Sergeant Bluff-Luton Community Schools

Zack Kloostra is selected to participate in this year's NWIBA high school honor band.

Anna Pry is selected to participate in this year's NWIBA High School honor band.

Congrats on a great season!

Semi finals. Let's go!

Sixteen 7th and 8th graders represented SBL at the NW Iowa Junior High Honor Choir Festival in Storm Lake on November 5. After an afternoon of rehearsals, students from 36 schools presented a concert under the direction of Luigi Enriquez from Iowa City and Kelsey Legore from Cedar Rapids. Congratulations to all of these SBL musicians! 1st Row L to R: Dani Thelander, Julianne Rassel, Sophia Cappetta, Savannah Moseman 2nd Row: Emily Eckhoff, Quincy Timmons, Charlotte Timmons, Evy TerWee 3rd Row: Roxy Dean, Makenna Crawford, Izzy Carrell, Bode Bockenstedt 4th Row: Hunter Guthmiller, Marcus Haase, Evy Edlund, Gabe DeAnda-Ramirez

Warriors upset the number one seed 3-2!!!

Let's go Warriors!

Superintendent Janzen will be on Drive Time on KSCJ 94.9 FM Thursday, Oct.31 between 5-6 pm. Listen in for the final conversation about the school bond issue! Vote Nov. 5. SBL: Strengthen-Build-Lead

Warriors are state bound!!

Kara Andersen of Sergeant Bluff-Luton High School has attained the highest individual honor available to Iowa high school musicians by being selected as a member of the 2024 All-State Choir. Kara is the daughter of Tony & Mary Andersen of Sergeant Bluff and is a vocal student of Christine Massey & Abby Shepherd. The 2024 Festival will celebrate the 78th anniversary of this prestigious event. District Auditions for the 276-piece All-State Band, 214-piece All-State Orchestra and 601- member All-State Chorus were held Saturday, October 26, 2024 at LeMars, Hampton, Independence, Atlantic, Indianola, and Washington. Approximately 17% of the students who audition are selected for membership in the All-State ensembles. Participants will rehearse in Ames on Friday and Saturday, November 22 & 23, and the Festival Concert will be presented to the public at 7:30 p.m. p.m. in Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State University, Ames, on Saturday evening, November 23, 2024. PBS will record the concert for re-broadcast. Please check the Iowa PBS website (www.iowapbs.org) for the exact dates and times. This program is under the auspices of the Iowa High School Music Association and the Iowa Music Educators Association. Tickets are $30.00 each, plus fees, and all seats are reserved. Tickets may be obtained for the Iowa All-State Festival Concert by contacting Ticketmaster- Orders may be placed online (www.ticketmaster.com) and go on sale October 29, 2024 at 10:00 am. Ticketmaster will charge a per-ticket convenience fee. Congratulations Kara! We are very proud of you!!

At conferences on Thursday, the high school hosted a college and career fair for students.

The following SB-L high school choir students will be auditioning for the Iowa All-State Chorus this Saturday in LeMars: Izzy Brodersen, Kara Andersen, Abby Andersen, Kayden Thompson & Jax Sedgwick. Good luck!!

It's that time of the year again...time for the SB-L Music Booster annual Fruit, Meat & Cheese Fundraiser. The 7-12 band and choir students will be selling from now until Nov. 4th. If no one has contacted you and you would like to support the SB-L Band and Choir, please go to: https://myfruitsale.com/ , click on "shop now", click on "choose organization", select state "Iowa", then select organization "ZGSL Sergeant Bluff-Luton H.S. Band-Fall 2024 Sale", then click on "shop now". That will take you to the first page of the items. To get to page 2, click on the arrow at the bottom. Follow the prompts to order, checkout and pay. Thank you for supporting SB-L Music Boosters!

If you have scheduled a parent-teacher conference for Thursday night after 6:00 PM at the elementary, please be aware that this may affect your entrance to the building. SBL is hosting a regional volleyball game in the elementary building, which means that doors that are typically open will be locked starting at 6:00 PM. This measure is to ensure that volleyball fans remain separate from the classrooms during conferences. Important Details: Door F that typically provides access from the Primary School to the Elementary School will be locked beginning at 6:00 PM. The only entrance available for parent-teacher conferences will be through the front door of the building. (Door A) Volleyball traffic will enter through the Door L (as you approach the building to the right of main door A) There will be no flow between the volleyball game and conferences within the building. Access will be restricted to these two outside doors. Please plan accordingly for your arrival at conferences. If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!

Did you know we have guidance classes in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade this year? In previous years they only had guidance in sixth grade. Sixth graders spend most of the time on character development. By eighth grade they spend most of their time on career exploration.

Change to Iowa Code Related to Tax Abatement and School Districts There have been several questions regarding the city tax abatement as it relates to the paying of school bonds. Those who are currently under a city abatement only pay on the percent they are at in their abatement. However, new owners will pay 100% of school taxes due to a change in Iowa law. Specific information follows approved by the city attorney: Iowa House File HF718 was enacted and amended portions of the Iowa Code related to property tax collections. The changes pertained to Chapter 404 property tax abatement/exemption for single and multi-family residential development: Effective July 1, 2024 – all new residential projects located on properties eligible for a tax abatement are prohibited to have the abatement applied to the school district portion of the property tax levy; All School District taxes will be impose and paid on the new valuation created by residential development.

NWI Honor Band auditioning students:

Good luck to our students auditioning for Middle School Northwest Iowa Honor band today. L to R: Monda Grimaldo, Charlotte Timmons, Sara Odell, Bode Bockenstedt, and Josiah Mitchell. Not pictured: Evy Edlund.

The district applied for an $80,000 grant last spring to add new equipment to the FCS room. We received the grant, but we were unable to purchase all the items due to the cost of updating plumbing and electrical in the room. It would have cost over $250,000 to make upgrades to install all the equipment. We were able to purchase some of the equipment. This equipment could also be moved to a new CTE building in the future, saving costs in a future move.

Reminder: Open House tonight at the elementary school at 6:30 pm.