Friday Update 9-30-11

After an exciting homecoming week it has been nice to get back to “normal.”  For the most part it has been a fairly quiet week, but not without its highlights.

On Thursday the QC Times gave us some great press with three articles about the success of our students.  If you missed them, check out the following links:

http://qctimes.com/sports/college/isu-cyclones/former-knight-youngblut-joins-isu-as-walk-on/article_a2d0b008-ea16-11e0-9906-001cc4c03286.html

qctimes.com/sports/high-sc…

qctimes.com/sports/high-sc…

During our research into the 1 to 1 computer initiative, we have come across schools that utilize iPads instead of laptops.  This week we purchased an iPad 2 to test this technology and learn the advantages and disadvantages.  Thank you to Jeff O’Rourke and O’Rourke Sales for helping us get our hands on an iPad very quickly.

It is essential that we continue to discuss the changes occurring at Assumption and potential ways to address these challenges.  As a result, our administrative team is currently attempting to address the question:  What are our biggest challenges in the next 5-10 years?  So far we have had great discussions which I believe will result in solid planning for the future.

I met with Jeff Schwiebert, North Scott superintendent, and UNI professor, Dewitt Jones, on Thursday to discuss teacher preparedness, financial management and the proposed performance based compensation system proposed by the DE.  We will keep an eye on how this last issue progresses as it could have implications for Assumption.

Chuck and I met with the rest of the Scott County principals for our monthly meeting.  Superintendent Lee Morrison was also in attendance.  At the meeting we discuss 5th - 8th grade Band Events, CogAT 7 assessments, Diocesan Standards and Benchmarks/Iowa Core, the STEM meeting at St. Ambrose, technology and current enrollment trends. 

The paperwork for our SCRA grant has been submitted to the Diocese.  Hopefully we will know whether we will receive the requested funding within the next month. 

Friday morning we had a productive meeting with our Math department regarding potential scheduling changes to match strengths with classes, and looking at better ways to assess our students to provide better instruction.  I truly feel that our Math department  is working to prepare our students for what lies ahead for them, and I am excited to see what results from this meeting.

Friday Update 9/23/2011

It is tough to believe that we are already wrapping up first quarter and Homecoming week.  Didn’t we just start school?  Thanks to Mr. Ries, Mr. Elbert and our faculty who have tried to keep the focus on student learning while still providing time to enjoy the “fun” of Homecoming. 

It was a busy week, and not just on the Homecoming front! 

The meeting in Carroll about tuition assistance for middle class families went very well.  Preparation for the meeting gave me a chance to put together some very interesting data for our Scott County Catholic schools including:

·        Total enrollment is on an upward swing from approximately 1,800 PK-12 students in 2005 to 2,100 PK-12 students in 2010.

·        Multiculturalism in our schools has increased roughly 13% in the last 10 years, from 8% in 2000 to 21% in 2010.

·        The percentage of students receiving some form of tuition assistance has increased steadily from 13% in 2005 to 30% in 2010.  

As data often does, it creates more questions than answers.  We will continue to analyze this data to see what other secrets it holds.

The Assumption Foundation met this week. Most of the meeting centered on tuition assistance for the Scott County Catholic Schools, which is already well over $1 million for the 2011-12 school year. Donations to the Mississippi Valley STO only fund about 60% of that assistance.

I met with Sr. Joan and Mike Poster from St. Ambrose regarding their plans to develop the St. Vincent’s property, which will go to City Council in January.   They are not ready to commit to a specific timeline until after their Board retreat next week, but it looks like a wonderful addition to not only their facilities, but also a tremendous opportunity for Assumption. 

Our annual audit has been taking place this week, which is a requirement of a bond that we are in the final years of paying off.   

I met with AEA officials this week to discuss our internet access. We are in desperate need of more bandwidth, which essentially means we need a faster connection. The AEA will soon be bidding out their service, creating some interesting scenarios for AHS.  If they can provide the speed we need at a price we find acceptable, we would most likely continue to use them as our internet provider.  In the meantime, we will also be exploring other options in order to protect Assumption’s best interests.

Backflip Films, the company producing our recruiting video, was here Thursday for the final day of filming.  It was a busy day with mass, the pep assembly and the Homecoming football game, so there was an opportunity for a lot of great footage.

Finally, I will be giving a tour on Saturday for the class of 1961 as part of their 50 year reunion.  These are some of my favorite tours because I get a chance to learn about the history of Assumption from people who were there.  It is an awesome experience.

Have a great weekend and call or email with any questions. 

Weekly Update 9-16-2011

I hope that your week is going as well as ours!   After a huge football victory last week against Bettendorf, and big volleyball and football victories against Central this week, there is a lot to be excited about.  There was a special feeling last Friday night, and I was so proud of our students, fans, parents, administrators and coaches.  We have received a lot of comments and compliments about how it was a great example of what Assumption is all about.   It truly was a night of “One in the Spirit.”

A couple of other updates from this week:

We made the switch in our server system for our computers last Monday, and it went off without too many problems.  This will solve a lot of our storage space issues and should decrease the amount of problems we have been experiencing lately.  

