Well, today was supposed to be the last day for our legislative session, but instead of wrapping things up, it appears they are just getting started. The House of Representatives sent House Bill 2117 to the Governor this week that drastically cuts Kansas income taxes and makes other significant changes to the Kansas tax code. Governor Brownback has made it his mission to reduce income taxes in our state, but the Kansas Legislative Research Department projects that this tax reduction will turn our current $600 million surplus into a $2.5 billion deficit within four years!
The Governor believes cutting individual and corporate income taxes in our state is going to spur our economy and create new jobs. My question is: Will this massive tax cut actually create new jobs to cover the projected deficit? The Basehor-Linwood School District has had its budget reduced by over $1.8 million the last four years, and it was our hope that our legislators might try to restore some of those recent cuts with the current $600 million surplus. Instead, they are about to create a massive budget shortfall that will force us to make further budget reductions or raise property taxes.
Quality schools should be a number one priority for the State of Kansas, but unfortunately many of our elected officials seem bent on undermining that mission. If you want to protect our schools and community from being thrown into a permanent fiscal crisis, I would urge you to write a letter to our Governor and legislators. Our students and Kansas students deserve better.
I would welcome any questions or comments if you would like to know more about this issue. Please contact me at dhoward AT usd458 DOT org.
Friday, May 4, 2012: Teacher Appreciation Week
This school year has been one with many notable achievements for our district. With BLHS receiving the National Blue Ribbon Schools Nomination, the Governor's Achievement Award and our boys basketball, girls and boys powerlifting teams clenching State Championship titles, I'm not sure I want the school year to end! Spring sports are just ramping up, and I trust we will have post-season play in several sports again this season.
But, at the same time, the school year is winding down, and it is a time for our students to perform after a year of learning, as well! End of the year band and choir performances and awards assemblies highlight deserving students, and most importantly to our seniors, scholarships are announced and college choices are cemented within days of the grandest celebration of their year: Commencement on May 17.
BLHS will be graduating 166 seniors this year, and this is a very impressive 166. Not only judging by their academic (37 seniors received Academic Letters with a GPA of 3.67 or higher for at least 3 consecutive semesters) and athletic achievements (we've had 8 already sign letters of intent to play sports in college), but also because of their compassion (91 seniors are Care Cat volunteers) and civic roles (6 seniors are Eagle Scouts). This Class of 2012 has set the standard high, but I'm convinced that this culture of learning our teachers and administrators have created will resonate with those graduating in future years.
Additionally, next week is Teacher Appreciation Week, which means this is the perfect time of the year to take a moment to show your gratitude. Our teachers at Basehor-Linwood do an outstanding job of preparing our students for the future and I would personally like to thank them for the outstanding job that they do.
Friday, April 27, 2012: Upcoming Events Because we are so quickly nearing the end of the school year, I would like to highlight some of the events we have coming up in the next few weeks.
Thursday, May 3, Mr. Kazmaier, Mr. Westbrook and the Band Booster Club will host the 5th Annual BLHS Jazz Night that begins with a silent auction at 5:30 p.m. at the Legends 14 Theater, and ends with 'The Raven' movie that starts at 7:45. Both the Jazz Ensemble and Big Band will perform, as well. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling the BLHS Office. This event helps raise funds for the bands for their expenses incurred throughout each school year and really makes for an enjoyable evening for all.
On Monday, May 7, Linwood Elementary School will be celebrating 50 Years of Learning in Linwood with an Open House at the school from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served and the Student Council will give tours of the school. Alumni, past teachers and all members of the community are invited to attend.
As with the end of each school year, we'll have numerous band and choir performances, athletic events, and, of course, Commencement is set for May 17 at 7:30 p.m. Although they may not always show their appreciation, we know that attending these events in support of your students really does have an impact on them.
One last note to mention that NBC Action News 41 will be highlighting Mr. Russell's trek to the 2012 Olympics in London on their Sports Sunday program this weekend at 10 p.m. I encourage you to watch and learn more about our BLMS teacher/Olympian!
Friday, April 20, 2012: Music Awards We would like to congratulate all of the Basehor-Linwood High School students who competed in the recent music festivals. We had numerous solo qualifiers in voice, instrument and orchestra. We also had several ensembles that qualified for State such as: Thursday Night Live, Girls Green Ensemble, Girls Gold Ensemble, Mixed Girls Ensemble, Clarinet Choir, Senior String Quartet, Girls String Quartet, Bobcat Strings Quartet and Bobcat Piano Trio! Our large groups also performed well at State on Wednesday with the Combined Women's Choir earning all 1s, Mixed Chorus earning all 1s and the Men's Chorus receiving a 1, 2, 2 rating. We are very fortunate to have such talented students in our district, and I would be remiss not to mention their talented teachers: Mr. Wilburn - Orchestra, Mrs. Bogard - Vocal and Mr. Westbrook and Mr. Kazmaier - Instrumental.
