The excitement surrounding our Girls Basketball Team’s journey at the State Tournament has been a positive experience for many! Seeing our students, staff, families, business owners and community come together to support our Cardinals is amazing.
First, I want to extend a sincere thank you to the many local businesses and individuals who donated to help support the pep buses. Your generosity allowed many students to travel to Des Moines and experience the energy and excitement of the state tournament while supporting their classmates.
I would also like to recognize the many people working behind the scenes to make these trips possible. Many of our drivers serve multiple roles within our district, drive their regular routes and continue to step up because they care deeply about supporting our students.
A big thank you also goes to our pep bus chaperones, who supervise and support students during the trip, and to our secretarial staff, who worked hard organizing sign-ups and tracking attendance during a very busy week.
I also want to recognize Activities Director Larson and Transportation Director Hansen for the time they spend coordinating drivers, buses, and logistics so students can attend.
Because of all these efforts, we had an outstanding student section in Des Moines on Monday and will again today. I was extremely proud of how our students represented Maquoketa on Monday with their energy, sportsmanship, and support for our team.
I’ve received a few questions about how pep bus decisions are determined, so I wanted to share a little context.
Pep Bus Decisions
Our first priority is always ensuring we have enough drivers to safely run our regular school bus routes. Once those routes are covered, we determine how many drivers are available to drive pep buses. Each bus also has three chaperones, and we coordinate transportation for the band, their instruments, and cheerleaders, which also requires additional buses and drivers.
Community donations also play an important role in helping cover costs such as driver time, chaperone time, diesel fuel, and student tickets.Then, based on the number of staff we have to drive/chaperones and the amount of donations, determines how many pep busses we are able to take,
In the past, pep buses were free. However, when there was no cost, some students signed up but did not attend, which made planning difficult. To help ensure more accurate participation, we implemented a $10 student fee, which helps confirm attendance while still keeping the experience affordable.
Opportunities like this are made possible because of the many people who step up to support our students. From donors and staff to bus drivers, chaperones, and administrators, it truly takes a community effort.
I was incredibly proud of how our students represented Maquoketa in Des Moines, and I appreciate the continued support of our community as we work to provide meaningful experiences for our students. We are all looking forward to cheering on our Cardinals loud and proud today in Des Moines and very hopeful to do it a third time on Friday!
Thank you,
Tara Notz, Superintendent