PANTHER PRESS
November 1, 2019
Community Members:
On Tuesday, November 5, Knoxville Community School District residents will vote on a Revenue Purpose Statement. If approved, the statement would allow the district to use funds from the statewide penny sales tax for education toward school building maintenance and infrastructure projects.
The one-cent sales tax, also known as Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE), was reauthorized by the Iowa legislature last spring. At the same time, the legislature stipulated that school districts must revise their existing Revenue Purpose Statements to keep investing in projects per the community’s wishes.
If approved, the Revenue Purpose Statement would not increase local property taxes, nor would it impact the amount of the state sales tax. Approving this purpose statement allows the district to use SAVE funds for the following:
Information technology infrastructure
Remodeling, reconstructing, repairing, expanding or improving school buildings
Building and furnishing additional school buildings
Purchasing and improving grounds
Furnishing and equipping district facilities
Leasing or lease-purchasing a building, equipment, technology or transportation
Purchasing vehicles and school buses
Implementing energy conservation measures
Building or opening school houses or buildings
Providing funds for emergency repairs due to natural disasters
All registered voters who live within KCSD boundaries may cast their ballots in the November 5 election. Residents can vote at their usual polling location. For voting information, please visit https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/voterinformation/.
As always, thank you for your ongoing support of our students and schools.
Sincerely,
Cassi Pearson, Superintendent
Craig Mobley, Business Manager
Knoxville Community School District
Daylight Savings Time Ends
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES
Nov. 5: 2 hr early dismissal (parent/teacher conferences)
Nov. 7: 2 hr early dismissal (parent/teacher conferences)
Nov. 8: No School
KCSD Food Pantry
A friendly reminder that our school has a food pantry open to ALL students and families in our district!
The food pantry is located at the high school and the schedule is noted on the flier to the right. Angela Nelson and I can also help families with the pantry during other times; we have also shopped for families and taken the food to the kids at different buildings.
Please let me know if you have any questions or have students you know are in need.
Knoxville School Nurse
West Elementary: 641-842-2185
Northstar Elementary: 641-842-6527
Knoxville Middle School: 641-842-3315
Knoxville High School: 641-842-2173
Cell: 641-891-6016
KHS Conferences & College/Career Fair
Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled at the high school on November 5th and 7th from 3:45-6:55 PM. The structure of conferences will be similar to the past. On November 5th, the teachers will be stationed in the commons and media center along with hosting a College/Career fair from 12:15-2:30 in the gym. On November 7th, teachers will be stationed in the media center and commons for conferences. We strongly encourage parents to attend conferences with their son or daughter.
The college/career fair welcomes the following colleges & careers to the Knoxville High School: Iowa State University, University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, Drake, Central, Des Moines Area Community College, Kirkwood Community College, Mount Mercy, Mercy College of Health Sciences, Air Force, Army, National Guard, Marines, John Deere/Van Wall. We encourage students to visit the representatives from each of the schools and careers to explore the different programs each has to offer. We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday the 5th or Thursday 7th.
Activities Minute
Upcoming home events -
* Mon, Nov. 4: National Honor Society Induction - 700 PM
* Wed, Nov. 6: FFA Blood Drive - 900 AM
Upcoming State Competitions!
Good luck to these Knoxville High School students participating in upcoming State competitions:
State Dance Team Solos Competitions! Saturday, November 2 at Newton - Lane Franck at 740 AM, Raeghan Breazeale at 928 AM, Anna McDonald at 952 AM, Anna Fay at 1010 AM, Harper Chambers at 1037 AM, and Hayden Hudson at 1126 AM.
Norah Pearson at the State Cross Country Meet! Saturday, November 2; 1200 PM at Fort Dodge
Braden VanderHart at the All-State Vocal Festival! Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23 at Ames
Dance Team at the State Dance Championships! They perform at 941 AM and 538 PM on Thursday, December 5 and at 905 AM on Friday, December 6 - all at Wells Fargo Arena/Hyvee Hall in Des Moines
Winter Sports are upon us!
Middle school girls basketball has started and middle school wrestling starts on Wednesday, November 6 and all other middle school and high school winter sports are starting in the near future. Here (preseason information) is sport-specific information for all middle school and high school winter sports - including coaches’ names, 1st practice dates, and coaches’ email addresses.
Any student that wishes to participate in school-sponsored sports in grades 7 through 12 needs a concussion form and a physical form signed by a medical professional. The concussion form was part of school registration in August so when parents registered their child - they took care of the concussion form. A blank physical form can be found here (physical form).
