Fall High School Newsletter
by Mr. Busch
We look forward to welcoming all staff and students back to Central Lyon High School for the 2009-2010 school year. We want to give a special welcome to the teachers who will be new to the district this year. We welcome Bill Allen, who will be teaching in the science department and Matt Vermeer, who will be teaching in the special education department. In addition to our new staff there are some new initiatives happening at the high school this fall.
In 2008 the Iowa Legislature and the Governor established a core curriculum for all students in Iowa. At the heart of the core curriculum is the vision statement, “Iowa students will become productive citizens in a democratic society and be successful participants in a global community.” Along with this mission statement are five essential literacy skills necessary for students to be productive in a global society. The five skills are driven by literacy in these five areas; technology, employability, health, finance and civics. This year our staff will be moving forward on this initiative.
A second initiative enacted by the Iowa Legislature in 2008 is “the Healthy Kids Act.” This legislation requires that all students in grades 6-12 engage in physical activity for a minimum of 120 minutes per week in which there are at least five days of school. Students not being able to meet this requirement may also set up a contract involving other activities to meet this standard. Other non-school activities may include non-school sport teams, gymnastics, dance, individualized exercise program etc. that the student will be involved in during the 2009-2010 school year.
Central Lyon High School will offer a number of new courses this fall. Two new advanced placement courses offered will be Calculus and Spanish. Mr. Wright and Mrs. Groves have taken coursework to be certified to teach advanced placement courses. Students passing the course and successfully passing the advanced placement exam at the end of the year will receive college credit. Anatomy and Physiology will be offered at the High School this year by Mr. DeStigter. Students graduating in 2011 will be required to have four years of English, three Years of Math, Science and Social Studies. For Juniors not wanting to take an upper level Science class they can take a class in Horticulture and Natural Resources to meet the requirement for the three years of Science. Both semester courses will be taught by Mr. Postma.
The Central Lyon School Board approved the following Student Handbook changes for the 2009-2010 school years. Due to the number of college level courses being offered, a new weighted grading system has been adopted. Classes having weighted grades include: AP Calculus, AP Spanish, Foundations of Education, Human Relations and any other AP class taken through Mr. Van Berkum’s room. Classes taught through NCC will not be weighted. The new weighted grading scale will make it possible for students to have a cumulative grade point average of better than 4.0. Any student found duplicating another writer’s work will be given no credit for the assignment and not be allowed to make up the work. If students sign up for ICN courses they will be expected to be on time for the regularly scheduled courses during regular school hours. Parents wanting to review these updated policies can refer to the Central Lyon website at www.centrallyon.org.
We look forward to working with the staff and students for 2009-2010 school year. Congratulations to the Summer Baseball Team winning 21 games and competing in the sub-state baseball game in July. Both accomplishments are school records in Baseball for Central Lyon. Congratulations to Coach Pytleski being named Northwest Iowa’s Coach of the Year.
