Pre-service tour at Cabela's

Each year we take a significant tour for pre-service and on August 29 the teaching staff will tour the PdC Cabela's distribution center. Cabela's is a major employer in the area and a great supporter of the school district.

Staff taking the tour need to present a photo ID up arriving at the facility as Cabela's maintains certification by CTPAT (Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) and FTZ (Foreign Trade Zone) so they can allow containers of goods arriving from overseas vendors an expedited trip through US Customs.

To visit the Cabela's official website hit the image below:

Forms needed from employees

Reminder from Patti:

There are still a few employees that have Health Insurance and have not turned in the HRA sheets. Until that is filed with Patti, the first half of the HRA money cannot be released.

For most others with Insurance, once your physical confirmation form and the other 2 points are completed, then you will receive the other 1/2 of your HRA money.

A reminder also that if you are making any changes to your dental/vison please get the forms in as soon as possible because the old plan ends July 31, 2012 and the new plan starts August 1, 2012.

PdC Technology and Engineering Education website

Mr. Mumm has shared the new and improved Technology and Engineering Education website, which is still under construction. Great Job!

Click on banner below to go to the site:

High School Kitchen Dishwasher Upgrade

Building and Grounds Committee approved new a new dishwasher that is a high capacity commercial unit that will be fully installed. It is to replace the conveyor type washer that we have now.

Just some history; the good old dishwasher unit was installed in 1964 with a possible update done in 1968, that is only judging on the manuals that we have. The old dishwasher has performed well past a normal lifespan. Over the last few years it has been breaking down more often and parts are getting hard to find. There were two days in the last school year when it did not work at all. We hate to see the old dishwasher go as it has served us well for almost 50 years, but like all equipment, at some point it just needs to be replaced.

Food Service fact; we serve approximately 200 for breakfast and 900 for lunch on every normal school day. In addition, over the last years we continue to serve meals during our 45 days of summer school. We need to thank our food service staff for their hard work as every day they turn out a quality product with very low costs to the students of our district. One last item, the costs for both breakfast and lunch will remain the same price for the upcoming school year as this past year. No increase - another reason to thank our cooks!

Futuristic Stretch Goal to possibly take Bluff View grades 7 or 8 on a Foreign Journey

At PdC Public Schools we have Kindergarten through High School Foreign Language programming in both Chinese and Spanish.

Is it too much of a stretch goal to think about our Bluff View grades seven or eight students visiting countries that speak those native languages in the future? We have touched on this possibility at School Board meetings as a futuristic stretch goal. The video linked below may be looked at as an example program.

 Click the picture to go to the ECB/DPI video on the program.

Hug a Nerd Today!!

A TED Talk with Regina Dugan; she talks about what can happen when there less worrying about the fear of failure. She describes some of the technology and science projects that are being developed across the world.

Potential Natural Outdoor Classroom

On the north end of the former Northern Engraving factory site on St. Feriole Island, there is a small triangle of land that based on initial discussions with the PdC City could possibly be set-aside for an outdoor area that the school could use for educational activities.

Click here to go to the Google map of the Island; area is in upper left of this view

The site is estimated to be a triangle of about 150 feet across the south end and about 200 feet to the north point or approximately 15,000 square feet.

Click here to go to map of area

This size of a plot is not conducive to a school forest plan as those normally are 20 or 40 acres or even more. However, given the proximity to the Mississippi River (which is across the railroad tracks) and other natural features, the site may work well for an outdoor classroom.

Other sites on the factory property may be slated for development (band shell, overlook, parking, steel frame pergola, water spraying feature, etc.) but the initial vision for this "school" piece of land would be to keep it as natural as possible with a limited number small open areas to congregate with groups of students and a connecting series of interpretative trails. Educational uses are only limited by imaginations. Some ideas would be that an interpretive trail could be developed on which the flora could be grown and identified, fauna watching or studies could be encouraged through strategically placed information, and depending on development in the area there could be evening or night programming such as highlighting migrations along the river-way.

This site would be opened (fence removed from the Villa Road side, but probably keep the fence on the railroad side) and not closed to the public. Alternative uses that do not damage the natural surroundings would be encouraged when not in use for school programming. Partnerships would be cultivated to further encourage community usage.

Ultimately, it would greatly enhance the educational components of the whole area if the school could gain access and usage rights of the Radio Station property which is located to the east of this Northern Engraving property. The Radio Station property has ponds and topography that is very conducive to scientific study. That would be an exciting possibility, but, at this time that is not finalized and it is only initial talking or dreaming.

This is a picture from the Villa Road looking west. The overgrown fence line in front of the train would be the back side of the property.

This is a picture from the north looking south. The shrubbery growth is the old factory fence line.

At this time we are looking for any ideas to create an overall vision for this piece of land that we can present to the City Council. Please let us know your ideas.