollment reports. With all of these processes going through changes,
there has been a lot of learning and relearning the ways to report to the
state. I certainly enjoyed hitting the
certify button today.
The Scott County Catholic Schools advisory Board met Monday,
with much of the discussion centering on the current state of the educational
system, including topics such as strategic planning, enrollment, finance, building
projects, evangelizing the faith through schools and ways to partner to improve
on weaknesses. This group has a lot of ideas
on ways that we can even the playing field and help each other with our
struggles. I look forward to future meetings
and am excited to see how our ideas progress.
Great news on the grant front! Assumption has received two grants to
participate in a program called First Tech Challenge (FTC). The grants came from two sources: Rockwell Collins and Executive Order #
74. Governor Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim
Reynolds made STEM Education a priority with the signing of Executive Order #74
in 2011, and created the Governor's STEM Advisory Council. The council is
a partnership of business, policy and education leaders from across Iowa that bolsters
STEM education and innovation to better position Iowa's K-12 students in the
state's workforce and future economy. Assumption
will be creating a team to compete in the FTC program. Here is a brief
description of the program from the FTC website (http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc )
“FTC is designed for
those who want to compete head to head, using a sports model. Teams of up to 10
students are responsible for designing, building, and programming their robots
to compete in an alliance format against other teams. The robot kit is reusable
from year-to-year and is programmed using a variety of languages. Teams,
including coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop strategy and
build robots based on sound engineering principles. Awards are given for the
competition as for well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world
accomplishments.”
We hope this is a great experience for our students!
We began preparing for a presentation on the SCRA grant in a
little over a week. Our focus will be on
some much needed upgrades to the fine arts area. We are ironing out the details on the project
and once that is completed we will attempt to secure some additional funding
for the project. Wish us luck!
I had a few meetings this week regarding fundraising that
caused me to pause and think about the great number of people who care about
Assumption. So many people give and give to help make all of Assumption’s
programs successful. As an example we
will have the class of ‘62 reunion in our building and at the homecoming game
next Thursday. This class has been
participating in a fundraising challenge, and the proceeds will be donated at
their 50th reunion. I am
honored to have been invited to their reunion dinner Saturday night and to have
an opportunity to show them around the school.
It should be a great time for all of us!
Have a great weekend!
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