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School district announces new, state-mandated testing system Conrad fire station completion still running behind schedule By ROB MAHARRY The Grundy Register CONRAD- In a familiar turn of events after the saga of the Smith Development, the Conrad city council again found itself frustrated with a lack of timely progress on the fire station during Thursday night’s regular meeting. Derek Johnson of the IS Architects Group attended the meeting and told the council that work was about two weeks behind schedule, and January 20 is the current date for owner occupancy. Brycon, LLC is the primary contractor on the project, and Johnson did report that the building had finally been enclosed. Still, he couldn’t guarantee that the job would be substantially completed by the target date at the current pace, though he added that it would be possible if another crew joined soon. “At this point, nothing shocks me. We’ve been down this road on the last project. We know how it’s going to go,” Councilman Ryan Callaway said. When the contract was awarded last spring, the completion date was originally scheduled for the end of October, and the council hoped to avoid a similar situation to the Smith Development after S.L. Baumeier, Inc. of Gladbrook ran several months behind on its completion. Council members expressed a unified frustration, inquired about keeping these contractors off of future bidding lists and also discussed the possibility of withholding payment after the deadline date. “How do we avoid these situations where contractors come in and don’t get the job done, and there’s no teeth in these contracts?” Councilman Brad Murty asked. After much discussion, the council voted unanimously to approve a pay request of $114,731.36 from Brycon, and weekly site visits will be conducted until the project is completed. Work such as seeding and striping the parking lot will still need to be done in the spring when the weather allows. The council discussed the impending departure of City Clerk Denise Hoy to take a similar position in Ely after 21 years on the job, and it was reported that 16 candidates have applied to fill the position with varying levels of experience. Mayor Jeff Martin wished her well and gave an apt sports analogy during his remarks. “We’re a basketball team that just lost our point guard,” he said. The council voted unanimously to grant Hoy a special exemption to the vacation payout so that she could work until the end of the month rather than attempting to use all of her vacation days. “I only hope that I can have a council (in Ely) half as good as the councils that I’ve had in Conrad,” Hoy said. Nick Kitzman of the city’s public works department reported that the Methodist Church is having sewer issues with the bathrooms in its new addition, and the tap would need to be fixed. After some discussion, the council voted 5-0 to put approximately $5,000 toward putting in a new sewer line and troubleshooting expenses. According to Kitzman, the board at the church had agreed that figure would be acceptable and hoped to cost share.
See council page 2
By Michaela Kendall The Grundy Register GRUNDY CENTER – This spring will mark the end of an old testing system – the Iowa Assessment Tests – and the beginning of a new, state-mandated testing system – Smarter Balanced Assessments – for students across the state. But what exactly does this new testing system mean for students and educators in the Grundy Center Community School District? To find out, The Grundy Register sat down with school administrators to discuss just what the new testing system means locally. In early 2017, students in grades 3 through 11 will take the Iowa Assessments as normal, but beginning in the spring of 2018 these students will switch to the Smarter Balanced Assessments, which test English and math skills. Students in 5th, 8th and 11th grades will also take a science assessment. One of the biggest changes, according to Superintendent Jerry Schutz , will be in the amount of time spent testing. “Right now, with the Iowa Assessments, we spend around 45 minutes completing the math and the reading assessments,” he said. “With Smarter Balanced [Assessments] the estimates are that students will be doing up to eight hours of testing.” Schutz said that for students also doing the science assessment, testing could take up to 12 hours to complete, and even if some students finish early, they will have to wait until every last student is done test-
ing before they can leave the testing session. Schutz expressed some concern with the amount of time spent testing, especially for younger students. “A couple hours of testing can be grueling on a student, our brains just don’t work like that,” he said. Another major change that comes with the new testing system is the format. Unlike the Iowa Assessment Tests, the Smarter Balanced Assessments will be completed entirely online. Schutz said this new format has pros and cons. “In the precursor tests done in Minnesota, there were some problems where students were in the middle of the test, and the system crashed and they lost their progress,” he said. “But here, I think we’re better prepared as a school because we have really good tech people who can work through any issues that may arise.” One of the benefits of the online format, though, is the Smarter Balanced Assessment online library of resources. “If a student is struggling in a certain area, the assessment will gather that information and then provide the instructor with personalized feedback for each student, and a list of resources for whatever area they are struggling in,” Schutz said. And unlike the Iowa Assessment Tests, which test students on proficiency, the Smarter Balanced Assessments are meant to test students on college and career readiness.
