As part of the Clinton Community School District’s commitment to students’ safety and mental health, beginning in the last week of March, we are launching an anonymous reporting program, which will allow students and parents to make a report about concerns of safety or student wellness. Our program is student-focused, as opposed to crime-focused, meaning it is a tool for alerting caring adults about students who need help—not snitching. This is part of our continuous effort to increase campus and student safety, and provide students with a safe, completely anonymous outlet to share concerns.

Students who attend CMS or CHS can use our new P3 Campus app to report: bullying, suicide concerns, depression, sexting, stealing, threats, self-harm, abuse, dating and domestic violence, fights, drugs, alcohol, weapons or other types of dangerous situations that threaten their safety or the safety of others. Their reports will be addressed by a trained team of school officials and law enforcement, when necessary.

When you or your student have a concern, you can go to P3Campus.com on your computer, tablet, or laptop– or you can download the free P3 Campus mobile app– and make a 100% anonymous report in less than five minutes. The use of anonymous reporting apps in state programs like Safe2Tell Colorado have proven to be successful in providing the tools and information needed for school officials and to proactively address concerning behaviors, potential incidents of violence, and other harmful situations on campus before they develop. We look forward to working with you and your student to continue making CMS and CHS safe schools.

CHS and CMS will be offering more information in the coming days.

The Clinton Community School District and the Clinton High School Hall of Honor Committee are proud to announce the 2022 Hall of Honor Class.  The inductees are Dr. Herbert Burkert, Larry Davis, Duke Slater, and Dr. Addison Killean Stark.

The induction will be on Friday, April 8. The public is welcome to the luncheon and induction speeches starting at 11:30. The meal will be prepared and served by CHS culinary students. The link for the meal is https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bCamcAzrNw8e5EKPZE-J6Fi5Gi8u0DYYWTYxnSkS5xA/edit?usp=sharing. Reservations can be made by contacting Deb Deters at 243-7540, extension 1180.. Inductees and spouses are guests of the Committee. The meal cost for other attendees is $14 per person.

Chairperson of the Hall of Honor Committee, Dennis Duerling, stated that “the third Hall of Honor class continues to show the depth of quality in nominees.  They also cover four of the different areas of recognition of the CHS Hall of Honor: a distinguished military veteran that went above and beyond for his country during wartime, a graduate that broke race barriers while serving in the Chicago judicial system, a nationally recognized artist, and a CHS graduate that has become a national leader in energy innovation.” 

Dr. Herbert Burkert (CHS Class of 1943) was nominated for Distinguished Military Service.  Burkert was drafted into the army on January 18, 1944.  After receiving his training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, he entered World War II in France on August 23, 1944.  Burkert was involved in heavy wartime activity and unfortunately was captured by the Germans on November 30, 1944.  He was taken to Stalag 7A, the largest prisoner of war camp in Germany.  Over a five-month period, Burkert and other prisoners were able to dig a tunnel and he escaped one day before he was scheduled to be executed.  For his military service, Burkert was recognized by the US government by receiving the Bronze star, Good Conduct medal, Combat Infantry Badge, and Rifle Badge.  After returning to the states, Burkert attended Palmer College of Chiropractic and graduated in 1948 with a doctoral degree.  He opened a very successful practice in Clinton.  Burkert was heavily involved with the Clinton Jaycees, including serving as president in 1955.  He passed away in 1965. 

Larry Davis (CHS Class of 1963), was nominated in the category of The Arts. He attended the University of Iowa, majoring in Art, with a minor in Education.  Davis was then drafted into the military where he served for four years.  He returned in 1972 and began his career as a professional artist while teaching part-time at Clinton High School.  In the 1980s, Davis began to create a series of annual silkscreen prints depicting the four seasons at Eagle Point Park.  The profits from their sale supported the Clinton Community College Foundation.  This began a lifelong friendship with CCC President Dr. Charles Spence which led Davis to become a teacher at CCC.  During his time at CCC, the Foundation sponsored an exhibit including Iowa artists and those in Iowa’s sister city, Kofu, Japan.  A pivotal time in Davis’ career was when Dr. Spence accepted the position as president of the Florida State College in Jacksonville.  Davis followed Spence and enjoyed a 23 year career in resource development, as a tenured faculty member and as Visual Arts Coordinator.  Davis has since moved back to the Midwest and operates a studio with a regular exhibition schedule.

