Core Team

On September 9, the Academic Programming Action Team kicked off with nearly 100 participants from diverse groups, including industry professionals, post-secondary institutions, ACSD employees, parents, and students. The attendees represented all six state-defined Career and Technical Education (CTE) service areas: Agriculture, Applied Science, Business, Health Sciences, Human Services, and Information Solutions.

The meeting focused on collaborative brainstorming around several key questions:

1. Essential Courses for Post-HS Success: What courses are crucial for students to thrive after high school?
2. Exciting Classes with a Dedicated Building: How do we create engaging and innovative classes that could be offered if a dedicated facility were available?
3. Important Academic Skills: Which academic skills are vital for students to master during their courses?
4. Valuable Executive or “Human” Skills: What are the essential executive and interpersonal skills students need to succeed in an ever-changing world?

In preparation for the next meeting, stakeholders are tasked with gathering information from their networks and analyzing data related to workforce needs and student interests.

This semester, the Academic Programming Action Team will be working toward:

• Defining the courses offered within each service area 
• Defining which courses will be offered at the innovative hub and which will be offered at the comprehensive high schools
• Refine which classes will be prioritized

The Community Partnerships Action Team kicked off on September 5, reviewing:

• The Path to the Innovative Hub: Building on the work of the Strategic Plan and the community’s established “must-haves,” the internal team spent the last year researching existing programs to better establish building and programmatic designs.
• The Goals for Community Partnerships: By Spring 2024, we will develop a recommendation for a model for community partnership and sustainable funding to support the innovative hub’s unique student experiences.

The next steps for this team will be to better understand and define:

• What current trends, research, and data tell us about the workforce and job opportunities and Ankeny’s student’s postsecondary trajectory?
• Defining a charter of work for the team to accomplish regarding partnerships.
• Working to better inform the larger community of the purpose and goals of the innovative hub work.

The 6-12 Activities & Athletics Action Team kicked off earlier this month to explore the future of Ankeny’s athletics and activities over the next 15 years.

Key Discussion Points:

1. Innovative Hub Project: The team reviewed the timeline for the upcoming innovative hub, noting that grade reconfiguration would likely take place a year after its completion.
2. Current Practices: The team discussed the existing structure of athletics and activities for grades 8-12, and how they are organized within the Hawk and Jaguar feeder systems for the two high schools.
3. Barriers to Student Engagement: Key barriers to activities and athletics discussed include cost to participate, transportation, scheduling conflicts, facility limitations, and budget constraints. The team also explored the impact of seasonal overlap, early participation pressure, and keeping students who are not highly active engaged.
4. Intramurals & No-Cut Policy: A significant part of the discussion revolved around the current no-cut policy and the potential introduction of an intramural program. There was agreement that both programs may not be able to coexist in their current forms. The team explored how intramurals could be implemented, starting at the 6th- and 7th-grade levels.
5. Expeditions: The team also reviewed the expeditions offered in 6th and 7th grades, which provide additional opportunities for student involvement outside traditional activities.

Upcoming Work:

• Research best practices and review the activity & athletic structure of other school districts
• Develop a clear vision for student involvement, gather data, and evaluate costs