|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Category Archives: Schools
News Release From USD234
NEWS RELEASE
Monday, February 14, 2022
Members of the USD 234 Board of Education met in the Fort Scott Middle School Commons on Monday, February 14, 2022, for their regular monthly meeting.
President James Wood opened the meeting. The board approved the official agenda. The board also approved the consent agenda as follows:
A. Minutes
B. Bills and Claims
C. Payroll – January 20, 2022 – $1,629,877.81
D. Financial Report
E. Activity fund accounts
F. Fundraiser application
G. Extended trip application
H. Sale of old middle school uniforms, bottoms, and warm-ups
The board recognized teachers who received U-Benefit Grants from OFG Financial, Security Benefit, and KNEA. Brenda Hill, Fort Scott KNEA President, presented the grant awards to Sydney Cullison, Jennifer Hartman, Jamie Rogers, Becky Tinker, and Trisha Whitehead.
Kellye Barrows, Vice-President, presented a report on the Summit on Professional Learning Community at Work in Phoenix, AZ. Written reports were shared by principals. In addition, the board heard reports from Dalaina Smith, Academics Director; Ted Hessong, Superintendent; and Gina Shelton, Business Manager/Board Clerk.
The board approved contracts for Provision of Educational Services – Low Incidence and Audiology and a Memorandum of Understanding with Communities in Schools.
The board approved Gary Billionis, board member, to sit in on legal mediation claims.
Superintendent Hessong gave an ESSER III update.
Board members shared comments and then went into executive session to discuss matters relating to employer-employee negotiations. The board returned to open meeting and then went into executive session to discuss personnel matters for nonelected personnel and returned to open meeting. The board approved the following employment items:
A. Resignation of Shelly Sanborn, middle school special education teacher, effective at the end of the 2021-22 school year
B. Resignation of Eileen Strakel, Eugene Ware cook, effective February 11, 2022
C. Leave of absence request from Elizabeth Rose, preschool paraprofessional
D. Employment of Cole Claypool as a middle school paraprofessional for the remainder of the 2021-22 school year
E. Employment of Dylan Goucher as a Eugene Ware/Fort Scott Preschool Center custodian for the remainder of the 2021-22 school year
F. Employment of Angie Kemmerer for middle school PDC chairperson
G. Employment of Angie Bin as the high school fine arts team leader for the 2021-22 school year
H. Employment of administrators for the 2022-23 school year
I. Employment of district directors for the 2022-23 school year
J. Employment of Gina Shelton, Business Manager/Board Clerk, for the 2022-23 school year with a change in title from Business Manager to School Finance Director/Board Clerk
K. Stipend for Bryce Daly, Technology Coordinator/Technician, to video board meetings
L. Employment of Katren Rienbolt and Josh Hudiburg as high school assistant track coaches for the 2021-22 school year
M. Retirement of Debbie West, high school secretary, effective June 30, 2022
N. Termination of Brooke Senkevech, Eugene Ware paraprofessional and middle school intramural coach, effective February 14, 2022
O. Employment of Connie Harper as a Eugene Ware paraprofessional for the remainder of the 2021-22 school year
The board adjourned.
Fort Scott High School Thespians Perform Comedy Murder Mystery
The FSHS Thespians perform “An Audition for a Murder,” a comedy murder mystery by Lee Mueller, at 7 p.m. on Feb. 18 and 19 in the FSHS Auditorium.
The production features a community theatre troupe holding auditions for a Murder Mystery called “Death of A Disco Dancer.” All of the typical actors show up to audition, but as they get underway, there’s a bit of a problem with the “script,” it isn’t finished. The playwright arrives in the nick of time with a few more finished pages just as one of the actors mysteriously dies. As luck would have it, an inspector arrives to give advice on the play. Perhaps the investigation into this “mysterious death” will inspire the playwright and help him finish the play. After all, there is a read-through on Monday!
Audience members even get to play a role as they interrogate the suspects and vote on who they think the murderer is.
