Superintendent's Blog

What a great afternoon. I had the chance to taste some excellent dishes that were put together by our culinary students. I am so glad our students have the opportunity to showcase their skills in a class like this. I think the rest of our high school students will be happy when they get to taste the winning recipe. Congratulations to everyone. Also, thanks to our ICCC partners for helping with this class as well.

Congratulations to all of the winter activity participants. You did a great job representing yourselves and our district. I am looking forward to what this spring will bring.

This week is the beginning of our state testing. I am looking forward to the results of all the hard work put in by our students and staff. Good luck!

Even though the Thanksgiving holiday has passed we still have many things for which we can be thankful. I encourage us all to make sure we practice an attitude of gratitude to those around us.

The Fort Dodge Community School District’s administrative team is taking an up-close and in-depth look at classroom instruction this year. The administrators are implementing “Instructional Rounds.” This school improvement process looks at what is happening in classrooms that is causing students to be highly engaged in challenging work.

Anyone who watches a medical drama on television is familiar with the medical rounds that doctors perform. Instructional Rounds is an adaptation of these medical rounds. The administrators visit a number of classrooms in small groups for 20 minutes each to observe the instruction occurring using an earlier identified area of focus as a lens for their observations. The observations are not evaluative or judgmental, rather they are objective and simply document witnessed activities. No individual teachers are sited in the observations. Following the classroom visits, the team gathers to debrief and provide feedback on what they saw or didn’t see happening in the classrooms in regards to instruction.   Finally, the administrative team debriefs, sharing predictions and posing questions that the building administrator can use to enhance the instructional practices that were observed. 

This week has been teacher appreciation week. It was a joy to be able to go out to each of our buildings and present awards to staff members who were being recognized for having gone above and beyond. Thank you to all staff members for all you do.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the high school musical last night. What an incredible performance. My congratulations and thanks to all the students, staff members and volunteers who made this a wonderful event.

Big THANKS go out to all our parents for making sure their children are well rested and start their day off with a good breakfast. Thanks also to our staff for all their time and preparation in getting our students ready for the task at hand and finally to our students for trying their best and giving it their all. Let’s make this our best spring assessment yet!

Even though we have not started a new school year, each new calendar year brings many people the opportunity to make resolutions for the upcoming year. For the Fort Dodge Community School District we are not starting a new resolution, we are striving to complete the goal we have set for ourselves, to provide the highest quality education we can provide our students. I realize many people will not have success as they attempt to meet their resolutions. They choose at times to give up and go back to their bad habits when things get difficult.  I know the dedicated and committed staff of the Fort Dodge Community School District will continue to work to achieve our goal. I hope you will continue to support us as we continue our journey to EXCELLENCE.

Over the next several weeks you will be seeing and hearing about many efforts to support those in need. The Fort Dodge Community School District will be involved in several of these events, from food drives to Coats for Kids, to name a couple.  These efforts are a great way to help teach our young people about one of the greatest life lessons, helping your fellow man. Please consider making a donation to help support these efforts.