Varsity Basketball at The Well!
Our Varsity girls and boys basketball teams will again play regular season games at Wells Fargo Arena this season! We will play Newton on Saturday, January 4, 2020 - girls at 200 PM, boys at 330 PM. Purchasing a ticket gets one into our games and also the Iowa Wolves game that evening. Tickets can be purchased HERE!
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- All home events in the Knoxville High School gym and all school concerts in KPAC will be streamed LIVE on the NFHS Network! Go to www.nfhsnetwork.com for more details!
- Get schedules for all extra-curricular middle school and high school activities by going to www.knoxville.k12.ia.us and then clicking on "Activity Calendar". You can even sign-up for email notifications so whenever we make a change to a schedule - you can be notified immediately.
- Follow the Knoxville Activities Department on Instagram! @knoxvilleactivities
DMACC Career Discovery Days
DMACC Career Discovery Days are open to 9th–12th grade students, educators and parents. Explore career pathways through hands-on activity sessions, learn about educational opportunities by hearing from DMACC instructors, and connect to future careers and professionals by touring related businesses. Click here for more information as well as see the schedule is below.
Panther Success Graduate
7th Grade Social Studies and Language Arts
Social Studies
The focus for 7th grade Social Studies is Contemporary Global Issues. Our current unit of study is all about Population. We are attempting to answer the question, "Why is a growing population a problem for our planet?" As part of our study of population, students will learn about how many people are on Earth and what barriers prevent people from living in certain areas. We will look at how population numbers have changed over time and how the age of a population affects the viability of the population.
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ELA
In English language arts, we have just finished a unit on the elements of plot. Throughout this unit, students learned about the five parts of plot, major and minor characters, setting, and the four types of conflict. Students were able to show what they learned throughout the unit in via their unit projects, where students created a narrative story on StoryBoard That, an online storytelling tool, that embodied the topics we covered in the unit. Students most certainly put their imagination and creativity to work while creating their narratives!
Northstar Mileage Club
The Northstar Mileage Club is featured on the Department of Education web site! Please take a minute to read the article and see the many pictures posted here:
https://educateiowa.gov/article/2019/10/31/running-circles-students-reap-benefitsThanks to all who make this such a great success! Way to go, Northstar!
Parent / Teacher Conference
West Parent / Teacher Conferences are next Tuesday and Thursday. Individual family conferences have been scheduled via Signup Genius, in person, or by email. Teachers have been flexible and accommodating if neither of those days work in your schedule and you need a different day. Please reach out to your student's teacher if you have not setup a conference time.
Upcoming Book Fairs
The book fair is coming! Please support the Knoxville K-8 libraries by visiting the book fair during school and hours and conferences, November 1st-7th.
- Link for West Book fair
- Link for Northstar Book fair
Reading Room
2nd graders have been working with three-digit numbers and counting collections of items during math time.
West Elementary students welcomed back Miss Mary Strawberry! She shared facts about how corn grows and how it is used in many products. Students sampled corn chips, cornbread, and corn salsa.
Notifications for School Delays & Cancellations
Knoxville Schools utilizes GovDelivery to communicate weather cancellations, delays and/or changes to district activities. We recommend all parents/guardians sign up to receive email and/or text notifications. Anyone is welcome to subscribe, including community members interested in schedule changes for activities purposes.
If you signed up in the past for this service, you do not need to sign up again but you will want to adjust notifications if your child changed to a different school building this year.
Screenshots are pictured below of the subscription process.
If you need assistance, please contact: Lisa.Willis@kcsd.k12.ia.usor 641-842-6551 opt 1.
Become a Substitute Teacher
If you hold a bachelor's degree, obtaining a substitute authorization is easy. Sign up to become a sub today through the Heartland Area Education Agency!
KCSD VACANCIES
Please click the following link to apply for any of the following positions: http://www.knoxville.k12.ia.us/district/vacancies/
- Bus Drivers (two regular route positions)
- FT Child Nutrition Staff Member (Northstar)
- Substitutes (Teachers, Associates, Child Nutrition, Bus Drivers, Custodians)
- HS Boys Tennis Coach
- MS Softball Asst. Coach
Join the Rec Center’s Winter Swim Season 2019-2020!
Welcome to the Stingrays!
The swim team is for kids 6 to 18 years old.
Swimmers must be able to swim the entire length of the pool (25 yards) independently or must have been in Level 2 of American Red Cross Learn-to-Swim Program.
If a child cannot meet the requirements but still wishes to join the team, please speak to a coach to assess their abilities.