Jay Winger from Anderson-Ladd did the final walkthrough for our new gym floor.   We had a nice conversation about the process and both agree that it matches what we were expecting.  He took some pictures and asked for a letter of recommendation for the company, which I will be happy to supply.

I spent some time this week in classrooms, and it was a great experience.  I had the opportunity to spend some much needed time talking to both students and teachers about the academic environment at AHS.  I saw some great things happening and had the opportunity to listen to students give speeches, presentation and utilize technology in their learning.    

Friday morning the Finance Committee met and discussed August financials and the revised budget for 2011-2012.  The Finance Committee voted to recommend the budget. Carey will give an extensive presentation at Monday’s Board meeting, so I won’t steal too much of her thunder. 

I finished preparing a grant for presentation on Monday.  The proposed project will provide for the creation of three mobile computer labs consisting of 30 computers each.  The majority of Assumption students spend large amounts of time writing, researching, and studying with the aid of our computer labs, and such constant use has created the need for additional computers to better serve student needs.  Through the purchase of 90 computers and computer storage carts, the project will allow the opportunity for technology to be utilized in every classroom throughout the school.

We have added another tool to our teachers’ toolbox this week with the addition of a program called Turn-It-In.  This program gives our students the ability to submit papers online where teachers can grade them and check for grammatical errors and originality.  Our English department has been the lead on this project and I have been acting as a “consultant.”  We have a 3 month test license to see if we like it before making the full purchase. 

I will be presenting at the 2011 Diocesan Ministries Conference in Carroll on Monday.  They have asked that I focus on Catholic school finance.  They are very interested in how our Family Tuition Plan and STO programs work together and the positive results we have seen at the school level because of these programs.

Weekly Update 9-9-2011

It has been a big week at Assumption and the Bettendorf game tonight will be an exciting conclusion to the week.  

A couple of updates on AHS this week:   

Our Administrative team (Chuck, Eric, Julie, Carey, Lynn, Emily, Wade and I) continues to meet weekly and has been doing some work with the Strengths Finder 2.0 book.  I feel it has been very informative for all of us to learn how we are distinctly different in our strengths. 

Faculty in-service on Wednesday went well, and we are continuing to look at ways that technology will improve our classroom instruction and provide better avenues to communicate with students and parents.  Already this year we have discussed ways to use Skype, Twitter and Blogs in the classroom.  Some teachers have really taken off with these ideas and it is great to see them looking at education through a new lens.

As you may have read in the paper, the boy’s state athletic association presented on the potential for 4A district football.  This has the potential to impact Assumption and we are having discussions about both the positives and negatives of such a change.  We believe that we will know more in November after the state championship games have been played.

Several of us attended two webinars on enhancing the academic programs at Assumption.  The first was on Rosetta Stone the web-based language program and the second was on the Core curriculum. 

There were a couple minor facilities issues this week including a leak in the dressing rooms in the band/choir area.  This was due to a clogged drain that has now been fixed.  We removed one of the old TVs from a classroom and are reallocating some of our projector screens since most of our teachers now have whiteboards. 

Eric Leuth, head of maintenence, is finishing putting the final coats of sealer on the doors to the trophy cabinets. 

We are exploring the potential for a partnership with a company called Insight Systems Exchange.  They are in the business of refurbishing laptop computers and then reselling them at a great price.  Right now we have more need for computer access than what we have available.  This could be a good solution for our computer needs.

Have a great weekend!

Great information for our students, parents, teachers and administrators!

Assumption Summer Update

Wow! Time just flew by this summer.  I would like to start by welcoming all of our new students and families to Assumption High School.  As a proud alum I truly believe that you have made the decision to be a part of something great and I look forward to meeting all of you in the near future.  You are a part of our second largest enrollment in the last 8 years.  Our returning students and parents may have heard about some of the wonderful changes that have occurred this summer.  We have been incredibly busy on several fronts.

We were lucky enough to be a part of the Iowa Education Summit in Des Moines in July.  A number of great ideas were shared during this two day conference, including some of the best practices in countries that are leading the world in education.  We will be working some of these ideas into the fabric of Assumption.

In an effort to make classroom walkthroughs more effective we will be implementing an electronic walkthrough system.  This gives the immediate ability to record important data on classroom learning and teaching. 

The gym floor is nearing completion and it looks fantastic.  This has been a wonderful project which would not have been possible without the dedication of a lot of people.  Private donors, Booster Club, Century Cub, April Knight and the Bechtel Trust helped to make this project possible.  

Wireless internet has been up and running in the building for several months. Thanks to a generous grant from SCRA, all of our full time teachers have received new laptops and are very excited to have access to this technology.  On top of that, 5 new electronic whiteboards were installed in classrooms this summer.  This brings our whiteboard total to 16.

Eric Leuth did a wonderful job building and installing new display cabinets on the west side of S-wing.  We are looking for volunteers who may have an interest in helping to determine the nostalgia that will be placed in the cabinets.  If you are interested in helping give me a call or send me an email. 

Villa Maria Daycare continues to see growing enrollment and is a huge asset to our faculty and staff.  Many alums are also utilizing this benefit and it is great to see people of all ages on our campus.