The production involves a cast of 14 including seniors Christina King and Zaria Byrd; juniors Israel Carreno and Luke Majors; sophomores Casey Gomez, Regen Wells, Jaedyn Lewis, Jericho Jones, and Lizzy Moore; and freshmen Emma Guns, Mykael Lewis, Kaiden Clary, Piper Weeks, and Madison (River) Smith. The play is directed by Thespian sponsor Angie Bin.
“This show is a fun way for our students to interact with the audience and really give our community an immersive theatre experience,” Bin said. “We have had such an enjoyable time rehearsing and I am especially proud of our freshmen making their stage debut in this production.”
Reserved seating tickets are available for $5 from fortscotthighschool.ludus.com or at the door. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
USD234 Board of Ed Meeting Agenda For Feb. 14
USD 234 Board Meeting
February 14, 2022 – 5:30 p.m.
Fort Scott Middle School
- Open the meeting
- Flag Salute
- Consider official agenda
- Consider consent agenda
- Recognize U-Benefit Grant Recipients from OFT Financial, Security Benefit, and KNEA
- Public Forum
- PLC Summit Report
- Principals’ Reports
- Director of Academics Report
- Superintendent’s Report
- Business Manager’s Report
- Consider contracts for Provision of Educational Services
- Consider Memorandum of Understanding with Communities in Schools
- Appoint board member to sit on legal medication claims
- ESSER III Update
- Board member comments
- Executive session – to discuss matters relating to employer-employee negotiations
- Executive session – to discuss personnel matters for nonelected personnel
- Consider employment
- Adjourn
Community Input Sought On U234 District Needs
It’s been a rough two years for education in the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Because of the pandemic, the U.S. Government has given money to school districts to support kindergarten through grade 12 schools to open and sustain their safe operations.
USD 234 will receive over $4 million in school funding and is seeking input to identify needs for the school district from the community.
The district is offering meetings to the community to gain ideas in moving forward in the education of their students.
“The expected outcome of these meetings is to gather information from our community stakeholders that will be used to compile our ESSER III (Elementary and Secondary School Relief) plan and application,” USD234 Business Manager and Board Clerk Gina Shelton said. “Part of the ESSER III plan calls for informed decisions based upon a variety of stakeholder input.”
“We have surveyed and held several meetings with our staff to gather their input,” she said. “Our community is another key factor in the success of our schools. We seek information from our parents on needs they see to help their child(ren) be successful with their education.”
“We seek information from our community members even if they do not currently or previously have had students in our district,” Shelton said. “Education is all about providing opportunities for kids. I firmly believe our future as a community is impacted greatly by our students. They are our future workforce, our future community leaders, and our future parents. These conversations will allow us to develop a plan to hopefully address as many needs as we can.”
The first batch of ESSER funds allowed them to continue providing education during the shutdown, she said.
“The second batch was a key part of us being able to remain in person,” Shelton said.
“This last batch is all about providing services to help provide a quality education for our students,” she said. “Ten years down the road, we want to be able to say that those funds made a big impact on our students’ successes.”
Five Sessions for the Community Input
The info gathering sessions will be in the different buildings in the school district, for the community to see where the learning happens, she said. And the different time sessions are to give parents options to attend.
There are evening sessions and a Saturday morning session for parents to find one time period that fits with the family’s schedule.
“One is scheduled at the high school during parent/teacher conferences, we hope they find this convenient for them,” she said
Another of the meetings is at the school board meeting.
“We’ve had ESSER III funds as a recurring item at our board meetings for several months now, but we know sometimes it is hard for people to attend,” Shelton said. “Our hope is that even if they can’t attend in person, they are able to watch the streamed board meeting. Then if they have questions or ideas, they can reach out to us if they would like more information.”
“We really want this to be an active conversation that leads to some very positive results,” she said.
The district encourages the community to take it feedback survey:
More information can be found at this website,
https://www.usd234.org/o/USD%20234/page/esser-funds
The district has divided the input sessions into groups at five different scheduled times: the Fort Scott Preschool is the first session on Thursday, Feb. 10 starting at 5:30 p.m. at the preschool center at 409 S. Judson.
