dmps community report - february 2013

7/28/2019 DMPS Community Report - February 2013

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Legislative Priori

Celebrating ourAchievements

Sweet Treats andViews at Centra

Kindergarten Sig

District-Wide Ar

Des Moines Public Schools

COMMUNITY REPORTDMPS

February 2013

DMPS Community Report | FEBRUARY 2013

There used to be the luxury ofassuming that few public spaces wereas benign as schoolhouses. But, tragicevents like those at Columbine Highin Colorado and Sandy HookElementary in Connecticut illustratewhy safety and security are toppriorities for public schools.

DMPS stopped taking saety and securityor granted years ago. In this area, thedistrict is ahead o the curve.

Te use o technology plays a key rolein secure schools.

For example, in 2008, when theaverage percentage o badged employeesamong members o the Council o GreatCity Schools, a consortium o many othe nations largest metropolitan districts,was only 31%, Des Moines was alreadyat 100%. Over that same timerame the

percentage o district acilities equippewith security card access has doubled t100% and the number o those units

installed in buildings has tripled rom111 to 328.In 2006, 17 district buildings had

security cameras. oday, its 44 andgrowing each year. Te number o camhas increased veold, rom 96 to 468,not counting security cameras installedschool buses.

School building renovationsthroughout the district over the pastdecade have also put saety and securit

rst, according to DMPS ChieOperations Ocer, Bill Good. Ironicaon the day o the carnage at Sandy HoI was attending a meeting on this verytopic o school security, he said. Ternothing we take more seriously.

Safe and Secure Schools: A Top Priority

Continued on Page


2/11

One example is re-designingschools so that more centralized andsecure entrances are in place, withoces that have a better vantageo who is entering and exiting theschool and in more cases requiringvisitors to enter through the oce.More and more classrooms are alsobeing tted with intruder locks aspart o school improvements.

And mobile classrooms, whichare both hard to secure as well asinecient, are on their way out.DMPS has gone rom 34 mobile unitsin 2008 to 15 this year, 3 o whichare not in use and 3 more that willgo away ater this school year. Tatrepresents a reduction rom about71,000 square eet o modular unitssix years ago to just 38,000 squareeet today (to put that in perspective,school buildings at DMPS total morethan 5.5 million square eet).

By the time the 2013-14school year begins six more o thedistricts 69 buildings will havebeen renovated, including saetyupgrades, as another $39 million

worth o capital improvements arecompleted.

Good also points out that DMPSis the only school district in thestate he is aware o which maintainsits own ull-time security orce.Te 10-person security staf is onduty 24/7/365. Te security stafdoes patrols, primarily respondingto alarms at schools and overallmonitoring o district properties.In addition, the staf monitors allsecurity cameras, key card accessunit, re and intruder alarms,along with the districts BuildingAutomation System which tracksheating, cooling and mechanicalissues at each school.

Last but not least, while manydistricts across the country are

rushing to add a police presencein their schools in the wake o theSandy Hook tragedy, DMPS hashad uniormed School ResourceOcers (SROs) on duty since1998, a year prior to Columbine.SROs are ocers o the Des MoinePolice Department and, underan agreement between the schooldistrict and the city, are assignedull-time to each high school alongwith two additional ocers whowork with the middle schools.

Te reality in Des Moines isthat our schools are being madedemonstrably saer every year. Tatis a commitment that will not endand a process that will continue asthe district is constantly looking atways to improve.

Safe and Secure

Schools: A Top

Priority

Continued from Page 1...

North High Robotics TeamsHeaded for StateTwo teams from North High School created multi-functional robots for competition

in the regional division of the First Tech Challenge (FTC) held on January 11 at North

High School.

FTC is a national event to involve students in science, technology and engineering

educational opportunities. In competition, two robots square off against each other in a

12-foot-square playing eld during a timed event. This years event was a ring challenge

where the robots picked up a color ring and tried to place it on a tic-tac-toe board.

