District #139 Newsletter Our mission is to provide each learner with appropriate educational opportunities to reach his or her potential November 2011 In this issue... Letter from the Superintendent Community Education From the Principal's Desk General Information Counselor’s Corner Winter Sports Schedules Rush City It's Elementary In the Community Notes from Nurse Judi Early Childhood News TIGERS www.rushcity.k12.mn.us Fire Safety at Jacobson Elementary Letter from the Superintendent V. Koepp From the Principal's Desk S. Fuhs Dear District Resident, placed sixth grade teacher, Mary Kurvers, on special assignment (technology integration) and hired a sixth grade teacher to replace Events to remember: As I write this letter the unusual streak of warm weather has Ms. Kurvers. Welcome to teachers Stefanie Lofgren, grade one, yielded to more typical chilly fall weather and farmers are and Ashley Weis, grade six! • The musical this year is Annie and is scheduled for November 18th, and 19th at 7:00 p.m. and hurrying to harvest their crops before winter arrives. We November 20th at 2:00 p.m. are well into the school year, the first quarter and fall activi- Technology Integration – Technology continues to change how ties will end soon, and Parent-Teacher Conferences are just we shop, how we operate equipment and machines, how we • Yearbooks sales ended October 31st. If you still want to order one contact Carrie Kirchberg around the corner. gather information and make decisions, how we communicate, and how we learn. We try to stay abreast of and incorporate new at the high school. This newsletter contains information about upcoming school technologies that increase our efficiency and that enhance instruc- events and a lot of news about your local schools. Please tion, and it is no secret that our students often adjust more easily • The winter senior high band and choir concert is set for December 19th at 7:30 p.m. in the check your school calendar or the district web site for school to new technologies than the adults around them. theater. events and come on out to watch our students perform and to support them. Last spring we installed a robust wireless network at Jacobson El- ementary School and upgraded the High School wireless network, • The student application process for National Honor Society has begun. If you have any ques- Enrollment – After 4 years of declining enrollment, losing anticipating that we will see a huge increase in handheld devices tions about the application process, please call Mrs. Guentzel. about 25 students each year, we experienced an increase of used to access the Internet by staff and students. We have interac- about 20 students last year and we are up about 20 students tive whiteboards, or Smart Boards, in most of our classrooms, two • 8th hour study hall help is still available and can be a great resource for your child to improve again this fall, compared to last May. Most area schools computer labs at Jacobson Elementary, and two hard-wired labs grades or just get some help on schoolwork. continue to see flat or declining enrollment, so we are very and two mobile labs at the High School. This year our Preschool pleased with the enrollment increases and we will continue teachers are using a Smart Board and eight iPads to enhance to stretch our resources to provide great opportunities for our learning in our Preschool. • The end of the 1st quarter is November 4th. Parent Teacher conferences are set for Novem- students. ber 9th (5:00 – 8:30 p.m.) and November 10th (12:00 – 4:00 & 5:00 to 8:30 p.m.). Report We helped three of our teachers become certified Smart Board cards will be handed out at conferences. Please stop in the office and pick up the report card After reviewing District financial information, knowing that trainers, but realized that we needed to provide more opportuni- when you arrive for conferences. Students and parents are highly encouraged to attend con- the enrollment increase would also mean additional revenue, ties for teachers to effectively tap into the potential that different and responding to larger classes in grade one, the School technologies offer, and we needed to provide time for teachers to ferences. This is a great opportunity to discover the academic possibilities that are offered at Board decided to add a teacher in first grade. The Board develop lessons using Smart Boards and other technologies. Rush City High School. The counselor, Mrs. Larson, and myself will be available for any ques- tions you may have. Rush City School District #139 The School Board has approved a “technology integration” position and one of our teachers, Mary Kurvers, has agreed to Congratulations to coach Kevin Smith for being named the Great River Conference Cross Country PO Box 566 take on the challenge of helping other teachers integrate Smart Rush City, MN 55069 Boards, virtual field trips, student response systems, and other Coach of the Year! District Office 358-4855 technologies into daily instruction. Mary will serve as a “teacher Superintendent Vern Koepp on special assignment” this year, providing technology training, Easy Ways to help your child succeed in school: consultation, and follow up for teachers. I’m excited to see the Make family time a priority! benefits to our students! High School 358-4795 For teens, having regular dinners with their families is a strong predictor of academic success, psycho- High School Principal Stuart Fuhs Staff Recognition – Congratulations to paraprofessionals KC logical adjustment, and lower rates of alcohol use, drug use, eating disorders and risk of suicide. Kids Brown and Annette Hanson-Sias for being selected by their peers who eat most often with their parents are 40% more likely to say they get mainly A’s and B’s in school Jacobson Elementary 358-4724 than kids who have two or fewer family dinners a week. Elementary Principal Melody Tenhoff Continue on Page 11 Rush City Schools website Save Aluminum Tabs for Math 7 www.rushcity.k12.mn.us School Closings Reminder The Rush City High School Math 7 classes, once again, School Board All Rush City closing or late start announcements are collecting aluminum pop tabs. Our goal is to reach will be made on the following radio and television 1,000,000 as soon as possible. We currently have approxi- Chairperson Scott Tryon Rush City High School is still collecting Box Tops stations. Closings in the Rush City School District mately 750,000. The purpose is to realize and visualize how Vice-Chair Carol Cook for Education. Please drop them off at the school will include the Early Childhood Program and the St. much is in one million. Once our goal is reached, all pop tabs Clerk Brian Anderson office. For more information, visit btfe.com or con- Croix River Education District. will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House. Please save Treasurer Stefanie Folkema tact Tami Knudson, Rush City High School Box AM 830 WCCO your aluminum tabs and give them to any seventh grader or Director Brenda Nessel Tops Coordinator, at [email protected] AM 1350 WCMP drop them off at the high school office for Paula Bengtson. Director Channa Tastsides or 358-4795. WCCO television Channel 4 Thank you for your past and continued support! 2 3 Counselor's Corner H. Larson MINNESOTA COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT RESULTS Welcome back to another school year! It's hard to believe that When the District calendar was published in August we did not have MCA results for 2011. Rush City MCA results were recently received and are we are already a quarter of the way through. I would like to at colleges during their junior and/or senior years. We also make summarized below. A more complete summary is available on the District web site (www.rushcity.k12.mn.us) or by calling the District Office (320- take this opportunity to introduce myself as Rush City High use of Interactive Television (ITV) classes to expand course of- 358-4855). School's Guidance Counselor. I am coming to Rush City from ferings to our students. Instructors at another school teach these classes, and our students have the opportunity to participate in The Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) are given in grades 3-11. The State of Minnesota uses these test results to hold school accountable St. Louis, Missouri where I spent three years as a high school and to measure student performance related to the Minnesota Academic Standards. To comply with the federal No Child Left Behind law, students in counselor. Before that, I spent two years counseling in Minne- class activities and discussions with students from 2-3 other schools. grades 3-8 are required to take MCA’s for reading and math. To comply with state law, students in grades 5, 8, and 10 take a Science MCA, students in sota, one as an elementary counselor and one as a High School grade 9 take a Writing MCA, students in grade 10 take a Reading MCA, and students in grade 11 take a Math MCA. Counselor. I am very excited to work with the students at Rush City High School and look forward to a great year. If you have On-Line Access to Student Grades Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for a school building or school district is calculated for student sub-groups in four areas: 1) Participation-taking questions or concerns, please contact me at (320) 358-1267 or Many parents have been taking advantage of the parent access MCA’s, 2) Proficiency on MCA’s, 3) Attendance, and 4) Graduation rate.