Articles from December 2023

The Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council is proud to announce Greg Moklestad, 9-12 Computer Science and Engineering Instructor at Dubuque Senior High School in Dubuque, Iowa, has been named as a recipient of the 2023 Iowa STEM Teacher Award, sponsored by Kemin Industries. The award is given to six educators each year who go above and beyond to inspire student interest in and awareness of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Dubuque Senior Teacher Greg Moklestad (center) receives the Iowa STEM Teacher Award from Heidi Hall of Kemin Industries and Jeff Beneke of the Iowa Governor’s STEM Council.

Now in its ninth year, the award is given annually to one full-time, licensed preK-12 teacher from each of the six STEM regions in Iowa. Each recipient is honored for their efforts to foster enthusiasm and inspire a passion for STEM that goes beyond the classroom and helps prepare students for future high-demand careers.

Moklestad is being recognized for his work in reimagining the school’s engineering program and bringing new life to the subject, as seen by increased enrollment in his classes and the need for additional courses to meet interest levels. He recognizes that success in the 21st century revolves around a healthy STEM education and focuses on creating strong relationships with his students and providing access to real-world experiences to increase awareness of STEM opportunities.

Molkestad created a partnership with the John Deere Dubuque Works Facility where students have the opportunity to work on intern level engineering projects with John Deere engineer mentors. His work on this trail-blazing program will not only benefit students at his school, but also allows for other schools to partner with John Deere using structures similar to what he set up.

In addition to his classroom work, Moklestad is a co-founder of the Dubuque Senior High School’s FIRST Robotics team, participates in STEM outreach programs, and continually looks for ways to stay up-to-date with STEM careers and the industry.

As a recipient of the 2023 Iowa STEM Teacher Award, Moklestad will receive $1,500 to use for his classroom and $1,500 for personal use. He recently received his award and a small celebration at his school and will later be honored, along with his fellow recipients, in a recognition ceremony during STEM Day at the Fair at the Iowa State Fair.

About the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council
Established in July 2011 via Governor’s Executive Order, the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council is a public-private partnership of educators, companies and Iowa students and families addressing policies and programs designed to improve Iowa’s educational system focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The STEM Council works to engage and prepare students for a career-ready workforce path, regain our state’s historic leadership position in education and provide a vital competitive economic advantage now, and for the future, to ensure that every Iowa student has access to world-class STEM education opportunities. The 62-member STEM Council is co-chaired by Governor Kim Reynolds and Foundation Analytical Laboratory Owner and Director of Technical Services Diane Young. For more information, visit https://iowastem.org.

About Kemin Industries
Kemin Industries (www.kemin.com) is a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services. The company supplies over 500 specialty ingredients for human and animal health and nutrition, pet food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, food technologies, crop technologies, textile, biofuel and animal vaccine industries.

For over half a century, Kemin has been dedicated to using applied science to address industry challenges and offer product solutions to customers in more than 120 countries. Kemin provides ingredients to feed a growing population with its commitment to the quality, safety and efficacy of food, feed and health-related products.

Established in 1961, Kemin is a privately held, family-owned-and-operated company with more than 3,000 global employees and operations in 90 countries, including manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Italy, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa and the United States.

A study conducted to determine next steps in the Dubuque Community School District moving from three middle schools to two has concluded with a recommendation from the planning team that facilities are expanded or reconstructed facilities on the Washington Middle School Site.

The recommendation was presented at the facilities/support services committee meeting on February 6 and will also be presented to the full board at its February 13 meeting. In April, the School Board voted to approve a goal of moving to a two middle school model by fall 2026, with a focus on creating feeder schools to the district’s two high schools.

Consolidation into two middle schools would ensure that all district middle school students have access to similar, high-quality learning spaces, while also resulting in a reduction of approximately $3.4 million annually from the district’s operating budget.

“As we moved through the process, maintaining a school facility at the Washington Middle School site continued to emerge as the strongest, most efficient option,” said Laura Peterson, an architect with INVISION. “The site is a cornerstone of the community given its central location and high visibility. The site also provides numerous options for expansion to develop a larger school that focuses on providing high-quality modern learning spaces for students.”

The study, led by Iowa-based INVISION Architecture, included baseline data collection and analysis of the district’s current middle schools, benchmarking against best practices, analysis of potential consolidation locations, and conceptual work to illustrate how a school could be situation on the site. Feedback was sought throughout the study process from various district stakeholder groups and a community task force including administrators, parents, teachers and community members moved in-depth through the process as it unfolded.

At the committee meeting, Tim Oswald from Piper Sandler also presented information to the Board related to funding available to the district through the Securing an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) fund as well as other potential funding sources, including possible efforts to obtain a general obligation bond through a ballot issue. Expansion or reconstruction of the school is estimated to cost between $65 million and $120 million depending on the scenario selected. Depending on the agreed upon scope, a general obligation bond could also allow the district to more quickly address additional infrastructure needs, such as climate control across all district facilities.

“This recommendation is the first step in charting the future of the district, both in providing high-quality learning spaces to all off our students while also increasing efficiency across the district,” said Amy Hawkins, superintendent of schools. “We look forward to future discussion with the Board to determine our path forward.”

The Dubuque Community School District is pleased to announce the appointment of Julia Jorgenson as the new principal of Hempstead High School, pending approval by the Board of Education at its March meeting.

Jorgenson, who currently serves as assistant principal/registrar at Hempstead will succeed Lee Kolker, who will retire at the conclusion of the school year. When she assumes the position on July 1, Jorgenson will be the first woman to serve in this role in the history of Hempstead High School.

Julia Jorgenson

As principal of Hempstead, Jorgenson will be responsible for the strategic and day-to-day operations of the school, which serves approximately 1,600 students and has 200 professional and support staff.