Both teams advanced to the state competition held at the University of Iowa

Memorial Union in Iowa City in February. For more information about the First Tech

Challenge, visit: www.usrst.org.

Miles Loomis, director of security for DMPS, and his staff are one part of the schoo

districts safety and security efforts.


3/11

With the 2013 session of theIowa General Assembly underwayat the State Capitol, Des MoinesPublic Schools is engaging stateleader to identify ways in whichgreater exibility can be provided

to large, diverse school districtsto better address studentachievement. The School Boardidentied this as the districts top

legislative priority.

Achieving this goal could includeproviding better dened waiverauthority to the Iowa Departmento Education so that districtssuch as DMPS have the toolsand fexibility to improve studentsuccess in a variety o areas.

Examples o possible areas orgreater fexibility that would benet

students include:

Extend the time or studentswho need additional ELLsupport;

Use districts greater fexibilityin the use o At-Risk undsor student improvements;

Allow districts to register anystudent in a Post-Secondary

Enrollment Option course,regardless o their IowaAssessment scores;

Exempt a district rom therule requiring designationo one world language as adistricts world language;

Allow 8th grade students totake high school level coursesas a district sees t.

In addition, Des Moines PublicSchools is a ounding member othe Urban Education Network,which now represents the largest 18school districts in Iowa educatingmore than 36% o our statespublic school students. Te 2013legislative priorities o the UENmember school districts are:

Educational Policy

Student Assessment: Te UENsupports assessments aligned withthe Common Core, like SmarterBalanced, including ormative andend-o-course assessments. Wesupport a college readiness test, suchas AC, or all eleventh-graders.Iowas state assessment should bea criterion-reerenced assessment

that recognizes growth and testsgrade-level specic content. Whilewe support the value o norm-reerenced assessments, they shouldnot be used or accountabilitypurposes.Preschool: Quality preschool

should be provided or all studentsthrough the statewide voluntarypreschool program.

Literacy: Additional stateunding is required to meet higherexpectations or literacy at all levelsand to deliver targeted interventionprograms or all students belowprociency.Evaluation o Instructional Staf:Student achievement growth datashould be one o multiple measuresincluded in educator evaluation.Local Flexibility Level PlayingField or School Choice: Publicschools should be allowed the samefexibility and autonomy oered tocharter schools.Teacher Compensation and Time:Te UEN supports changes toteacher compensation that elevatethe teaching proession, encourageteacher leadership, and dierentiateteacher responsibilities ocused onstudent learning. Tese investmentsmust be accompanied by increasedtime or proessional developmentand student instruction, driven bystudent needs at the local level.

Adequate andEquitable Funding

Adequate Funding/AllowableGrowth: Te legislature shoulddevelop a multi-year plan to raiseIowa expenditures per pupil to thenational average. Te equivalent o16% allowable growth would bridgethe 2012-13 gap.

DMPS Focuses on Priorities

At Legislature

Continued on Page 4..


4/11

Property Tax Equity Reorm andFunding Iowa Schools: Actions toimprove property taxpayer equityare more important than measuresthat only address commercialproperty taxes. Property tax reormor all taxpayers and targeted relieto those in high-tax rate districtswill be delivered by the ollowingactions:

PER: Fund the Propertyax Equity and Relie Fundso that no school district hasan Additional Property axLevy above the state averageto guarantee dollar-or-dollarproperty tax relie.

State Funding or SpecialPopulations: Replace local

property taxes with stateunds to cover the shortallsin special education andEnglish-language learnerlocal unding. Tese actionsguarantee dollar-or-dollarproperty tax relie.

Dropout Prevention: Supportschool districts with highnumbers o students at risko dropping out. A ormulaweighting o 0.3 appliedto ree- and reduced-lunchenrollment would supportIowas neediest studentswhile reducing property taxescurrently unding dropoutprevention.

