Teachers Use Twitter to Show What's Happening In Class

Sioux City North High School - StarCast 2

Students in the class, "Mass Communication" research, write, film, edit, and produce digital media pieces for Sioux City North High School. This course is the next generation of the school newspaper. If you have ideas for stories or topics, please email teacher Shawn Olorundami at oloruns@live.siouxcityschools.com

Winter Weather

The winter in Iowa provides us with some days that make it a challenge to hold classes at the regular time, and sometimes we must close our schools early, late, or close school for the entire day. As you know, our weather is not only challenging at times, it is constantly changing.

 

Please remember that parents and guardians have the right to make the decision to keep their child home on any day that they feel it is unsafe for their student to be in school because of weather conditions. If you believe the weather provides a sincere reason why you may have to keep your students at home, or take your student home when classes are scheduled to continue, you as a parent or guardian will simply need to contact your child’s school to let them know.

 

Parents and guardians notification

 

• Blackboard Phone Message: In the case of late start or school cancellation, a call is sent between 6 - 6:15 a.m. If school is dismissed early during the day, a call is sent to all phone numbers listed with your child. 

• Iowa School Alerts: You may subscribe to this free service by clicking on the “Weather Related School Dismissals” button on the right-hand side of the district web site’s front page at www.siouxcityschools.org. Iowa School Alerts sends out email notifications to all subscribers.

• Social Media: A post is made on the district’s Facebookand Twitter social media pages.

• Mobile App: An alert notification is sent to all those who have downloaded the district’s mobile app (available for iPhones and androids.) 

 

If the schools are dismissed early or if school is called off entirely, there will be NO EVENING

ACTIVITIES. If you have before and after school care, please check your provider about their procedures.

 

Please avoid calling the school about delays, cancellations, or dismissals. Unless you see an announcement or receive a phone call, assume school is running as usual.

 

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on Monday, October 5 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Tuesday, October 6 from 3:15 to 5:45 p.m. Each homeroom teacher will be connecting (by letter, text, phone, etc) to parents to schedule a time to attend. We are scheduling parents to manage the flow and organize the day to allow time for all parents to see each teacher.

Please ask your student who their homeroom teacher is this year (most likely the same as last year). We also encourage your student to attend.

A Safe Place to Learn

Over the past few days, we have been monitoring hallway traffic between and during classes. Often, schools our size (1,478 students) get a reputation that students are always in the hallways, hanging out in unsupervised areas, or skipping out. 

The images attached are in the middle of second block and third block - prime time for hallway traffic. The halls are clear, safe, and the students we did encounter had permission and purpose to be in the hallways. In looking at data, we only have about 50-60 students absent per day. That is a fantastic accomplishment. 

We believe that this is possible because of the hard work happening at North and all of Sioux City Schools. Specifically these items: 

1. Teachers are giving the expectation that students need to be in school and in class.

2. Lessons are better planned and more engaging for students. 

3. Course offerings are meeting the I treat needs of students and include Career Pathway electives,  Wall to Wall Academy choices, online college classes, and online recovery classes.

4. Students understand the building expectations of our Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) initiative. 

We believe that for any student to be successful, they must first feel safe. Before they can believe, succeed, or achieve, they must feel comfortable and confident in their learning environment. 

District Advisory Meeting Notice

The District Advisory Committee of the Sioux City Community Schools is hosting community discussions on October 13 and 15 to obtain stakeholder feedback regarding the District. Each meeting is from 6-8:00 p.m.at North Middle School, 2101 Outer Drive North. During the discussions, participants will work together to identify goals and strategies necessary to move the District forward to meet the challenges of the 21^st century.  We hope you are able to join us!

 

New Teachers

North High is happy to welcome some new faces to its faculty. These teachers have met this week to learn about the Sioux City School District and how to navigate a school as a new teacher. We are very excited for our new hires as they all bring ideas and strategies that will make North High an even better school. 

Faith Hall is our new assistant band director. Josiah Schiller will be teaching biology. Josh Schreiner will be teaching various levels of math classes. Hannah Kirvin will teach two sections of art classes each day. Katie Florke is our new assistant choir director. 

Preparing Academics

This week, teachers and principals met to goal set and create a plan to enhance the educational experience at North High School. The team examined school data such as our Iowa Assessment results, parent surveys, enrollment trends, and student surveys. 

Data was used to determine how and what teachers will learn to make classes more rigorous and prepare students for 21st Century careers. The teachers will be emhancing their learning through Authentic Intellectual Work (www.centerforaiw.com). 

During the past school year, teachers used this model of collaboration to examine the school work that they assigned students. A group of fellow teachers assessed the task to determine the level of rigor, communication, and relevancy. Teachers would also offer each other suggestions on how to improve upon their tasks and integrate technology. 

Registration - Day 1

We had a really good day of registration today. We served 636 students in 9.5 hours. That averaged 1.11 students per minute!

The process was different and parents mentioned that it was better than last year with all services being in the Learning Commons and not using other spaces. It allowed for a more comfortable environment and more space to complete forms. 

Tomorrow, we do it again from 8:30-6:00 pm

RD

Registration at North

Sioux City North will be welcoming students and parents to registration. This is a nervous time for all of us in the office. We must be organized and want to make sure parents have a smooth registration. 

It is unique that we take pictures during registration and it often shocks students and parents that we do that. The reason is to reduce the interruptions during school. 

We are open to suggestions and how to improve our process. We feel this year will be even better. 

RD