Quick Links

Headlines

Latest News and Announcements

2014-2015 Linn-Mar School Calendar

The Linn-Mar Community Schools Calendar Committee met throughout the months of October and November in order to develop a recommendation for the 2014-2015 calendar. The committee focused on the job with 5 goals in mind. Members worked to produce a calendar that: a. is best for kids b. follows the contract c. is compliant with Iowa code d. meets the needs of the district and different levels within e. is easy for all stakeholders to understand. Several calendar options were discussed and eventually narrowed down to three. These options were presented to buildings, departments, and parent groups for feedback. All feedback was shared with the committee and discussed before a final calendar was recommended for approval by the Board of Education. On December 9th, the Linn-Mar Community Schools Board of Education approved the Calendar Committee’s recommendation of the “Diamond” calendar for the 2014-2015 school year. This calendar can be found at this link: 2014-2015 School Calendar. The 2014-2015 Linn-Mar School calendar is similar to the 2013-2014 calendar with corresponding dates. Linn-Mar's start date, breaks and end date are based on academic learning units of time. Each semester has at least 13 uninterrupted weeks to allow for consistent instruction. In the 2014-2015 school year, the first day of school will be August 18, 2014. The last day of school will be May 29, 2015. Graduation is set ... more

Linn-Mar Poms Kick it at State

Kudos to our Linn Mar Varsity Poms Dance Team for promoting school spirit through dance with dazzling performances at State. Recently our team traveled to the State Competition in Des Moines, Iowa, at the Wells Fargo Arena where over 5,000 participants representing 278 High School dance teams competed at the event. Our Linn-Mar's Varsity Poms team earned 1st place with their Jazz routine and won the "Judges Choice" with this routine overall the competitions. The team also earned 3rd place with their Pom routine and 3rd place with their Hip Hop routine. In addition, Linn-Mar Poms was recognized for their TEAM GPA of 3.63- ranking in the "Distinguished" level of honor for their Academics. And Lexi Wright was one of only twelve senior girls in the State of Iowa distinguished as a finalist for the Iowa Senior Scholarship. Lastly, Allison Schmidt, Linn-Mar's Varsity Pom Coach, was named the ISDTA Character Counts Coach of the Year this past weekend at the State Team Championships. Go Lady Lions!

Oak Ridge students work on the Code

'National Computer Science Education Week' is December 9th - 13th. To recognize the event, 6th grade students at Oak Ridge were given the opportunity to sign up for four lessons in Computer Coding during their Flex period. The lessons are part of Kahn Acadamy and introduce students to basic skills such as learning about functions, parameters, and pixels with guided hands on lessons. After working through a series of exercises students will create a picture using shapes and colors that they've thought of themselves. From tapping into the students' creativity to keeping problem solving fun, the overall goal is to get kids interested in programming and to learn about opportunities in the field of Computer Programming. After all, by 2020 the U.S. Department of Labor projects that there will be 1.4 million jobs in computer science.

Social Media

Parents: Do you know how your student is using social media? Recently, a number of Linn-Mar High School students have been the subjects of Twitter messages that are false, vulgar, and degrading. A Linn-Mar administrator was impersonated as the author of a number of untrue Tweets. Several Linn-Mar staff members and students were debased by Tweets. It's important to note that this act was also illegal. The statements made were defaming by malicious intent, and defamation in media using printed words or images is called libel. Many other students were followers of these exchanges and are now associated with the highly inappropriate, illegal messaging. We are very concerned that students are participating in social media disregarding their own digital safety and jeopardizing their reputations, especially as it affects their futures. While following a Twitter account may seem like harmless fun, or even a game, it puts followers at risk for their reputations in addition to potentially being implicated in harassment or bullying situations. The use of social media to degrade others, impune reputations, or cause disruption in the learning environments by attacking the intellectual and emotional safety of staff and students is a clear violation of social mores, code of conduct, and Board Policy. Remember that nothing on the Internet ever goes away and that many people do utilize web searches to gather information on applicants. Parents: Do you know how your student is using social media? Katie Mulholland, Ed.D.more