Schools

What's New in Schools?

It's been a busy week in the Waukee School District. Here's a recap of what you might have missed.

It’s been a busy week in the Waukee school district. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the things you might have missed.

Elections

Elections were held Tuesday for three seats on the Waukee school board. Incumbents Jerry Ripperger, Larry Lyon and Susan Bunz beat out challengers Todd Dohrmann, Kurt Hiatt and Rob Thelen to serve a four-year term on the board.

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Fewer than 2,000 votes were cast in the election, according to the Dallas County Auditor’s office.

No Child Left Behind

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Iowa’s state report card on the No Child Left Behind act was released last week. According to the report, two schools in the Waukee school district were listed as schools in need of assistance: Waukee Elementary and Waukee Middle School. This was the first year the two schools were listed.

Waukee Elementary was found to be behind in math and reading proficiency. Waukee Middle School was behind only in reading. The need for assistance is determined using subgroups and their test rates in these areas.

Waukee school superintendent Dave Wilkerson said the No Child Left Behind Act dictates that 100 percent of students are equally proficient in both math and reading. He said Waukee Elementary and Waukee Middle School both host students with special needs and that can sometimes skew the results.

“We knew ahead of time that those schools were on the report,” Wilkerson said.  “We had already started working on implementing support and programming to help those kids in special education programs improve. We’re confident we will do that.”

New Building Configurations

Tuesday night at the bi-monthly meeting of the Waukee school board, members unanimously approved a motion to move to new building configurations. 

Beginning with the 2014-15 school year, schools will return to the K-5, 6-7, 8-9 and 10-12 configuration. The move will coincide with the opening of another middle school scheduled to be built near South Middle School on L.A. Grant Parkway.

Jerry Ripperger, board president, said the new configuration is simply a return to the way things used to be in the Waukee schools.

“There wasn’t the feeling of moving to a new configuration,” he said. “It was more about moving back to the desired one. We’ve been very purposeful when it came to moving students. With this sort of growth, the moves we’ve made have been necessary.”

Communications Coordinator Approved

Also at last night’s meeting, the board approved the hiring and job description for a communications coordinator for the Waukee school district. The position would entail coordinating all media and public relations for the district.


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