Equalize the district costper pupil in the School

Foundation Formula, toclose the $175 gap in perpupil unding in schooldistricts general unds. In FY2013, 170 o the 348 schooldistricts were limited to a costper pupil o $6,001 while theremaining 178 districts wereallowed as much as $175 perpupil higher. State unding toclose the gap would provideair resources to Iowas schooldistricts currently below themaximum per pupil cost andrelieve property taxes or theothers. o minimize annualnancial impact to the state,the UEN supports a three-year phase-in to eliminatethis disparity.

DMPS Focuses on Priorities At LegislatureContinued rom Page 4...

Even with young andinexperienced team members,the Roosevelt debate team is stillmaking their presence knownstatewide and around the nation.

Earlier in January, the team wonthe state runner-up title in theIowa High School State SpeechAssociation (IHSSA) State Debate

ournament losing only to WestDes Moines Valley. Individually,junior Luke Teuma led the wayplacing second in student congress;seniors Crystal and Stephanie Houwere semi-nalists in policy debate;and sophomore Emma Weddlewas a quarter-nalist in LincolnDouglas Debate.

Several students were octo-nalists in Public Forum Debate:Murphy Burke, Julianna CourardHauri, Nolan Bursch and AngierDok. In Student Congress,sophomore Elena Hildrabrandt justmissed placing in the top ve. Othersreceiving honors in Student Congresswere: reshman Danny Drane, seniorom Brown and junior Claire Yocom.

Te past our years we havebeen second, rst, rst and nowsecond in the IHSSA state debatetournament, said head coach HarryStrong. Tis was perhaps the mostsatisying o the placements giventhe youth o our team.

Roosevelt has won every majorextemp championship thus ar this

season with junior Lily Nellansand senior Nathan Leys trading

o championships. Senior CarolynEvans has placed right behind themin those events.

Te team will compete in theAll Iowa Finals in March.

Strong, who is in his ninthseason with the Roosevelt debateteam, was honored last year as IowaDebate Coach o the Year.

Roosevelt Debate Team

Conquers Competitions

Roosevelt debate coach Harry Strong wfor results with junior debator Lily Nel


5/11

North High Schools AcademicDecathlon Team, coached byMark

SchmidtandArchie Cook, wonthe regional contest in Januaryand will be competing in the statecompetition on March 1 and 2.Individual awards were earned byJulius embe, Cody McKeehan,Mariama Corneh, Brian Schulze,Charles Overton, and JakeSanderman.

Jennier Medina, East High

School Debate Coach, was nameda diamond coach by Te NationalForensic League ollowing theteams superb showing at a debatecompetition in December.

Central Campus automotivestudents Brandon Cramblitand

Jonah Bassettwon the hands-on portion o the 21st annualAutomotive Skills Contest atDMACC.

Ryan Ramsey, Roosevelt HighSchool senior, has been nominatedby Senator Grassley to the USNaval Academy.

Hoover High Schools Real World

Design Team participated in theReal World Design Challengestate competition at the ScienceCenter o Iowa on January 26.Tis years challenge was to design

an unmanned aircrat that couldperorm search and rescue missions.

eam members were Tomas Read,Matt Murr, Dylan Mangano, andMarissa VanElsen and coach MarkSchnurstein.

East High School junior ColbyCarmichael played in the UnderArmour All-American baseballgame held January 26-27 in ucson,Arizona.

Luke Sheeley, Roosevelt HighSchool senior, was the overallwinner in the Know YourConstitution statewide essaycontest.

Thirteen Central Academy

students and a ninth graderfrom Gateway Middle Schoolwere selected as nalists in the

Iowa State Bar Associations

Young Lawyers Division KnowYour Constitution contest inDecember.

Of the top state nalists, Roosevelt

High School senior Luke Sheeley wasselected as the overall essay winner.

