This year's student-led spring play is "Peter Pan Goes Wrong, directed by Seniors Andrew Kalstrup and Hailey Bothwell. Showtimes are Saturday, April 25th, at 2:30 and 7:00 pm and Sunday, April 26th, at 2:30 pm. Tickets go live on Friday April 17th on On the Stage Website website. Presale tickets are $5 for students, $10 for adults, and $7 for seniors. Tickets purchased at the door will be $7 for students, $15 for adults, and $12 for seniors. See you at the show!

On Monday, April 13, 2026, the Treynor CSD School Board finalized the last day of school for the 2025-2026 school year. The students' last day will be Thursday, May 28, 2026 with a 2:00 p.m. dismissal. This is provided there will not be additional school cancellations.

Teachers will have staff development and work days on Friday, May 29th and June 1st through June 3rd.

This web page contains important details about the Parade of Stars, Prom and Post Prom activities.  The Prom dance and dinner are hosted by the school, while the Parade of Stars and Post Prom are hosted by the Junior Class parents.  

Prom Schedule - Saturday, April 18, 2026

Printed prom packets were given to students on March 17th. If you need to download a digital copy, click here. 

• Parent/Student Release Form is found on page 6 and 7. This must be returned.
• Guest Parent/Student Release Form is found on page 7 and 8.  This must be returned for any guests that are not Treynor students. Students in Middle School or those 20 or older are not permitted to attend Treynor Prom.
• Guest School Permission Form is found on page 9 and is required from the school in which a non-Treynor guest is enrolled. 
• T-Shirt order form is found on page 11.
• Parade of Stars Information form is found on page 12 and 13. Please fill this out and return for Parade of Stars.
• Professional Photography order form is found on page 14.

Additionally, if juniors or seniors are bringing outside dates, there is an additional dance permission form that is required for the school. Fill it out and return to Danette. 

Make plans to join in the Middle School Activity Night on Friday, May 1st from 3:30-5:00 p.m.  There will be grade-level dodgeball tournament in the west gym and free choice of activities in the east gym.  There will be pizza, snacks and drinks available for purchase, and the cost of admissions is $3.  There will be no Junior High practice after school this day. This is for 6th-8th grade students. You are highly encouraged to prepay your $3 admission to Mrs. Harris or Mrs. Castle, so you will have more time to take part in the fun.

Sponsored by MS Student Council

April 28, 2026 is your LAST CHANCE to preorder your 2025-2026 yearbook. You MUST preorder to be guaranteed a book. Go to Jostens Yearbooks and enter Treynor. Then choose which book you wish to purchase. The high school, middle school, and elementary each has its own book, so be sure to choose the correct option. Questions? Contact Erica Schnepel at eschnepel@treynorcardinals.org. 

The Iowa Department of Education recently released Iowa high school graduation rates and the state saw a half percent increase in 2025, reaching 88.8%. That percentage marks the highest graduation rate in the past five years.  Treynor has a 4-year cohort graduation rate of 100%.

Read the entire press release below:

Iowa’s Class of 2025 graduation rate reaches 88.8%, exceeding prepandemic graduation rates and showing significant gains across student groups

Dropout rates declined, with fewer students dropping out now than before the pandemic

DES MOINES – Iowa’s high school graduation rate increased half of a percentage point, reaching 88.8% for the graduating class of 2025, according to figures released today by the Iowa Department of Education. This marks the highest graduation rate in the past five years and the first time since 2020 that Iowa’s graduation rate has exceeded prepandemic levels.

State data show 88.8% of students in Iowa’s class of 2025 (35,116 students) graduated within four years, increasing 0.5 percentage points from 88.3% for the class of 2024 (34,158 students). The class of 2024 was the first time graduation rates matched those before the pandemic for the class of 2019. Now, for the class of 2025, graduation rates are also up 0.5 percentage points from 88.3% for the class of 2019. 

“In our class of 2025, nearly 1,000 more Iowans earned their high school diploma–a powerful accomplishment positioning them to learn more and earn more,” said Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow. “Through the hard work of our students, families and educators, Iowa significantly narrowed graduation rate gaps experienced by students with disabilities, low-income backgrounds, and experiencing homelessness. These gains reflect Iowa’s collective focus on accountability for learner outcomes and our unwavering commitment to empowering all students to meet high expectations.”

In addition to overall gains, several student groups experienced significant graduation rate gains, including:

• Up 1.6 percentage points for students with disabilities (gains three times higher than Iowa’s overall gains)
• Up 1.0 percentage point for students with low-income backgrounds (gains two times higher than Iowa’s overall gains)
• Up 4.9 percentage points for students experiencing homelessness (gains ten times higher than Iowa’s overall gains)

Graduation rates for both male and female students increased, but the graduation rate for females continues to outpace that of males by 3.4 percentage points. Students who are Black or African American experienced gains five times higher than Iowa’s overall gains, up 2.5 percentage points. Graduation rates for students who are English learners declined 1.2 percentage points, underscoring the importance of the Iowa Department of Education’s continued investment in both current and future teachers supporting English learners through improved professional learning and preparation. 

Iowa’s four-year graduation rate for the class of 2025 is higher than several of its neighboring states. Michigan, North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska recently reported 2025 graduation rates below Iowa’s, at 84.0%, 84.2%, 84.9%, 86.1% and 87.9%, respectively. Among other Midwestern states, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin reported 2025 graduation rates above Iowa’s, at 89.0%, 89.8%, 91.4% and 92.0%, respectively. Kansas and Ohio have not yet released 2025 four-year graduation rates.

