Ankeny Schools Snapshot
A monthly district newsletter
August 2022
Advancing the Vision
While it is hard to believe fall is almost here, I look forward to the upcoming school year and seeing all our students. Throughout the summer, the district and schools have been busy planning and preparing to welcome our students and teachers back to their schools.
Last year, we started the process of reimagining how we might better serve our students by creating a new Strategic Plan for the district. Parents, community members, students and staff worked together to improve how we provide quality educational experiences to our students. This work resulted in our new Strategic Plan built on three core pillars:
Prioritizing academic rigor & relevance
Focus on maintaining a system of talented people
Providing supportive learning environments
It also resulted in a new mission statement for our district:
The Ankeny Community School District engages all students in an educational experience that equips them with the skills to flourish in and contribute to an ever-changing world.
We also developed the district’s first Profile of a Graduate. The graduate profile will serve as our district's North Star, outlining the competencies and characteristics we collectively believe all our students should have by the time they graduate from our district.
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Framework describes the expected adult “ways of work” that support student growth and readiness to pursue academic and career pathways. I believe that effective instructional leadership, teaching practices, and district operations will continue to improve all students’ access to high-quality learning.
This work continues. While we were able to come together as a community last year to build these three guiding documents, this year the implementation work begins. Executing on our Strategic Plan will again require our community to partner together around the educational experience we want for our children. We look forward to working with you in this endeavor.
Thank you,
Dr. Erick D. Pruitt
Superintendent of Schools
Committee Opportunities
Building on the success of our community-driven strategic planning process, we are excited to announce an opportunity for stakeholder involvement in 2022-2023.
If you are interested in serving on an action team, committee or task force this year please review this list of opportunities. If you find one or more opportunities of interest, please complete this brief, 15-minute interest form by 5 p.m. Aug. 26, 2022.
District staff will review submitted forms and reach out by early September with next steps.
Please note that due to capacity, it may not be possible for everyone to serve on committees in which they express interest. The district will maintain a list of people interested in serving and will reach out if additional opportunities become available.
Thank you for your interest in serving our school community!
Inspire, encourage, and support ACSD students by becoming an associate or substitute! Ankeny Community School District and Teachers On Call are hiring great people to work within our schools for both teaching and non-teaching positions. Full and Part-time positions are available, including positions with flexible hours. Join our team and enjoy making an impact on the lives of our students!
Positions available include:
Substitute positions available include:
Earn an income, enjoy work-life balance, and know the work you do is making a profound impact on your community!
Bussing and Safety Information
As we look forward to the first day of classes Tuesday, Aug. 23, there are a few updates we want to share with you on what to expect when it comes to student transportation services.
Ankeny Schools has a new transportation provider this school year. We are excited to be partnering with First Student, a leading provider of school transportation in North America. Working together, we believe we can further enhance the bus-riding experience for families.
One difference you will notice are the buses—they're brand new! We replaced our entire fleet of buses this summer. All are equipped with the latest technology, including GPS tracking systems and tablets that show drivers the best route to take to pick up and drop off students.
While our goal is to make bus transportation on the first day as safe and smooth as possible, some delays are expected as everyone adjusts to the new school year. Our drivers have new bus routes and stops to learn. They need to review safety protocols and guidelines with students while also ensuring they get on and off the bus at the correct stop. Our schools will spend time over the first few weeks of school ensuring students understand how to safely find and board their bus and cover expectations while riding the bus.
As bus routes are running each morning and afternoon, the main dispatch line can be busy with a high number of calls. If you have a change request or a general question about your child’s transportation, we ask you please contact us between the hours of 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. at (515) 965-9615. This will enable our transportation team to better manage and respond to calls.
At this time, we do not expect any changes to bus routes during the first two weeks of school. As always, however, any adjustments will be communicated directly to you.
We appreciate your patience, understanding and support as we navigate another new school year together. Thank you, too, for the opportunity to serve your family. We are excited to have students back on our buses again.
