Tara Lenger and Rachel Georgie are two of the best dancers in the state of Iowa according to judges for the All Iowa Honor Drill Team.

The young women competed with a pool of 475 other dancers in September and were in the group of 224 who were chosen to perform during the Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament. Those chosen performed at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines with Sawyer Brown on March 11.

Tara and Rachel are both members of the Anamosa High School Dance team.

“It’s an annual thing I like to get the girls involved in,” said Candace Bruce, the dance team coach. “It’s a huge honor to be chosen.”

The criteria for those chosen was based on technical memorization, overall appearance and attitude, and only the best dancers are picked.

Both of the women have been involved in dance for most of their lives, and now teach classes at In Motion Dance Studio.

“I went to Sherri’s dance studio and the Dance Co. I’ve studied Hip-Hop, Lyrical, Jazz, Tap and Ballet,” explained Tara, who has been dancing for 14 years.

Rachel described her background in dance, which has spanned 11 years.

“My mom owned a studio, Top Notch, and I switched over to In Motion,” she said.

The women spent March 10 practicing and learning routines and performed all day on March 11.

“The practicing and memorization were the hardest part and the funnest part was performing,” Rachel said.

“It was amazing,” added Tara. “It was a lot of fun to see the crowd standing up and cheering.”

“They have worked really hard to get to this point,” praised Candace. “All their hard work led up to this. Only two other girls from Anamosa have been chosen before.”

The Anamosa Dance Team performed at seven shows over the course of the school year, including state competitions and Jam the Gym in Cascade.

Both Tara and Rachel are looking forward to dancing in college. Tara plans to attend Mount Mercy and Rachel will attend University of Iowa.

The All Iowa Honor Drill Team members all received certificates and autographed photos from Sawyer Brown. The event was also televised.

Anamosa School Board approval was unanimous for the purchase agreement with ADCO for the Construction Trades building lot for next year’s building project at the April 3 meeting. The lot purchase amount of $26,000 is to be paid when the house is sold (after completion) or by December 1, 2007 (whichever comes first).

Building Trades teacher, Wayne Bohlken updated the board on the progress of the current house project. Wayne stated that construction is one month ahead of schedule and the Open House is slated for the first week in May.

Three senior students, Brandon Gerst, Brandon Overman and Lee Harderson voiced their opinion that the program was a positive learning experience and they have learned more at a hands on level, than they would have in a traditional classroom.

Both the amended budget for 2005-2006 and the proposed 2006-2007 budget were approved without much discussion. The school portion of property taxes has been calculated to $15.18, which is a decrease by 4.3% from the current year due to a decrease in the general fund and the debt services levy fund. This in turn creates a slight tax increase of less than one percent for property owners. This increase is because of heightened property valuation in Anamosa.

AHS principal, Steve Goodall addressed the board on the need for an Advanced Placement Biology class. Two major points being that the school already has an AP teacher that is willing to teach the three term class and there are already 20 students that would qualify and are interested in taking the proposed course.

There was discussion about the lack of funds in the science department and that updating tools of science would be necessary as there are only five acceptable microscopes available in the school at this time. There would be a need for microwaves and refrigerators for the department among other supplies. Superintendent Lensing suggested that the priority list and the proposed class should be discussed with the School Foundation Board next Monday evening.

A professional development update from each school was presented to the board. Overall each school reported a weakness in reading comprehension. The most favorable learning strategy that has been accepted and acted upon is the QAR (Question Answer Relationship). This is a research based learning program that concentrates on analyzing vocabulary into question techniques because it works with fiction and non-fiction, easily integrates into the regular curriculum and is an excellent test preparation strategy.

Dan Husmann (AHS) reported that the focus has been on essential learning and how it relates to the real world to improve:

• teacher-student relationships
• reading comprehension
• math achievement
• science achievement
district ACT scores

Laura Sechrist discussed the “Think Aloud” program that is being implemented at Strawberry Hill Elementary. There are seven strategies involved to grow the students into better readers. The staff has gained knowledge and insight from each other during their collaborative book studies as well as the workshops that were attended.

Personnel items that were approved are as follows:

• Hiring of Linda Mazunik as West Middle School Newspaper advisor for the 2006-2007 school year. The paper has been re-named “Raiders Digest”.

• Compensation contract for a competitive Cheerleader coach was set to a Level I (3%) until next year when negotiations regarding contracts will be discussed.

• Hiring of Amanda Gile as AHS Dance Squad Instructor; the board discussed concerns that now is the time to talk guidelines with the incoming instructor regarding positive messages vs. inappropriate cheer/dance performances by AHS students. Concerns were brought up regarding what “message” Anamosa students should be bringing to other students as well as children and families that attend athletic events.

• Resignation of Lindsey Kyker as high school Spanish teacher.
• Resignation of Carlos Nelson as high school track coach.
• Hiring of Rebecca Schwebke as middle school head softball coach.

Lensing spoke about the status of the middle school principal selection process. Forty five candidates applied for the position. Dr. Monroe and the Administrative team screened the applications with specific criteria which left seven applicants remaining. The next step begins with conference calls to applicants next Monday evening. The final applicant interviews will be scheduled for Tuesday, April 11, 2006 and Thursday, April 13, 2006. Three volunteer committees will be involved in the interview proceedings; West Middle School staff/admin, student and parent groups.

The meeting was adjourned subsequent to Lensing reminding the board and visitors that community input for long range planning will be taken until April 15, 2006.

Joyce Duncan receives her $1,000 prize in the raffle held during the Spring Gala, as Brett Barner looks on.

(Journal-Eureka Photos by Susan Yario)