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Welcome to Mark Twain Elementary School! Our motto at Twain is "We are a responsible, respectful, caring community." The students and staff at Twain demonstrate these character traits every day. Please stop by our wonderful community to see learning happening every minute of every day.
I am excited to be a part of the Twain family. I encourage you to reach out to me with any questions.
Sincerely,
Jason McGinnis, Principal
(319) 688-1165
mcginnis.jason@iowacityschools.org
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Information from Principal McGinnis
As a principal, it is my goal to make teaching and learning my primary focus. Everyone knows how day-to-day management tasks and outside distractions can take us away from our desired goals. As a result, I am participating in a nationally tested and proven professional development process called SAM. It uses a unique set of tools to help principals focus on activities that are directly connected to improving teaching and learning.
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Grab & Go Meal Program Summer Schedule
We have a few updates to share regarding our Grab & Go meal service program. Since the beginning of our school closures in March, we have served over 250,000 free meals to local children and we are excited to announce that we will be able to continue providing meals to students beyond the end of the school year.
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Return-to-Learn Update (7/8/20)
Our Return-to-Learn planning and preparations continue across the District as we look ahead to safely welcoming our students and staff back in August. Our families and staff understandably have questions as to what this will look like and we hope to provide information and clarification to help ease minds as we prepare for our return.
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Return-to-Learn Update (7/2/20)
Our planning and preparation for safely returning to school in the fall continue across the District. This week, we shared an update with the Board that included the Return-to-Learn recommendations that have been made to date. This update represents months of work by multiple teams, all focused on preparing for the reopening of our schools for the 2020-21 school year. The Return-to-Learn teams, as well as updates and information on the Return-to-Learn planning process, are available at www.IowaCitySchools.org/ReturnToLearn.
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Return-to-Learn Update (6/26/20)
Yesterday, the Iowa Department of Education (DE) released its Reopening Guidance for Schools. We have been evaluating this guidance to determine its alignment with the Return-to-Learn work which is actively taking place in the District. Our research and planning over the last few months lead us to believe that additional safety mitigation efforts above what the DE is suggesting may be necessary to safely reopen our schools. Although the DE’s guidance provides some clarity, there are still many unknowns when it comes to how school will look in the fall. We will continue to utilize the recommendations from the CDC, IDPH, and JCPH as our plans take shape.
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Message to Families
Today, we have officially reached the unconventional end to this history-making school year. The circumstances over the last two and a half months were something we never could have predicted, and were certainly less than ideal; however, the incredible strength and resiliency of our community have become more apparent than ever. For this, we could not be more proud.
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Better Together Initiative
The Iowa City Community School District is committed to being part of real, systemic improvements to life in Johnson County, Iowa, and we are part of the “Project Better Together,” an initiative to help our community recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first step in making change is creating a new story about what we can be. We have to see and believe in a new picture that we can collectively work toward.
