Announcements

View the secondary schedule for Oct. 26-Nov. 6

Secondary Students (Grades 6-12)

The Ankeny Board of Education voted to set a target date of Monday, November 9 for sixth through twelfth-grade students to return to a traditional on-site model. Setting a target date allows the district to make a final decision in response to current public health data closer to the November date, while simultaneously preparing for the return to on-site. This will be reviewed again at the November 2 Board of Education meeting.

The Ankeny Board of Education is pleased to announce Dr. Al Azinger was unanimously appointed as the Interim Superintendent of Schools for the Ankeny Community School District. Dr. Azinger has significant experience as a secondary and university administrator. He will step in as Interim Superintendent on September 16, 2020 when current Interim Superintendent, Dr. Jen Lindaman will assume her permanent role as Chief Officer of Academic Services for Ankeny Community School District.

“I am thrilled that Dr. Azinger has agreed to serve as the Ankeny Interim Superintendent, his expertise in growing leaders, and his dedication to public education make him the perfect leader for our school district,” stated Dr. Lindaman. “The Ankeny Community Schools values of community, challenge, leadership, excellence and inspiration were exemplified in Dr. Azinger’s responses to our interview teams giving us the utmost confidence in his ability to support our mission: Ankeny Community Schools is unified in its commitment, passion, and vision so every learner is prepared to achieve a lifetime of personal success.”

“The Ankeny School Board is pleased to welcome Dr. Al Azinger for the 2020-2021 school year. We appreciate the experience and depth of knowledge he brings to that role and we look forward to working with him. We are also grateful to Dr. Jen Lindaman for her leadership as she stepped in to temporarily fill that role,” said Lori Lovstad, President, Ankeny Board of Education.

Prior to joining the Ankeny Administrative Team, he served as Dean of the College of Education for Illinois State University. Throughout his years as an educator, he has served as Superintendent of Schools in Lawrence, Kansas and Associate Superintendent in Iowa City, IA.

Dr. Azinger received his Bachelor of Arts from Northeast Missouri State. He also holds a Master of Arts in Educational Administration from Western Illinois University; and a Doctorate of Education from University of Iowa.

“It’s an exciting opportunity,” stated Dr. Azinger. “I’m looking forward to working to maintain the high quality of education represented in Ankeny Schools during this transition.”

Dr. Azinger has strong ties to Ankeny and the school district. His daughter’s family calls Ankeny home and his three grandchildren are currently attending Ankeny schools.

• Google Classroom:  The teachers will use this as the main way to communicate with the students.  This communication will include assignments, announcements, and other points of business.

• Grade Level Daily Focus Calendar:  Each week (Friday evenings) you will receive an email with the link to the calendar. There will be a calendar for GROUP 1, GROUP 2, and one for REMOTE LEARNERS.  While the calendars will have pretty much the same contents, we separated them so that they are easier to navigate for parents. The purpose of the calendars is to communicate what the daily learning focus is to parents.  The parents are welcome to ask the students to show the work related to the daily focus in their Google Classroom.  The calendars also will help parents keep track of the asynchronous and synchronous days. The first calendar will be sent Friday evening, August 28th.

• Social Media:  PRMS has a Twitter account @AnkenyPRMS, a Facebook, and I will host live broadcasts on Instagram “PRMS_Live” each Friday morning and various other times.  Please check out these locations for they have a lot of information on them.

• General Communications:  As with most places, all of our staff have their own email.  Along with phone calls, these are the most common forms of communication.  Whenever you have questions, we ask that you start with your advisory teacher.  They will know the best route to support your needs.  (For Remote Learners, your home building counselors would be the best support for you.)

• Blackboard:  We will send out weekly emails every Friday evening.  This will be consistent throughout the school year.

The first day of school for everyone will be this Thursday, August 27. Below I have noted what this will look like for each of our groups on Thursday and Friday of this week.

August 27, 2020

Hybrid Group 1

• Students will enter the building at 8:00AM and go immediately to their advisory teacher’s classroom. The students should plan to bring a charged Chromebook if they have one, their basic school supplies, and a backpack to carry their personal items. At 8:40 the students will be dismissed and follow their schedule as it is written.  In each of their classes, the teachers will teach a particular component of being a middle schooler at PRMS. These include tours, lunchroom expectations, office location, general routines, entering/exiting the building, etc.

Hybrid Group 2

• Your child’s advisory teacher will be sharing some general information for the students to work through for this day.  These tasks will be manageable as they are intended as we start the school year.

