On March 24, 2015 the Gladbrook-Reinbeck District Advisory Committee meeting was called to order by Superintendent Shawn Holloway at 6:30. The focus of the meeting was career and tech highlights. Presentations were heard from three G-R high school teachers: Brady Swenson (shop teacher), Corissa Rowe (business and FCS), and Melissa Heeren (agriculture education and FFA advisor). Mr. Swenson gave the group updates about some of the equipment in the shop. This year, Mr. Swenson has gotten rid of old equipment that is no longer being used. Overall, Mr. Swenson says he enjoys the classes he teaches. Corissa Rowe teaches five different FCS classes and seven business classes. She likes to bring outside resources into the classroom. In the Child Development class, visitors came to speak to the class about the costs of having a baby. One of the highlights for the class was getting to wear “pregnancy bellies” and carrying around computerized babies. Students in the 21st Century Leadership class individualized service learning projects throughout the trimester. Students in this class learned about the voting process and participated in mock interviews. In the class for Yearbook, Miss Rowe is looking into different companies for next year. Melissa Heeren spoke on the many different classes she has taught this year including Ag 1, Plant and Animal Science, Ag Carpentry, Ag Power Mechanics, and Greenhouse Management. This trimester, the Greenhouse Management class is working to get the greenhouse ready for this spring. There are lots of plants growing with over 100 plug trays filled with seedlings. This year, Mrs. Heeren has tried something new. She started growing mushrooms and is selling them to teachers at cost, which are very popular. Mrs. Heeren also gave the groups updates on the FFA. This year, members have attended dairy judging, dairy foods judging, National FFA Convention, horse judging, World Food Prize, Beef Extravaganza, 212/360 Leadership Conferences, and sub-districts. Elementary teachers Brenda Egesdal and Patti Bailey spoke on the district math curriculum, Everyday Math, which is used grades K-6. The school switched to Everyday Math because it aligns with common core. Mrs. Egesdal, a kindergarten teacher, really likes the flexibility of the program. She stated the main focus of the program is to help kids solve problems in different ways by getting the kids to think deeper and being hands on. Mrs. Bailey, a fourth grade teacher, thinks this program has a very good homework component that helps gets the family involved. She believes the biggest strength of this program are the math games which help keep the children interested. One weakness identified by the staff is the lack of enrichment lessons for the students at advanced levels in mathematics. The final topic of the evening was Mr. Holloway sharing Academic Achievement Results. The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 PM.