Greene County High School

September 12, 2025
Dear GCHS Families and Community Members,
Homecoming is a special time for our students and community, filled with spirit, tradition, and celebration. While we want everyone to enjoy the week’s events, we also want to make sure that fun does not come at the expense of safety.
In recent years, the long-standing tradition of “TPing” has grown beyond simple rolls of toilet paper and has unfortunately involved unsafe behaviors such as:
*Large groups of vehicles traveling at high speeds
*Ignoring stop signs and other traffic laws
*Using items other than toilet paper (food, forks, toothpicks, foil, etc.) in yards
*Students imposing on unwanted community members' homes
These activities create dangerous conditions and cause unnecessary damage to property. Together with the Jefferson Police Department and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, we are committed to addressing these concerns with seriousness and consistency this year.
Here’s how you can help:
*Talk with your students about the importance of celebrating safely and respecting others’ property.
*Report unsafe driving or suspicious activity to local law enforcement right away.
*Model for our students how we can support tradition without compromising safety.
We want Homecoming to be remembered for its positive moments: the parade, the games, the school spirit, and the shared pride in our community. By working together, we can keep the focus on celebrating safely.
Thank you for doing your part to keep our community safe, respectful, and proud.
With appreciation,
Karen Shannon
GCHS Principal
(Graphic is what was shared with students during Advisory this week.)

GCHS showed support to World Suicide Prevention Day today by wearing yellow. Shown are a few of us that were brightening the hallways in our yellow.

Mr. Martin's Home Maintenance class is working on repairing holes in drywall. Home Maintenance focuses on the information that is helpful for students as they look forward to moving into a home for the first time. This class is great for any student who plans on owning a home in the future and doesn't want to pay for everything to be done for them.

Chef D and her culinary students are studying eggs, and today they learned how to poach eggs for their eggs benedict. They also prepared a hollandaise sauce which was delicious!

Leah Renwanz's Human Anatomy and Physiology I class dissected pigs to learn about their anatomy.

Greene County Community School will be holding the monthly board meeting at the admin building (101 Ram Drive, Jefferson, IA) this evening beginning at 5:15 PM. The public is welcome to attend in-person or view the livestream on the district's YouTube channel. See below for the link. The meeting agenda can be viewed on the GCCSD Board of Education page under the Links header.

GCCSD Board Meeting YouTube Livestream Link:
https://www.youtube.com/live/Jc9MjDK4zNI

Board Meeting Agenda:
https://www.gccsd.k12.ia.us/page/board-home

Chef D taught her culinary students how to concasse tomatoes today. Concasse is a French cooking term for tomatoes that have been peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped. They turned the tomatoes into a bruschetta which is a crustini with feta, the fresh tomatoes, and fresh basil. They then drizzled each with a balsamic glaze. They were so delicious!

GCHS would like to introduce September's Students and Staff Members of the Month: (front) Misty Bettey, Alaina Gettler, Madi Skalla, Evelyn Snyder, Wendy Vander Linden (back) Raymond Bauer, Isaac Karber, Aden Bardole and Gabe Gerzema. (Not pictured Matthew Gannon). Thank you for making GCHS a great place to learn and work! Go Rams!

Mr. Martin's Intro to Construction class just finished up the Wall Systems unit. The students learned how to construct walls and add the most common types of openings such as windows and doors. These students are excited and eager to learn more. Keep an eye out as they plan to build a shed here soon and will be looking for a buyer, more info on that to come.

Chef D and her culinary students learned how to make French omelets today! Students added different types of vegetables to their creation. They turned out great!

Check out the GCHS September Family Newsletter! https://secure.smore.com/n/evyk5

Chef D and her students prepared Philly cheese steak sandwiches today in class. They were delicious!

They started by grilling boneless flat-iron steak that had been marinated overnight. Next, they grilled red and green bell peppers and onions until the onions were caramelized. They tossed the steak and veggies and then topped this with provolone cheese before putting the mixture on their hoagie rolls. They toasted the rolls in the oven before serving them.

We are hiring a Study Hall Monitor at GCHS! To Apply: https://www.applitrack.com/gccsd/onlineapp/default.aspx?Category=Support+Staff

GCHS Staff is excited to WELCOME students back to school tomorrow!

A friendly reminder about the cell phone policy at GCHS. We were ahead of the Iowa legislature on this one. It is the same policy as last year, but includes Airpods/headphones now.

Back to School Reminders!