Students in Grundy Center, and across the state, will soon switch to Smarter Balanced Assessments, an online testing system that will replace the Iowa Assessment Test.
“The big thing with [the Smarter Balanced Assessments] is that it really focuses on depth of knowledge, which is a good move in the right direction,” he said. “It will focus a lot more on critical thinking, problem solving, applied learning and higher order thinking.” Though most of the Smarter Bal-
anced material wont be available until July, GCHS Principal Kristin Sheffield said that her staff is already preparing for the new system in any way that they can. “We are already planning for educating staff and providing practice opportunities for students to help familiarize everyone as much as
possible, but the first year of actually using the assessment and it's accompanying materials will be a year of learning for all of us,” Sheffield said, adding that with plenty of time, communication and possibly adjustments to instruction, students, staff See Testing page 3
BCLUW students collaborate on coding
Elementary and middle school students worked together on coding activities at BCLUW last week in conjunction with National Computer Science Education Week. (Rob Maharry/The Grundy Register photo)
By ROB MAHARRY The Grundy Register CONRAD- Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education has been a huge part of the curriculum at BCLUW over the last few years, and crucial to all of those fields is coding. Last Thursday, elementary and middle school students worked together yet again on a coding exercise in the third and fourth grade classrooms. Eighth graders came from the middle school to work on the exercises, which revolve around the program Scratch, an online tool developed by MIT that allows coders at all
levels to work on projects. Coding is now taught from early elementary to the high school level to ensure that students are well-prepared to enter the highly competitive and skilled STEM career paths. According to BCLUW Superintendent Ben Petty, the Hour of Code initiative has been a huge success so far. “We certainly think it’s a great opportunity when we can get our students together to learn from one another,” he said. “It’s also a nice extension from the buddy day activities See BCLUW page 2
Hospital Foundation awards grants to local projects By Michaela Kendall The Grundy Register GRUNDY CENTER – Recently, the Grundy County Memorial Hospital Foundation awarded a Community Health Need grant to three projects in the area. Two of the grants were awarded to the senior citizen exercise programs sponsored by the Northeast Area Agency on Aging. The exercise program is carried out at two locations – at the Community Center in Grundy Center and at Dorothy’s Senior Center in Eldora. Both locations received grant dollars to purchase new digital video players and televisions to continue the regular exercise classes for local senior citizens. These classes are free, and focus on maintaining strength and balance for seniors, with the intent to improve overall independence and health. The third grant was awarded to Grundy County Public Health to purchase demonstration dolls for the Child Passenger Safety program. The dolls will be used to help educate parents on proper installation of car seats and to demonstrate how
safety seat harnesses and vehicle seat belts should fit properly to prevent injury, or even fatality, in the case of an accident. Community Health Need grants are a way for the Grundy County Memorial Hospital Foundation to help non-profit organizations, schools, and health-promoting groups to positively impact health needs in their communities. As identified in the GCMH Community Health Needs Assessment, the health needs that impact our local community the most include: access to health care, chronic disease management, wellness, and disease prevention. Organizations that can demonstrate a new or innovative project to impact any of these areas may be eligible for grant dollars from the Community Health Needs Grant fun. The next deadline for Community Health Grant requests is March 1, 2017. Grant materials may be found at www.grundycountyhospitalorg, Ways to Give, or contact GCMH_ Foundation@unitypoint.org.
Part of the grant money will go to help fund free exercise classes for senior citizens in Grundy Center and Eldora. (Photo courtesy of the Northeast Iowa Agency on Aging)
The Grundy Register, P.O. Box 245, Grundy Center, IA 50638 Phone: (319) 824-6958 • Fax: (319) 824-6288 • E-mail: grundypublisher@midamericapub.com, grundyoffice@midamericapub.com, grundyeditor@midamericapub.com