Focus and Priority Schools – for Focus and Priority Schools
From Alicia Miguel
There will a meeting with KLN on Tuesday, September 15 to announce the Focus and Priority funds and guidelines.
Please, remain flexible. We will inform you of the time as we hear more information.
United Way Coordinators Needed – for Principals
From Grace Elmore
The annual United Way Campaign is coming up soon and each building needs a coordinator.
Principals, please submit the name and contact information for your building’s coordinator to Grace Elmore, grace.elmore@kckps.org, on or before September 23, 2015.
The United Way Campaign will run from October 1-31. The annual kickoff event will be September 28 at the Central Office at 4:30 p.m. in the 3rd floor East Wing.
Attendance – for All Administrators
Kansas PTA – ??Your school can become a School of Excellence – for??School building administrators
From Dr. Kelli Mather
Thank you for your attendance at the Kids Count Workshop held Tuesday morning right after the holiday weekend. The workshop provided a great deal of information and detail, much of what you may not do at the school site but need to understand the significance of the requested data and its impact on funding and the count date. We recognize that your schedules are very busy, but appreciate your time for this very important topic.
Due to the new block grant this year it is imperative that each school get all of their students enrolled in SILK and ensure that all students are attending school before Sept 21, and on Sept 21st (count day). Bridgette will be sending out a list of students that you need to check to see if they are attending school as they do not appear to have any type of schedule, these are elementary students as well. This typically means that they are not attending, but if they are we want to be able to count them.
If we do not have increased enrollment over 500 students the district will not receive any additional funding through the extraordinary growth fund, even if we grow by 100, 200, 300 students, etc.
It is also extremely important that you get your attendance turned into Bridgette DeSmet on time per her request. The Supt Council reviews this data weekly and makes staffing decisions and follows trends in the data.
I appreciate all the help you can provide in getting this done and ensuring attendance remains high.
From Patty Jurich
Deadline to Enroll is October 1, 2015!!
Enroll today, spread the word in your community, and help put your school on the map. Visit PTA.org/Excellence to get started!
The National PTA School of Excellence is a recognition program that supports and celebrates partnerships between schools and families to enrich the educational experience and overall well-being for all students. Becoming a National PTA School of Excellence starts with a joint commitment of PTA and school leaders who want to work together to welcome all families, communicate effectively, support student success, speak up for every child, share power and collaborate with the community. Your school will be judged only on the improvements it makes, not against other schools. This free program is only available to PTA schools. Let???s make every PTA school a School of Excellence!
National PTA and Kansas PTA will help you through each step:
When: Tues., Sept. 22
Time: 7 p.m. EDT
Are you interested in becoming a School of Excellence? Join us for an info webinar next month to help get started on the path to excellence. We’ll dive deeper into the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships and share all of the tools available to support your efforts from enrollment to excellence.
Encourage your local units to take the webinar and promote this throughout your PTA network. Learn more at PTA.org/Excellence.
Please contact Patty Jurich, Kansas PTA Family Engagement Chairman, pasj36@aol.com, if you have any questions about the School of Excellence program.
Presidential Scholars Program – for High School Principals/Assistant Principals/Counselors Presidential Scholars Program
From Tamia Miller
The Presidential Scholars Program recognizes and honors high school seniors who have demonstrated high achievement academically or in the arts; some having to overcome special challenges or hurdles to do so.?? Starting in 2016, outstanding students who demonstrate excellence in career and technical education will also be included for Presidential Scholar recognition.
This year the Commission on Presidential Scholars is expanding the program by inviting each Chief State School Officer to nominate up to 20 students, ten male and five female for the Presidential Scholars program.?? Five students may be nominated for the Presidential Scholars in Career and Technical Education category. These are two separate nomination forms.
To nominate a student for the Presidential Scholars program or the Presidential Scholars in Career and Technical Education program they must complete the nomination form and submit it to the address indicated.?? Nomination forms may be accessed at the following link:
Schools may only nominate two students from their school, two for each program.?? Nominations must be postmarked by September 16, 2015.
We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to recognize outstanding students in your school.?? For more information about the program, please contact Tamla Miller at 785-296-4950 or at tmiller@ksde.org.
Constitution Day and Celebrate Freedom Week – for Building Administrators
Kansas College and Career Academic Readiness Assessment??- for All Administrators
Literacy Plans – for EC5 Principals
From Don Gifford
The success of an individual may be linked to academic and technical education but the success of our nation and the survival of our culture is linked to our social studies education.
???Citizens are not born capable of ruling. They must be educated to rule wisely and fairly. They must be drawn out of the egotism of childhood and the privacy of their homes into the public world of democratic reasoning, deliberation and consensus. This requires not only civility, but knowledge and skill.???
Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States
Just a reminder that Wednesday September 17th is Constitution Day. This day has been designated by the Congress of the United States as the day when ???each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution.??? (Federal Register /Vol. 70, No. 99 /Tuesday, May 24, 2005 /Notices) Click here for Federal Register.
Remember that we also have a state requirement that all K -8 graders celebrate freedom for a full week in their classrooms. (KSA Article 11:72-1130 and KAR 91-31-32) which includes a study of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and other founding documents. Click here for link to statute.
Following is a link to helpful resources for all grade levels: HGSS Resources Page. Scroll down to Celebrate Freedom Resources PDF.
From Dr. Randy Watson, State Commissioner of Education
On Tuesday, September 8, the Kansas State Board of Education will vote whether to approve the recommended cut scores set for the new state assessment students took earlier this spring. Once the board approves the recommended cut scores, KSDE will present the statewide aggregate assessment results. In advance of this presentation, we have prepared the following talking points about the new assessment and the new performance levels to assist with the development of your district-level messaging. We will provide additional resources throughout the timeline (included within the talking points below) established for the release of assessment results.
Our sincerest thanks to you and your staff for all you do to make Kansas schools great. Please let us know if you have any questions regarding the information included in the link below.
http://www.ksde.org/Portals/0/Communications/Admin/OC_KSDE_09032015_EducatorTalkingPoints.pdf
From EC5 Executive Directors
Literacy Plans are due September 18. Content Wednesday or Wednesday, September 16 might be a great opportunity to revise the plan with your staff, and decide what changes need to be made to incorporate the learning of the last few weeks, deepen the understanding of Writer???s Workshop, and ensure strong implementation of all of the components of the Big 3 +. We want to ensure that as we embark in the writing initiative, we continue to look for effective Interactive Read Alouds, Small Group Instruction and Monitored Independent Reading.
