Superintendent's Message for April 2025

Hello, Chargers!!

Students’ last day of school changed to May 23rd

At the April School Board meeting, the board voted unanimously to change the last student day for this year from May 30th to May 23rd. This day will also be a 3-hour early out for students. The board could approve this change because our calendar had built in extra hours above the state’s minimum of 1080 hours. With this calendar change, we will have officially completed 1084.4 hours.

Capturing Kids’Heart News

We received fantastic news from our CKH consultant that all of our buildings have been nominated for their “Rising Star” award. This award goes to a school building in its first year of implementation and indicates that the school has implemented the CKH program's philosophies, strategies, and techniques. The next step of the process is for our information and data to go to a committee to decide if the information provided meets their standards and to award us with the Rising Star Award. Each building will stand alone to the rubrics standards, meaning one, two, three or all four could be awarded this achievement. Being nominated is a BIG deal and we are very proud of our students, staff, and administrators for all their hard work and dedication to this initiative.

2025-26 School Calendar

The attached links are the two calendars in consideration for the 2025-26 school year. Both are similar and contain features from the input of the staff, parents, administrators, and board members. The only difference between the two calendars is the placement of spring break. Calendar A has spring break in the second week of the month, and Calendar AA has spring break in the third week. Calendar A was on the board agenda for the public hearing Monday night for a first reading but can be changed between the first and second reading. The final reading will occur at the May board meeting. I seek input throughout the month to make an official recommendation to the school board during the May board meeting.

On-Line Registration for the 2025-26 School Year

We plan to have online registration for the 2025-26 school year. This has been in the planning stage all year, and the attached link, created by Lois Dixon, our coordinator, explains the planning and details of this offering. On-Line Registration Update On-line registration will begin after July 1st, 2025.

Charger Academic Team Competed at State

The Academic Team did well at the IQBL State competition, and two people received all-state honors. Ethan Werts was selected to the first team all-state for the fourth consecutive year, and Coach Tim Curnutte was named coach of the year by his peers. Congratulations to these two individuals and the Charger Academic Team for all their successes this year.

Columbus Music Program

A huge shout out to the following people for ensuring our kindergarten and first-grade students could participate in an elementary music program this year. Due to the absence of a full-time instructor, these students have missed out on this experience for the last couple of years.

The staff at Columbus did a fantastic job supporting the music staff and Principals to ensure the kindergarten and first-grade students experienced a music program. Special thanks to Dawn Morgan for filling in, providing our students with instruction, and organizing the program. Branda Peterson, the kindergarten and first-grade teachers, also helped supervise and assist. They are Kris Andersen, Jennifer Bear, Kris Bengtson, Hannah Christian, Marsha Banks, Stephanie Book, Cheri Arnold, Amber Clapper, Mandy Neer, and Stephani Wiese—also, a special thanks to Josh Morgan and Tyler Urich, for assisting at the concert.

UpdateMark your calendars

Special Board Meeting for MS bid consideration - April 21st, 5:30 PM
Graduation - May 18, 2025, 3:00 pm - please let us know if you plan to attend.
Teacher Appreciation Week May 5th-9th.
May is School Board Recognition Month

Please visit our website at https://www.charitonschools.org/ for additional information about our school district.

GO CHARGERS and THINK BIG !!!!

Mr. Baker, #LBE

Phone - 641-774-5967

Email- brad.baker@chariton.k12.ia.us

Twitter - @Super_Charger