Pallotta Middle School staff gear up for new year at new school

Weeks of construction still remain at Blessed Maria Assunta Pallotta Middle School, but staff at the new Catholic school is already preparing to welcome its first batch of students.

Principal Amy Sandvold, teachers and other staff recently gathered in a classroom at the adjacent Columbus High School, 3231 W. Ninth St., for three days of “Leader in Me” training. Through discussion and exercises, they learned about the principles in Sean Covey’s book “7 Habits of Happy Kids,” upon which the leadership program is based. The seven habits prepare children to be self-motivated and build a strong work ethic as well as to develop leadership and organizational skills.

Pallotta Middle School joins a number of Cedar Valley elementary and middle schools that have implemented the Leader in Me program. The building consolidates grades six through eight from three Waterloo Catholic grade schools and will have a staff of 30. Some of those attending the training said the program will be helpful as students and teachers coalesce into a new group when school starts Aug. 14.

“We’re coming together as one school from three schools, and originally from five schools,” said Don Sullivan, eighth-grade science teacher, in reference to Catholic grade schools that closed in the past. “This is a way we can bring these diverse groups together.”

Skills teacher Lori Weber said it will be important for the staff to “focus on the new and the positive” because “most of us left places that we dearly loved.” She called Leader in Me “truly a gift” for the new school.

“We’re going to be building new traditions with this new environment,” added Laura Gilbert, sixth-grade English teacher.

Staff members also are excited about the amenities of the new 50,000-square-foot building they will occupy — from the grade-level “home base” design to the elevator that will make the two-story school accessible for the physically disabled. Sandvold said the home base, or “house,” concept means all academic classes are grouped together for each grade level — sixth-graders on the first floor, seventh- and eighth-graders on the second floor.

“With the middle school philosophy, everybody kind of stays in their home base, and they have their own teacher,” she said. “We all have our own science (room), which is unique. Every parent I bring through loves that.”

Collaborative areas — called “synergy” spaces in the language of Covey’s book — are available in the hallways of each home base. Technology coordinator Sheila Miller likes how the building was designed with collaboration in mind, which will allow each grade level to begin “working as a team.”

Sandvold noted the school will have an art teacher with classes in a separate room, a change from how the subject has been taught. The art room along with the gym, library, cafeteria/commons area, chapel, band room and choir room are all located on the school’s first floor.

Both band and choir will be available to all students in the new building, Sandvold noted. “Students can have both, they don’t have to choose,” she said, as has been the case until now. “Our high school is moving to that model.”