June 2024 Newsletter

From Our Administrators

Dear North Linn Community School Families,

I hope this message finds you well and you are enjoying the beginning of a wonderful summer. I am thrilled to introduce Kaitlyn Stoll as the new Principal of North Linn Middle/High School. With her arrival, we are embarking on an exciting new chapter in our school's journey toward excellence. Kaitlyn comes to us from Andrew, Iowa where she has served as an instructional coach. Prior to instructional coaching, Kaitlyn was a math and science teacher at the middle school level.

When asked through a survey what qualities our secondary families are looking for in a new principal they responded with: a principal who is driven, honest, engaged, motivated, builds relationships with students, staff, and families, hardworking, supportive, accessible, visible, approachable, follows through, holds everyone accountable, is nurturing, has integrity, supports all students, provides opportunities for students to be involved, to act wholly with the best interest of all students in mind, is a good communicator, has a vision for the school, someone who can accept and transform changes in educational practices, and fosters an environment of continuous improvement.

Meet Kaitlyn Stoll

Vision for Excellence

Kaitlyn Stoll brings a dynamic vision for our school, deeply rooted in the belief that every student deserves the best educational experience possible. Her dedication to excellence will inspire and motivate our students to reach their highest potential. Kaitlyn is committed to creating an environment where academic achievement is celebrated and every student is equipped with the tools for success. Kaitlyn has a strong background in Leader in Me and is excited to continue and strengthen this in our middle and high school.

Building Strong Relationships

At the heart of Kaitlyn’s philosophy is the foundation of strong relationships. She believes that a thriving educational environment is built on mutual respect, trust, and collaboration. Kaitlyn is dedicated to fostering a community where every student, parent, and staff member feels valued and connected. She is eager to engage with each of you to build lasting and meaningful relationships.

Postsecondary Education

Kaitlyn is passionate about preparing our students for their futures. She plans to establish robust partnerships with postsecondary institutions to provide our students with valuable opportunities and insights into their potential career paths. By working closely with colleges, universities, and vocational programs, Kaitlyn aims to ensure that our students have a clear and achievable path to success beyond high school.

Community Engagement

One of Kaitlyn's primary goals is to enhance community engagement. She understands the importance of involving families and local organizations in the educational process and is eager to collaborate with you to create enriching experiences for our students. By strengthening these bonds, Kaitlyn aims to build a supportive network that will benefit our entire school community.

A Warm Welcome

We are confident that under Kaitlyn Stoll's leadership, North Linn Middle/High School will continue to flourish and achieve new heights of success. Please join us in welcoming her to our community and supporting her vision for a bright and promising future for our students.

Sincerely,

Leisa Breitfelder, Superintendent

Good teachers and coaches give specific praise- acknowledging a player or their students' performance with specific feedback.

An Example: “Great throw Jenny, you were low, moved your feet and your motion was smooth and towards your target.”

In that spirit, here’s my words to the North Linn Community School District, its families, students, staff and community.

“North Linn you are a welcoming, vibrant community who strives to ‘grow greatness’ in the classroom, ballfields, courts, mats and taking great pride in your identity, history and future.

I’ve had nothing but positive experiences at North Linn with the students, families and faculty that invested time in me and my leadership style. The number of authentic relationships I was able to build the past two years were numerous, enriching and made these past two years two of the best of my career.

Among a lot of things, I feel my greatest accomplishment here were the many smiles I received from students in the hallways, classrooms, reffing on courts and fields. You have amazing students and I appreciate the enthusiasm they bring to the buildings every day.

I am retiring and going back to work all at once, and will always be appreciative of North Linn for bringing me back to Eastern Iowa.

Thank you North Linn. Keep “Growing Greatness”!

Forever a Lynx - Mr. G

Dear North Linn Families,

I am so excited to be stepping into a new role for next school year as the shared Director of School Improvement with Central City CSD. For the last six years, I have held this position at North Linn along with my role as Elementary Principal. I have enjoyed both of these roles, however am really excited that the Elementary will have a person dedicated to the Principal role full-time next year. I have always loved working on school improvement, so I am eager to continue that work at North Linn and now taking on a new challenge at Central City as well.

As Director of School Improvement, some of my duties will include arrangement of district-wide testing, working on professional development and teacher learning, facilitation of school data conversations, and state reporting for both districts. In addition, I hope to increase our communication with our larger community and stakeholders to share the incredible leaders and accomplishments here at North Linn.

Mr. Brendan Schott will be the new Elementary Principal, and has already begun working on many projects. Together, he and I will work together to create a seamless transition of principal duties. Brendan officially takes over as Principal in July, however feel free to include him on any correspondence you might send me throughout the month.

Thank you for a wonderful six years at North Linn so far, and I look forward to many more!

Kimberly Graven

Elementary Principal/ Director of School Improvement

The 2024-2025 District Calendar can be viewed on the

North Linn website.

Follow this link:

2024-25 District Calendar

INFORMATION CENTER

Events Calendar

Important Dates:

August 23- First Day of School for the 2024-25 School Year

August 26- Preschool Begins

North Linn Website

Electronic Backpack

Growing Greatness

Academic Excellence

Three eighth graders received awards on Friday, May 24th for their academic excellence on the ISASP tests. In order to be eligible for this honor, students must have achieved advanced level scores on at least two of the three test sections within ISASP. One student received high marks in all three categories.

Students were presented by their certificates and letters from Governor Kim Reynolds at an all middle school assembly on the last day of school. Way to go, Jackson Nielsen, Jacoby Peyton, and Gabby Robertson.

National Honor Society Officers for 2024-2025

From left to right: Historian- Kelby Reierson Secretary- Kenzie Bridgewater President- Kylie Munson Vice President- Molly Boge Treasurer- Allie Haughenbury

Fifth Grade Potato Olympics

The summer Olympics may be quickly approaching but North Linn’s fifth graders participated in their own version last week, only not with people but with potatoes. Small groups of students were assigned a country for which they had decorated a flag to represent their unique personalities. The first official task for students took place before the Olympics actually began- students were to outfit their spuds with a uniform and any distinguishing physical attributes they wanted to add to help their spudster stand out. Once returned to school, the potatoes were run through a number of events including bobsledding, penny stacking, and breakdancing. More unique events included the 100 meter dash pencil push where students raced to roll the potato with a pencil using their non-dominant hand. Another event was Hoops, where students and their spuds had 30 seconds to see who could make it into the trash can the most times. This was followed up by the tissue box race, putting the potato in a tissue box and pushing them with their non-dominant hand to race which led into Weightlifting where students tried to stack pennies on them as tall as they could before they fell over. The event marked a fun way to end the year with some fun collaboration with one another and proved to be an instance where it was encouraged to play with your food.

STEM and Soapbox Races

Our 5th grade students recently participated in our 3rd Annual Soapbox Car Race held on the back hill at North Linn. For their final project in STEM class, students built a soapbox car. All teams were given a chassis, cardboard, hot glue, duct tape, and other various items. A fun time was had by all and the final race was thrilling!

Be sure to check out the video by clicking on the photo to the right