Other nalists were AbbyCallaghan (Hoover), Olin Carty(Roosevelt), Caroline Closson (VanMeter), Mark Gee Jr. (Johnston),Elena Hicks (Gateway), William Karr(Roosevelt), Alex Lopez (North),Will Percival (Roosevelt), PrismaRuacho (East), Luke Sheeley,Benjamin Sides (Lincoln), JoshSwagler (North), Nathan Walton

(Van Meter), and Demetrius Watson

(Roosevelt).The Know Your Constitution

project is designed to enrichstudents understanding and

appreciation of the Constitution.The students participating in theproject were required to familiarizethemselves with Constitution relatedissues. A quiz was completed byeach participating student. An essayquestion accompanied the quiz incase of a tie.

One hundred nalists were

selected from the more than 1,000students across the State of Iowawho participated in the Know YourConstitution competition. Thenalists were honored at a luncheon

at the West Des Moines MarriottHotel in West Des Moines on January11. This years Keynote Speaker

for the event was the Honorable

Judge Stephanie Rose, Federal

District Court for the SouthernDistrict of Iowa.

The Know Your Constitution

essay competition is a fantastic wayfor our students to think creativelyabout how the nearly 250 year-oldUnited States constitution appliesto current problems and situations,said Crista Carlile, Central Academysupervisor. These nalists were

selected from among Iowas brightest

and most talented students for

their deep understanding of ourgovernment, and for their ability toarticulate their knowledge in a well-crafted essay.

This program is sponsored byThe Iowa State Bar Association,with additional funding from theIowa State Bar Foundation andmany of the county Bar Associationsacross Iowa.

This regular feature of the DMPS Community Report highlights awards and achievements of district students and staff.Please let us know if you have a notable achievement to share by e-mailing Sarah Taylor at [email protected] are some achievements from the past few months.

Celebrating Our Achievements

DMPS Students Win Know Your Constitution Contest


6/11

It is not the critic who counts; not theman who points out how the strongman stumbles, or where the doer odeeds could have done them better.Te credit belongs to the man who isactually in the arena, whose ace ismarred by dust and sweat and blood;who strives valiantly; who errs, who

comes short again and again, becausethere is no efort without error andshortcoming; but who does actuallystrive to do the deeds; who knowsgreat enthusiasms, the great devotions;who spends himsel in a worthy cause;who at the best knows in the end thetriumph o high achievement, andwho at the worst, i he ails, at leastails while daring greatly, so that hisplace shall never be with those cold

and timid souls who neither knowvictory nor deeat.

Teodore Roosevelt

Te girls playing basketball orNorth High School may notrealize it, but they are the veryembodiment o that amous quote.

Tis is no celebration o losing.Its a salute to eort. And its not

a sympathy card to the Bad News(Polar) Bears. Its in admiration oa team that remains one amilydespite a run o adversity thatwould have lesser kids tossing inthe towel.

As January turned the cornerinto February the Polar Bears

record was a rosty 0-18. But theirrecord is not refected in the waythey still go about their business.Absenteeism at practice is not anissue. Teir collective spirit remainsundeeated.

I you think its tough justgetting up and going to work orschool on sub-zero mornings, tryand put yoursel in the trunks oJV swimmers who are in the pool

swimming laps beore dawn. Tatswhat you call paying dues. Or thesinglets o novice wrestlers whospend the winter getting takendown and pinned. Tats a toughway to learn. Or the shoes o awinless basketball team runningsprints the day ater the latest in astring o losses. Tats perseverancethat ew have in them.

As i things werent toughenough or rst-year coach MichaelStanley and his squad they lost seniorRichelle Jimerson to a knee injury.Stanley describes Jimerson as thestates premiere shot-blocker. Shesplayed or ve coaches in her ouryears at North.

Ten junior sparkplug SebrinaDixon went down, also with aknee injury. Both Dixon andJimerson still show up or practicewhere able-bodied teammates stillrun sprints commensurate to thenumber o turnovers committed intheir most recent game.

