MC Proud-Mason City Community School District

Mason City Community School District

Mr. Hamilton's Headlines

As we near the upcoming school board election on November 7th, I wanted to explan the role of a school board in Iowa. The Iowa Association of School Boards defines some of the citrical roles school board members play in the operation of a school district. The purpose of our school board is to oversee and manage the school district's operation. The school board is responsible for making decisions and setting policies that affect the education of students in our community. Here are some of the essential purposes and responsibilities of a school board:

Policy Development:

School boards establish and adopt policies that guide the operation of schools within the district. These policies cover many issues, including curriculum, student conduct, teacher hiring and evaluation, and budget management. Most of the policies that school boards adopt are based on legislation passed by the Iowa Legislature and signed by the Governor. The Iowa Association of School Boards develops policies based on state law. Their legal team checks the policy to ensure it complies with Iowa law and Iowa code and sends policy suggestions to school districts.

Budget Oversight:

School boards are responsible for approving and overseeing the budget for the school district. This includes allocating funds to various programs and servcies, such as teacher salaries, classroom resources, and facilities maintenance. School boards in Iowa are responsible for the oversight of nine different school budget areas. Eighty percent of the Mason City Schools' budget is devoted to salaries and benefits.

Hiring and Evaluating the Superintendent:

Schools boards typically hire and evaluate the superintendent of the school distrct. The superintendent is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the schools and implementing the board's policies. The school board's only employee is the Superintendent of Schools.

Curriculum and Educational Standards:

School boards often have the authority to approve curriculum materials and make decisions related to educational standards and assessments within the district. They may adopt textbooks, set graduation requirements, and make other curriculum-related decisions. Curriculum in Iowa schools must be aligned to the Iowa Core Curriculum Standards.

Legal Oversight:

School boards must ensure the district complies with federal, state, and local laws and regulations.

Advocacy:

School boards often advocate for the best interests of students and public education. They may lobby for funding, resources, and policies that benefit the schools in their district.

Long-Term Planning:

School boards engage in long-term strategic planning to address demographic changes, evolving educational needs, and the district's student population growth or decline.

Pat Hamilton

Superintendent of Schools

Riverhawks Flying High Feature

Every year, starting in December, during Honors English 10 the students are tasked with completing a research paper that can qualify to participate in the World Food Prize Iowa Youth Institute in April. Students choose a country that is facing a scarcity issue, whether it be food, water, sanitation, education, healthcare, etc., and then research the country and its issue to gain background and understanding of why their chosen issue exists. Students are then tasked with coming up with a solution for this issue. All of this information is then shared in a research paper. Final drafts are given to volunteers to read and rate. If a student receives a rating of three or higher, they have the opportunity to submit their paper to the World Food Prize organization to qualify for the Iowa Youth Institute.

Once a students participates in the IYI program, they are eligible to be selected to attend the Global Youth Institute. This year, Maya Sajadian and Joseline Juarez were chosen to attend the four-day event October 24 through October 27. They will be sharing their research and proposal with a group of students and experts from around the world, as well as participating in various other activities including events like Mobilize 4 Impact Activity, panel discussions, Normal E. Borlaug International Dialogue session, presentation from author Roger Thurow, National Geogaphic Slingshot challenge, and ending with a presentation from 2023 World Food Prize Laureate Heidi Kuhn.

Congratulations to Maya and Joseline! Thank you for representing Mason City Schools.

We are so proud of you!

Building News

Harding Elementary

Fun things are happening at Harding! The officers for the Kiwanis K-Kids Club were recently voted in. Students are voted in by their peers. The elected four students will run the Monday meetings and lead the 3rd and 4th grade students on a path of service learning projects. We know they will do good things! Last year the K-Kids Club went to the Humane Society to play with animals, made appreciation bags for teachers, and ran a lemondae stand at the fly-in breakfast at the airport to support a Harding family.

What will the Kiwanis K-Kids Club do this year...we will have to wait and see what they decide!!

Congratulations to the new Kiwanis K-Kids Club Officers!

President - Abby Kmoch

Vice President - Adelynn True

Secretary - Ryleigh Elings

Treasurer - Ryker Sprecher

Hoover Elementary

The 2nd grade students at Hoover Elementary visited Heritage Care Center and Kentucky Ridge Assisted Living as part of their social studies community unit. We are working on becoming more community embedded and showing off our great social skills. The students, teachers, residents, and workers thoroughly enjoyed the morning! It was something special to witness and we are ready for our next adventure there in November!

Jefferson Elementary

Sharing our Riverhawk spirit is one of our favorite things. This year we have had different high school athletic groups come in each Friday to do Fitness Friday with us. Fitness Friday is when our students get to walk the halls in the morning before the bell rings. So far this year we have had rugby, football, cross country, and volleyball come share in our Fitness Friday tradition. We were also able to have a pep assembly with representatives from all fall sports and the drumline! These high school students are such great role models for our youngest Riverhawks and we are so lucky to have them close by and that MCHS is always willing to share them with us. Building that community and school pride at a young age is so important. We know with these Jefferson kids, the Riverhawks' future is bright!

