Newsletter 1

Midland Newsletter Volume 24, Issue 2196 December 2018

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

2 News From The Nest / Counselor’s Corner

3 Eaglet’s Elementary View

4 OPPUS / Subs / Lunch Apps / Human Trafficking

5 Admin Message / All State FB / Veterans

6

7

8

Coach of Year / Good Sport / Bricks / Nurse

ISAP Testing Mar 20-29 / Substitutes Needed

Blood drive / College Planning Help / Thankful

Happy Holidays from our family

at MCSD to yours!

Wednesday, December 19 is a FULL SCHOOL DAY

School dimisses for winter break on Friday, December 21 at 12:00.

School resumes on Friday, January 4th!

Administrator’s Message by Activities Directors Ryan Steines and Raymond Dosland

Fall Wrap-Up

As we move into the winter sports season, there are a few things that we would like to summarize from the fall. Fall participation this year was high compared to most other schools. We were very fortunate to have large numbers of athletes competing in football and volleyball this year. Being a small school, we need to have as many students as possible participating in multiple sports. This is how we will compete for conference, district, and state titles in multiple sports. We have also been emphasizing to many athletes this year that their chances of playing collegiately increases drastically if they participate in more than one sport.

We accomplished two things in cross country this fall that has not been done for quite some time at Midland. We registered a team score at a meet, and had a male runner qualify for state. Volleyball showed a lot of improvement from last year and continued to improve throughout the season. All three levels of volleyball stayed competitive in many matches, especially towards the end of the season. Football qualified for the state playoffs for the fourth straight year. This is an accomplishment that not very many schools in the state have achieved.

We would like to thank those who helped us out at football games, volleyball matches, and our cross country meet. It wouldn’t be possible to do this job without those of you who put in time and effort to make our events run smoothly and efficiently. We would also like to thank our coaches for dedicating many hours of hard work to ensure our athletes are prepared for competition. Lastly, we would like to thank the athletes for putting forth their best effort in the classroom, on the practice field, in the weight room, and during competition. Study Tables

We have started a new week-to-week athletic eligibility procedure that was implemented at the beginning of this school year called Study Tables. We would like to continue to emphasize that this is solely in place to help our athletes achieve success in the classroom without missing valuable practice time. Study Tables is held on Wednesday early-outs from 1:15-3:15. Students with failing grades and have work to catch up on are required to attend in order to stay caught up in their classes. We feel that with the addition of Study Tables, we will decrease the likelihood of student athletes failing at semester and having to sit out for an extended period of time. Study Tables went exceedingly well for the fall sports athletes, even with it being a new concept for everyone. We will continue to gather feedback and answer questions from anyone that needs more information regarding the process throughout the year. Events Entry With the parking lot and areas leading to the events entry being fully functional, we are making the transition to using only the Event Entry to enter the school for athletic and fine arts events. The events entrance is located on the southwest side of the school nearest the gyms. This means that all patrons, students, and opposing teams must use these doors to enter the facility. The most convenient place to park for use of the Event Entry is the parking lot south of the school. (Continued on page 5)

Newsletter 2

COUNSELOR’S CORNER

Schedule changes – all high school

students will be receiving their 2nd semester schedule in December. Students must

review their schedule and adjust accordingly, then sign it and turn it in before winter break Dec. 21. Once we return from break, schedules will only be changed the first day of classes, January 4. We strongly encourage them to get any changes made during December so they are not missing class time when we return in January.

FAFSA – All students heading to college next year

should have their FAFSA form filed or be finishing it soon. The opportunity for scholarships is enhanced

when this is completed early.

Scholarships - Winter Break is a GREAT time to get a leg up! Work on your resume!

Search the internet for scholarship opportunities!

Gather letters of recommendation from those who know you.

Save copies of all scholarship applications and essays you submit. Often you can recycle those with small changes for the next scholarship opportunity.

Research school websites looking for their scholarship opportunities.

Underclassmen make good use of your time to

looking up careers and possible schools. Find ways to get job experience and volunteer hours (both look good on applications & scholarships). It is NEVER too early to start preparing for your future!

THANKS FOR CARING MIDLAND DISTRICT! Thanks to all who showed they cared by donating to the fall food drive that continues through December 14th!

We Care Packages

Midland FFA members are creating We Care Packages

for the children in our district who are less fortunate.

