Career Education Coordinator Carrie Rock and Curriculum and Instruction Director Teri Boezinger presented plans for the 2025-26 district and individual career and academic plan to the Fort Dodge Community School District Board of Education Monday.

Rock said more than 1,500 students have either completed or are in the process of completing the program’s assessment.

“We would obviously like those numbers to increase,” she said. “We’ll be bringing in the middle school students this year and working through ways to continue to get more students involved.”

According to Rock, the goals for the new school year include continually improving the district readiness scores, which were in the 50th percentile in 2024-25, and aiming to expand industry-recognized credentials and middle school development opportunities.

“The next step is to get our committee meetings going in September, review how 2024-25 went and see where we can improve this year,” Rock said. “We all want to improve from the 50th percentile, but we did compare well to other districts.”

So much so that Superintendent Josh Porter shared that the Fort Dodge district is one of 15 districts to receive recognition for its industry-recognized credentials.

“It’s a great honor and points to the hard work of Carrie and Teri and the committee,” he said. “I know we all look forward to what can come in the future.”

Along with approving the 2025-26 district DCAP and ICAP plans, the board approved the 2024-25 fundraising report. Presented by Director of Activities Brandon Ruffridge, it showed an increase of $16,000 from 2023-24 with a total of $80,603.63 raised.

“We’re off to another good start already through the athletic programs doing their programs along with other activities,” he said. “We were able to meet with some local companies that have been vendors for these types of opportunities in the past and have streamlined them.”

Porter concluded the meeting by stating that many activities got underway Monday.

“It’s getting busy again, but it’s an exciting time,” he said.