What's New at Dubuque Community Schools

The Dubuque Community School District Teacher of the Year was named at the annual Educators’ Recognition Dinner on May 5, hosted by the school district and the Dubuque Education Association.

Amy Haverland, a science teacher at Jefferson Middle School, was selected for the honor. Haverland has taught at Jefferson since 2005. She is also in a teacher leadership role at Jefferson, serving as one of the school’s 21st-century initiative leaders. “Amy is an educational innovator,” said one of her nominators. “[Her] enthusiasm is contagious and spreads to all those she encounters. Students leave her classroom with a feeling of confidence and a genuine love of science.”

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Hoover Elementary School will add a preschool classroom for the 2015-16 school year, providing a new preschool option in the Dubuque Community School District.

Parents and guardians may register students at Hoover beginning Monday, May 4, at the school. Proof-of-age, preferably a birth certificate, is required to register a student. A passport or signed immunization record will be accepted if necessary.

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Fourth and fifth grade students at Lincoln Elementary School will experience a collection of musical masterpieces on Wednesday, April 29, during the finals of the school’s Great Music Listening Festival.

The program, designed by Lincoln music teacher Linda Niemann, is focused on giving students the chance to learn about great music from the past. Students have been studying 10 masterworks for the past two months.

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The Dubuque Community School District will recommend the appointment of Phil Kramer as the district’s next executive director of human resources. Kramer will begin transitioning into the position over the next few months and will assume the position full-time on July 1, pending approval by the district Board of Education at its May meeting. Kramer will succeed Rick Colpitts, who is leaving the position to become the superintendent of the Western Dubuque Community School District.

As executive director of human resources, Kramer will oversee all human resources operations for the over 1,800 employees in the district. This includes district-wide planning and coordination of staff recruitment, the performance evaluation system, employee relations and personnel management.

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The four-year graduation rate in the Dubuque Community School District climbed to 91.49 percent for the class of 2014, up 2.36 percent from the previous year and higher than the state average of 90.5 percent. This new data was released today by the Iowa Department of Education.

“We are committed to preparing students to be college- and career-ready, and graduating from high school is certainly an important part of the equation,” said Superintendent of Schools Stan Rheingans. “The increase in our graduation rates should be a point of pride for not only for our high school teachers, principals and staff, but also for staff throughout the district. We believe the cumulative experience our students receive in the district greatly contributes to their success in high school and beyond.”

The Dubuque Community School District had the third-highest graduation rate among the state’s 10 largest urban school districts.

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