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District
ready for students
Wayne White
Managing Editor
With three of the county’s school districts beginning school
this week and two next week, Osage County students will soon see
summer come to an end. As they walk in the doors of the schools,
though, they will see the results of planning by school boards and
the hard work of school staff over the summer.
Osage City
At Osage City, USD 420 begins school today, Aug. 14, with a half-day
schedule. Students will be dismissed at 11:30 a.m., but are invited
back that evening starting at 5 p.m. for the annual back-to-school
night. The evening will include a meal of hot dogs, then meetings
with students, parents and teachers. In addition to school tours
for parents, several presentations will be given.
“It’s a time for students to meet their teachers and
start the school year,” said USD 420 Superintendent David
Carriger.
In addition to painting walls and waxing floors, Osage City school
staff has been busy installing new technology in the district’s
schools. Carriger said new additions to classrooms this year are
“smart boards,” large marker boards that can also project
information from a computer.
“It’s basically a marker board that is a large computer
screen you can use in front of a classroom, and can get on the Internet,”
Carriger said. “You can also write on it, do map work, math,
and reading skills. It’s a great tool for classrooms.”
He said several smart boards have been installed across the district
and can be used with many courses. Other technology improvements
for the district include new computers at the high school.
Carriger said USD 420 does not have many changes in class offerings,
but efforts are underway for the district to offer college preparatory
courses. He said the district has been working with Allen Community
College (ACC) to offer the courses.
“High school kids will have new opportunities to take college-bound
classes,” he said. “So maybe some of those kids will
get a quicker start on college courses.”
Another project in the works with ACC will not be introduced until
next school year.
“Our big push this year is to continue to work on a vocational
program we hope to have in place for the 09-10 school year,”
Carriger said. “Allen Community College and Kan-Build will
be big players in that.”
Monday, Carriger worked with bus drivers in setting routes; Tuesday
was an in-service day for teachers.
“Things look really nice to start the year,” he said.
Santa Fe Trail
School also begins today for Santa Fe Trail USD 434 with a full
day at all four schools – Santa Fe Trail High School, Carbondale
Attendance Center, Scranton Attendance Center and Overbrook Attendance
Center.
According to USD 434 Superintendent Steve Pegram, maintenance and
repair highlighted the summer work in the district.
“We tried to start addressing a lot of issues we have in the
buildings,” Pegram said.
He said not much was done at Overbrook, but at Scranton, sidewalk
work was completed, along with retiling some floors. At Carbondale,
a deteriorating brick wall was cleaned, repaired and sealed.
At the high school, a trophy case afflicted with termite damage
was rebuilt; the school stage floor was sanded and refinished. Another
big project was asphalting the road east of the building.
Pegram reported to the USD 434 Board of Education Monday night that
$75,000 more had been spent this year on maintenance compared to
last year at this same time.
“We’ve tried to make repairs throughout,” Pegram
said. “Then we tried to clean up the grounds. That was the
big emphasis this summer.”
He said he has heard many comments from staff and patrons regarding
the appearance of the schools this year.
“Amazing what pulling weeds and mowing will do,” he
said. “It shows we have pride in our buildings.”
Another change at the school will likely not be noticed by students,
specifically the reduction in staff. In an effort to reduce expenses,
the school board has eliminated the positions of assistant superintendent
and district-wide athletic director. Other support positions have
also been eliminated.
“Those positions will be absorbed by staff at the buildings,”
Pegram said.
A big change in the district will come next school year, with the
consolidation of all middle school students into a single junior
high school, which will also merge all junior high activities.
“We will be working on that throughout the school year,”
Pegram said.
Burlingame
Burlingame Schools will begin school Friday, with the newest change
being the superintendent. Allen Konicek officially began his job
July 1, but has been at the schools during most of the summer break.
Konicek said Tuesday he had found a home and moved to Burlingame.
Coming from the Lincoln school district, Konicek replaced former
superintendent Don Blome, who announced his resignation in January.
“Things are going great. We’re impressed with staff,
students and the community,” Konicek said. “I think
things are working out well. It’s nice being part of the community.”
