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MVCSD News Wildcat Report – November

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November 2023

Read about our top ranked wildcats!

The U.S. News & World Report recently published their ranking of Iowa Public High Schools. I

am extremely proud to inform you that Maquoketa Valley High School is ranked #11 out of all

the public High Schools in the State of Iowa! I am extremely proud of our teachers and staff for

their hard work and dedication to providing our students with a high-quality education. We truly

have one of the best staffs in the State of Iowa. I am also thankful that we have tremendous

students, which is a direct result of the great support from our parents and community. Your

support is greatly appreciated! This would not be possible without the tremendous job our

Elementary & Middle School Staff is doing to prepare students for High School, and for that, I

say thank you as well!

Here are the past rankings for schools in our District:

2020 – High School Ranked #21

2020 – Middle School – US Department of Education Blue Ribbon School

2021 – High School Ranked #6

2021 – Middle School Ranked #10

2021 – Delhi Elementary Ranked #4

2022 – High School Ranked #13

2023 – High School Ranked #11

Our students have also been able to participate in numerous school to work activities. Students

have had the opportunity to attend Delaware County Healthcare Day, Advanced Manufacturing

Day, and Business & Industry Day. Below is a picture of the students at Business & Industry

Day. The junior class had the opportunity to talk to a variety of Businesses about career

opportunities, and learn about resume writing and preparing for an interview.

Troy Osterhaus

6-12 Principal

Maquoketa Valley CSD

From the desk of John Grimm

I would like to start by thanking all the staff members, students and community members who have been welcoming, kind, helpful and understanding as I have started my new job as Transportation & Building / Grounds Supervisor. A quick introduction for those of you who may not know me. My wife Michelle has taught middle school at MV since 1996 as well as coached middle school girls sports earlier in her teaching career. We have two sons Toby, a senior and Trevor a freshman.

Toby plays basketball, baseball, & golf as well group and individual speech and writing for the Echo. Trevor plays football, basketball, baseball & golf as well as speech. I have coached the past four winters as assistant junior high boys basketball coach as well as the current Head Varsity baseball coach. My past working experience comes from the lumber business. I spent 35 years working in lumberyards and the past 29 at Gilcrest Jewett Lumber. I was the Branch manager for the Marion location and truly enjoyed and appreciated all the people and my time with their great company.

I would like to share a couple goals of mine as we move forward. The first one is a recycling program in place for all three locations that is the same and where we have less in the trash and more products recycled. Another goal would be to build our team of employees to communicate and work together more on projects regardless of which areas of school or at which location work needs to be done. I look forward to working with everyone as we move into winter.

Announcement from the Stage

Middle School & High School Content Teams

During our 2:00 Dismissals on Wednesdays and on full professional development days, teachers across the district work in collaborative groups on common goals to improve their teacher practices and classroom instruction.

The 6th-12th content teams goals include: 

  • Special Education: SE teachers will share a topic and strategies that are relevant to the special education students.
  • Science: Implementing OpenSciEd resources into unit plans
  • Fine Arts/PE/Music: Implementing the concept of student voice into their instruction
  • Math: Implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their math instruction
  • Social Studies/Foreign Language: Learning about on diversity and culturally-responsiveness, and how to embed into classroom instruction
  • ELA: Revising unit plans and assessments that will reflect students’ original ideas without the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

From the desk of Mrs. Becker

November is a time to focus on gratitude, and we have so much to be thankful for already this year! We appreciate our grandparents and special friends who showed up in strong support of the students.  They had a wonderful afternoon visiting the schools and doing activities with the children.

We appreciate the donation from the Delhi Thrift Store and Food Pantry that allowed the teachers to purchase materials for their classrooms. 

The JK and kindergarten students were thankful for the beautiful weather for their field trip to Gallagher Bluedorn and Hartman Reserve in Cedar Falls. It was the perfect day! 

We are thankful for our local fire departments that helped us practice fire safety. This list could go on and on, but please know how much we appreciate all the support our families and communities show our students and staff! Thank you!!

From the desk of Mrs. Reicher

From the desk of Mrs. Sheppard

From the desk of Mrs. Jahn

What a wonderful 1st quarter! The 4th graders spent their first quarter in literacy learning all about poetry. We studied the characteristics of poetry as well as what inspires people to write poetry. Everyone worked so hard and we finished our unit by writing our own poetry. The students wrote about any topic that was inspiring to them, and they used the characteristics of poetry that they learned in their own writing. To celebrate, we held a poetry cafe in our classrooms and invited parents in for lemonade and cookies while getting an opportunity to hear our presentations read aloud. The students did a great job writing their poems and also explaining what inspired them to write it. Even though there were many nerves about presenting to a live audience, everyone rose up to the challenge and presented their original piece beautifully. They should be so proud of themselves! We are all excited to continue our learning with our new module on animal defense mechanisms. We will end the 2nd quarter with an original create-your-own adventure story. So many exciting things to come in 4th grade!