Duke Slater (CHS Class of 1916) was nominated in the area of Professional Career Accomplishments for breaking barriers as a lawyer and judge in Chicago.  During his career in the National Football League, Slater returned to the University of Iowa in the off-seasons and earned his law degree in 1928.  After retiring from football, he began his legal career in Chicago.  In 1948, Slater became the second African-American to be elected as judge in the city of Chicago.  Later in 1960, he became the first black judge selected to Chicago’s Superior Court, at the time, the highest court in the city.  Slater transitioned to the Circuit Court of Cook County when that court was created in 1964.  Slater’s service as a Chicago judge refuted the ugly stereotypes that existed at the time that dominant black athletes lacked intelligence.  Slater passed away in 1966.

Addison Killean Stark (CHS Class of 2002) was nominated in the area of Accomplishments in Academic Fields.  After graduating from CHS, Stark attended the University of Iowa and earned degrees in Mathematics and Chemistry.  He served on an organization focused on advanced thermochemical conversion to fuels and chemicals, energy innovation in agricultural systems, and intensification of energy conversion reactor systems.  Later, Stark earned his Ph.D. from MIT.  Stark is currently the Director of Energy+Environment at Clark Street Associates, a strategic consulting firm based in Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. Previously he served as Associate Director for Energy Innovation at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC). Prior to joining BPC, Dr. Stark served as a Fellow at the US Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) focusing on early-stage energy technology development and R&D across sectors including renewable fuels, green industrial chemistry, dry-cooling technologies for water conservation in power generation, advanced sensor systems for agriculture and leveraging advanced manufacturing for the fabrication of energy devices. While at ARPA-E, he also served as Acting Program Director for ARPA-E’s $33 million Energy-Water Nexus portfolio, the Advanced Research In Dry-cooling (ARID) program. Stark is the author of multiple peer reviewed journal articles and popular press pieces on diverse topics in energy technology innovation including the following: advanced biofuels, hybrid PV/thermal solar energy, energy-water nexus, leveraging additive manufacturing for chemical reactor design, and innovation in energy technology and finance.  Stark is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

The mission of the Clinton High School Alumni Hall of Honor is to recognize those who attended Clinton High School and have distinguished themselves in their careers, communities and personal lives. These individuals are held up to Clinton students as examples of citizenship and success.

The Iowa Department of Education released an update on the Iowa School Performance Profiles or also known as the Iowa School Report Card this morning. The majority of the data that populates the parts of the profile comes from the state assessment (Iowa State Assessment of Student progress (ISASP)) from last spring. 

The parts of the Iowa State Assessment of Student progress (ISASP) that are used as part of the state report card are participation of students taking the assessment (expectation of 95% or higher), proficiency of math and literacy, academic growth in math and literacy, conditions of learning survey, and at the high school level, postsecondary readiness and graduation rates.

The Iowa School Report Card is one data point for measuring student academic achievement, not the only data point. I would agree with Dr. Ann Lebo, the director of the Iowa Department of Education who released this statement– “The Iowa School Performance Profiles can assist communities in data-driven decision-making, but it doesn’t tell the whole story about our schools. It’s important to understand the challenges brought on by the pandemic, and to take that into account when looking at the 2021 performance scores.”

The pandemic has certainly affected many of our families and students. It is not surprising that this has had an effect on many students’ academic progress, particularly many students that opted to participate 100% online. That being said, the district will breakdown these profiles and see what adjustments need to be made.  The district has filled most of the 15 ESSER teaching positions aimed at supporting students with accelerated learning.  Some buildings are offering after school services for students that are behind. Summer school and Jumpstart programs are and will continue to be offered to to students to bridge summer learning loss.

