Weekly Update 8/23/13

Thanks to all Board members for attending the meeting on Monday. It was certainly one of the more interesting meetings I can remember from the past 8 years, both because of length and because we had a camera there. Thanks to everyone for their understanding.

The second week of school is progressing well. It is great to walk by our classrooms and see all of our students utilizing the technology brought on by the 1:1 initiative. We have already received lots of positive feedback from teachers, students and parents.   

I was part of a presentation to the District Governor of Rotary on Monday.  As head of the Junior Rotarian committee, I spoke about four main things:

1.      How Jr. Rotarian’s are invited and encouraged to get involved in the Local Community Service Projects Committee and other related committees.

2.      How we ensure high school seniors are aware of Davenport Rotary Scholarships.

3.      How high school student lead the club in singing the National Anthem monthly at our meetings.

4.      That we are exploring the potential of establishing an Interact Club for the Davenport High Schools.

On the facilities side we will be finishing up refinishing some of our floors on Friday.  There were a couple of areas that we couldn’t get to during the summer.  Also, anew steam table was installed in the cafeteria kitchen, and construction continues on the daycare renovation project.   

The heat has caused some discussion on whether or not we need to call school.  I spent some time this week working with our Superintendent, Lee Morrison, and Davenport Community Schools on the process they utilize to determine early outs.  After some communication I feel we have a better handle on the process we use to determine when and if we let out.  

Meetings continued on the St. Ambrose proposal.  We are moving closer to being able to provide more information to the Board.  Our goal is to have something for consideration in September, but that may change if there are any hiccups or if consultants cannot complete analysis of all of the information in time.  

The Scott County Principal meeting was held Friday.  Discussion topics included:  early release due to heat, kindergarten skills inventory, ELA work, Scott County Board Orientation, A.L.I.C.E. training, tuition, SAU signs, enrollment numbers, A/C Options, Tuition Model, Athletic Club Boosters, Band, Math, C-Plan.

Just a reminder - Century Club Steak Fry is tonight and football scrimmage with Dubuque Wahlert is tomorrow.  Hope to see you all there. 

Weekly Update 8/16/13

This week started off with a great senior student and parent cookout on Sunday.  Thanks to all those who took time out of their busy schedules to attend.  Mrs. Murphy’s idea to start off the year with a blessing of the class by Msgr. Parizek and some community building will hopefully become a tradition that live on for many years to come.  My only criticism is her selection of cook for the get together.  Luckily, it was tough for me to mess up burgers and hot dogs.  

We are wrapping up the last of our 1:1 technology meetings and handing out computers to all students 9-12.  This would not be possible without the hard work of many, including Mrs. Murphy, Twin State technical services, Mrs. Frieden, and all of our teachers.  When this project started we knew it would be a huge benefit to the education of our students, but we also knew it would be a lot of work to make everything run smoothly.  I am very proud of how our faculty and staff has come together to make it happen.    

We began a couple of new initiatives this week.  The first is that we are now using Midwest Janitorial Service for cleaning of the academic wing.  We still have a great team of custodians on staff, but due to some turnover we chose to adjust schedules to allow our custodians to work on some of the areas that may have been previously neglected and also work on some special projects. 

One of these special projects is the clean out of the top floor of the daycare.  As with all schools, we have accumulated a lot of “stuff” over the years.  Much of this stuff ends up in storage and is quickly forgotten about.  We have made a real push this summer to pare down a lot of the stuff that has been left sitting around all these years. This is a time consuming process, but  once everything is cleaned out we will move on to “gutting” the top floor for a potential daycare expansion.  

I am sure many of you caught the article in the paper on Wednesday about the St. Ambrose Stadium.  If not, the article can be found by clicking this link. Bill Bush and I had a discussion about the proper action to take when I received an email from Tara Becker, the author of the article. Her initial communication contained some inaccuracies and we both felt those should be cleared up before the article was printed.  I communicated with both Ms. Becker and a reporter for KWQC who had also contacted me. In the end, it was a great conversation and I think they had a better understanding of where we are on the issue as a School Board. I have been working to gather as much information as possible to put before the Board and that is turning out to be a long process.  

Just a quick reminder: we have our first regular Board meeting on Monday.  If you didn’t get a chance to respond to the Doodle poll about whether or not you will be able to attend, please do so at:  http://doodle.com/6z6dq4zstud2exwd

 

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update 8/9/2013

This is one of the best times of the year.  With teachers returning and freshman orientation today, it is great to have some productive noise throughout the building.

Freshman and new student orientation went very well with a terrific homily from Fr. Heenan, a great welcome by principal Mrs. Murphy, and the dress code presentation by new Deans of Students, Joe Barrer.  There was also the addition of our technology presentation to prepare freshman students for the 1:1 imitative at Assumption. There certainly was a positive feel to the entire day, which can be attributed to the attitudes of all our students, parents, faculty, and staff. With over 132 new students in attendance, the year looks to be starting off on a high note. Good luck to all our new students as they make the transition to the high school life. 

Teacher in-service on Wednesday went very well. Much of the time was spent going over necessary details on procedures and schedules to make sure we accomplish our primary goal of educating each and every student. It certainly seems that we have added a great group of new faculty who will make an immediate impact on the already strong culture of learning at Assumption. 

Summer has been extremely busy with a large focus on cleaning out much of clutter a school accumulates over the years. We have prepped D-wing for the addition of 35 lockers for the largest enrollment in the last 12 years!  What a great problem to have.  There were also some minor fixes in the teachers’ rooms, the removal of troublesome fruit trees, refinishing the floors, replacement of tables in the art room, improvements to the kitchen, and beginning of prep for some daycare remodeling.

Technology was once again a major focus of the summer.  We were able to fulfill our goal of becoming the first high school in Davenport to issue a laptop to every enrolled student. The last of our 480 computers were delivered for freshman and sophomores this summer.  Fulfilling this goal would not have been possible without the hard work of many of supporters. We cannot thank all of you enough! 

Congrats to the baseball team on their tremendous season and second place finish at state! While it didn't end the way everyone hoped, the coaches and players did an incredible job and we are all proud of your success.

Finally, I am extremely excited for this school year. Each year brings with it a chance to get to know the Assumption family a little better, celebrate successes, and experiencing new things. I look forward to sharing this experience with all of you.

Have a great weekend!