South Central Calhoun Community Schools Putting community first

By DOUG CLOUGH editor@messengernews.net

LAKE CITY — Mission statements

— whether it be for a business, a school, or church — are often written, placed in a binder, put on a shelf, and forgotten about until further notice. But not at South Central Calhoun (SCC) Community School District.

This district’s mission statement is to partner with [their] communities to provide an environment rich with opportunities that challenge every student to master skills and understandings which will transfer into a successful future.

Every year, community — according to Superintendent Brad Anderson — is a major focus of the district’s goals, and it’s evident that this mission has teeth given four major happenings occurring at SCC.

For the 2022-2023 school year, South Central Calhoun is focusing on the education of not only the student, but the community and parents as well.

“Our elementary school has put two challenges out for our students and community,” said Anderson. “The first has been a sleep challenge. With sleep being an important part of a child’s development and well-being, the challenge was to get adequate sleep and track it accordingly by class over a period. A similar challenge has been going on with respect to use of technology. Recent research shows that technology in moderation can be OK, but just like any other addictive components, the overuse of technology can have a drastic impact on brain development.”

These challenges have been going on this month, culminating with the National Day of Play on Feb. 1. The district’s website has more information at https://scc.k12.ia.us/news/ elementary-tech-challenge/.

For the past several years, SCC has been part of the Building Resilient Individuals and Communities (BRIC) organization.

“This is a coalition of community organizations such as Stewart Community Hospital, Department of Human Services, Calhoun County Public Health, Plains Area Mental Health, Family Resources of Iowa, and SCC,” said Anderson. “We meet monthly and strategize ways to help meet student and family needs in the areas of social, emotional, and mental health, food insecurity, housing assistance, and other ways possible. Our pool of resources has helped dozens of families through its years of existence.”

SCC also makes it a priority to make sure kids are fed and have ample “brain food” throughout the day. Anderson said that local businesses, individuals, and organizations have donated hundreds of dollars in healthy snacks and essentials for students at all three SCC buildings.

In the spring, SCC students take a day to give back to the community which invests in them. “Kindergarten through senior students perform a community service,” said Anderson, “as a way to give back to the very people who have supported us throughout the school year and beyond. Students have cleaned up the walking trail in Lohrville, done painting jobs on request, beautified our school grounds, and have completed a number of jobs.”

The students’ service day will be completed in early May this year. However, giving back is not just for students; staff and local donors have pooled their resources to give back more than $12,000 to 75 families who have been determined to have a need through the holiday season.

“Arguably one of the strongest and most impactful programs of our district is our mentoring program,” said Anderson. “Our belief is that a strong investment in our foundation builds solid relationships and core skills. This is true from our four-year staff induction process all the way to our adult-to-student and student-tostudent mentoring relationships. These are lifelong collaborations that have a lasting impact on everyone involved. We are very proud of our mentoring efforts and will continue to build these relationships annually.”

In addition to these examples of community involvement, Anderson also noted that a majority of SCC’s juniors and seniors take advantage of dual credits in post-secondary education programs.

“We’ve had students graduate with an associates degree from college before they graduate from high school,” said Anderson, “and many students leave with an average of eight college credits already earned. Partnerships with Iowa Central Community College and Des Moines Area Community College have most certainly made college a reality for our students.” though it’s the same old building.”

With the completion of the renovations, Cooper became the last district building to install an air conditioning system, which means students will no longer enjoy heatrelated early releases in the late spring and early fall.

This school year also marked the return of fifth-grade band and orchestra. When the district’s fifth-grade classes were moved from the middle school down to the elementary schools at the start of the 2021-2022 school year, band and orchestra did not follow.

“Laura Klein-Ferry is facilitating individual and small group band lessons with fifth-graders once a week at each of the buildings,” Anderson said. “Brian Robison does the same thing [for orchestra]. Their hope is at the end of the year to potentially bring all the schools together and do some type of performance maybe in April or May.”

Looking ahead for Fort Dodge Schools, the district is looking at its safety initiatives and assessing security vulnerabilities and needs at each building, Anderson said.

“We are hosting a school safety session for parents and families in late February,” she said. “That will be a collaborative effort between the sheriff’s department, the local Police Department and the school district.”