On Tuesday, November 5 citizens of the Van Meter CSD will have a chance to vote in the 2019 school board election. Ballots can be cast at the American Legion Post 403 from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.

We have two candidates running for the two open seats. Brent Haynes is an incumbent and Tony Bradley is running for his initial term. Please be sure to vote. More information about each candidate can be found below:

My name is Brent Haynes, and I am running for another term on the Van Meter School Board.

I have been married for 26 years to my wife Janel, formerly Janel Allcott, who is a 1987 graduate of VMHS. We have 2 boys. Bryce graduated in 2015. Tyler is a senior and will graduate in May. Both boys have been very active in sports, including baseball, wrestling, soccer, football, and track. I have been active in coaching many youth sports over the years including soccer, baseball, and football. I have also served on the Van Meter school board since 2015.

I feel Van Meter Community School is a very special place. The growth I have seen in my own children is amazing. I feel we have a really good thing going with our small-town rural atmosphere yet we maintain the ability to compete academically with the most technologically advanced large schools in central Iowa.

If elected to represent the children of the Van Meter district on the school board, I would pledge to do my part to be an advocate for the education of every child attending Van Meter school by:

• Continuing to work on increasing the percentage of graduating students who go on to seek secondary education.
• Improving partnerships between the school and the city for mutually beneficial growth and expansion.
• I would also pledge to the community that I would be a strong fiscal watchdog for your tax dollars.

Those of you who know me hopefully recognize that I will always voice an opinion on issues and will ask the hard questions until I am sure we are making the best decisions possible for our children and school.

This is YOUR community!

This is YOUR school!

This is for the education of EVERY child!

Thanks,

Brent Haynes

My name is Tony Bradley and I would appreciate your vote for Van Meter School Board on November 5th. I want to serve on the school board because I have a passion for education, life-long learning, and I want each student to excel at Van Meter schools while preparing for post-graduation success. My priorities as a school board member will be:

• Student and staff well-being
• Holistic-approach to student learning & development
• Fiscal responsibility
• Open Communication

My wife, Brandi, and I moved our family to the Van Meter School District last year to provide our three elementary-aged boys a small academic setting that allowed for a more personalized educational experience. Additionally, our boys share different interests and we felt a small school would offer more opportunities for activity participation. My wife is a nurse in the metro and I am a military officer. I am confident my 19 years of small and large-scale strategic planning experience will assist Van Meter school leadership to develop plans to meet current and future challenges. We have been very pleased with our Van Meter Schools experience and we look forward to many more years of being a part of this community.

Thank you,

Tony Bradley

Congratulations to our girls cross country team as they got 2nd place in their district meet and qualified for the 1A State Cross Country Meet. The top three teams qualify as well as the top 15 individuals whose team doesn't place in the top three. Members of the qualifying team are:

Maya Herman (15th place)

Clare Kelly (1st place)

Mary Kelly (2nd place)

Clair Lauterbach

Claire Newell

Matti Rebelsky

Payton Rice

Also, congratulations to Carson Wille for qualifying as an individual for the Boys 1A State Cross Country Meet. Carson placed 13th in the qualifying meet.

The State Cross Country Meet is held Saturday, November 2 in Fort Dodge. More information about the meet can be found here.

Congratulations to Coach Trudo and the Van Meter Football Team. The Bulldogs qualified for its 12th straight playoffs by winning their 7th straight District Championship. The Bulldogs will play on Friday, November 1 at 7:00 p.m. in Bulldog Stadium vs the Eagles of Pella Christian. It will be a great night for football. Admission to the contest will be $8.00 and no Van Meter passes will be accepted. More information about the football playoffs can be found here.

Our facilities committee met earlier this month and agreed to what our next steps would be for our facilities. Taking advantage of land we already own, and responding to the overwhelming support from the survey given in the spring for keeping the schools in close proximity, the committee agreed that building on the East Athletic Campus made the most sense. Though we are probably 3-5 years from building, the picture below shows the ideas we discussed in the meeting. It includes:

• a two-story building for grades PK-2 or 3
• extending the school lane off R16 for a bus drop off
• using the current lane for car entry
• possibly acquiring land from the city and American Legion to do a joint project with the city of Van Meter and the Legion for a turf field and shared parking lot for soccer and secondary and elementary practices of multiple sports (the district does not own this land.)
• a bridge connecting the Legion and the District properties (image not shown)
• maintain the land east of the practice football field for another potential building in the future.

The timing of the future building will depend on our bonding capacity and debt limit. We have to pay down current debt so we have the debt limit to support another building project. This will take the district a few years. Once we have enough debt limit that would allow us to build a new building, we would need voters to support a bond issue before we could erect a new structure. Again, we anticipate this taking place a few years from now.

If you have any questions, please contact me at deron.durflinger@vmbulldogs.com or call (515) 996-2221.

On October 16, 2019, the Van Meter fifth graders went on a field trip to JA BizTown, a unique experiential education program operated by JA of Central Iowa Inc. This on-site visit is one of the concluding activities to the curriculum, which encompasses important elements of community and economy, work readiness, financial literacy, and business management. While visiting JA BizTown, each student became a town citizen and assumed a job in one of the town businesses. Students experienced economics first-hand by producing and/or selling products, receiving a paycheck, working as a member of a business team, repaying a business loan, shopping, and managing a personal bank account. The students had fun demonstrating their learning, collaborating together, and demonstrating leadership skills!

Van Meter High School students participated in Fish-a-thon this past week! Partnering with Americorps and utilizing supplies from Dallas County Conservation, students' goal was to collect data on the fish species and population in the school pond. Stay tuned for updates on our pond restoration project!