Senior Shantell Cortezsuited up uesday night ater thegrandmother she lived with passed

away suddenly the day beore. Shetoo was at practice Wednesday.Where else would she go? Aterall, her teammates are amily.Tats what it says on the teamsschedule poster and thats what itlooks like when you see the girlstogether. While they may not betaken seriously as a basketballteam by outsiders theyre veryserious about each other and

their utures.Te kids I hear making un

o us at school are the losers whodont try anything, says Dixon,who also participates in track andstudent council and has her sightsset on a Science Bound scholarshipto Iowa State. Why should I carewhat they think? Tey dont seehow hard we work.

As a senior Jimerson sometimes

eels additional weight rom all thelosing. Last year the team won onlyonce. It hurts that we dont getmore support and I wish I could domore, she says sotly, looking away.Jimerson, too, runs track and planson attending Simpson College nextyear where she hopes to continueboth sports.

North Girls Basketball:

Team Equals Family

Continued on Page 7..

Junior Mikayla Carey catches her breath after running sprints at a recent practicefor the North girls basketball team.


7/11

How does a coach hold a teamtogether during a season so emptyo triumph? Stanley looks evenyounger than his 32 years and hisinectious enthusiasm is undauntedas he awaits that elusive rst victory.He grew up playing the gamehimsel in Detroit and coachedmost recently at Sioux City Northbeore coming here. Besides injuriesthe only attrition on the roster camewhen one girl quit nine minutesinto the rst practice o the season,beore even one game was lost. Terest o the girls have been all in.

Many o them have nobackground in basketball,Stanley points out, noting that ittakes a while to master the nerpoints when you have to start outexplaining the dierence between

an assist and a rebound. But thereis no quit in any o them. I tellthem all the time that they are alllearning lie lessons rom basketballthat have nothing to do withwinning or losing a game.

Ten he takes the court andgoes into a drill aimed at teachingthe team that its more ecientto move the ball by passing thandribbling. Weve done a goodjob o reducing our backcourtturnovers, he reminds them,gesturing toward the opposite endo the practice court. So lookhow ar weve come rom where westarted and how much closer we areto our goals. Right on cue they runa play where the ball never touchesthe foor until it alls through thebasket ater a layup.

North Girls Basketball: Team Equals Family

The Roosevelt High School boys swim

team won the CIML Metro Conference

title on January 26. Swimmers from

Roosevelt, Lincoln and Hoover willcompete at the state meet on

February 9 in Marshalltown.

East High continues as home to one

of the top girls basketball teams in Iowa.

As of this writing, the Scarlets are ranked

eighth in the state with a record of 18-2.

The Hoover Huskies hold a slide edge

over the Roosevelt Roughriders in therace for the boys basketball crown in

the CIML Metro Conference.

The Lincoln High School boys bowling

team won the 2013 CIML Metro

Conference championship on

February 7. The Lincoln girls nished

second in the CIML Metro.

Wrestlers compete in district meets February 9 to determine qualiers fo

the 2013 State Tournament. East, Lin

and Roosevelt each have wrestlers

ranked among the top ten in Iowa.

Continued from Page 6...


8/11

Talk about an extreme makeover!

One night the Multi-Purpose Roomat Central Campus is the site or theregular meetings o the Des MoinesSchool Board. Another day at noon,the same space might be occupiedby the Central Campus Ca, atasty little bistro with signature potpie and chocolate cake (hard tobelieve its any better than eitherthe chocolate cream pie or bananacake with cream cheese rosting that

were on the dessert tray recently)complemented stunning views othe Western Gateway through foorto ceiling windows, all courtesy othe DMPS Culinary Arts programheaded by Elaine Wol.

I youre ed up, so to speak,with paying too much or amediocre meal prepared andserved by an indierent sta, thentreat yoursel to lunch at this

too-little known spot at the edgeo downtown thats smack in the

middle o the great things going onat the DMPS Career and echnicalEducation Institute.

