Latest news with #HooverHighSchool
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
'We didn't expect it to be life changing': Hoover, Bergman say banning phones was just that
DES MOINES, Iowa — Looking back on their year as pioneers, two very different schools sound remarkably similar. 'We anticipated a lot of pushback and we got hardly any,' says Sydney Gerritsen, director of student affairs at Bergman Academy, central Iowa's only non-church-affiliated private school. 'It didn't take long for most of our kids to go 'got it—keep the phone away during the 45 minutes of class,'' says Qynne Kelly, principal at Des Moines' Hoover High School, one of the metro's most diverse public high schools. 'I'd say now we're taking maybe–at most—ten cell phones a week.' Looking for a way to solve the nationwide problem of cell phones in schools, Hoover banned phones, requiring all students to keep them in their backpacks during class. Kelly says the small-but-difficult rule change affected everything. 'You could start with a 14% increase in As and Bs,' she says. 'We'll be over 55% As and Bs after this semester—maybe even higher. Failures cut in half.' In addition to grades, student behavior at Hoover improved as well. 'Out-of-school suspension is down 60%. That's 6-0,' she adds. VR Headset offers new way for Des Moines lifeguards to train Bergman, with its younger student body running grades K-8, took the ban up a level: all students were required to check them in at the front office at the beginning of the day. As they left in the afternoon, the phones were returned. The results were much the same as Hoover's. 'It was so good to see them engage more with each other,' Gerritsen said. 'That is the biggest thing that we noticed this year, is the inter-student engagement was completely different than it's been the last couple of years with those older students.' Kelly says classrooms at Hoover came alive without the distractions of phones. 'When you used to go in a year ago, there were a lot of kids honestly looking down at their laps, looking at cell phones,' Kelly remembers. 'You'd go in and a kid would be watching a full-length film on their cell phone!' She says 90% of students followed the rule immediately. Others came around quickly and the entire atmosphere changed. 'Now it's entirely different. You go in there and you hear chatter and engagement and learning—like and energy, a buzz is what I would call it. And not just in the classrooms, in the hallways as well.' Both leaders say they expect other schools to see the same sort of results during the 2025-26 school year as they follow the new law signed by Governor Kim Reynolds this spring, banning cell phones from all Iowa classrooms. Four-day school week 'went fantastic' says Saydel Superintendent 'It ended up being easier than we thought,' Gerritsen says. 'We know we don't have high schoolers. We know that can be a different level of challenge, and I know high schoolers are probably going to approach it differently. They're not going to have wooden boxes in the office to lock 700 phones in. But it can work, and the kids do see that it makes a huge difference for them.' And both leaders agree the key to success is having a clear plan in place. 'First it's explaining the 'why,'' Kelly says. 'Second it is being consistent, and third is trusting your team to do the job—and make sure that your community is supportive of the people who are going to be doing that.' Below are the full interviews with Bergman Academy Director of Student Affairs Sydney Gerritsen and Hoover High School Principal Qynne Kelly. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Hip-hop and graffiti meet rural Iowa at Middle of Nowhere fest
Drive down a gravel road and past fields of corn, and you'll find yourself surrounded by hip-hop music and graffiti artwork at a unique rural festival. Why it matters: The Middle of Nowhere Rural Art & Music Festival showcases music and art, spotlighting the growing diversity in Iowa's often overlooked small towns. State of play: Huxley artist Siriaco "Siricasso" Garcia launched the festival last year in Madrid, Iowa, at The Cellar Winery. Siricasso is known for his murals and arts advocacy across the state, including at Hoover High School and Highland Park. He recently won the governor's emerging arts leader award. How it started: Siricasso worked as an artist in Ames with his wife and kids, but in the city, he found himself "begging" for mural art projects to do. His turning point was when the furnace went out in their mobile home four years ago and it was so cold, the walls started icing over. They moved to Huxley for more affordable housing. Within a year in Huxley — a town of 4,600 people — he'd gotten four mural opportunities. "They showed a lot of love," he says. Details: His art pays homage to Chicano aesthetics, utilizing bold lines and many of the cartoons he grew up with in the '90s. State of play: Siricasso has now painted more than 40 murals in Iowa and works as a full-time artist, regularly booking jobs across the state. He intended the Middle of Nowhere festival to be a way to help people of color in rural areas feel connected. But he also wanted to encourage people in cities like Des Moines to open up and go somewhere they normally wouldn't go. "When you think of rural, you don't think of hip-hop or graffiti — you think of just like country, folk, stuff like that," Siricasso says. "We're bringing that out there and letting people know that we're now here."