Thank you for your support of Clinton Community Schools!

The Clinton Community School District and the Clinton High School Hall of Honor Committee are proud to announce the 2022 Hall of Honor Class.  The inductees are Dr. Herbert Burkert, Larry Davis, Duke Slater, and Dr. Addison Killean Stark.

Chairperson of the Hall of Honor Committee, Dennis Duerling, stated that “the third Hall of Honor class continues to show the depth of quality in nominees.  They also cover four of the different areas of recognition of the CHS Hall of Honor: a distinguished military veteran that went above and beyond for his country during wartime, a graduate that broke race barriers while serving in the Chicago judicial system, a nationally recognized artist, and a CHS graduate that has become a national leader in energy innovation.” 

Dr. Herbert Burkert (CHS Class of 1943) was nominated for Distinguished Military Service.  Burkert was drafted into the army on January 18, 1944.  After receiving his training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, he entered World War II in France on August 23, 1944.  Burkert was involved in heavy wartime activity and unfortunately was captured by the Germans on November 30, 1944.  He was taken to Stalag 7A, the largest prisoner of war camp in Germany.  Over a five-month period, Burkert and other prisoners were able to dig a tunnel and he escaped one day before he was scheduled to be executed.  For his military service, Burkert was recognized by the US government by receiving the Bronze star, Good Conduct medal, Combat Infantry Badge, and Rifle Badge.  After returning to the states, Burkert attended Palmer College of Chiropractic and graduated in 1948 with a doctoral degree.  He opened a very successful practice in Clinton.  Burkert was heavily involved with the Clinton Jaycees, including serving as president in 1955.  He passed away in 1965. 

Larry Davis (CHS Class of 1963), was nominated in the category of The Arts. He attended the University of Iowa, majoring in Art, with a minor in Education.  Davis was then drafted into the military where he served for four years.  He returned in 1972 and began his career as a professional artist while teaching part-time at Clinton High School.  In the 1980s, Davis began to create a series of annual silkscreen prints depicting the four seasons at Eagle Point Park.  The profits from their sale supported the Clinton Community College Foundation.  This began a lifelong friendship with CCC President Dr. Charles Spence which led Davis to become a teacher at CCC.  During his time at CCC, the Foundation sponsored an exhibit including Iowa artists and those in Iowa’s sister city, Kofu, Japan.  A pivotal time in Davis’ career was when Dr. Spence accepted the position as president of the Florida State College in Jacksonville.  Davis followed Spence and enjoyed a 23 year career in resource development, as a tenured faculty member and as Visual Arts Coordinator.  Davis has since moved back to the Midwest and operates a studio with a regular exhibition schedule.

Duke Slater (CHS Class of 1916) was nominated in the area of Professional Career Accomplishments for breaking barriers as a lawyer and judge in Chicago.  During his career in the National Football League, Slater returned to the University of Iowa in the off-seasons and earned his law degree in 1928.  After retiring from football, he began his legal career in Chicago.  In 1948, Slater became the second African-American to be elected as judge in the city of Chicago.  Later in 1960, he became the first black judge selected to Chicago’s Superior Court, at the time, the highest court in the city.  Slater transitioned to the Circuit Court of Cook County when that court was created in 1964.  Slater’s service as a Chicago judge refuted the ugly stereotypes that existed at the time that dominant black athletes lacked intelligence.  Slater passed away in 1966.