Remote Learners

• Teachers for remote learners will be reaching out to the students during their scheduled time, on their scheduled day.

August 28, 2020

Hybrid Group 1

• Your child’s advisory teacher will be sharing some general information for the students to work through for this date.

Hybrid Group 2

• Students will enter the building at 8:00AM and go immediately to their advisory teacher’s classroom. At 8:40 the students will be dismissed and follow their schedule as it is written.  In each of their classes, the teachers will teach a particular component of being a middle schooler at PRMS. These include tours, lunchroom expectations, office location, general routines, entering/exiting the building, etc.

Remote Learners

• Teachers for remote learners will be reaching out to the students during their scheduled time, on their scheduled day.

General information:

• Masks are required for all staff and students. Students are encouraged to bring their own mask. The school will provide a mask for students who do not have one. Students will wear their masks throughout the day. They may remove their masks at lunch and when they are outdoors for class.

• Students are encouraged to bring their own water bottle with them to school each day.  We have filling stations around the school to refill the bottles.  We simply ask that the water bottles do not contain any glass.  All other types of bottles are permitted.

• Students will get their ID badges at the beginning of their first day back to school.  Please have your child bring a lanyard with you if they would like to have a personalized one.  The Remote Learners will get their student badges once they enter the school, and sooner if there is a way to do so.

• 2019-2020 yearbooks have arrived. We will be handing out the books to the students this week to students who ordered them.  The 8th graders will receive their yearbooks at NVMS.

• Prior to each period, students will have a designated area to wait until the teacher signals them to enter the classroom.  Upon entering a classroom the students will be asked to wipe down their area with the designated cleaning solutions.

• We will not start the year with hallway passes.  Students will be permitted to use the restroom during class times should they need to do so.  There will be extra supervision in the halls as necessary during class times.

• Lunchtime process hasn’t changed from earlier communications (note the latest live video on Instagram PRMS_Live to see what the lunchroom set-up looks like.  The students will be dismissed from their class in a staggered manner.  There will be two serving lines and the students will be guided to their seats.  Students will be able to take off their masks to eat and will be seated 6 feet apart. Seating is located in the cafeteria, the west gym, one neighboring large classroom, and the library should we need it.

• Dismissal will be staggered starting at 3:45 PM to promote social distancing. We will dismiss students based on their mode of transportation. Walkers and bikers will be dismissed at 3:45 PM. Then, students being picked up by a parent will be dismissed. Finally, bus riders will be dismissed. Buses will be dismissed by building administration to ensure that all students are on their bus.

• Vocabulary terminology most commonly used

  • Synchronous Learning that happens when the student and teacher are able to see each other in a live setting.  This will take place in person or on a live streaming platform such as Zoom, WebEx, or Google Meet.

  • Asynchronous Independent work related to the direct instruction received prior to that takes place at home without the teacher present.

  • Hybrid Learning that will happen at PRMS on Monday/Thursday (group 1), Tuesday/Friday (group 2), every other Wednesday,  and in an asynchronous manner at home on the days they are not at PRMS.

  • Remote Learners Students learn online only with teachers using Zoom, WebEx, or Google Meet.  They will also participate in asynchronous tasks at home when they are not receiving direct instruction from a teacher.

• Attendance will be taken regardless of the learning model.  When the students are at PRMS the process will be like it has been in the past.  The student or the parent must login for the student to be considered present. Here are the steps parents/students can follow for attendance. Parent guidance for attendance.

We will continue to strive to keep all of you informed as much as possible. Again, as previously stated, we are going to do our best with the knowledge we have.  Should you ever have questions, please contact your child’s advisory teacher or administrator.  We are looking forward to supporting your children’s social needs, their emotional needs and their academic needs.

We also want to take this opportunity to thank each of you.  Your partnership and continued investment in your child’s educational journey is a vital part in ensuring student success, not just during the upcoming school year but for years to come. We truly are fortunate to serve you and your children.

Sincerely,

Jim Wichman                  Andrea Bruns                 Kathleen Steffen

Lead Administrator      Associate Administrator    Assistant Administrator

                    7th Grade                  6th Grade

Back to School Night (Hybrid)

Back to School Night (Remote)​

Tutorial ​

Prairie Ridge Tour

Welcome Video from LEAD Council

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Hybrid Learning Model

Follow us on Twitter @AnkenyPRMS for up to date information throughout the school year!

Our principal, Mr. Wichman, will be doing Instagram live updates every Friday at 9 a.m. @PRMS_Live on Instagram. Recordings will be available after the live broadcast is done.