You might want to requestEmmanuel Contreras-Ramos, anattentive, cheerul and inormativesenior at Lincoln High School,as your server except that on theday you visit he might be on arotation in the kitchen as a baker ormanning the host/hostess stand as

the matre d de jour. All o the kidsin the program get a taste o each othe roles required in the operationo a good restaurant. Many o themalso have part-time jobs at or-protrestaurants around town in additionto their schoolwork in the business.

One o the nice touchesnoticed by diners when the careopened or the 2nd semester onJanuary 24th was that each table is

urnished with its own pitcher o icewater. Its the little things.

Wol explained that proceeds,including tips, rom the ca arerecycled back into the program andused to oset the cost o not onlyoodstus and other supplies, butalso to deray ees associated withstudents entering district, state andregional culinary competitions

where the program has built anaward-winning track record.

Che Wol holds a degree inRestaurant Management romMiami o Ohio and has a wide-ranging career background in theeld that runs the gamut rominstitutional oodservice to nedining. Shes been at CentralCampus since 2004.

Approximately 30 kidsare enrolled in the two-yearprogram. Te rst year students

concentrate on basic cookingand the second years learn aboutquantity preparation and restaurantmanagement. Tey sta the caoperation which is necessarilylimited by constraints like classschedules.

Besides the days when the cais open to the public or lunch(listed below), Wol wants you toknow that she and her apprentices

are available or special eventcatering on site at Central Campuswhere they operate out o anupdated commercial kitchen thatwas part o the ongoing renovationsthere. Recently they prepared andserved a luncheon hosted by thedistrict or Central Iowa lawmakersin advance o the annual legislativesession that convenes every January.

Sweet Treats

and Views at

Central Caf

If youre looking to bepampered at drive-thru pricesthen circle at least one of thefollowing dates on your lunch

calendar:

Winter Dates: February 15, 22,28 & March 8 (spring schedule to be

announced).

Seating Hours: 10:55 A.M. 12:30P.M. Methods of Payment: Cash/checks;

no credit cards

Parking: The lot on the north sideof Grand Ave. directly across the streetfrom Central Campus is open to thepublic starting at 11:20 A.M. on days

when the caf is open.

Reservations: Not necessary butappreciated for groups of six ormore. Call 242-7868 or [email protected]

Patrons enjoy lunch at Central Campus Caf.


9/11

East High School has beencrowned Division Champions inthe Get Schooled Foundations

Fall Attendance Challenge for the

second consecutive year.

A total o 225 middle and highschools signed up to participatein the Get Schooled 2012 FallAttendance Challenge. More thanthree quarters o schools active inthe Challenge boosted their schoolattendance. East High Schoolsoverall attendance increase was 2.68percent during the all challenge.

Te students at East HighSchool have amazed us again thisyear with their extra eort to makeit to class and work hard in school,said Steve Johns, East High SchoolPrincipal.

As a reward or winning theirdivision, East High School will bea stop on the Get Schooled Victoryour on March 14. As part o theVictory our, a celebrity will serve as

Get Schooled Celebrity Principal or

the Day at the school. Te celebritywill connect with students in theirclassrooms and host a school-wideassembly as part o the celebration o

the students achievements.Its not yet been announced

who the celebrity will be whovisits East but past Get SchooledCelebrity Principals or the Dayhave included Nicki Minaj, Ne-Yoand Big Sean.

Get Schooled has ocused onattendance as a critical metric inschool and student perormancebecause it is one o the best

predictors o high school graduationrates and college readiness rates.Despite its importance, a JohnsHopkins study released earlier thisyear estimates that 7.5 millionstudents in the United States missa month or more o school, puttingthem at risk or ailing to learn keyskills and potentially dropping outo high school.

