Hello Maquoketa CSD Families!

Happy New Year! I hope yours is starting with much happiness and you had a wonderful winter break with your families. We are excited to welcome students back tomorrow and look forward to a 2nd semester focusing on growth for all students!

Below you will find some information about the upcoming semester. As always, please reach out if you have any questions, want to provide feedback or want to share a celebration of something great that's been happening with your child! My goal is to partner together to support all families in this journey. Everyone has a story and challenges; we are here to work together in a kind and compassionate way to find win-win solutions that support all students in Maquoketa!

Wow! We were able to make it through the first semester with no snow days :) As we head into second semester I wanted to remind you about how we make weather related decisions to delay or cancel school.

We recognize these decisions impact families and can be difficult, and at the same time we will always fall on the side of student and staff safety. We have staff and "new drivers" (14 year-18 year olds) traveling long distances and at the end of the day it's most important that everyone returns home to their families safely! The decision will be made based on current conditions, weather forecasts, radar, law enforcement, and other neighboring schools data. We also review whether there is a watch versus a warning.

Mr. Hansen, our Transportation Director, and I will start driving roads between 4:30 am- 5:00 am. We will communicate with each other and with other area Superintendents and Transportation Directors in order to make the most informed decision possible. We will try to communicate this to staff and families as early as possible so you can begin making arrangements as needed.

We will communicate any decisions to staff and families using School Messenger, Facebook, our website as well as our local media outlets. Please reach out if you have any questions and I'm happy to discuss further.

Thank You!!

If you have a student attending one of our buildings and you are in need of reliable Internet at home, please reach out to your building's principal and they will contact our district Technology Department. Someone from the Technology Department will then be in contact with you to confirm eligibility and provide your hotspot. There is no cost for the unit or the monthly service.

The hotspot can only be used for education purposes.

Each building had a Safety Assessment completed in November through an Iowa Department of Education contractor. The contractor met with our building principals, maintenance staff, Maquoketa Police Department and technology staff to answer questions about our facilities and complete a walk through of each building. The district is currently waiting on the Safety Assessment reports to provide feedback on needed improvements and how we can use the provided state funding for these improvements. This information will also be incorporated into our general facilities needs assessments so we can continue to view things from a safety "lens" when making any facilities decisions.

We hope winter break gave the germs an opportunity to clear out of our buildings. As a reminder, please keep your students home if they are ill in order to reduce the spread of illness. When we reach 10% of students absent due to illness we are required to report this to the county public health officials. When we have that many students who are ill, it also spreads to staff members who are then out of their classrooms. We want to keep as many teachers, para educators and other support staff in school to provide the best learning experiences for your students. If you have any questions about when to keep your student home, when they can return or when you need a doctors note, please contact your building nurse. Thank You for your understanding!

We have been posting a weekly activity calendar on our Facebook page each week. We hope this has give you a convenient place to see the "week at a glance." Please join us at next week's activities! Go Cards!!