If you are unsure if your student qualifies for bussing, please check the address lookup tool. For students who qualify for bus transportation and for students who were accepted for Pay-to-Ride, the bus number, bus stop location and time will be in the Infinite Campus Parent Portal by the end of next week. Please check the portal often for updates leading up to the first day of school. If you have questions about routing, please contact First Student at 515-965-9615.
Bus passes will be distributed during the first days of school. After distribution, bus passes are mandatory for every student every time they board the bus. Please make sure your student has their bus pass with them each day.
As the first day of school draws near and many families are thinking through their travel plans to and from school, we wanted to provide some clarity on how crossing guards are placed and which entities oversee the program. Crossing guards are provided for elementary students Grades K-5.
The Ankeny Community School District works with the City of Ankeny to identify locations where crossing guards will be placed. Intersections that receive crossing guard support are selected based on criteria such as:
Amount of pedestrian traffic
Proximity to the school
Presence of a designated crosswalk
Posted speed limit, size, and type of road
Other factors
We may also place crossing guards to support other buildings when unusual safety concerns are present. An example of this is the W 1st Street road construction in front of Parkview Middle School. Crossing Guards are provided by a third-party company under contract with the City of Ankeny and the ACSD. Both entities share equally in the cost of the contract.
To learn where crossing guards are located for your school, visit our website.
New Volunteer Hub Launched
Last spring, our district launched a renewed volunteer program, Volunteers in Public Schools (VIPS). We were excited to have so many members of the community visit our centralized volunteer hub and sign up to serve students by reading to preschoolers, mentoring elementary students, greeting middle schoolers as they arrived at school, working at the high school coffee shops, and pitching in in many more incredible ways.
We are thrilled to announce that, building on this success, we have launched an upgraded central volunteer hub. Over the course of the fall, this new system will become the one-stop-shop for all volunteer opportunities in the district. As we get the system up and running, you will be able to see every way to get involved in the district through this portal which is accessed through the district website (Main Page–> Community–> Volunteer).
Having one centralized spot will help you more easily find volunteer opportunities, will minimize the number of one-off emails you get with requests for help, and, most importantly, will help us enhance our measures to keep all students in our district safe.
Because the hub will be operated through a new system, BetterImpact, you will need to sign up for a volunteer account the first time you want to volunteer. This is a quick and easy process and, if you’re already approved and current as a volunteer, you won’t need to redo the Volunteer Handbook or background check. And, you can complete the volunteer registration through BetterImpact now so you’re all ready to go when a volunteer opportunity arises.
Please follow these step-by-step instructions to set up your volunteer account.
Better Impact Volunteer Usage Directions
We look forward to and thank you in advance for your engagement with the district this year! Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Denise Miller at denise.miller@ankenyschools.org with any questions.
P.S. This year, we are challenging all members of our school community - staff, students, parents, and community members - to join us in giving one million minutes of service to our students. Through our One Million Minutes campaign, and a bunch of fun incentives that we’ll share more about through the fall, we believe our community can make a huge impact for our students - and have a lot of fun doing it! We hope you’ll be a part of this year-long effort.
Student Handbook
Please view the 2022-2023 Student Handbook. If you would like a printed copy of the handbook, please contact your school’s front office.
Annual Notices
Please view the 2022-2023 annual notices:
Ankeny Community School District
It is the policy of the Ankeny Community School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, creed, age (for employment), marital status (for programs), sexual orientation, gender identity and socioeconomic status (for programs) in its educational programs and its employment practices. There is a grievance procedure for processing complaints of discrimination. If you have questions or a grievance related to this policy please contact Ken Morris, Jr., Equity Director at 306 SW School Street, Ankeny, IA 50023, 515/965-9600 or kenneth.morris@ankenyschools.org. The grievance will then be directed to the appropriate administrator charged with managing the program or department specified in the grievance.
Website: www.ankenyschools.org
Location: 306 SW School St, Ankeny, IA, USA
Phone: 515-965-9600
Facebook: Facebook.com/AnkenySchools
Twitter: @AnkenySchools