John Adams Middle School

MCCSD Teacher Librarian Sarah Staudt is teaching one of her four classes of 30 minute W.I.N. (What I Need). This is John Adams Middle School's first year of implementing W.I.N., where it is up to each teacher to tailor their W.I.N. time to fit the needs of students in that particular class. Sarah's 7th and 8th grade students need additional support in the content area of literacy. Using her previous background with 2nd Chance Reading, each day of the week has a specific component of literacy that is taught.

Mondays are the introduction of new vocabulary words for the week (selected from that specific week's short story.)
Tuesdays are when Sarah reads aloud the short story for the week.
Wednesdays are comprehension questions about the story and individualized daily reading time (I.D.R.)
Thursdays are vocabulary review, where students use interactive online resources.
Fridays are vocabulary quiz and reading fluency and comprehnsion assessment.

Lincoln Intermediate

Lincoln Intermediate is excited to announce that the Lincoln Spirit Store is open for business. The mission of our store is to provide members of our school community with spirit wear that promotes a culture of support and pride in our school. Our store is student operated and provides an opportunity for the development of professional skills and real life learning about small businesses, customer service, and responsibility. While many of our products will be targeting the 10-12 year old demographic, we also aim to create original and bold apparel that appeals to all and comes to you at an affordable price point. A unique feature of our store is that we do our own printing, so you can pick the product and the logo you'd like printed, and within a few minutes we make it for you. You may also bring in your own gear and we will print it for you for $3. We are happy to have Beyonce on board to promote the, "If you like it, you should put a Riverhawk on it!" marketing campaign.

The store is currently at a startup point, and we would love to add more clothing and apparel items. If you'd like to contribute to the success of our school store, you are all welcome to shop! Store hours are Fridays from 7:15-8:15 AM, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM, and by appointment. You can also donate to the Lincoln PTO/Spirit Store. Go Riverhawks!

Mason City Alternative School

Mason City Alternative School volunteer Mary Swensen is a wonderful supporter of our Math on a Machine sewing class. The students recently made stuffed owls with button eyes! We are so appreciative and grateful for Mary and her continued support!

Mason City High School

During the recent parent-teacher conferences at MCHS, the public had the opportunity to experience (and taste) the work of our culinary arts and sports and entertainment marketing classes.

In addition to creating materials for and promoting all MCHS activities on social media, Chris Deets' sports and entertainment marketing classes also operate a school spirit store called Riverhawk Fanatics. They sell Riverhawk gear including sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, and lanyards, all of which was for sale during conferences. Deets said several students and families made purchases when the store was open during conferences.

Culinary Arts 3 students prepared for their bakery items to be sold at parent-teacher conferences last week by doing planning, prepping, and baking of the items. Each week the Culinary Arts 3 students choose what they want to make and be sold in the bakery. They also help with making an inventory of ingredients and shopping for the ingredients needed. Monday through Thursday the students prep their recipes, bake their recipes, and individually wrap their products to be sold. For conferences, students decided to make and sell monster cookie bars, scotcheroos, snickerdoodle cookies with frosting, fruity pebble bars, and puppy chow. This event went very well and the bakery sold out of the majority of the items for sale!

In 7th grade social studies, Mason City Virtual Academy students have been using Lumio to play a virtual version of the Urbanization Game. In this game, students have to build an initial small town that grows over time. In each era students must decide not only where to place items for the growing town, but also which areas have to go away from redevelopment. We are currently in the early 1800's and will be adding steam ships to our river!

Pinecrest Center

The Pinecrest staff had a pumpkin decorating contest this week. Each team came up with an idea together and had a week to create it. Students will be voting on them soon to declare the winner! Students in Miss Birke's class also painted pumpkins this week. They had to come up with an idea and then got busy painting!

Roosevelt Elementary

Roosevelt Elementary families braved the weather to come out and have some fun at their Family Fun Night. The Roosevelt staff wanted to give back and create a fun experience for families. Some of the activities and opportunites available at fun night included a free meal, free clothes, a book fair, and a wood breaking station. There was even a Starlab for people to see the stars! Thanks to all who made this event possible and those who came and enjoyed all the fun!

Employee Spotlight

Administrative Center

Wanda Fewins is a paraprofessional and substitute teacher in the Educare classroom at MercyOne North Iowa. She is a familiar face to many as she has worked in all the elementary buildings and Lincoln Intermediate as a substitue para for the past two years. Wanda is a NIACC graduate. She loves MC Schools because of the efforts to keep staff informed of things happening in the district. Some fun facts about Wanda are that she lives with her husband on an acreage and has raised, trained, and ridden horses for 40 years.

Harding Elementary

Darnisha Harper is a paraprofessional at Harding Elementary. This is her first year with MCCSD. She is an MCHS alumni and is currently attending DMACC. Darnisha loves MC Schools because we allow every child the opportunity to reach their full potential and we do everything possible to help them do that. A fun fact about Darnisha is that she loves to cook and enjoys getting to do that with her twin sons.

