Department of Education to visit December 13 and 14

by Elizabeth Ostrem

An Iowa Department of Education team will be making an on-site visit to school Tuesday, December 13 and Wednesday, December 14 for school accreditation.

The team will review the school’s board policies and other documents. An overview presentation on the seven areas of Montezuma’s Iowa Core Curriculum Implementation Plan will begin the visit. The areas included are: Vision, Mission and Goals, Leadership, Collaborative Relationships, Learning Environment, Curriculum and Instruction, Professional Development and Monitoring and Accountability.

Following the presentation, the Department of Education (DE) team will tour the school.  They will then meet with interview teams representing stakeholders in the school, which includes parents, sudents, teachers, the school board, and other groups.  They will finish the visit by having a preliminary exit report for the district leadership team on Wednsday, December 14.

Superintendent Dave Versteeg will receive a complete report within 45 workdays, and the district will then have 45 days to prepare and submit a plan to address any non-compliance issues found in the report.

20% of Iowa’s schools have an on-site visit each year, and schools should be visited in the course of five years. The last visit to Montezuma was during the 2006-2007 school year. Eric Heitz from the DE will lead the visit, and the other eight team members will be from the DE, Area Education Agencies and other school districts.