Students train for wind-energy careers

The wind turbine maintenance courses at Des Moines Area Community College in Carroll have really taken off, and technology resource director and professor Jack Thompson says that the growth in the industry is not going to be slowing down anytime soon.

Kara Rowedder highlights new hires for CCSD

Kara Rowedder, a five-year veteran elementary educator with the Jefferson-Scranton Community School District, highlights a list of new hires for the Carroll Community Schools. Carroll School Board members Monday approved the hiring of Rowedder for a first-grade teaching position at Fairview Elementary School beginning this coming academic year. She taught first grade for one year, and second grade for the past four years.

Tardy in Carroll schools? Don't blame the clocks

Students won’t be able to point to faulty or inconsistent clocks in the Carroll Community School District as excuses for popping into class tardy as the first bells ring in the new academic year.

District looks to add middle school bleachers for football season

If the Carroll Community School District gets the go-ahead nod from the City of Carroll — its co-owner of the middle school soccer and football fields — elevated bleachers could be in place by football season this fall.

CCSD approves 3.8% teacher salary, benefits hike

Carroll Community Schools officials and its teachers’ bargaining unit met halfway on salaries for the coming year. Literally. (1 comments)

CEA, school district to vote on new contract

Last minute negotiations have paid dividends for the Carroll Community School District and the Carroll Education Agency as they reached tentative agreement on a contract for the 2010-11 school year Wednesday and called off arbitration that was scheduled for Friday morning. “Yesterday morning a tentative agreement was reached,” said CCSD superintendent Rob Cordes. “We knew we were close Tuesday night, but there were just some of the fine details that needed to be worked out.”

School district, CEA face arbitration date

For the Carroll Community School District and the Carroll Education Association (CEA), Thursday passed without an agreement on teacher contracts for the 2010-11 school year. But as the deadline for presentation of final proposals for arbitration, it did move both parties one step closer to a settlement. With public arbitration scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, July 16, at the Carroll High School media center, these offers represent the end of the negotiation process.

School board approves sharing agreement for transportation director

Research conducted by the administration of the Carroll Community School District into the comparable salaries of transportation directors in like-sized districts was presented to the CCSD Board of Directors during a special meeting Monday afternoon.

CHS team makes contest history

Oh baby, did this Carroll High School History Day contest team nail it. Seniors-to-be Maria Bohling and Julia Evans brought home fifth-place honors out of scores of entries in the senior-level (grades 9 through 12) group-exhibit at National History Day competition held June 13-17 at the University of Maryland  in College Park.

Teacher contract negotiations may be headed to arbitration

Negotiations between the Carroll Community School district and the Carroll Education Association on salary and benefit packages for the 2010-11 school year continue. “They are not yet settled, yet, we have set a date for arbitration,” said superintendent Rob Cordes.

CCSD sets goals for students' improvement on yearly tests

Since receiving the results of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) and Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITEDS) assessments at last month’s board meeting, developing the school improvement goals for the 2010-11 school year has become a priority for the Carroll Community School District and the Board of Education. In fact, CCSD superintendent Rob Cordes told the board at Monday night’s monthly meeting that development of the annual goals is one of the most important jobs the board faces each year.

CCSD's Reiter to add to transportation duties

Carroll Community School District transportation director Tom Reiter will be holding an even more diversified position beginning next year. Last school year, Reiter and the district entered into an agreement with the Ar-We-Va Community School District for sharing of the transportation director’s duties. In this agreement one day a week would be devoted to Ar-We-Va and the other four to CCSD, with Ar-We-Va providing 20 percent of the director’s weekly salary.

Double celebration in Manning: Kinderfest and all-school reunion

Believed by the organizing committee to be the oldest children’s celebration in the United States, Manning’s 127th annual Kinderfest promises to be anything but run of the mill. This year, a joint effort with the Manning Alumni Association (MAA) is allowing the community to build a weekend-long celebration around the traditional children’s day.

Staiert started kids on education journeys

After 37 years of teaching, 36 of which have been as a kindergarten teacher at Fairview Elementary in Carroll, Linda Staiert can’t walk down school hallways, or even the streets of Carroll, without being greeted by a current or former student or the parents of the same. “When you are walking the streets of Carroll, no matter where you are, they will say, ‘Hi, Mrs. Staiert.’ And I will always ask how school is doing or what they are doing now,” she said of her former students. “There is always that bond that you have, and it is a bond that I don’t think you can find in any other occupation.”

Kuemper considers proposal on varsity letters in trap shooting

Larry Greving and Royce Stangl, representing the Carroll County Trap Shooting Club, addressed the Kuemper Catholic School System Board of Education at their regular meeting on Monday, May 17, to request the consideration of trap shooting as a sport eligible for student lettering. Currently, Glidden-Ralston, Coon Rapids-Bayard, IKM-Manning, Kuemper and Carroll Schools have students that participate in the club, and CR-B, IKM-Manning and Glidden-Ralston have approved the sport’s participants to be eligible to receive a varsity letter.

Addressing shortfall, CCSD raises meal prices

For the past four years, the nutrition program at the Carroll Community School District has been running at a deficit. Because of this, the board of directors must take a closer look at the cost of breakfast and lunch prices as well as the expenses associated with the nutrition program and find ways to cover the over $20,000 imbalance.

9 early dismissals for AIW approved

A request for nine additional professional development days at the Carroll High School to use for Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) staff training was a source of concern for some of the Carroll Community School District Board of Education members. “I struggle with giving up classroom instruction time, but I also see the benefit of AIW,” said board member LaVern Dirkx. “So, I guess you have to have a trade off. For one year, I am willing to experiment.”

CCSD tests improve, although math lags

It is not necessarily the reading and writing that need to be the focus of educational goals for the Carroll Community School District in the next school year, but the arithmetic instead. The spring test Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) and Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITEDS) for the district revealed that math was the one area in which the prior year’s goals were not met.

KCHS awards diplomas to 70 Class of 2010 grads

Kuemper Catholic High School awarded diplomas to 70 seniors in the school’s 55th annual commencement ceremony Sunday afternoon. Featured speakers were valedictorian Brandon Boldt, son of Jeff and Barb Boldt of Carroll, who plans to study biology at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., and salutatorian Alex Wiederin, son of Mike and Julie Wiederin of Mount Carmel, who plans to attend the University of Iowa.

ISEA honors volunteers to local schools

The Lincolnway Uniserv unit of the Iowa State Education Association has honored men and women of the Carroll area who have dedicated their skills and their time to local schools.

KCHS students gain valuable lessons from Habitat work in Iowa

It is not where you go, but what you do that matters most, six Kuemper Catholic High School students learned from this year’s Habitat for Humanity mission trip. This year’s trip changed direction, instead of going from North to South, went from North to Northwest.

Kuemper Ball climbs to record $452,105