Hoover Elementary

Jennie Velthoff is a Behavior Strategist at Hoover Elementary. This is her 27th year working for MCCSD. She attended MC Schools (Madison Elementary, Roosevelt Middle, and MCHS) and graduated in 1990. Jennie attended NIACC and the University of Northern Iowa with a major in Elementary Education and a minor in Special Education with a Reading Endorsement. Jennie loves MC Schools because we work as a team to meet students' needs so that they feel school is a safe, supportive place. A fun fact about Jennie is that she taught at Madison Elementary until 2005, where she was fortunate enought to teach with some of her teachers from elementary school!

Jefferson Elementary

Mareah Van Zante is a paraprofessional at Jefferson Elementary. This is her third year with MCCSD. Mareah is a MCHS graduate. She loves MC Schools because she loves that our students are the focal point. Each day is about building relationships with the students. She feels the kids are truly cared about and that is what makes a difference in our school environment. A fun fact about Mareah is that she loves nature. She enjoys teaching and learning about plants and animals.

John Adams Middle School

Valerie Southgate is a 7th grade science teacher at JAMS. She has been with MCCSD for nearly three years, but this is her 26th year teaching. Valerie attended high school in Winston-Salem, NC where she was a springboard diver all four years. She then attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where she obtained her BS in Marine Biology and grew her love of teaching. Valerie loves MC Schools because of the diverse population here. It is a city atmosphere in a small town setting. She gets to learn new things about her students' diverse cultures on a daily basis! A fun fact about Valerie is that she learned to waterski at age four by standing on her father's two skis. She advanced to slalom skilling at age seven (that's one ski, on her own). She still slalom skis today at age 52!

Lincoln Intermediate

Kassie Drey is a physical education teacher at Lincoln Intermediate. She also coaches the Riverhawk Girls Rugby team and is the advisor of the Lincoln Read and Run Club. She has been with MCCSD for 13 years. Kassie attended high school at Storm Lake St. Marys and then went to college at the Univeristy of Northern Iowa. She attended graduate school at Buena Vista University. Kassie loves MC Schools because of how everyone works together to help students be the best they can be. A fun fact about Kassie is that her wife is from New Zealand!

Mason City High School

Kelli Lage began working for MCCSD as a substitue teacher in 2020, during which she had four long term assignments at MCHS. This year, she joined the MCHS team as a full-time teacher for English 10 and 11. After graduating from MCHS, she completed her secondary English education studies at Buena Vista University. Kelli loves MC Schools because of the staff, students, and the positive environment which allows everyone to learn and grow. She is a writer, focused mainly on poetry. Kelli has had two books published and her third will be released in January 2024. Last summer, she attended an Iowa Writer's Workshop summer session, which she said was an honor to attend and an amazing educational experience.

Roosevelt Elementary

Jodi Holck is a reading specialist at Roosevelt Elementary. This is her 23rd year of teaching. Jodi is a graduate of Clear Lake High School and attended Wartburg College for her BA and Morningside College for her Masters. The reason Jodi loves working for MC Schools is because she loves the kids! It is her passion to help kids learn and to unlock the world of reading that can be so tricky for some. It is so much fun to see the light bulb moments happen for them. Jodi feels that MC Schools is a great place to be because the teachers, paras, support staff and administrators are all so dedicated to helping students. A fun fact about Jodi is that she loves softball. She played in high school and college, and even coached for many years!

Student Spotlight

There are 14 students from Mason City High School who have attained the highest individual honor available to Iowa high school musicians by being selected to perform at the 2023 All-State Music Festival. This year's festival will celebrate the 77th anniversary of this prestigious event.

District auditions for the 278-piece All-State Band, 214-piece All-State Orchestra, and 601-member All-State Chorus were held on Saturday, October 21, 2023. Approximately 25% of the students who audition are selected for membership in the All-State ensembles.

Congratulations to the the MCHS Band students who qualified for participation:

Seth VandenBerg - French Horn

Nathan Markham - Percussion

Band Alternate:

Angelina Frank - Percussion

Band Recalls:

Naomi Garrett - Euphonium

Mason Labby - Percussion

Congratulations to the MCHS Chorus students who qualified for participation:

Caden Anderson (Tenor)

Benjamin Aronsen (Bass)

Brynn Christianson (Soprano)

Jackson Everist (Bass)

Maggie Gerrietts (Alto)

Eleanor Gorder (Soprano)

Annemarie Hansen (Alto)

Logan Johanns (Tenor)

Mishken Miton (Tenor)

Alexander Shipman (Tenor)

Owen Stroup (Bass)

Damon Torres (Bass)

Choir Recalls:

Grace Bryant

Delia Fick

MCHS has two students who have accomplished something that less than 1% of the students who make All-State accomplish. Jackson Everist and Owen Stroup have been accepted into the All-State Choir all four years of high school. This is an amazing achievement and very well-deserved!

Congratulations Jackson and Owen!

MCCSD Virtual Backpack

Make sure to check out the Virtual Backpack website! Here you will find events, camps, and opportunities for students and their families from district and community organizations.

Click HERE to check it out!