School is officially back in session at Stanley-Boyd.
Opening to students Tuesday, Sept. 3 after 8 a.m., the local school district welcomed back students for another year.
Hired on by the district this year are nine new teachers: kindergarten teacher Lauren Krajacic, 4K teachers Lauren Anderson and Gretchen Hanlin, third grade teacher Andy Cavanaugh, fourth grade teacher Caitlin Solie, elementary special education teacher Jennifer Acker, sixth grade English Language Arts teacher Lynn Mohr, JAG Career Specialist Tyler Ewer, and High School Dean of Students and Activities Director Nathan Steinmetz.
Readers can learn more about Lynn Mohr this week on page 2. Nathan Steinmetz was covered last week.
Also new this year at Stanley-Boyd are facility upgrades and curriculum enhancements. As for the former, upper elementary upgrades made to better serve third through fifth grade students and their teachers are complete, while in curriculum enhancements, ACT 20 was passed by the legislature last year, with Stanley-Boyd ahead of the curve as state districts go on teaching reading.
“For many districts, this required a complete overhaul of how they teach reading, but our district is ahead of the curve as we already utilize many of the new instructional requirements,” District Superintendent Jeff Koenig explains. “We also continue to lead the area in elementary reading scores and are substantially above the state average.”
For facilitating district-parent communication, there’s the Stanley-Boyd App, available at the App Store, on Google Play, or as a web version0.
“As always, we encourage everyone to download the Stanley-Body App to stay informed on what is happening in our district,” Koenig says.
As for news from the August school board meeting, there’s plenty. Starting out the August meeting were Student Council and FCCLA, presenting on plans and activities respectively.
“We really want to get the privilege card back out into the community,” Seth Zastrow said for student council. Meant to inspire excellence, a privilege card rewards students for doing well, with rewards to be expanded this year beyond sports games. Looking to partner with area businesses, the Student Council seeks to engage students in what motivates them, which may or may not be sports related. Look for expanded opportunities for student achievers at Stanley-Boyd.
Also for this year, Student Council is looking to enhance freshman orientation with help from juniors and senior students. Freshmen are still getting used to high school, and having guidance from upperclassmen might be helpful.
Following Student Council at the August school board meeting, the FCCLA presented, with club officers updating the board on the group’s achievements. With 19 national qualifiers and 16 actually competing at nationals, the FCCLA wants to make its members leaders.
Also from school board, the board acknowledged a food service donation from Our Saviors’s Lutheran in the amount of $130 for delinquent lunch accounts, meant to help those having trouble making lunch account payments.
As for personnel changes, the board approved new hires for Lynn Bauer as elementary secretary, Alyssah Gilbert, Ashley Lewallen, Lisa Turek, and Alyssa Quadracci as paraprofessionals, and Lynn Mohr as a middle school teacher.
With no resignations for August, the school board approved Bridget Brenner as volunteer volleyball coach, Jake Fitzsimmons as assistant cross country coach, Ben Goettl as a volunteer middle school football coach, Kimberly Goettl as middle school volleyball coach, Danny Halterman as middle school wrestling coach, Brianna Schmitt as a voluneer cross country coach, Gloria Steivang as middle school volleyball coach, and Kayla Weltzin as assistant volleyball coach.