Our goal-setting and professional development this year at Marshall Public Schools is centered around the theme “Amplify Your Impact.” This means we’re self-reflecting a bit and considering the impact our practice has and how we can ensure that the work we’re doing has the greatest impact on our students and families.

Recently, the school board approved site improvement goals for the 2023-24 school year, which generally center around reading, math, and social/emotional learning. In addition to our goals and professional development, we have a lot of great things going on at all of our sites. A few things to note this month include:

The Career and Technical Institute construction is wrapping up and we expect we’ll have occupancy very soon. That past couple of weeks have brought big changes daily as the finishing touches have been coming together. We have a couple of weeks now to move in and get set up before quarter 2 classes start in the new location on Nov. 6.

After permit and material delays the storage shed on the CTI site is also coming along. We are scheduled for all concrete poured and enclosed by November 1st.

Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) is offering a number of events this fall, with a few seats still available in some of the classes! Families wanting to learn more should contact the Early Childhood office for details.

Help me grow referrals continue to keep the ECSE department busy. Early childhood screening has been taking place for Kindergarten students that haven’t been previously screened and on Oct. 16, the community early childhood screenings began. Screening will take place every other Monday.

Park Side is working on developing students’ writing composition and handwriting. As part of this area of focus, we will be selecting one student to feature each month on the STAR WRITER board in the Park Side entry. Students are chosen for their effort, improvement, or overall achievement.

One other thing we are excited about this year is providing parents with an opportunity to learn more about how their child learns to read and how we do that at Park Side. At conferences, Mrs. Carroll (Instructional Coach) and Mrs. Love will provide three, thirty-minute sessions for parents to attend during each conference night in the fall.

Southview students were surprised to have the SMSU Women’s Basketball team show up during recess time to spend some time with them on Oct 11 for the SMSU Day of Service on our school playground.

On Sept. 27, fifth grade students had the opportunity to attend the Environmental Fair at the Lyon County Fairgrounds. Students participated in numerous sessions pertaining to recycling, glaciers, soil, wetlands, drones, trees, stream tables, the zoo-mobile, contained fires, prairies, energy, and many more.

On Oct. 6 the MS and MATEC hosted a program aimed at educating our students about the dangers of substance use called Change the Outcome; it was well received by the students and staff.

During the week of Oct. 2-6, MHS held homecoming week activities. It was a busy week with a variety of activities occurring. Following the football game, the homecoming dance was held with approximately 550 students attending.

Our Employability Skills class has recently partnered with Chartwells from SMSU to provide students in this class with real world working opportunities. Students in this class completed training at the PAES lab last year and are ready for advancement. Students will also be working to establish the Tiger Café. The Tiger Café will be working to provide staff with a variety of seasonal coffees and drinks. Special thanks to MHS Sped Teachers Nicole Jans and Gretchan Stelter for taking on these projects!

Fall activities are going really well and will be wrapping up soon. A special shout out to Jesus Reyes, who recently received the Section Assistant Coach of the year.

Registration for winter activities is live and seeing a lot of action. Dance and girls’ hockey will be starting shortly. All students are asked to register before practices start.

— Jeremy Williams is the superintendent at Marshall Public Schools