From the desk of Mr. Dreessen

Celebrating Lunch Appreciation Week

The lunch staff is proudly wearing their new shirts that were given to them by the building fund for Lunch Staff appreciation week, thanking them for all they do!

Food Service Need to Know

Check your current lunch account balance: Log into your online account or call/email Morgan Nefzger to get your current lunch account balance. You can make deposits at any time.

Free/Reduced Applications: These forms must be filled out as soon as possible so we have enough time to process your application and correct your registration fees. Free/Reduced applications can be found online, or there are copies in the Delhi Middle School/Elementary Office.

Salad Bar: This year, there will be a salad bar offered to 7th-12th grade students and all adult employees Monday-Friday. The salad bar will be an alternate meal choice. You will not be able to get the salad bar in addition to the main meal being offered. The salad bar will be located in the High School cafeteria area.

Snack Items: Students in Junior Kindergarten-Fourth Grade have the option of taking a snack item each day. Depending on the week Junior Kindergarten-second grade will have the option of cheese stick, goldfish crackers, single serve honey nut cheerios, nature valley oats and honey granola bar, teddy grahams, or single serve kix Cereal. Third-fourth grade can choose between a granola bar or a cheese stick. Regardless if you qualify for Free/Reduced benefits, you will still be charged the full $0.35 per snack item. Snack items are charged to your account every Friday for the entire week.

Meal Pricing for the 23/24 school year:

Student breakfast: $1.85

Earlville & Johnston & Delhi Elementary Student Lunch: $2.55

Middle School & High School Student Lunch $2.80

Snack Item: $0.35

Extra Entree: $2.00

Extra Milk: $0.65

Extra Juice: $0.70

Charging on negative Accounts: Be sure to watch your lunch account balance. If your family lunch account reaches an amount of Negative $50.00 or more, students will be given an alternate meal until the account balance is improved. An alternate meal due to low account balance will still be a full meal however the entree will be a deli sandwich with and no additional seconds or ala carte items. Starting on September 6th invoices will be sent out to families with negative balances and your student(s) will receive a deli sandwich until your account has been replenished. Invoices will be sent out every Tuesday via email.

Alternate main course meal option: This year, we will have an alternate main course substitute at each meal. This substitute will consist of, a deli sandwich. Students may choose this instead of the main course any given day.

How and where to deposit lunch money: You can always send lunch money with your students to turn in to the secretary at their building, or you can go online and make deposits into your account.

Link to useful forms:

Food Service Information

Free & Reduced Meal Program Information

RevTrak Online Payments

Total Access Lunch

August Lunch Menu

If you have any questions pertaining to the Free and Reduced Meals, you can contact Morgan Nefzger at morgannefzger@maquoketa-v.k12.ia.us

In need of some tables? We have some for sale!

Youth Needs Awareness

Maquoketa Valley Activity Calendar

This can be found on the website. Please check that for all activities.

Cancellations will be updated on the Maquoketa Valley Website.

Text Alert System

We will be using your information in Power School to alert you. It is important to have your current phone number and email updated. If you have any questions or issues, please call Sarah Lown in the high school office at 563-922-2091.

Maquoketa Valley 2023-2024 School Calendar

Ticket Information on Bound

Starting January 1st we will be going cashless for all school events

. Follow the step by step instructions to purchase tickets on bound for school events.

Step 1: go to the school website

Step 2: Click on Event Tickets

Step 3: choose which event you are buying tickets for

Step 4: select if you are paying for an adult or a student

Step 5: Enter in your card information

Step 5: complete your payment.

THERE WILL BE NO SURCHARGES FOR THE PROCESSING OF THE VISA CREDIT CARDS

Annual Notice of Nondiscrimination

The Maquoketa Valley High School offers career and technical programs in the following areas of study:

Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources

Applied Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Manufacturing

Business, Finance, Marketing and Management

Human Services

It is the policy of the Maquoketa Valley Community School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, creed, age (for employment), marital status (for programs), sexual orientation, gender identity and socioeconomic status (for programs) in its educational programs and its employment practices. There is a grievance procedure for processing complaints of discrimination. If you have questions or a grievance related to this policy please contact Dave Hoeger, 107 South Street, Delhi, Iowa 52223; 563-922-2091; davehoeger@maquoketa-v.k12.ia.us  

2023-2024 Forms

2023-2024 Backpack Program form

2023-2024 Maquoketa Valley Athletic forms

2023-2024 Wildcat Athletic Pass

Athletic booster memberships

Objection to instruction and library materials

Regular Board Meeting

October Board Meeting Minutes – Held October 23, 2023

Lunch Menu

November Lunch Menu

Maquoketa Valley Community School District 

Ensures High Levels of Learning to Empower All Students For Lifelong Success.

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