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Articles from December 2015

Superheroes Remind Kids to Attend School Every Day

Attendance Man and his canine sidekick Super Daisy spent time at Big Truck Day this weekend to remind students to attend school every day so they can be attendance superheroes.

Check out the photos:

View the photos

Big Truck Day, sponsored by Parents as Teachers and the Carnegie-Stout Public Library, was a chance for area kids to see, touch and explore large vehicles such as a school bus, Jule bus, fire engine, semi and construction equipment. Members of the district’s transportation department were on hand with a yellow school bus.

Hempstead High School Named State’s Best School Recycling Program

Hempstead High School was recently named recipient of the Iowa Award for Excellence in Recycling (Best School Recycling Program) given by the Iowa Recycling Association. Representatives from Hempstead’s Green Team received the award on July 23 at the association’s annual luncheon. The group was nominated for the award by Bev Wagner, education coordinator for the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency, who was also named the state’s Recycler of the Year at the event.

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Bryant Window Project Rejuvenates School

Through a generous donation to the Dubuque Community School District, John and Alice Butler are funding the replacement and renovation of windows and doors at Bryant Elementary School to return them to their appropriate historic style. In addition, the project will include new historical exterior lighting at the school. Cost of the project, and amount of the donation, is $780,000.

Work is underway and the progress so far is amazing. View photos from ongoing renovation.

Community Partnership for Reading Support Positively Impacts Students

Students in the Dubuque Community School District who worked with reading tutors from the AmeriCorps Partners in Learning program built relationships and worked hard to improve their reading proficiency. Looking back on their work over the last school year, the results show a positive impact on reading proficiency.

According to results of the DIBELS assessment, 67 percent of students who worked with an AmeriCorps member 30 times or more over the course of the 2014-2015 school year increased their composite reading score. Attendance was also positively impacted through the AmeriCorps mentoring, with 96 percent of the same students attending school at a 90 percent or greater attendance rate.

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District Communication Efforts Win National and State Awards

The Dubuque Community School District was recently recognized for its communication efforts at both the national and state level.

At the national level, the district was recognized by the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) with an Award of Merit for an episode of the District-Wide Update produced by the district. The award was part of NSPRA’s Publications and Electronic Media Awards, which recognize outstanding education communication materials.

The district also received three national awards in the 2015 Hometown Media Awards including the award for Overall Excellence in Educational Programming (for budgets under $300,000). The district also received the award for Best Web-Based Program for the Roosevelt Middle School Orientation video and an honorable mention in the Magazine Show category for the District-Wide Update. This national awards program for cable access programming is sponsored by the Alliance for Community Media, an organization committed to promoting civic engagement through community media.

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Elementary Schools to Provide Friday Morning Early Drop-off Option

Across the district, we have seen great benefit in the weekly Friday morning professional learning opportunities for our teaching staff.

Because this time is so valuable to the education we deliver, and given recent changes in the Y-Care fee structure for Friday-morning-only usage, all elementary schools in the Dubuque Community School District will offer an early drop-off option for families needing accommodations for the one-hour Friday late arrivals.

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Molony to Become New Jefferson Middle School Principal

Kelly Molony

Kelly Molony

The Dubuque Community School District is pleased to announce the appointment of Kelly Molony as the new principal of Jefferson Middle School, approved by the Board of Education at its June 8 meeting. An experienced educational administrator, Molony just completed her tenth year as assistant principal of Roosevelt Middle School.

As principal of Jefferson, Molony will be responsible for the strategic and day-to-day operations of the school, which serves approximately 600 students and has over 100 professional and support staff.

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