Updates for the Week 10/26/2012

Good luck to our Volleyball and Cross Country teams as they continue to pursue their goal of winning a state championship.  Congrats to Coach Wade King and our football players on a successful football season. 

 

This week some of our JMC issues were remedied.  As with any changeover to a newer version of software, there were some nuances that we need to adjust.  We became aware last week that some of the online information included in the student report cards was incorrect, but we were able to correct the data and hopefully it is running well for everyone.  

We tackled a few facilities issues this week.  With winter quickly approaching, Eric has been working on an insulation solution for the vents around the school and we continue to explore options for the heating and cooling system at Assumption. Many of you may remember when we began the process of replacing our boiler system last year with an option that could provide both heat and air. That project still hasn’t left our minds, and we had another meeting to discuss options Friday morning.

Monday evening we held a meeting of our ad hoc committee on future facilities developments at Assumption. I certainly appreciated everyone taking time out of their schedules to provide their expertise.  As a result of the meeting we have begun to compile some data on financial impacts, environmental factors, and public opinion.  

We continue to work towards the addition of the First Tech Challenge for Assumption students. There are still many details to take care of, but we hope to implement the program this year. The FTC website describes First Tech challenge as follows:

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 had our marketing committee meeting on Friday.  Items discussed included: LCS saints day, Homecoming week changes, feeder program/high school team dinner, technology, ways to better market the Family Tuition Plan, and Information Knight.

Have a great weekend and try to stay warm!

Andy

Updates for the Week 10/19/2012

Congrats to our Girls Cross Country team on winning the 3A regional meet!  A special thanks this week to Cindy O’Rourke for all of her help with the Focus newsletter.  Cindy was kind enough to spend a day going to each of the grade schools to take pictures for the newsletter.  The pictures were outstanding and will make this newsletter something special.  

On Monday I had an opportunity to speak with the Davenport Rotary. One thing they like to do is the “Rotary Spotlight,” where members introduce themselves to the group through a formal speech. I enjoyed getting a chance to do this and look forward to being a member of Rotary. 

At the board meeting Monday night we discussed several items, most importantly the amended budget. I appreciate all the hard work Carey put into this, especially with our annual audit occurring at the same time. A couple highlights from the budget:

·        Original budget for student population was 439; it is currently 451.

·        Original budget had four families with 3 or more students; we currently have nine families.

·        Grants allowed is expected to be same as 11-12 at $370,000, not $420,000 as originally budgeted.

·        Daycare revenue was originally budgeted at $213,000 but revised to $245,000 to represent a 10% increase over actual.  Last year we had an 18% increase over actual.

·        Wages are down due to personnel and staffing changes.

·        Increased instructional expenses approx. $5,000 for on-line classroom curriculum

·        Increase computer hardware budget by $20,000 for additional switches, teacher machines, etc.

·        $15,000 for used pickup truck.

·        Increased Development budget for the addition of a new position.

·        Increased daycare expenses for wages, benefits and food due to increased day care revenue.

We also had the first reading of a credit card use policy, discussed committee assignments, and future curricular structuring for elementary students.  

On Tuesday I was in Iowa City presenting to Diocesan administrators on technology at Assumption.  I received a lot of great feedback on the presentation and several administrators asked for additional information. The preparation for this was a great exercise as we now have all technology information organized in one spot. If you would like to see the presentation, click here.

Many of you may remember that I have been taking classes the last two year to receive my superintendent’s certification through the University of Northern Iowa.  This has been a tremendously beneficial program and I have learned a lot that will help Assumption.  One thing I have been exploring and beginning to work with is utilizing the programs public schools use to determine fiscal health.  While not all of the data “fits” perfectly due the differences in financial structure, with a little adjusting we have been able to get some great information.

Have a great weekend!

Updates for the Week 10-12-12

Just a few quick updates:

The new tech lab is finally completed! It seems like we have been talking about it for quite a while and it feels great to have students utilizing the lab. Check out some pictures of this great remodel.

Much of the week was spent cleaning up state reporting issues and preparing for upcoming meetings.  Our annual audit is occurring this week, which keeps the office (especially Carey) busy answering questions and providing paperwork to the auditors. On top of that, we had a Finance Committee meeting Friday morning to go over the amended budget. This is the first step before taking the budget to the School Board for a vote.  Things went very well and we look forward to the presenting the changes at the School Board meeting Monday.

Finally, I had a couple great conversations with alums and AHS supporters this week.  I would like to thank them for sharing not only the great things that they see occurring at Assumption, but also the areas where we could focus to make our great school even better. Thanks for your input!

Have a great weekend!

Andy

Updates for the Week 10/5/12

After much hard work by Eric Leuth and the rest of the maintenance/custodial staff, we are close to opening the new tech lab.  This vast improvement will hopefully be at full use on Tuesday of next week. Other facilities projects this week included the delivery of our new walk in cooler for the kitchen.  Our other cooler quit on us at the end of last school year, and this upgrade will be a huge benefit to our kitchen staff. 

We continue to work with St. Ambrose on their development of the St. Vincent’s property.  We will be looking at several different options through an ad hoc subcommittee of the board.  This potential partnership could create some tremendous opportunities for both schools and we all look forward to seeing how it progresses.  

The Scott County Principals met with representatives from the AEA on Tuesday to discuss the Iowa Core Curriculum math project and the implications for our schools.  The discussion centered around three concerns: how to best communicate the changes to parents, how acceleration can occur, and how to help them help their student when they are struggling.  It was good for us to hear the perspective of the AEA and for them to hear what our concerns are.  We will be continuing the discussion on how to proceed at today’s Scott County Principal’s Meeting.

Speaking of the SCPM, agenda items for today include: Algebra, eligibility for Middle School student sports and extra-curricular activities, Project Easier/BEDS, meeting with 7th & 8th Grade Language Arts teachers, online education, and pictures for the upcoming Focus Newsletter.

I had a great opportunity on Wednesday to meet with the teacher at JFK to talk about the Family Tuition Plan.  JFK is one of the Family Tuition Plan’s big success stories. Their increases in enrollment are the result of a lot of hard work, great teaching and some help from the Family Tuition Plan.  JFK hit their enrollment low in 2004 at 261.  Since then, their enrollment has continued to grow every year, and as a result the number of JFK students receiving assistance has also increased.  The graph below is a perfect example of the positive effects of the FTP program at JFK.

Thursday I attended the AEA superintendents meeting.  There was much discussion about reports from the Senate File 2284 Task Force Groups.  These groups have been looking at several educational subjects including: Competency-Based Instruction, Statewide Educator Evaluation, Early Childhood Assessment,  Teacher Leadership & Compensation, Teaching Standards & Criteria Review.  If you are interested in learning more about any of these, just click on the links.  The conversation centered around the 1080 hours of education per year instead of 180 days, the four tiered compensation system and allowable growth changes.  The only two that would have an impact on Assumption would be the hours and the compensation system.  Whether or not these changes occur will depend a lot on the upcoming elections in Iowa.  

Have a great weekend and don’t forget about the one act play, Cagebirds, on Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm.

Andy