Flood of '08 Update

With rising waters causing property damage and road closures throughout the city, Des Moines Public Schools is closing monitoring the situation and working with other local government agencies. With nearly 60 schools and operational facilities, school district facility and transportation staff are working hard to prepare for any changes in the current situation.

While no school facilities currently have water damage, DMPS is taking preventative steps and assisting other agencies, such as:

• DMPS school busses have been moved from the transportation facility, adjacent to the Des Moines River, to Altoona
• DMPS is working with both the Des Moines Area Regional Transit and the Des Moines Police Department to provide parking for their vehicles away from areas that may flood
• DMPS is working with the Polk County Health Department to set up a tetanus clinic on Wednesday at Brubaker Elementary School

Other flood-related updates will be posted as the situation requires.

17 DMPS Students Earn Science Scholarships to Iowa State University

Our friends at Iowa State University are helping more and more students realize the dream of a college education. The Science Bound program - a partnership between ISU, DMPS and generous donors - is a premier pre-college educational program to increase the number of diverse Iowans who earn degrees in agriculture, science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

This year, seventeen Des Moines high school seniors, representing all five of our high schools, qualified for full tuition scholarships to Iowa State. To read more about these students and the Science bound program, visit: www.sciencebound.iastate.edu/news_grads_2008.html

Congratulations to these students and thank you to Iowa State University!

Welcome to Channel 901

What's Channel 901, you ask? Well, the name was inspired by Microsoft. Several years ago they created a blog for their employees called Channel 9. It was a virtual place where employees and customers could share information and have conversations about issues in their organization.

And what inspired Microsoft to name their blog Channel 9? It was United Airlines. If you've ever flown with United you can listen in to the cockpit radio transmissions on - what else - Channel 9.

We've added a little twist to the name. A year ago, the Des Moines Public Schools administration moved to a new address: 901 Walnut Street. Channel 901, then, is a place where school district administrators will share news and information and ideas. It may be explaining a new program or simply passing along an article that people might find interesting. No doubt it will evolve as time goes by.

Whatever it ends up being, Channel 901 is one more layer of reaching out to the community, sharing information, and listening to ideas.

Welcome to Channel 901.