“Julia is a well-respected leader who has built a strong network of relationships with staff and students at Hempstead,” said Superintendent Amy Hawkins. “This, combined with her strong instructional, communication and collaboration skills, make her an ideal fit to lead Hempstead into the future.”

Jorgenson currently serves as assistant principal/registrar at Hempstead, overseeing delivery of the school’s academic programming in addition to a wide range of administrative responsibilities including staff evaluation.

Prior to being named assistant principal, Jorgenson served as a mathematics teacher at Dubuque Senior High School since 2007, where she also served in a leadership role as instructional coach since 2014. She was mathematics department chair at Dubuque Senior from 2009-2014 and a mathematics teacher at Central Alternative High School from 2002-2007.

Jorgenson holds a bachelor of science degree with education certification from the University of Iowa as well as a master of arts in educational administration from the University of Northern Iowa. She is a member of School Administrators of Iowa.

The Dubuque Community School District is pleased to announced that 12 district buildings have earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR® Certification. This recognition is presented to the most energy efficient buildings in the country.

Board President Kate Parks and Superintendent Amy Hawkins are presented with the district’s Energy Star recognition from Abbi Hammann and Jesse Coulter from Cenergistic.

“ENERGY STAR recognition underscores our district’s commitment to energy efficiency,” said Dubuque Community School District Superintendent Amy Hawkins. “Our energy conservation efforts are saving taxpayer dollars while also helping protect the local environment and maintaining healthy, comfortable learning spaces for students and staff.”

To earn ENERGY STAR Certification, buildings must rate in the top 25 percent nationwide for energy efficiency and meet ventilation standards. Dubuque Community Schools has the 4th most ENERGY STAR certified K12 buildings of any school district in Iowa.

Dubuque Community School District buildings earning ENERGY STAR Certification include:

• Audubon Elementary School
• Carver Elementary School
• Eisenhower Elementary School
• Hempstead High School
• Irving Elementary School
• Kennedy Elementary School
• Marshall Elementary School
• Prescott Elementary School
• Roosevelt Middle School
• Sageville Elementary School
• Senior High School
• Table Mound Elementary School.

The cost of utilities is one of the largest operations budget line-item for Dubuque Community School District, and the prices for electricity, natural gas, water, and sewage have been steadily increasing. To combat these rising energy and utility costs, Dubuque Community School District entered into a partnership with Cenergistic to implement a comprehensive organizational behavior-driven energy conservation program throughout all its buildings and campuses. Cenergistic’s Energy Specialist Abbi Hammann ensures the conservation program reduces energy consumption, helping the district save valuable resources that can be used elsewhere.

Since partnering in 2019 with Cenergistic on a comprehensive energy conservation program, the district has avoided utility costs of nearly $1.6 million. From an environmental standpoint, this impact is the equivalent of reducing CO2 by 3,761 metric tons or planting nearly 97,000 trees in our community.

We are pleased to present the Fall/Winter 2022-2023 K-12 Virtual Student Art Gallery, highlighting the amazing artwork of our students.

The exhibit features the ability to virtually walk through a curated gallery of work — and we hope you’ll enjoy immersing yourself in the exhibit as the vision of these talented student artists comes to life.

VIEW THE VIRTUAL STUDENT ART EXHIBITION

The Iowa Legislature is again discussing proposed legislation that would create a school voucher program in Iowa, often being referred to as Education Savings Accounts.

Now is the time for action.

Iowa already has significant school choice in its public schools and the Dubuque Community School District opposes the creation or expansion of programs/plans that redirect or designate additional taxpayer funds for private school, homeschooling or other private services.

We hope you will consider advocating in opposition to school vouchers as well.

Investments in education savings accounts, voucher programs, school tuition organizations or homeschool:

• Remove resources from public schools,
• Lack accountability for expenditures, requirements to educate all children or provide special education services, and
• Are hidden from the public oversight that should come with tax dollars.

KEY TALKING POINTS

• Iowa already has a wide range of school choice options for parents and students, including: in district transfer, district-to-district public school open enrollment, charter schools, strong non-public schools, home school options, publicly funded School Tuition Organization tax credits.
• Parents should have the choice to enroll their child in a private or religious school, but not with public taxpayer funds.
• Use public dollars for public schools, period. The public’s investment should be used to support public community schools which are open to all students regardless of race, religion, gender, socio-economic status and disability. These same expectations do not exist for private educational institutions in our state.
• This bill creates incentives for outside entities and private organizations to establish a private school in our district, without consent of our locally elected School Board. Private schools are then given freedom from regulations that our school district must follow. Why not instead give our public schools flexibility and funding to be innovative?
• Public funds require public accountability and transparency. Public schools are overseen by a publicly elected citizen governing board, are required to report academic results to the general public, have an annual public financial audit, and are transparent with all expenditures and decision-making. Private and religious schools are not held to that same public standard. Taxpayers have a right to know how their funds are being used, but are left in the dark about the use and impact of voucher funds.
• A slippery slope toward a costly and expansive voucher program: This voucher program may start small, but as we’ve seen in other states, once a program is established, it is easy to expand. This will pull more resources away from public schools.

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR

The following legislators represent areas served by the Dubuque Community School District. For a complete directory of legislators, view the FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR tool on the Iowa Legislature website.

• Sen. Carrie Koelker, Iowa Senate District 33
• Sen. Pam Jochum, Iowa Senate District 36
• Rep. Lindsay James, Iowa House District 71
• Rep. Steven Bradley, Iowa House District 66
• Rep. Chuck Isenhart, Iowa House District 72
• Rep. Shannon Lundgren, Iowa House District 65

You can also register your opposition with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.