They are accepting donations of boxes, wrapping

paper, tape, small Christmas gifts/toys and candy to

fill the boxes. You can leave donations at either school

office until December 11. Thanks for showing you

care Eagles!

NEWS FROM THE NEST

AT WYOMING

M

Quarter 2 Remediation Days at the Wyoming

Center will be December 20 & 21. Students will be

given a letter on Dec 19 stating if they have met all of

their course standards and are excused from school on

the 20th

& 21st

or if they need to attend school that day to

make up some work. Please help us get the students we

need to work with here on those days. Congrats to all

who have been academically successful during quarter 2

and have the time off!

Winter Concert Please join us

on December 2nd for our 6-12 Band and Choir Concert

at 2 pm in the Black Gym. The music students have

worked extremely hard to prepare a concert full of

winter classics to help get you in the holiday spirit.

Class Rings

A representative from Jostens will be here on Friday,

January 11 during seminar to meet with all freshmen

and any other students interested in receiving the

information. He will return on Friday, January 18

again during seminar to take orders.

GREENHAND/CHAPTER DEGREE

RECIPIENTS

Chapter Degree recipients: Landon Hunter, Jensen

Orr, Ethan Paulsen, Maisie Paulsen, Callie Petersen,

Hope Saroka, Lillian Strait.

Greenhand recipients: Justin Agnitsch, Rashelle Cole,

Chi Chi Dusanek, Carson Markmann, Cayden Miller,

Allison Paulsen, Trenton Rickels, Bryce Rushford,

Alyssa Streets, Bailie Uppena

GIFT WRAPPING FUNDRAISER

The Middle School ELMO club is doing a fundraiser this Christmas season. For just $1 per gift we will wrap your Christmas presents, so you can enjoy the holiday with no stress. All the profits from this fundraiser will go to the playground at the fairgrounds. You can simply drop off the presents at the High School library during school hours with your name and the name on the gift and who it is from. It's as simple as 1, 2, 3. This fundraiser is going on from November 14 through December 17. Drop off your presents today!

Midland Newsletter 3

Calendar of Events

Dec. 21st – PBIS assembly – 10:00 AM

Dec. 6th – Elementary concert at 6:30, Wyoming

Black gym

Dec. 21st – 12:00 dismissal for break

Dec. 24th through Jan. 3rd – NO SCHOOL

Jan. 4th – School resumes

Jan. 25th – PBIS assembly - 2:00 PM

Ohnward Bank and Trust graciously provided pumpkins for each classroom here at Midland Elementary to decorate and enter into their contest. FUN was had by all!

Officer Feldman, Mr. Becker, Mrs. Lehrman and the 5th grade

students spent a day raking and cleaning yards in area towns

for DARE Community Service.

Elementary Book Fair

Thank you to all who supported the

Elementary book fair during Parent

Teacher Conferences at the

Oxford Junction Center. The

school earned $687.00 to purchase

books for the library and

classrooms with the proceeds from

our sales. Remember, books make

great gifts!

Eaglet’s Elementary View

Due to our OUTSTANDING building wide PBIS – students earned the opportunity to enjoy a fun-filled morning at the local YMCA

Midland Newsletter 4

Free/Reduced Meal Application reminder to ALL families:

Remember - If your household income decreases or your household size increases at

any time during the school year, you may apply or reapply for meal benefits.

The Free/Reduced Meal Application can be found on the District website at

http://www.midland.k12.ia.us/PDFs/OnlineRegistrationForms/OnlineRegis_LunchApp.pdf

or can be picked up at either school office.

OPUS HONOR CHOIR PARTICIPANTS

HUMAN TRAFFICKING PRESENTATION DEC 5

On Wednesday, December 5th, we will be hosting a parent/community awareness presentation here at the high school in regards to Human Trafficking.

Many Iowans don't realize human trafficking is a local, home-grown problem. We think of it as someone snatching kids and then exploiting them; however, it rarely happens that way. The average age of a student trafficked is fifteen. This happens here in our community.

Come to the High School on December 5th to find out more information on how to be aware and prevent this from happening to the youth in our community!

Chiara Dusanek (9th grade), Kaedynce Stevens (9th grade), and Mia Ruley (6th grade) were selected to participate in the OPUS Honor Choir Event on Thursday, November 15th in Ames, Iowa held at Iowa State University. Nearly 3000 students throughout the entire state of Iowa auditioned to fill only 720 spots. Congratulations on your selection, your hard work in both preparation and while at the event, and your incredible performance that moved many audience members to tears!