The next is at Winfield Scott Elementary School, 316 W. 10th, on Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 19 is the next one at 8 a.m. at the Fort Scott Middle School, 1105 E. 12th as is the next one on Monday, March 7 at 5:30 p.m. at the middle school as well.
The last session is on Tuesday, March 8 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Fort Scott High School Auditorium, 1005 S. Main.
USD 234 School District Seeks Community Input
On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act was signed into law. The ARP ESSER III funding from the ARP Act provides support for K-12 schools to help safely open and sustain the safe operations of schools and address the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s students. The ARP Act also allocates funds to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Although the ARP ESSER III uses of funds are similar to those for ESSER I and II, there are important distinctions between ARP ESSER III, ESSER II, and ESSER programs, including the period of funds availability, equitable services to non-public schools, maintenance of effort, and a report on efforts to measure and address learning loss.
USD 234 Fort Scott will receive $4,080,503 in ESSER III funding. We are seeking input from our community to help us identify needs for our district and community. Together we can accomplish great things for our kids and future.
Thursday, February 10th – 5:30 PM – Fort Scott Preschool Center
Wednesday, February 16th – 5:30 PM – Winfield Scott Elementary
Saturday, February 19th – 8:00 AM – Fort Scott Middle School Community Space
Monday, March 7th – 5:30 PM – Fort Scott Middle School Commons (regularly scheduled board meeting)
Tuesday, March 8th – 5:30 – 8 PM – Fort Scott High School Auditorium – same night as parent/teacher conferences
We also encourage our community to take our community feedback survey to provide insight:
More information can be found at our website,
Agenda for USD234 Board of Education Special Meeting Jan. 28
The meeting is at noon in the board office, 424 S. Main on January 28.
1. Open the meeting
2. Flag Salute
3. Consider property and casualty insurance quotes
4. Set ESSER III Community Conversation dates and times
5. Executive session – to discuss personnel matters for nonelected personnel
6. Consider employment
7. Adjourn
FSHS Homecoming Court Announced
2nd row: Amanda Emmerson, Jenny Heckman, Alaenah Michaud, Alyssa Smith, Ashley Smith Back row: Dryden Cosens, Luke Goldston, Neil Gugnani, Trent Peck, Eli Williams. Submitted photo.
The Fort Scott High School Homecoming King and Queen will be announced Friday night between the Lady Tiger Varsity and Boys Varsity games.
Saturday night is Winter Formal!
The dance will be held at the high school auxiliary gym, from 7:30 until 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
Mitch Barker will be taking pictures.
Submitted by Bert Lewis, Fort Scott High School Student Council Sponsor, Senior & Junior Class Sponsor, Key Club Sponsor, Ed Rising Sponsor, and Scholars’ Bowl Coach
USD 234 COVID Attendance Dashboard Update – 1/21/2022
Taken from the Fort Scott School District’s Facebook page
USD 234 COVID Attendance Dashboard Update – 1/21/2022
by Ted Hessong
Friday, January 21, 2022
Based on building COVID positive rates, the high school, middle school, and Eugene Ware will need to continue to wear masks on Monday, January 24. Winfield Scott and the preschool do not need to wear masks starting Monday, January 24. Also shown below is the student absenteeism % for this week.
| Building | Student Absenteeism %
1/18/2022 |
Student Absenteeism %
1/19/2022 |
Student Absenteeism %
1/20/2022 |
Student Absenteeism %
1/21/2022 |
COVID Positive %
1/21/2022 |
| FSHS | 20% | 25% | 22% | 23% | 3.63% |
| FSMS | 22% | 24% | 22% | 24% | 2.25% |
| Eugene Ware | 22% | 25% | 24% | 21% | 4.26% |
| Winfield Scott | 15% | 19% | 21% | 20% | 1.09% |
| Preschool | 17% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 0.0% |
Today, January 21, the district had a total of 4 staff out because they are COVID positive and 3 staff in quarantine.