Addison Killean Stark (CHS Class of 2002) was nominated in the area of Accomplishments in Academic Fields.  After graduating from CHS, Stark attended the University of Iowa and earned degrees in Mathematics and Chemistry.  He served on an organization focused on advanced thermochemical conversion to fuels and chemicals, energy innovation in agricultural systems, and intensification of energy conversion reactor systems.  Later, Stark earned his Ph.D. from MIT.  Stark is currently the Director of Energy+Environment at Clark Street Associates, a strategic consulting firm based in Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. Previously he served as Associate Director for Energy Innovation at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC). Prior to joining BPC, Dr. Stark served as a Fellow at the US Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) focusing on early-stage energy technology development and R&D across sectors including renewable fuels, green industrial chemistry, dry-cooling technologies for water conservation in power generation, advanced sensor systems for agriculture and leveraging advanced manufacturing for the fabrication of energy devices. While at ARPA-E, he also served as Acting Program Director for ARPA-E’s $33 million Energy-Water Nexus portfolio, the Advanced Research In Dry-cooling (ARID) program. Stark is the author of multiple peer reviewed journal articles and popular press pieces on diverse topics in energy technology innovation including the following: advanced biofuels, hybrid PV/thermal solar energy, energy-water nexus, leveraging additive manufacturing for chemical reactor design, and innovation in energy technology and finance.  Stark is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

The mission of the Clinton High School Alumni Hall of Honor is to recognize those who attended Clinton High School and have distinguished themselves in their careers, communities and personal lives. These individuals are held up to Clinton students as examples of citizenship and success.

The induction of the 2022 Hall of Honor Class will be in conjunction with the Academic Awards ceremony scheduled for April 2022.

The Clinton Community School District is cooperating with local health providers to offer an opportunity for students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 at school. This is a voluntary decision for each family. This is an opportunity for students who are at this age to be fully vaccinated before the Christmas break.

The schedule for the first doses will be as follows:

November 18, 1:00 Whittier

November 18, 2:00 Jefferson

November 19, 1:00 Eagle Heights

November 19, 2:00 Bluff

Families will be receiving an email with more information from the school nurses. The email will also include a consent form.

There will be information coming out from CMS for sixth graders that are 11 years old with the opportunity to get vaccinated.

The second doses are tentatively scheduled for December 9-10.

Thank you for your support of Clinton Schools!

There is only two weeks remaining to submit  a 2022 CHS Hall of Honor class nomination. The nomination window  through November 1, 2021.

The mission of the Clinton High School Alumni Hall of Honor has been established to recognize those who attended Clinton High School and have distinguished themselves in their careers, communities and personal lives. These individuals are held up to Clinton students as examples of citizenship and success.

Here are the members of the first two induction classes and the area they qualified in:

Joan Beck Professional Career Achievements

William Conner Distinguished Military Service

Denise Dudley Professional Career Achievements

Roberta Fenlon Professional Career Achievements

Sandra Fullerton Joireman Humanitarian Service

Wes Golden Distinguished Military Service

Andy Grotelueschen The Arts

Lulu Johnson Accomplishments in Academic Fields

Krista Voda Kelley Professional Career Achievements

Kyle Ketelsen The Arts

Fred Luthans Accomplishments in Academic Fields

Jeanette Petersen Community Service

Charles Toney Humanitarian Service

Nominations from the first two years are still active and will be considered. However, the committee would like new nominations as well to consider. Nomination forms can be found on the district website at https://www.clinton.k12.ia.us/…

A new program by the Iowa Energy Association of Iowa Schools this year is the Building Operator Pathway (BOP).  Clinton High School is pleased to have five juniors among the fourteen students in the state involved in this program.  Only seven high schools in the state offer this program to high school students. 

The program covers two years on the operation and maintenance of a building.  Some of the topics covered are:

• Energy Efficient Operations of HVAC
• Employment Skills such as Communication, Teamwork and Networking
• Measuring Energy Performance
• Efficient Lighting Fundamentals
• Customer Service
• HVAC Controls Fundamentals
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Common Ops for Low-Cost Improvement
• Smart Building Fundamentals
• How to Deal With Difficult People
• Radon Safety and Testing
• General Industry Safety/OSHA
• Technical Math

The format of the class is three days of on-site experience and two days of classroom instruction per week.  I want to acknowledge the efforts of Paul Dotterweich and Charles Schantag along with any other plant services employees who are mentoring these students. 