Get Schooled partners in the

Challenge included Alleyoop,

Dreamworks Animation,iCivics, the Jason Project,MV, the National Cable andelecommunications Association(NCA), Paramount Pictures, andSporcle, along with talent headlinerslike One Direction and Ciara.

Get Schooled collaboratedwith these partners on a series oactivities designed to inspire andmotivate students during the Fall

Attendance Challenge.As a result, at East High

School alone, students playedmore than 6,000 educationalgames, recognized more than1,600 teachers, sought out close to5,000 online educational resourcesvia a scavenger hunt and signedup or over 500 wake up calls.Participation in these activitiescontributed to the overall score or

the schools in the competition.

Parents with children enteringkindergarten for the 2013-2014 school

year may sign up beginning in February.

Already Have Children

Attending DMPS?

Parents or guardians who already havechildren attending a traditional or year-

round school in the district (including

preschool) may sign up on Monday, February

18, 2013 at their neighborhood school.

New to DMPS?

Families who are new to the district can

sign up one of the following ways:

Visit the Welcome Center on

Monday, February 18, 2013

from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. No

appointment is needed during

this time.

Visit North High School (501

Holcomb) on Tuesday, March

5, 2013 or Tuesday, March 26,

2013 from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. Noappointment is needed during

this time.

Call the Welcome Center at

(515) 242-7371 to make an

appointment. Appointments

will be scheduled beginning on

February 19.

The Welcome Center is located at

1301 2nd Avenue. Hours of operation are

8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Everyone is required to bring the

following documents to kindergarten

sign up:

Birth certicate;

Resident verication (two of the

following items: rental or purchase

agreement, valid identication,utility bill, cell phone bill or credit

card statement);

Immunization records;

Home Language Survey;

Registration Form

Please be aware that children must be

ve years old by September 15, 2013 to

enroll for the 2013-2014 school year.

Families may call 515-242-7725 with

any questions about the sign up process.

East High Once Again Wins Get

Schooled Attendance Challenge

Kindergarten Sign Ups to be Held in February
http://www.dmschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/homelangsurvey.pdfhttp://www.dmschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/New-Student-RegistrationForm-rev-11-12-13-14-school-yr-pdf-2.pdfhttp://www.dmschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/New-Student-RegistrationForm-rev-11-12-13-14-school-yr-pdf-2.pdfhttp://www.dmschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/homelangsurvey.pdf


10/11

Conventional wisdom holds thatthe best way to deal with bullies

is to stand up to them. And thatswhat Lincoln High School didlast month throughout Black OutBullying (BOB) Week at the schoolfrom January 28 February 1,sponsored by Lincoln Leadershipand teacher Cynthia Sayles.

Leadership is actually a class orelective credit taught by Sayleswho also teaches journalism and

is the aculty sponsor or studentcouncil. Five years ago she begana conversation about developinga class that ocuses on leadershipqualities and community service.Te curriculum is based on theNational Association o StudentCouncils (NASC) Leaders Programand requires students to alsoparticipate in relevant activitiesoutside o the school day.

As a group, in discussing ourmission statement, we decidedthat one o our goals would beto improve the school climateby ocusing on how we treated eachother in school and particularlythrough the use o socialmedia, explained Sayles. In thiscontext climate change is a goodthing. With a partner, studentsresearched bullying awarenessprograms across the country andcreated an entire week o impactul,visual and engaging activitiesdesigned to make students awareo the many orms o bullyingand its impact on individuals,she added.

Te goal o the BullyingAwareness week was to engagestudents in a refective processdesigned to educate and changetheir perspectives about bullying,said Amber Boyd, Lincolns SchoolImprovement Leader. Studentswere conronted with personalexperiences, statistics, and anopportunity to actively pledgeto take a stand against all ormso bullying.

