Mt. Pleasant Community School District’s efforts pay off

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant Community School District’s new walking track will soon be opened to the public.

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The Central Campus facility, inherited from Iowa Wesleyan, will be open from 5-8 a.m. from Sept. 1 to May 31. Anyone wishing to gain access may visit the Central Office and pay $25 to submit a background check. Then, they will receive a key fob for access to the track between the aforementioned times. This decision was made on Jan. 12, at a public school board meeting. The Board hopes to open the track immediately.

Dr. Angie Butler, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, had good news. Recently, the School District has made progress in its attempts to improve various aspects of its performance. Among these is the rate of graduation; the district boasts a 89.7% graduation rate, which, according to Superintendent John Henriksen, is not bad at all for a rural district of low economic standing. Nevertheless, the district hopes to increase this figure to 95%.

As of last year, the district set out to reduce chronic absenteeism to 10%. This was to be accomplished by paying greater attention to chronically absent students, and attempting to work with them to curb the problem. Since then, Dr. Butler says,it has dropped from 25% to 11%, largely thanks to their plan.

Call Marilyn Higgins at 319-368-8895 or email her at marilyn.higgins@southeastiowaunion.com