Midland Newsletter 5

Administrative Message continued from page 1 from Athletic Office Sportsmanship Policy As we head into the winter sports season, we want to remind everyone of the new procedure in the event that one of our spectators gets ejected from a contest at home and away events. In the event that an ejection occurs, there will be a meeting set up between those who are ejected and the athletic directors and/ or administration. The procedure is as follows:

1st offense: Ejectee(s) are not allowed to attend the next event in that sport 2nd offense: Ejectee(s) are not allowed to attend any event in that sport for the rest of the season 3rd offense: Ejectee(s) are not allowed to attend any Midland sporting event for 1 year

We want to create a competitive, yet positive environment for our athletes and opposing teams’ athletes to enjoyably compete in. Not only do we as a school district hold positive sportsmanship to the highest regard at our events; the Tri-Rivers Conference, Iowa High School Athletic Association, and the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union expect our athletes and spectators to exhibit positive sportsmanship as well. Respect must be used in supporting Midland athletes, opposing teams’ athletes, as well as officials. Verbalizing negative or disrespectful comments towards player(s), coaches, and/ or officials does not help to fix the way the teams are playing or how the referees officiate. These actions increase tension in an already high stress environment and only leads to further issues. It is our goal when talking to other school coaches and administrators that we get commended on how respectful and positive our spectators are at both home and away events. This is a goal that we believe the Midland community will have no trouble surpassing in the upcoming winter season. rSchool Notifications The winter sports season is the most unpredictable season in regards to weather. Unpredictable weather leads to increases in event time changes, postponing to later dates, cancellations, and the addition of events. If you would like to stay up to date on event changes, we ask you to please sign up for notifications on rSchool (tririversconference.org). Notifications are sent out instantaneously once changes have been made. This will ensure that you have the most up to date and accurate information in regards to Midland events. rSchool also offers a free mobile application to give you access to all Midland events in the palm of your hand. Many in the community already use rSchool, and we as a district use this as our primary location for schedules including all levels of sports, fine arts productions, band/ vocal concerts, trips, FFA, youth practices, homecoming festivities, and much more. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us throughout the year. We look forward to seeing everyone come cheer on the Eagles in the upcoming months.

ALL STATE FOOTBALL HONORS

Congrats to Eagles named to the 2018 Iowa

Print Sports Writer’s Assoc. All State Football

Teams:

Brett Schoenherr, 1st team offensive lineman,

Griffin Gravel 3rd team defensive linebacker,

and Britan Martens 3rd team quarterback!

Your hours of hard work and dedication has

paid off guys!

APPRECIATING OUR VETERANS

On

November

9th both

schools took

time out to

honor our

veterans with

Veteran’s

Day

Assemblies!

Midland Newsletter 6

DECORATIVE BRICKS

FOR SALE

Mr. Harms’ class is selling decorative bricks as a

fundraiser. The bricks were painted by the students.

Purchase price is $5 each. We have flags, Happy Spring,

Midland “M” and lady bugs available.

To place an order contact Mr. Harms at

dharms@midland.k12.ia.us or Mrs. Henkes at

jhenkes@midland.k12.ia.us or call 563-488-2292 x 3150.

These would make great Christmas gifts for those hard to

buy for individuals on your list AND help the students

raise funds for special projects and trips.

NURSE NOTES:

Nurse’s Schedule: Tuesday & Thursday 7:45-3:45 @ Wyoming

Wednesday & Friday 7:45-3:45 @ OJ

Students with health issues should visit the nurse’s office if she is in the building or to

the secretary if she is not in the building. If the student needs to go home, she will

contact the parents. Students should not be calling parents directly.

Please stay healthy this winter by washing hands, eating healthy, not sharing beverages.

Students who have a fever of 100o or more should not return to school until they have

been fever free for 24 hours. Temperature should be taken in the evening as the body

temperature is naturally lower first thing in the morning. Thanks for your help with this!

Check out my webpage for more useful health information at:

http://www.midland.k12.ia.us/default.asp?NewsCategory=DistrictInformation_Nurse

MARTENS NAMED 2018 IFCA

ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR!

Congratulations to Eric Martens who has been named 2018 Iowa

Football Coaches Coach of the Year! Eric has been an assistant

coach for the Eagles for many years and has also been

instrumental in the success of our youth football program. He will

be recognized at halftime of the championship game!