Te leadership students made200 posters that went up all aroundthe building in preparation orBOB Week. Announcements weremade each morning to remindand encourage the students.Skits and poetry readings tookplace during lunch in the studentcommons. Other activitiessprinkled throughout the weekincluded distribution o bullyingawareness wristbands, grade-by-grade assemblies, essay sharing wallsand Mix it Up Day when studentswere encouraged to share lunchwith people outside their normalsocial circle. Everything culminatedon Friday, designated as Black OutBullying Day when black t-shirtswere suggested as a uniorm symbolo support or heightened bullyingawareness.

We are going to revisit theideas introduced (during BOBWeek) throughout the remaindero the year and continue tochallenge students to be aware obullying and what they can doto continue to improve the LHSclimate, said Sayles.

0

Lincoln Fights

Back Against

Bullies


11/11

More DMPS News and InformationAvailable Online and On Air

Des Moines Public Schools is the largest provider of public education in Iowa, whichmeans one newsletter alone cannot provide all of the information or share all ofthe stories about everything taking place in your school district. More news and

information is always available online and on air.

ONLINEYou can nd information on our schools, news stories, data, contacts, and more on

the DMPS web site at www.dmschools.org. In addition, follow DMPS on the followingsocial media sites:

Facebook: facebook.com/dmschools Twitter: twitter.com/dmschools Tumblr: dmschools.tumblr.com Pinterest: pinterest.com/dmschools

ON THE AIRTune in to DMPS-TV on Mediacom Cable channels 85 and 97-3 at

any time to see stories about programs and events from throughout the schooldistrict. If you do not subscribe to cable television, you can still view stories online at

www.dmschools. org. And if youre in the mood for interesting talk and music, tuneinto Des Moines Public Schools own radio station - KDPS 88.1 - where your hosts

are students from Central Campus and GrandView University.

The Des Moines Independent Community School District does not discriminate on the basis of

race, color, national origin, gender, disability, religion, creed, age (for employment), marital status

(for programs), sexual orientation, gender identity and socioeconomic status (for programs)

in its educational programs and its employment practices. There is a grievance procedure for

processing complaints of discrimination. If you have questions or a grievance related to this

policy, please contact the districts Equity Coordinator Patricia Lantz, General Counsel, 901

Walnut Street, Des Moines, IA 50309; phone: 515.242.7837; email: [email protected].

The DMPS Community Repo

FEBRUARY 2013 | Vol. 5 No.

The DMPS Community Report is now

published every other month by the

ofce of Community Relations.

Editor/Writer : Phil Roeder, Sarah Tay

Mike Wellman

Designer: Adam Rohwer

Photographer: Kyle Knicley, Jon Lemo

Des Moines Public Schools

Community Relations

901 Walnut Street

Des Moines, IA 50309

(515) 242-8162

www.dmschools.org

2012-2013 Board of Directors

Dick Murphy, Chair

Cindy Elsbernd, Vice Chair

Connie Boesen

Teree Caldwell-Johnson

Bill Howard

Joe Jongewaard

Pat Sweeney

DMPS Brings District-Wide Art

Show to Capital Square

Select students rom all Des Moines schools will have artwork on displayat Capital Square downtown beginning Tursday, February 7 throughTursday, February 14. Te week-long show will kick-o with a reception

on February 7 at 5:30 PM. Te Capital Square building is open daily rom5:30 AM to 8:30 PM.

REMINDERS

Tere will be no schoolor teachers, associates,or students on Monday,February 18.

Spring Break will be Marc15 March 22. No classewill be held during this ti

Snow days will be made on Monday-Wednesday,June 3, 4 and 5. I no mdays are cancelled due toweather, the last day orelementary and middleschools will be June 4 anthe last day or high schowill be June 5.
http://www.facebook.com/dmschoolshttp://www.twitter.com/dmschoolshttp://dmschools.tumblr.com/http://www.pinterest.com/dmschoolshttp://www.pinterest.com/dmschoolshttp://dmschools.tumblr.com/http://www.twitter.com/dmschoolshttp://www.facebook.com/dmschools

dmps community report - february 2013

Documents