PHOTO COURTESY OF MARSHALLTOWN COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT The preliminary planned layout for the upcoming MCSD Welcome Center which includes four work spaces, conference area, childrens’ area, and a family room.

Members of the general public got their first preliminary look at the upcoming MCSD Welcome Center located in the Orpheum Theater at Monday’s regular school board meeting.

Shauna Smith, MCSD Director of Instruction, and Rachel Inks, English Learner Coordinator, came before the governing body and gave a presentation about the renovations on the horizon. The pair were also seeking approval to purchase wall graphics, work stations, furnishings and children manipulatives for the Welcome Center in the amount of $60,201.56.

With the district taking possession of the Orpheum Theater in January, the Welcome Center will now occupy a section of the first floor of the building.

It will house the district’s registrar Stacey Mommer, a bilingual administrative assistant, a new family liaison position, and Inks herself once the renovations are completed. It is meant to act as a one-stop shop for whole-family registration and placement with hands-on staff providing oversight, technical and language support throughout the process.

“[The] Welcome Center really is that place for us to showcase Marshalltown, and how Marshalltown can work in service of many different students,” Inks said. “We’re really looking for that lens of how can they discover Marshalltown right through the movement to choose and thrive, and what areas do we want to attend to, to really showcase our district will be available on site and then we do have that specialty lens that we’re working on, which is to really attend to those unique needs of the immigrant, migrant and English learner families that come to us with such different circumstances on their journey through the schools.”

Building plans include four work spaces for each respective employee along with a conference area, a family room, and two children’s areas. A mural featuring MCSD students will also be added to the center.

“[It’s an] area where families can gather to register or get that registration support right there from that team that sits up front, and then also be able to look right directly into that children’s area that will also keep our youngsters that are with us there that are not yet school age occupied with many STEM based manipulatives,” Inks said.

The district received donations in two consecutive years totaling $31,210.32 to help cover the costs of the wall graphic mural, lobby, reception, family room, and children’s area furnishings. Alongside the private donations, the renovation costs will draw from Title IV funding for the children’s area STEM manipulatives, Title I, Part C funding for portions of the work, office, conference, and gathering spaces while the remaining sum will come from the general fund.

As Smith said, the team behind the renovations is hoping for the center to be finished in time for a summer grand opening.

“We are really pushing for that July 1 registration,” she said. “We know that that’s when registration opens for the ’23-’24 school year, and we want to be ready before that.”

She also commented about how the process of the Welcome Center has been progressing so far.

“We’re pretty excited about how it’s all coming together, and the Welcome Center, we’re wanting to make sure we want to preserve the Orpheum and the architecture that’s there,” Smith said. “There’s a really important piece of this to make sure that our families know they’re entering into an MCSD territory. So we’re doing a very nice job of being sensitive to those who really want to preserve the Orpheum for its historical purpose here in Marshalltown, and yet also servicing the family and the community that currently resides.”

As the pair wrapped up their presentation, Superintendent Theron Schutte praised the two administrators for their efforts in bringing the Welcome Center to life.

“I commend Rachel and Shauna for their work on this because it’s been pretty labor intensive, and it was nice to see it come to fruition recently with the school specialty,” said Schutte. “I really appreciate the creativity in terms of how we’re using multiple funding sources in order to make this happen.”

The board voted unanimously to approve the purchase requests for wall graphics, work stations, furnishings and children manipulatives for the Welcome Center totaling $60,201.56.

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Contact Nick Baur at 641-753-6611 or nbaur@timesrepublican.com.