News : School begins; district residents may notice some changes to buildings, athletic complex

[caption id="attachment_23498" align="alignleft" width="300"] Posing for photos was a big part of the first day of Kindergarten Monday at Tilford and Shellsburg elementaries.[/caption] With the arrival of the Tiny Vikes preschoolers today, the school year is now officially in full operation at all Vinton-Shellsburg schools. Most students began classes on Thursday; Kindergarten began on Monday. Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock said district residents and parents are likely to notice a few changes this year; she also discussed an issue very important to school leaders: Enrollment.

"We only have preliminary enrollment numbers and I know there is always a lot of changes that will happen between now and October 1^st which is the official count date," says the Superintendent. "I can tell you that we have a larger preschool class than we have in the past and it also appears that our kindergarten numbers are up.

Hainstock offered these observations, as well:

Principals commented that we had more people at our Back-to-School nights than in previous years, which helped students know their way around the buildings before the first day. We had many positive comments from parents and students who participated in the computer roll-out nights.

Our 10 new teachers all bring different experiences and backgrounds to their positions and seem to be starting off the new school year very well.

We have hired additional assistant coaches at the middle school for cross country, volleyball and football based on the large number of students who are interested in participating.

We had several upgrades completed to the buildings over the summer – most of the outside of Tilford has been redone along with the west parking lot being finished; we upgraded restrooms at Shellsburg and Tilford; we worked on the sound system at the Karr Athletic Complex; we installed a sidewalk to the visitor side at the athletic complex along with a better area for our band’s trailer to park; and we are finishing the installation of a new walk-in cooler and freezer for the middle school.

On another note, the outside auditors just completed their annual review of our financial processes and records. They made the comment that they would like more of the schools they work with to have as strong of processes and people involved with the work as we do in this district. They did not find anything to include as items for corrections although they always have suggestions on how we might adjust things to be even better.

See photos of the first day of Kindergarten HERE.