Here is a short video produced about the start of this program:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pstfvr2LYc

Dear CCSD Caregivers,

The Clinton Community School District needs your assistance in communicating appropriate behavior in a school or workplace setting. If you are not aware, TIk Tok, a social media platform followed by many students, is promoting monthly challenges that in cases violate the law, personal rights of others, or destruction on property. Here is what Tik Tok is advocating:

September—Vandalize school bathrooms. Unfortunately we have had incidents in our school district and other schools have experienced much worse than our school district.

October—Hit a staff member.

November–Kiss your friend’s girlfriend at school.

December—Deck the Halls and show your b**** (show your body parts)

January—Jab a breast (targeting females)

February—Vandalize school signs

March—Vandalize the school’s courtyard or cafeteria

April—Grab some eggs (stealing challenge)

May—Ditch Day (skip school)

June—Flip out in the school office

July—Spray paint a neighbor’s fence

As you can see, many of these activities are illegal, discriminatory, and acts of harassment or bullying. They are being promoted as “fun” activities.

The Clinton Community School District will not tolerate this behavior. We will educate our student body on this expectation. The district will enforce it’s student discipline code and will notify law enforcement if applicable. Your reinforcement at home would be greatly appreciated.

Please support our schools to be a safe environment for all.

The month of September is a national attendance awareness month that brings attention on the sheer impact of attendance on the academic growth of PK-12 students. Here is some background into this issue:

September Attendance Awareness Month is a nationwide recognition of the connection between regular school attendance and academic achievement. This month highlights the importance of mobilizing schools, families and community partners to promote regular attendance by developing tiered strategies and personalized interventions to reduce chronic absence. A student who misses as few as two days of school a month is considered chronically absent.

Here are some more data points about school absence that might surprise you:

• “Chronic absence” is defined by Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) survey, which refers to chronic absence as missing 15 or more days each school year.
   
• In the 2015–16 school year, more than 8 million students in the U.S. were chronically absent.
   
• Early data shows that chronic absence is likely to have dramatically increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially doubling in size from one out of six to one out of three students.
    
• One in ten kindergarten and 1st grade students meet the criteria for chronic absence.
   
• Many school districts also experienced significant declines in enrollment, occurring across all grade levels, but drops were greatest among the youngest learners, with some families delaying participation in kindergarten or preschool given the challenges of the pandemic.
   
• Absenteeism amongst young students is correlated with lower rates of reading proficiency by 3rd grade—one California study found that only 17 percent of students chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade were reading at grade level after 3rd grade.
   
• Chronic absence is a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school—a study out of the University of Utah found that just one year of chronic absence between 8th and 12th grade increased the likelihood of dropout by 7.4 times.
   
• Close to half (45 percent) of high schools have high or extreme levels of chronic absence..

The Clinton Community School District believes that high attendance rates correlate with student academic and social emotional growth. Any CCSD student will be successful in their learning if they do two things: attend and try to the best of their ability everyday. Both of these actions are in the control of the student and with younger students, parents.

It takes a village to raise a child. Please support our schools’ efforts to promote student attendance.

The CHS Hall of Honor Committee is opening the window for the 2022 CHS Hall of Honor class nominations. The nomination window is now through November 1, 2021.

The mission of the Clinton High School Alumni Hall of Honor has been established to recognize those who attended Clinton High School and have distinguished themselves in their careers, communities and personal lives. These individuals are held up to Clinton students as examples of citizenship and success.

Here are the members of the first two induction classes and the area they qualified in:

Joan Beck Professional Career Achievements

William Conner Distinguished Military Service

Denise Dudley Professional Career Achievements

Roberta Fenlon Professional Career Achievements

Sandra Fullerton Joireman Humanitarian Service

Wes Golden Distinguished Military Service

Andy Grotelueschen The Arts

Lulu Johnson Accomplishments in Academic Fields

Krista Voda Kelley Professional Career Achievements

Kyle Ketelsen The Arts

Fred Luthans Accomplishments in Academic Fields

Jeanette Petersen Community Service

Charles Toney Humanitarian Service

Nominations from the first two years are still active and will be considered. However, the committee would like new nominations as well to consider. Nomination forms can be found on the district website at https://www.clinton.k12.ia.us/district