He said he was one of six new staff members at Burlingame Schools
this year; five new elementary teachers were also hired.
Konicek said the most noticeable change at the kindergarten to 12th
grade facility is the recently completed addition and remodeling.
One addition to the building will house the band room and wrestling
room. Another expansion was done to the commons area and lunchroom.
The project also added storage space.
“This was just some badly needed space,” he said. “This
addition filled that need.”
He said the added space in the lunchroom will help with meal time
scheduling; in the past, lunch time started mid-morning to accommodate
all of the students. Now, more students can eat lunch at the same
time.
“One of the best things about the addition, modifications
we made will reduce the amount of time we spend for lunch,”
he said.
With the start of the year, Burlingame students will be tackling
a new social studies curriculum. As explained by Konicek, each year
the district focuses on updating one subject.
“That is the one we focused on last year,” he said.
“Language arts is the focus this year.”
Other than the new additions, Konicek described work during the
break as “just normal summer cleanup.”
Thursday, the school will host an open house for elementary students
and parents.
“It’s a chance for them to meet teachers, see classrooms
and see changes that have been made,” Konicek said.
Marais des Cygnes Valley
At Marais des Cygnes Valley USD 456, Superintendent Ted Vannocker
reported Tuesday the district’s schools are ready for students.
Teachers will be in school this week, preparing for the official
start of school Monday, Vannocker said.
Most notable changes this year in USD 456 focus on technology and
academics.
“We’re going to be at a one-to-one ratio for students
and laptops at the high school level,” Vannocker said. “We
have one laptop for every two students at the junior high level.”
At the elementary level, the district has implemented new training
for math and reading. Over the summer, teachers and principals completed
the required training for the new programs.
In the high school, there will be changes in the method of producing
the school yearbook. Previously, the school had worked with Jostens,
which provided software for yearbook production.
“This year, it will all be in house – all the work will
be done on computer at the building,” he said. “The
students are going to take on a lot more of the production.”
Other summer work included installing new lights at the football
field, new carpet and tile throughout the buildings, a change to
energy efficient lighting in all classrooms, new classroom doors,
and new lockers for junior high school students.
Another change, but outside of the school, will be the method of
dropping off and picking up students by parents.
“We’re instituting some new safety regulations near
the Melvern building,” he said, with signs conveying that
information to drivers.
While there are no new teachers in USD 456 this year, increased
enrollment in lower grades have required that first and second grades
be split into two classes each.
An open house will be held at the elementary school in Quenemo 5:30-7
p.m. Aug. 21.
After inspecting both buildings Tuesday, Vannocker announced, “We’re
ready.”
Lyndon
On Aug. 19, Lyndon USD 421 is the last district in the county to
begin classes.
Superintendent Brian Spencer said a major change at the school over
the summer will be noticeable to all who visit the gymnasium –
there is now air conditioning.
The change came about due to a windstorm that blew the roof off
the gym March 31. Since then, a new roof, with skylights, and air
conditioning have been installed.
“I think [students and spectators] will really enjoy it,”
Spencer said.
Students will also enjoy “lots of new textbooks” which
the schools have acquired as part of ongoing curriculum alignment
in the district.
“We’re doing science curriculum alignment this year,”
he said.
Some changes in scheduling are expected this year, Spencer said,
in part due to increased enrollment in the lower grades.
“We added a second grade position, because enrollment is up
in second grade,” he said.
Lunchroom schedules will be slightly different, also.
“Because we started feeding kindergartners, we had to make
some scheduling adjustments there,” Spencer said.
He said the school board will be considering implementing another
change in the lunchroom during this Wednesday’s board meeting
– adding an ala carte program for junior high and high school
students.
Spencer said school staff has also been busy during the summer,
adding “lots of paint.”
“Our custodial staff does a great job,” he said.
At Lyndon and across the county, students will begin the new school
year greeted by spruced up buildings and enthusiastic teachers and
administrators.
“We’ll all have smiles on our faces and be happy to
be there,” Spencer said. |
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