Starr for West Des Moines Schools

We had a wonderful Community Welcome back to School event on Friday, which was a lovely partnership between the WDMCS, Crestview School of Inquiry, the City of Clive, and Clive Parks and Recreation/Aquatics !

This community welcome event is TODAY! I'll be there and it should be a great time, so I hope to see YOU there too!

🎉 We're excited to be part of the Back-to-School Community Festival on August 9th at the Harbach Center and Linnan Park!

Stop by the Clive Community Services table tomorrow between 3-7 p.m. to say hi, learn about our services, and find out how you can get involved. Whether you're a student, parent, or community member, we'd love to meet you and share how we can support you this school year. See you there! 👋

How cool is this 😎 😍?!?

Congratulations to the 73 semi-finalists who have successfully completed Phase 2 of ED’s Career Z Challenge! Your creative solutions to expand work-based learning opportunities are helping to raise the bar on career readiness.

Learn about the honorees: CareerZChallenge.com.

This is an important article to read, about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the "education Governor, " who just became the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris! A former public school teacher and football coach, this is a guy who truly loves and supports public education!

Tim Walz was named ‘most inspiring teacher’ — and other memories from former students Walz is remembered as an influential teacher and coach who mentored students beyond the classroom and field and helped lead the football team to state championships.

As an AFSCME union member myself and as a supporter of our TEACHERS, ISEA, WDMEA, and other public employees unions, it matters to me whether a candidate supports LABOR!

VP Kamala Harris selecting Minnesota Gov Tim Walz as her running mate shows her continued support for Labor.

Walz as MN governor signed laws that:
- Bars employers from holding anti-union captive audience meetings.
- Strengthens the collective bargaining power of teachers’ unions, including allowing bargaining over educator-to-student classroom ratios.
- Guarantees paid family and medical leave and mandate paid sick days.
- Strengthens protections for meatpacking workers and Amazon warehouse employees.
- Prohibit noncompete clauses.

A first class lesson on the pursuit of dreams and perfection!

Simone Biles is in a league of her own. 🐐

We have such wonderful people in the West Des Moines Community Schools !!

Preparations are being made to welcome back nearly 9300 students. How do we get all that work done?! We converge on the tasks as a team. Our grounds team joined the custodial staff to clean and prepare our buildings this week. Great teamwork!

Friday, July 26, 2024, marked the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act! I am proud to have been working hard to assert and assure the rights of people with disabilities for over 40 years! This seemed a lovely post to share!

Family Week begins tomorrow! ENJOY!

Enjoy Family Week Tigers!!!

Yes!!! They Did!

In an exciting championship game, falls to Pleasant Valley 14-11m to finish as the Class 5A Runner Up.
Thank you for a great season! Best of luck to the Seniors!

Congratulations 🎊 to the amazing WDM Valley Tiger Softball team, for a WONDERFUL season, great sportswomanship, and a wildly entertaining series of games to watch!!

Final score, 11 - 14, against State Champions, Pleasant Valley!:

The game has gotten stressful, but they just tied the record for 19 points in a State Tournament final! We are at 6-13 in the 6th. However it turns out, it's been an amazing season and these girls have been SO fun to watch!!

Great game so far!! 👏

Championship Gameday for
📍 Harlan Rogers Park-Channel Seeds Field
📆 Thurs. July 25
🆚 Pleasant Valley
🕔5pm
🎟️ $15- includes Parking
https://tickets.gobound.com/tickets/events/h202407171217450461fcc1f43dcad45/checkout?bare=False
📺 https://www.iowapbs.org/watch/live

I've received 100 reactions to my posts in the past 30 days. Thanks for your support. 🙏🤗🎉! SO grateful!

We have such dedicated staff in the WDMCS! We'll done, school counselors!

We are fired up for students! Check out Jill Curry (Crossroads Park), Barb Tigges (Jordan Creek), and Ayla Leopold (Westridge) having a great time learning great things to support students at the American School Counselor Association Conference in Kansas City last week.

Hey West Des Moines Valley Tigers Boosters and fans! I've been trying to find the Iowa High School Girls Softball tournament on IPTV all week, but apparently it wasn't broadcast locally until the FINAL Championship game! It's NOW and the WDM Valley Tiger Softball team is ahead 5-3 in the top of the 4th, against Pleasant Valley! GO Tigers!!!!

This is exciting!

Tonight, during the packed monthly meeting of the Polk County Democrats Central Committee, the Iowa Delegation to the Democratic National Convention had a conference call. Minutes later, it was announced that the Iowa delegation UNANIMOUSLY endorsed Kamala Harris, and became the 8th State to do so!! Let's Make Iowa Blue !!!

I'll be attending and I expect it'll be a terrific event!

Please join us for our annual BBQ! Our featured speaker will be Lanon Baccam!

Congratulations 🎊 to the #1 ranked Valley Girls Softball team, just won the Regional Championship 🏆! Best of luck at the State Tournament, which starts Monday in Fort Dodge!!!

An important announcement from the city of West Des Moines. Congratulations 🎊 Audrey!

We are excited to introduce our new director, Audrey Kennis. The City of West Des Moines has been taking steps to create efficiencies across departments and will be merging the Human Services and Diversity Equity and Inclusion departments. These departments will be run under the leadership of Audrey Kennis who will transition from the Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion to the leader of the two departments merged as one.

Audrey has served as the DEI Director for over two years. Prior to her role with the City, she worked over a decade at Iowa State University in a variety of capacities. Her educational background is in education, philosophy, and community and regional planning.

Kennis is looking forward to the opportunity to lead the merger of Human Services and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “I’ve been fortunate to witness firsthand, the level of service and impact Althea has had on our community. She has been instrumental in developing critical programs to meet the needs of our most marginalized residents. It will be impossible to replace her, however, I am excited for the chance to build on this solid foundation. Both offices play a critical role in supporting our residents’ needs; however, this merger will allow us to holistically assess the needs of our most under-resourced clients and identify opportunities for advancement. As demand continues to increase, we plan to implement more career and workforce programming,” Kennis said.