January 14, 2022 

 Cardinals, Welcome back from Winter Break! I hope that your holiday season was an enjoyable and memorable one. To start off the new calendar year, some of our students finished up the 1st Semester with tests while others began to focus on the 100th Day of School (January 31, 2022)!

Grades are being calculated and preparations are being made for student report cards to be issued. Specific communication will come from individual buildings for how they will be delivered or accessible to parents. Here is when you can expect to see progress reports for your children: 

                            Elementary     Monday, January 17, 2022                            

                            Middle School     Friday, January 14, 2022    

                            High School    Tuesday, January 18, 2022 

 Our students returned to school for the 3rd Quarter after a three-day weekend, with our teachers having Monday, January 10, 2022 as a Teacher Work Day. Many things were accomplished across the district to prepare our students for any changes from the 1st Semester. We hope your children are off to a great start this quarter! 

 Winter screening for math and reading is currently taking place in grades K-11, using Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) or FastBridge depending on grade level. These results are intended to be a quick check on individual student progress in these areas and used to inform future instruction to meet students’ needs. We are proud of our students for putting forth their best efforts! 

We continue to monitor student absence rates due to illness on a daily basis. The information is available to the public from a link in our Return to Learn Plan. It is also that time of year to remain winter weather aware, and we have multiple ways to notify our families of any inclement weather affecting the school day. 

As always, if there is anything we can do to improve your experience with the Newton Community School District, please reach out to me at any time via email (messingert@newtoncsd.org) or by calling the District Office at 641.792.5809 (Option 0). We look forward to doing our best to serve our Cardinal Families in 2022! 

 Yours truly, 

Tom Messinger, Superintendent


Annual Report Released

The Newton Community School District has released the Popular Annual Financial Report for the year ending June 30, 2021. The report contains a snapshot of information pertaining to all aspects of the district’s finances including revenues, expenditures, and debt service, in addition to characteristics of the student body and District employees. The report will be distributed  to homes this week via the Jasper County Advertiser and may also be viewed on-line here.

Check out the annual report HERE!



Boys Basketball Highlight

The boys have been off to a great beginning of the season, and hope to continue to work hard together as a team on and off the court!


Teacher Feature- Christine Haag

Christine has been a great addition to the Berg Middle School team! With a love of teaching and passion for educating she makes a difference in the life of students everyday. Check out more about Christine here!


Preschool Registration (2022-2023) - APPLICATIONS NOW AVAILABLE!

If your child will be 4 years old on or before September 15, 2022 please complete and return a Preschool application (with required documents) to the Central Registrar's Office for the 2022 - 2023 School Year.  Our Central Registrar's Office is located at the EJH Beard Administration Center (1302 1st Ave W, Newton).  

The Newton Community Preschool is located at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School (112 Thomas Jefferson Drive).  We offer programming for 4-year-old students in morning (AM) or afternoon (PM) sessions.  Our staff takes pride in working hard to meet the needs of our preschool families!  

Click for more information at this link to our Preschool Registration webpage.

If you have any questions, please contact Melinda Robertson, Central Registrar (District Office), at 641.792.5809 (Option 2) or robertsonm@newtoncsd.org



Upcoming Dates in the District

January 17th: NO Preschool and 1.5 Early Dismissal for Students (ALL Campuses)

January 24th: NO Preschool and 1.5 Early Dismissal for Students (ALL Campuses)

January 24th:  School Board Meeting-

(5:30 pm - 6:30 pm)

EJH Beard Administration Center - Room 105A / via ZOOM

more info here!


See the latest updates on Middle School and High School Activities and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates on activities and results!


School Board Highlights

Check out the School Board Meeting Highlights from the meeting on January 10th, 2022 here!