Student Excellence is the theme at Monday night’s Board meeting

GLENWOOD CITY — Middle School/High School Principal, Patrick Gretzlock gave his administration presentation to the Board Monday night and student excellence was the underlying theme.

With sports in full swing right now, sportsmanship is an important topic and the Glenwood City student athletes, coaching staff and fans are top notch.

Gretzlock looked over the numbers as Athletic Director and stated that Glenwood City comes in at an impressive second out of the Dunn-St. Croix Conference.

The Glenwood City student body is reminded each year that this is an important title to hold and one to strive for as it not only shows at the home court, but it shines throughout the entire Conference.

Just this past week, Gretzlock received word from a fellow A.D. and coach, praising the student section for being one of the most pleasant she has ever seen.

Inside the classroom and off the field, Gretzlock touched on the newly implemented Assigned COMPASS time, which is helping students with a failing grade in a core content class (English, Math, Science and/or Social Studies) turn things around.

COMPASS stands for Creating Opportunities for Meaningful Progress And Student Success.

Being “assigned” means that the failing student who is in COMPASS with teacher A, would then be reassigned to COMPASS with the teacher he/she is failing the class in.

So far the preliminary numbers are showing significant improvements from last year with students not only raising their grades, but actively participating in the change along side their teacher.

The initial placement that took place last week shows that 27 high school and 15 middle school students were placed in assigned COMPASS.

By mid-November Gretzlock is hoping to share the second round report of grades, which will show a better indication of how COMPASS is working.

“I feel that we are being responsive to the needs of our students and I am confident that the numbers will bear out the impact that our teachers can have on student failures when presented the right opportunity,” Gretzlock expressed.

Staying on theme student needs, Gretzlock is looking into modifying the finals schedule and putting a strong focus on pre-planning for those “high stakes” days.

This is in the initial phases in terms of discussion. Five teachers just volunteered to help and Gretzlock is going to reach out to the other D-SC schools to see what they do during finals in terms of a schedule.

In other business, Superintendent, Tim Johnson updated the Board on the ongoing projects happened around the school.

Currently the softball field is underway and if the weather behaves, the plan is to have it looking like an actual field by the start of November.

Engineers and architects have also met with the Administration about the upgraded Elementary entrance. There is lengthy discussion being had in order to map out the best possible entrance that will allow for proper traffic flow as well as safety for students that are being dropped off or walking.

New light fixtures are also being placed around the perimeter of the school. These will be brighter LEDs. The parking lot lighting is also being looked into.

Other agenda items approved included Pete Gaustad as the assistant varsity/junior varsity girls’ basketball coach, Dean Fayerweather as the girls’ C-team coach, and Jacklyn Jordheim and Jessica Olson as Destination Imagination Volunteers.

There has been an update to the meeting schedule with the following Board meeting being held an hour earlier starting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, October 26.