Congratulations Eric and thanks for your many years of service!

GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP

a lot of wins yet this season, he saw the need to give

this one away as it would mean more to the other

athlete.

Here is a link to the tweet with a video: https://twitter.com/MrNboots/status/1062505983962988545 Coach Gravel’s wife Theresa said “It was awesome to

watch. Logan really made Midland proud. And he was

simply asked to give the kid some mat time and not

pin him right away. Logan made the decision to give

the kid the win on his own and told coach as he was

taking the mat. It really was a proud Midland

moment.” WTG Logan! Keep up the great work!

NOTICE:

When we return

from break,

January 4 with a

regular schedule

day.

If you have not heard, one

of our MS wrestlers did

something on Nov. 13th that

showed very high character

and selflessness. Logan

Bicknese was able to give a

win (Logan let him win) to

an athlete from Lisbon that

is less fortunate. Although

Logan himself doesn’t have

Midland Newsletter 7

Do you want to make a DIFFERENCE in a child’s life and get PAID doing it?

If this sounds like a DREAM to you…KEEP READING!

We are always looking for SUBSTITUTE teachers and SUBSTITUE para educators.

If you are interested, applications can be found at http://www.midland.k12.ia.us/default.asp?NewsCategory=DistrictInformation_Employment

District Info – Employment – Application forms can be found at the bottom of the page

Questions or Concerns, please contact Megan Frankfurt 563-488-2292 EXT 1210 or mfrankfurt@midland.k12.ia.us

ISASP TESTING REPLACES IOWA ASSESSMENT TESTS THIS YEAR

This year, our students will begin taking a new statewide assessment. It will replace the Iowa

Assessments. The new test ISASP (Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress) were

developed by Iowa Testing Programs and the University of Iowa. The assessment is designed

to measure student learning outcomes as outlined in the Iowa Core Standards. All districts in

the State of Iowa are required to give the ISASP in a window during the final quarter of the

school year.

The new test has some significant changes from the Iowa Assessments. First, the test can be

taken online or on paper. Midland has decided that for the initial year, we will remain with a

paper and pencil format for the test. Second, the ISASP has fewer tests. Students in grades 3

through 11 will be tested on Reading, Writing and Language, and Math. Students in grades 5,

8, and 10 will be tested on Science. Third, students will be required to write a passage from a

prompt on the ISASP. Finally, the test will be untimed. Students will have as long as they

need to complete each section.

After the first of the year, the state is going to release some practice tests. Students

throughout the district will be given the opportunity to work through the practice test

questions so that they can become familiar with the new question types and the new format of

the test.

As in the past, families will receive student scores. However, we have been notified by Iowa

Testing Programs, that the scores will not be released to districts until sometime next fall.

Student growth, proficiency and readiness indicators will be reported to district at that time as

well.

The MS/HS will be testing from March 20 - March 29. All students should plan to be in

attendance at this time. HS students that attend Kirkwood should plan to be in the

building in the building for testing all day on March 21 and 22.

Midland Newsletter 8

PATS BLOOD DRIVE

The Midland P.A.T.S. group

is sponsoring their

semi-annual blood drive on

Thursday, December 27 from 3-6:45PM in the

Black Gym in Wyoming.

To schedule a time to donate

please call or text Elisha

Hansen at 319-480-4929.

Thanks for showing you care

Midland Community!

Midland Community School 106 W Webster Street PO Box 109 Wyoming, IA 52362

SAVE THE DATE:

College Planning & Financial Aid Help February 21st

All sophomores and their parents are encouraged to attend the College &

Career Planning Meeting from 5:30-6:30 in the media center at MMHS.

All juniors and their parents are encouraged to attend the Financial Aid

Meeting from 6:30-7:30 in the media center at MMHS.

Anyone can attend these meetings if interested!

Midland Community Schools

MIDLAND SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

A Tradition of Excellence

WE ARE THANKFUL….

For student leaders in each grade level.

For outstanding staff members throughout the District.

For the chance to get to know the parents in our district.

For the new building project in Wyoming.

For the fun we shared during the state football run.

For support of our school associated organizations such as PATS, Athletic

Boosters, Music Boosters, etc.

For service based youth organizations like FFA, NHS, 4-H, etc.

For support of our local businesses and individuals when asked for monetary

assistance or helping hands.

For having the opportunity to educate your children, thanks for your vote of

confidence!