Monday the teachers and staff of the Greene County School District took part in the annual Welcome Back event in the morning at the high school.

The Friends of the Jefferson Public Library served breakfast to everyone, followed by remarks made by the library staff. They stressed the partnership that the two entities have and how they can each help one another throughout the school year. Children’s Librarian Terry Clark explained how she saw the event being beneficial for everyone involved.

“The teacher’s breakfast is just a wonderful way for the Friends of the Jefferson Public Library and the librarians to express their appreciation and support of the Greene County School staff. As we all continue to provide lifelong learning to the children in our community.”  

Superintendent Tim Christensen then made some remarks. He shared what his goals are for the year, as part of his new evaluation process. He mentioned that businesses are sponsoring classrooms in the elementary building and that students get the opportunity to visit the businesses. He also proposed a “10-second challenge” to all staff. Christensen challenged everyone to take 10 seconds at the end of each day to ask yourself, “did you hear or see something that made you think a child or student is at risk? And/or did you hear or see something that made you think a co-worker is at risk?” He said if you said “yes” to either question, then do something about it.

To wrap up the event was a special guest speaker, Linc Kroeger with Pillar Technology. The company is looking to establish its first rural Forge location in Jefferson and start an academy program where students will have the opportunity to earn $60,000-$75,000 without any college debt, after graduating high school. Kroeger talked about how Jefferson will be centerstage once the program is up and running.

“Obviously people like Governor (Kim) Reynolds, Congressman (David) Young (and) Senator (Charles) Grassley have been very engaged in this. And now you have Congressman Ro Khanna of the Silicon Valley really engaging this. This is a very bipartisan (and) how do you reach those people that have been left behind in rural America? And Jefferson’s really the spotlight of how this country is going to pivet.”

The 2018-19 school year starts on Thursday for Greene County Schools.