School board approves 2026 graduates
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By Ken Garner
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — The Mount Ayr Community Schools Board of Education approved the Class of 2026 for graduation pending completion of all requirements during its regularly scheduled board meeting Monday afternoon.
Superintendent Jason Shaffer informed the board of the summer food program that will begin on June 2 and last for six weeks on Tuesdays. The program is open to families with children from birth to 18.
Both the elementary and middle/high school principals shared with the board results from the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP). However, knowing where students in the school district compare with other across the state is not known yet as the state is redoing the scales.
“We don’t know exactly where the scores lie,” elementary principal Chris Elwood said. “They added a passage to the reading, they added more problems to math. So I guess, in theory, you would think the scale score is gonna go up.”
Using last year’s scale scores, students in the district on the elementary level exceeded the previous statewide numbers.
“I know that’s kind of confusing, and it’s kind of frustrating with us, too, not being able to know exactly where we sit,” Elwood said.
New figures should be available in August across the state.
Shaffer updated the board on the progress at the CTE center
“There is a lot that’s happened in the last month,” he said.
The project, according to Shaffer, is pretty much moving according to schedule. ”It’s been pretty impressive to watch,” he said. “It kind of went from where it was nothing, and then they had a skeleton, and the next thing you know they got that outside put on, at the inside, it’s just flowing.”
Shaffer said he’s hoping for first week of June to be able to do a walk-through. it’s been pretty impressive to watch. It kind of went from a, you know, where it was nothing, and then they had a skeleton, and the next thing you know, now it’s, once they got that outside put on, at the inside, it’s just flowing.”
The board approved switching to HUDL for its streaming services for athletics starting the next school year. The district already utilizes HUDL services for many sports in regards to scouting and video uploading.
“So little bit different, but we’re gonna give it a shot and see how it works,” Shaffer said. “I think the coaches are excited about it. Plus, we can do more with baseball and softball, which we have not really done anything. So now we would be able to (stream games) if we have Wi-Fi, that will hit it. So we’re looking into that.”
The board set up the 2027 graduation date as 3:30 p.m. May 16.
The board also approved a Memorandum of Understanding with Green Hills AEA for EL services.