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
North Carolina sophomore Reniya Kelly gets to play close to home at Birmingham Regional
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — North Carolina sophomore Reniya Kelly will be playing at home Friday when the women's March Madness Sweet 16 comes to Alabama. Kelly and the Tar Heels face rival Duke in Birmingham. She went to Hoover High School and played at the site of the regional five times. She said she won four of the five, losing her freshman year. 'It means everything. I'm just going to explain this part: I played here in my eighth grade, ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, 12th grade, and only lost one time: it was my ninth grade year," Kelly said. "This is like a full cycle for me, and I'm really excited to be here, especially because my family and friends come out and see me. It's really a blessing to be back home and be close: it's like 20 minutes away from my house, so this is really close to me.' Kelly said she was hoping her team would end up in Birmingham for the Sweet 16. 'I did not want to go to Washington (state),' she said laughing. 'I just love this place so much, because I have so much experience and the atmosphere has always been here.' She was a four-time state champion for Hoover, scoring 2,272 in her career. Her team went 168-10 and her jersey was retired in 2023. 'I've been to Hoover High School many times in order to get Reniya in the Carolina blue,' North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. 'I thought she was the most improved player in the ACC. You look at her statistics from Year 1 to Year 2, you look at how she runs our team, how little our team changed and how much better we are, right? It's because she's been in charge of it.' Kelly averaged 9.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists this season for North Carolina. She said her favorite memory of playing in the arena came her senior year. She was subbed out with 50 seconds left and the game in hand. It was her last time playing for her high school team. 'I was crying," she said, "and I don't usually cry.' ___ AP March Madness bracket: and coverage: Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press
Associated Press
27-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
North Carolina sophomore Reniya Kelly gets to play close to home at Birmingham Regional
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — North Carolina sophomore Reniya Kelly will be playing at home Friday when the women's March Madness Sweet 16 comes to Alabama. Kelly and the Tar Heels face rival Duke in Birmingham. She went to Hoover High School and played at the site of the regional five times. She said she won four of the five, losing her freshman year. 'It means everything. I'm just going to explain this part: I played here in my eighth grade, ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, 12th grade, and only lost one time: it was my ninth grade year,' Kelly said. 'This is like a full cycle for me, and I'm really excited to be here, especially because my family and friends come out and see me. It's really a blessing to be back home and be close: it's like 20 minutes away from my house, so this is really close to me.' Kelly said she was hoping her team would end up in Birmingham for the Sweet 16. 'I did not want to go to Washington (state),' she said laughing. 'I just love this place so much, because I have so much experience and the atmosphere has always been here.' She was a four-time state champion for Hoover, scoring 2,272 in her career. Her team went 168-10 and her jersey was retired in 2023. 'I've been to Hoover High School many times in order to get Reniya in the Carolina blue,' North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. 'I thought she was the most improved player in the ACC. You look at her statistics from Year 1 to Year 2, you look at how she runs our team, how little our team changed and how much better we are, right? It's because she's been in charge of it.' Kelly averaged 9.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists this season for North Carolina. She said her favorite memory of playing in the arena came her senior year. She was subbed out with 50 seconds left and the game in hand. It was her last time playing for her high school team. 'I was crying,' she said, 'and I don't usually cry.'
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iowa Senate passes Gov. Kim Reynolds' bill limiting K-12 students' cellphone use in school
Gov. Kim Reynolds' proposal to ban cellphones in K-12 classrooms is a step closer to awaiting her signature and becoming law after the Iowa Senate unanimously passed it Monday. Starting in the 2025-26 school year, Iowa school boards would have to adopt policies limiting cellphones during classroom instructional time. The bill, House File 782, sets a floor that schools must follow but allows them to set stricter rules. The Senate passed it with 49 votes and amended it to clarify that the Iowa Department of Education director has until May 1 to distribute a model policy to school districts, which must enact their own policies by July 1. This sends the bill back to the House, which voted 88-9 last week to pass the measure, before it can go to the governor's desk. More: House passes Kim Reynolds' classroom cellphone ban, bill aimed at improving math scores Several Iowa schools have already adopted student cellphone bans with varying rules, including Hoover High School in Des Moines and the Ankeny, Dallas Center-Grimes and Iowa City school districts. Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said the bill gives a "good nudge" to districts that have not yet regulated classroom cellphone use as distractions become more prevalent and disruptive to students' mental health. "I believe that this is actually good legislation because we're encouraging school boards to take up a matter that we all know could be a problem, but it doesn't take away local control," Evans said. "It allows them to develop this policy in a manner that best fits their school district and addresses needs in their community." School districts' policies must identify methods for parents and guardians to communicate with students during school hours, school-sponsored events and emergencies. They also must outline protocols schools will use to securely store students' devices and specify discipline students would face for violating the rules. Policies also will include a petition process that parents can use to argue their student needs access to a cellphone during the school day for "a legitimate reason related to the student's physical or mental health." The bill makes exceptions for students with disabilities. "I think there's more that we can continue to do in this space, but I applaud this bill creating a floor and a minimum policy for our students," said Sen. Kara Warme, R-Ames. Lawmakers struck language included in an earlier version of the bill that would have required schools to teach students in sixth through eighth grades about the effects of social media. Although Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, supported the bill, he questioned the effectiveness of the policy and said it was more of a "restriction" than a prohibition. He pointed to language where the bill says school districts must adopt policies that "restrict" students' cellphone use of devices in the classroom. "This bill is going to make some people feel good, I suppose, but it really won't do very much as far as changing the facts on the ground," Quirmbach said. Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, filed an amendment that would have made the bill apply to both public and private schools. It failed in a 16-33 vote, with Sen. Charlie McClintock, R-Alburnett, joining Democrats in voting for the amendment. Trone Garriott said the Legislature should have a say in whether nonpublic schools set cellphone policies because, through Iowa's education savings accounts, the state annually funnels millions of taxpayer dollars toward students' private school expenses. "If this electronic and social media policy is good for kids, it is good for kids whether they are in public schools or private schools, charter schools, whatever kinds of schools our state tax dollars are funding in some way," Trone Garriott said. The Senate amended the bill so it would not require charter schools to adopt policies restricting cellphone use. But Evans said he is convinced that charter and private schools, if they haven't already, will put policies in place limiting classroom cellphone use. The legislation does not bar them from setting such policies. Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@ Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @marissajpayne. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Senate passes governor's bill banning classroom cellphone use