Swim Team Practice Times Starting
Friday November 1, 2019
· Ages 8 and Under & All Beginners Practice: Monday, Wednesday, & Friday: 4:00-5:00PM
· Ages 9-10 Experienced Swimmers: Monday, Wednesday, & Friday: 5:00-6:00PM
· Ages 11 and Older (Experienced Swimmers Only): Monday and Wednesday 4:00-6:00pm and Friday: 5:00-6:00PM
**Please do not come at another age group practice unless approved by a coach. Your child’s age group is determined by age as of December
Coach Contact Information
Olivia Crawford
641-828-0580
Team Website: www.knoxvilleswimteam.weebly.com
Find us on Facebook! Knoxville Stingray Swim Team
KACT's Mary Poppins: Nov. 14-17
KACT's fall show, Mary Poppins, will be here before we know it! Show dates are Nov. 14-17 at KPAC.
We have 15 Knoxville students in the cast and they're excited to show the community what they've been working on since August. They're all great kids and they have a lot to be proud of!
Carol Adkins, KACT Secretary
Neighbor Helping Neighbor
End of the Month Meals Begin Nov. 18
Hello, everyone! It’s that time of year again. The End of the Month Meal program will be starting up November 18th - 22nd.
For those of you who haven’t heard of our program here’s a little bit of it’s history...
The End of the Month Meal program or E.O.M.M. was started in 2002 by Lillie Brandon of Knoxville, Iowa. God laid the need of the program on Lillie’s heart. There are a lot of elderly people on fixed incomes in our community that tend to have more month than money, especially during the colder months of November- March. So Lillie began the program with elderly people on fixed incomes as her core target. The program is community based and run by volunteers. It is a not-for-profit organization and can only continue as long as generous people are willing to donate their money, time, can food items, or grocery gift cards. Any of these donations may be dropped off at New Covenant Church at 1510 West Madison Knoxville, Iowa. If you send a check please make it out to New Covenant Church and put “E.O.M.M. program” in the memo section.
My name is Shiloh Schrader and I took over the coordinating position from Lillie in 2015. Lillie still takes care of all things financial for us though, thankfully.
We have expanded our core target since 2002 to include not only the elderly, but anyone who finds themselves down on their luck and in need of a meal. Last season we served a total of 6,564 meals to people. Our season runs from November through March. November and December begin the week before the holiday and January through March are the last full week of the month. We send out our deliveries from New Covenant Church 1510 West Madison. If people would like to have their meals delivered to them please call the church office at 641-842-3176 preferably the week before we start serving meals so that we can have an idea of how much food we need to prepare. The only information we need to have is your name, address, a phone number where we can reach you, and the number of meals you would like to have.
If you prefer to dine out you are more than welcome to go to the Jenkins Center on Main street. We provide the casserole and vegetable or salad, whichever is on the meal plan and the people from Living Word Fellowship provides the dessert, coffee, and excellent service. No questions asked.
Our meals usually consist of a casserole for the entrée, a dinner roll, a hot vegetable, or a cold “salad” (these are flip-flopped each meal) , and a dessert. I also like to have a sandwich meal at least twice during the season. This would consist of a Manwich burger, scalloped corn, cole slaw, and a dessert. Our meals are “comfort food” and are good sized portions because nobody should go hungry.
These are the dates for the 2019-2020 season:
- November: 18th-22nd
- December: 16th-20th
- January: 20th-24th
- February: 17th-21st
- March: 23rd-27th
If anyone has questions or would like to have someone talk about our program please E-mail shiloh1971@hotmail.com.
Softball Camp Available to Knoxville Athletes: Dec. 14
KCSD ADMIN. OFFICE
The Panther Press is a weekly collective newsletter for parents & community members. If you have an article or flyer to share, please submit to Lisa.Willis@kcsd.k12.ia.us for consideration.
Stay connected by frequenting our website or following us on social media!
- High School: www.facebook.com/KHSPanthers/ & twitter.com/KHS_Panthers
- Middle School: www.facebook.com/PanthersKMS/ & twitter.com/Panthers_KMS
- Northstar: www.facebook.com/NorthstarElementary/ & twitter.com/MrKeitges
- West: www.facebook.com/knoxvillewestelementary/ & twitter.com/pantherswest
Rate us on greatschools.org!
Email: lisa.willis@kcsd.k12.ia.us
Website: www.knoxville.k12.ia.us
Location: 309 W Main St, Knoxville, IA, United States
Phone: 641-842-6551