Dave Henrichs was in the KCSI studio Thursday morning and sounded like a superintendent who can already feel September. Classes started Aug. 24. Preschool joined two days later. By Thursday the district was almost through week two.
“Both the students, the staff have settled in nicely and getting into our routines,” Henrichs said. He is in his 21st year as a superintendent and his 35th year in education, and he oversees both Griswold and Lenox.
Henrichs used the visit to name the people hired for 2026-27:
Ryan Askeland, athletic director; Megan Bates, custodian; Alisha Baxter, school nurse; Savannah Belt, preschool teacher; Holly Brown, elementary special education; Michelle Cockburn, fifth grade; Megan Harding, librarian; Jill Miller, middle school special education; Bindi Paige, high school English; Vance Peterson, high school science; Ashley Staniak, agriculture teacher and FFA advisor; and McKenna Wiechman, middle school basketball coach.
Baxter does not start until Tuesday, Sept. 8. Former district nurses Jerry Orstad and Anne Jones have been covering the first two weeks. Henrichs thanked both of them by name.
Classroom jobs are filled. What the district still needs, he said, are people for Quiz Bowl, dance team, accompanist, middle school girls track, head and assistant golf, assistant cross country (needed now), middle school boys basketball, and a co-sponsor for National Honor Society.
Openings have to be posted on Teach Iowa. Griswold also puts them on the website and Facebook. Call the office, Henrichs said, even if there is not a job listed. “We’ll accept an application even if we don’t have an opening to keep it on file.”
Four laws parents will feel this year
Henrichs said last year’s session produced more education bills than he has seen in his career. He picked four that families will actually notice.
Screen time, K-5. House File 2676 caps digital instruction at 60 minutes a day for kindergarten through fifth grade. Griswold set its policy at that maximum so teachers have room, not because every child will sit in front of a screen for an hour. Teacher-led demonstration does not count. Independent practice on a device does. IEPs, assistive technology, state assessments, and computer-science class do not count. The law is in force now.
“A few years ago, the big push was one-to-one computers. Everybody’s got to have them. And now we’re limited to how much time we can use them,” he said. Paper and pencil matter. So does preparing kids for jobs that use technology. “Happy medium is where we need to land.”
Civics exam to graduate. A Department of Education multiple-choice test based on the U.S. citizenship exam is now a graduation requirement. Passing is 60 percent. Students may start in ninth grade and retake it as often as they need. When a district gives it is a local call — some will wait for government class; some will test grades 9-12 this year. Henrichs said both of his districts had students try it last year and he expects them to do well.
Classroom removals. Senate File 2428 is the one that has school people statewide still sorting guidance. It took effect July 1. Henrichs sat through an AEA superintendents meeting Wednesday and said new direction was still coming. The law splits violent and nonviolent disruptions and treats K-5 differently from grades 6-12.
In both bands, a removed student sits with the principal or a designee at least 30 minutes and does not return to that classroom until the principal and the teacher have talked. In grades 6-12 the student also stays out of that teacher’s room until the next school day — which, on a period schedule, often means they can still go to every other class that afternoon.
If the student has an IEP, the removal triggers a meeting that is supposed to include every teacher who instructs that child. Staff who cannot attend sign a summary. Teachers who believe an administrator did not back a removal can take it to the school board, a path Henrichs noted already existed.
The practical fight now is definitions. Districts get to decide whether a hallway conversation or a student stepping out on their own counts as a “removal.” A teacher who does remove a student can also say they do not want the full state process applied. A teacher can also keep a disruptive student in the room if they believe they can handle it.
“The intent of the law is to give teachers the power and give them control of their classroom back,” Henrichs said. Griswold and Lenox have done a first reading of the policy and held the second reading because more guidance is still landing. The law applies either way. He hoped to get his four principals on a Zoom this week and bring a cleaner policy to the September board.
Eighth graders in high school sports. House File 2591 lets districts allow eighth graders to play high school athletics. It is optional. Griswold will allow it in every sport but does not expect to use it often.
The path starts with the varsity head coach, who fills out a recommendation covering talent, roster size at both levels, impact on the middle school program, and whether the athlete is ready physically and emotionally. The athletic director and high school principal review it. If they approve, the parent gets the pros, cons, and rules and has to say yes.
Once an eighth grader moves up in a sport, that athlete cannot drop back to the middle school team in that same sport that season. It is sport by sport — high school volleyball and middle school basketball can coexist. Some Iowa districts are not doing this at all. Some will use it only where there is no junior high team, such as golf.
Statewide, Henrichs called the law “a band-aid to the problem” of fewer students and fewer kids going out. If it were his bill, he said, he would rather let sixth graders move up to middle school sports.
Fall sports and this week’s calendar
High school volleyball: 21 players, 2-3 so far, Jody Rossell and Marleah Mundorf. High school football: 24 players, 1-1 after a week-zero game most schools did not play, Seth Lembke, Kevin Farr, and Cole Cooper. No high school cross country this year. Two junior high boys are running for Pluma Pross.
Thursday: junior high volleyball at Fremont-Mills at 4 p.m., high school at 5:30. Friday: football at Audubon, 7 p.m. Saturday: volleyball tournament at Missouri Valley, 9 a.m. Monday: no school, Labor Day.
Elementary FAST screening is already underway. The district tests three times a year, then writes individual plans, interventions, and progress monitoring off the results.
The $5 ticket that turned into a thousand dollars
Henrichs closed with a request that people show up — FFA, band, football, whatever is on the schedule — and with a story about the new athletic director.
Askeland put a quick note on Facebook asking whether anyone would chip in so students at home events could get a $5 concession voucher. In about a day, Henrichs said, the ask brought in something like $1,000. Kids walking into a volleyball match were handed the coupons at the door.
“It’s just awesome that people are supportive of our school and our kids,” Henrichs said. “We just want people to come together and be a community and support our kids, and obviously they’re doing that.”
KCSI visits with Griswold schools on the first and third Thursday. This conversation was sponsored by Griswold Communications and Town & Country Sanitation.
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