Iowa graduation rates are calculated with a formula established by the U.S. Department of Education. Unique student identification numbers allow school districts to account for all ninth-grade students as they move through high school. At the state level, the method helps determine when a student graduates, even if the student has switched districts during high school.

Iowa’s five-year graduation rate — which reflects students who were part of a graduating class but took an extra year to finish high school — was 90.6% for the class of 2024, up by 0.7 percentage points from 89.9% for the class of 2023, and exceeding the prepandemic rate of 90.5% for the class of 2019.

Iowa’s annual dropout rate reflects the percent of students in grades 9-12 who dropped out of school during a single year. The annual dropout rate was 2.30% (3,574 students) for the 2024-25 school year, showing lower dropout rates from both last year (2.59% in the 2023-24 school year) and before the pandemic (2.61% in the 2018-19 school year).

More information on Iowa’s graduation rates and dropout rates, including rates by school district and student group, are available on the Department of Education’s Graduation Rates and Dropout Rates webpage.

Join us for a night of celebrating our student's art and music. Elementary Night of the Arts is scheduled for Monday, April 20, 2026 from 5:30-8:00 p.m.

This is an open-house style event where families are invited to celebrate student creativity. Enjoy artwork displayed in the hallways, grade-level performances in the gym led by Mr. Stinman, a glow-in-the-dark gallery, clay projects and an ice cream social hosted by Jr. Treynor Women. More information with parking recommendations, music performance times and artwork locations can be found in this flyer.

Free-will donations support the Treynor Elementary art and music programs.

We are excited to announce the six classroom grants selected for the 2026-2027 school year from the sixteen applications submitted. 

Here is a little bit of information about each of the grants selected from their applications:

• Carrie Currin - “The Cardinal Closet is a school-based resource cabinet designed to support elementary students who may lack consistent access to basic necessities. Located within the school, the closet will provide snacks, hygiene items, and seasonal clothing such as hats, gloves, and outerwear. It will also include take-home food options for students experiencing food insecurity.  This initiative ensures that all students—regardless of circumstance—have access to the essential items they need to feel comfortable, confident, and ready to learn.”
• Alex Herrington - “Over the past few years, I have been really thinking about the ways I could improve student collaboration and higher order thinking in group work. I came across an Edutopia video entitled "Learning on Their Feet" and sensed that it might be just the solution I was looking for. The premise of the article suggests that vertical learning is a framework for high quality group work. Vertical learning is when students collaborate standing up working on a vertical surface (white board).”
• Jane Leick - “I am interested in purchasing a new activity/game to integrate into my physical education curriculum called 9 square in the air. This is a game that can be played indoor or outdoor, which is very appealing to me, as the winter months get long with finding new ways to keep kids engaged in staying active with our games and keeping things fresh. This game is a competitive game, but one that equalizes the playing field, as it's not a mainstream sport, so kids are all starting from the same point essentially.  My hope for this game would be that all kids would enjoy the game while being active, including jumping, moving around, connecting kids to each other while they're having fun together.”
• Taryn Maquire - “Learning to read is a challenging task as a young child. We spend a large amount of instructional time on phonics, spelling rules, and sound patterns in 1st grade. The breakdown and isolation of teaching of these skills helps prepare them to become readers and see these sounds and patterns in words and text. One valuable step in this transition of reading is to practice these phonics skills and sound patterns in decodable text where these familiar and taught patterns will appear in text to be practiced.  I would love to have a library of decodable texts to align with my phonics and spelling sounds instruction. This would help provide practice for students to apply isolated phonics skills that are taught during instruction. Just like with all new skills, additional practice helps us become better at the skill we are achieving to mastery.”
• Kelsey Winchell - “A grant for flexible seating in my 4th grade classroom would help create an environment that better supports how students actually learn and focus. Children at this age are not built to sit still in one desk for long periods of time, and research shows that reducing sedentary time in classrooms can improve attention, engagement, and overall learning behaviors. Studies on active classroom environments and flexible seating have found that when students have opportunities to move or change positions while learning, they often stay more focused and involved in lessons. Adding options like high-top tables, small booths for partner work, and comfortable floor seating would allow students to choose spaces that fit the type of learning they are doing while still keeping clear expectations and structure in the classroom.”
• Shantelle Vohs - “In my 2nd grade classroom, I see daily how even capable, kind, and motivated students can miss important learning opportunities when math instruction remains abstract. Hands-on math manipulatives will transform these moments into meaningful learning experiences by actively engaging students and helping them visualize concepts. Tools such as base-ten blocks, number blocks, time, money, and fraction models directly support the Iowa Core Mathematics Standards by allowing students to build number sense, understand place value within 1,000, and develop effective strategies for addition and subtraction. These resources will ensure all learners—especially those who benefit from tactile and visual support—can access and stay engaged in math instruction.”
• Total awarded: 6 grants for $2,629.00

As you can see the Treynor School Foundation Classroom Grants are going to great use and will be a great addition for these teachers’ students.

I would also like to give a special “thank you” to our selection committee members: Kelsey Stupfell, JoEllen Travis, Jill Kay, Brandon Vorthmann, and Rick Nickerson.

If you would like to support future classroom grant applications, donations can be made by clicking on this link.

Roll Cards!

Dr. Joel Beyenhof

Superintendent