USD235 Music Teacher Inducted into KS Music Educator Hall of Fame
Uniontown Music Teacher Rhonda Allen was informed during a school assembly last week that she is being inducted into the Kansas Music Educator Association Hall of Fame.
“Andrea Dinkel nominated me for the award last fall,” Rhonda Allen said. Dinkel is a former colleague of Allen’s in the USD235 School District.
“Though I was nominated, I didn’t expect to be inducted and feel very humbled by the whole thing,” Allen said. “I did not know what the assembly was about going in.”
Allen is in her 40th year teaching music, with 31 of those at Uniontown. She taught in Arma for nine years.
Currently, she teaches Pre-K through 6th-grade general music at West Bourbon Elementary School, Uniontown Junior High Choir, and accompanies on the piano for the high school.
“I am deeply honored by this award and am grateful for the wonderful colleagues and students I’ve worked with over the years,” Allen said. “I’ve learned so much from them and have enjoyed sharing the language of music with them.”
“The Uniontown administration and staff support music opportunities for our students and work to keep those options available for our students,” she said.
“I owe a lot to the Kansas Music Educator’s Association,” she added. “Our annual in-service conferences and other workshops have been a source of knowledge and inspiration.”
The official induction ceremony will take place at KMEA In-Service Workshop on Saturday, February 26.
Induction to the KMEA Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed by the Kansas Music Educators Association. KMEA established the Hall of Fame to honor those career members of the Kansas music education community who have made a significant contribution to the growth of music in the state. Any music educator exceptionally affecting music education may be considered. Formal induction and recognition takes place at the In-Service Workshop each February.
In addition to having their name, photo, and teaching bio placed on permanent display, inductees receive a plaque inscribed as follows:
“The Kansas Music Educators Association is proud to recognize the outstanding achievements of the above-mentioned educator for exceptional contributions to the children and youth of Kansas. This annual award honors musicianship of the highest order and recognizes exemplary musical and teaching accomplishments.”
St. Mary’s School Dinner and Auction March 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USD 234 Will Close Schools January 13-14 Due to COVID-19 Virus
The 1,860 Fort Scott school students will get five days off from school starting tomorrow, thanks to the pandemic.
USD 234 Superintendent Ted Hessong said because of the high student absenteeism and a high level of transmission of the virus, Fort Scott schools will be closed tomorrow Thursday, Jan. 13 and Friday, Jan. 14.
“These two days will count as snow days for tracking of hours on the academic calendar,” he said. “Remote Learning will not be utilized on these two days.”
The two days of school cancellation are followed by the weekend, then a pre-scheduled staff professional development day on January 17.
“This closure is needed to assist in slowing down the spread of the virus and to give students and staff who are not feeling well time to recover. We hope these five days away will help people,” he said.
“School activities will be canceled for January 13, 14 and 15,” he said.
“We will continue with the scheduled professional development day on Monday, January 17, and activities will resume on Monday,” Hessong said.
Masks will be required in all buildings on Tuesday when students return on the18th, he said.
“We will monitor numbers regarding the mask requirement next week,” Hessong said.
The Test to Stay and Learn virus testing program provided by the district and Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas will be available for students on Tuesday, he said.
Hessong provided the following graphic:
| Student Absentee % | Tuesday, January 11 | Wednesday, January 12 |
| Fort Scott High School |
143(absent)/573 = 25% | 154(absent)/573 = 26.9% |
| Fort Scott Middle School |
161(absent)/455 = 35.4% | 150(absent)/455 = 33% |
| Eugene Ware Elementary | 103(absent)/357 = 28.9% | 106(absent/357 = 29.6% |
| Winfield Scott Elementary |
82(absent)/385 = 21.3% | 80(absent)/387 = 20.7% |
| Fort Scott Pre-School | 10(absent)/90 = 11.1% | 13(absent)/85 = 15.3% |