Greetings Oskaloosa Middle School Families and Community Members:
Welcome to the March edition of Principal Scholes's monthly newsletter! I appreciate you taking the time to read this month's edition to stay current on many of the recent happenings at Oskaloosa Middle School! In this month's edition, I will be highlighting our building staff's professional learning focus over the month of February, discuss the middle school's continued efforts to promote a positive school culture, report on efforts being made to increase staff, family, and community engagement and support, and make note of our building's continued focus to provide an aesthetically appealing and safe learning environment for students. Please take a couple of minutes to read and learn about how your child is a part of something great here at OMS!
Professional Learning Focus
OMS Continues Focus on Iowa Instructional Framework: Focusing on professional development over the month of February, the middle school staff were provided with training and reflection opportunities on implementation of the Lesson Structure and Pacing indicator from the Iowa Instructional Framework. Staff were also provided with an opportunity to reflect with a peer over their Individual Professional Development Plan for the school year to discuss implementation of their plan in conjunction with the Iowa Instructional Framework. Time was also built into professional development in order for staff to go through a mock simulation evaluating students in teacher teams in preparation of the district’s College and Career Readiness (CCR) pilot for the 3rd trimester. Staff were provided with an overview of what our teacher leadership model will look like for next year in order for teachers to apply for leadership roles they may be interested in. Lastly, staff were provided with directions during professional development in order to begin preparing for this spring’s ISASP testing.
School Leadership Team (SLT) Meets: The School Leadership Team (SLT) at OMS has met a total of fourteen times so far during the course of the 2022-23 school year. The focus over the past two meetings for the leadership team has included an overview of what the district’s vision culture could potentially look like for next year and gathering input from the team with respect to this. Preparation for upcoming ISASP testing and Student-Led Conferences has also been discussed and time has been provided to plan for upcoming professional development. The team continues to read and discuss chapters from the book, The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups (Coyle) in order to make connections towards building and maintaining a great culture at OMS.
Promoting a Positive School Culture:
Focus Groups Meet in February: Over the month of February, focus group sessions were held with both students and parents. On February 21, the middle school Student Focus Group met to discuss upcoming professional development planning and to gather input on district vision culture. Also on February 21, the Parent Advisory Team (PAT) met in the middle school media center to learn more about the upcoming Career Day at the middle school and to also discuss upcoming support needed regarding ISASP testing (with respect to snacks for students during testing) and field trips for students to be able to take part in this coming spring.
Lunches with Logan: Back in December, a monthly routine was initiated where School Resource Officer Logan Nord comes to the middle school to eat lunch with students nominated by each teacher team through a developed rotation. This has been a great opportunity for Officer Nord to connect with students and has provided students with a chance to get to know Officer Nord and learn more about the field of law enforcement. The opportunity also has given Officer Nord a chance to learn more about the students, providing a mutually beneficial experience.
Focus on Increasing and Supporting Staff, Family, and Community Engagement:
Continued Focus on Quality Communication: Quality communication continues to be stressed as a vital component to the middle school’s success in order to promote and maintain a positive culture of learning. This is a top-down expectation, starting with Principal Scholes, as seen through his weekly staff newsletter entitled The OMS Point (27 Issues so far this year).
OMS Holds Career Day: On Thursday, February 23, the middle school held a Career Day that began with students having the opportunity to learn about a profession of interest to them virtually in the morning through a program called Pathful Connect. Following this, students were given the opportunity to go to the spectator gym for a Career Fair, where approximately 30 different professions and career clusters were represented by local and area businesses and organizations. Laura Brummel worked very hard to help coordinate this event and her organization and leadership were very much appreciated, providing students with an excellent opportunity to learn about so many careers that exist so close to home.
Community Partners Support Staff: During our professional development sessions on Wednesdays, we continue to be provided with some wonderful and thoughtful snacks by various community partners. During the month of February, we would like to thank First Christian Church, Hy-Vee, and Central Reformed Church. We are grateful for our community partners and their continued support of Oskaloosa Schools.
Creating an Aesthetic and Safe Learning Environment:
School Safety: In the month of February, OMS completed an unannounced Shelter drill to continue drilling our Standard Response Protocol (SRP). We successfully had all students and staff in our Shelter locations in under 3 minutes as students and staff responded well to the unannounced drill.
Thanks again for taking the time to read my newsletter this month! I would like to wish everyone a happy start to their Spring! We appreciate all you do to support us here at OMS!
Yours in Education,
Mark T. Scholes, Principal Oskaloosa Middle School