We would also like to remind everyone that Saturday is Earth Day Clean-Up around the city of Basehor. Pride's Mr. Chuck Wilderson will furnish orange safety vests, trash bags and go over safety guidelines at the VFW Hall at 8 a.m. tomorrow, if you would like to volunteer.
Friday, April 13, 2012: Communications Arts Textbook Adoption Monday evening at the April Board of Education meeting, the appointment of Tiffany Lynch as Basehor Elementary School principal for next year was approved. Mrs. Lynch has been with the Basehor-Linwood School District for 23 years, teaching 3rd grade for Basehor Intermediate and our Virtual School. We are very excited for her to step into this position!
In addition, USD 458 officially adopted a Communication Arts textbook package. Based on a pre-determined schedule, each year, one or two subjects are refreshed, with core subjects alternating every other year. The last core curriculum update took place three years ago when the district adopted new math textbooks, the last language arts adoption took place eight years ago. Next year, we will look at new materials for PE/Health, FACS and/or Foreign Language.
To overhaul our Communications Arts curriculum this year, different elements (Common Core, cost, etc.) were considered by a team of language arts teachers from each building and four administrators throughout the last year. Within the adoption, we were able to update literature and writing books, as well as obtain electronic versions for our students to access online. The $300,000 purchase includes books/online versions for all grades K-12. It's nice to see where the annual textbook/technology resource fees are going, isn't it?
I've already received notice that the severe weather threat for this weekend is very high starting tonight and lasting through Sunday morning. Remember to stay alert to local media to keep aware of this system as it approaches.
Friday, April 6, 2012: Honor Rolls
Congratulations to Bobcat boys basketball coach, Mike McBride, on being selected as one of the top boys coaches in the Greater Kansas City area. Coach McBride was named the winner of the Eddie Ryan award at the Greater Kansas City Basketball Coaches Association ceremony at Shawnee Mission South High School last night. If you see him around, be sure to give him a pat on the back – this is quite an honor!
Third quarter honor rolls are now being released. Check out the Basehor Sentinel and individual building websites to see the lists.
I also want to remind everyone to have a great long weekend. Students have both today and Monday off, take some time and enjoy the nice weather with your families and have a Happy Easter!
Friday, March 30, 2012: KVL Math Relays
I know I’ve already congratulated the boys basketball team on my blog for their State Championship, however, the title has allowed several opportunities for the team and our district, and I’d just like to take some time to let everyone know about them.
BLHS will be hosting a community-wide assembly to congratulate the team and coaches on April 18 at 7 p.m. The Booster Club is selling State Championship shirts that you can pick up that night, so if you are interested in purchasing, please contact the high school office at 913.724.2266 before April 4.
Also, I just learned yesterday that the boys also have earned the opportunity to be recognized by the Kansas Senate in Topeka on April 25. That should be a neat experience for them!
This past Wednesday, 14 BLHS students competed in the KVL Math Relays! They placed in all categories:
Algebra I - 2nd place - Devon Hermann, Alex Elliott and Clay Beebe Algebra II - 3rd place - Kennedy Bowers and Daniel Tady Geometry - 3rd place - Jacob Cook, Jacob Zamora and Luke McGowan Advanced Math/Trig - 3rd place - Caleb Hiss, Joe Levinson and Janrae Bondoc Calculus - 3rd place - Ben Kamm, Bridget Davis and Rachel VanFleet
Congratulations, mathletes! What a way to represent BLHS!
Friday, March 16, 2012: Spring Break
I would like to congratulate the men's and women’s powerlifting team, as well as the boys basketball team, for their State Championship titles! These athletes put in a lot of hard work and it has paid off.
Speaking of hard work, Mr. Oberndorfer’s Interactive Media B class has created a series of public service announcements to highlight the character qualities our students strive to demonstrate. Their campaign is called The Bobcat Way, and I urge you to check out the videos on their YouTube Channel. Keep in mind that our students were responsible for the writing, recording, acting and editing of each of these videos, and I think you’ll find that they make their point in just a short amount of time. Very impressive!
In an effort to improve efficiency and accelerate the movement of lunch lines in our schools, we will be doing a test of finger ID readers next year in three of our elementary buildings. This eliminates the need for the ID badges and memorized PIN numbers we currently use in our school lunch lines.
Student’s fingerprints are “enrolled” at the beginning of the school year, and the system takes a series of measurements to create a unique ID for each student. It then associates that unique ID to each student’s account in Skyward. The system does NOT store the fingerprint image. Once the system is implemented and the students are enrolled, they can be uniquely identified in about 2 seconds. If this test goes well, we’ll expand to all buildings to increase our efficiency during the lunch hour across the district.
Lastly, I’d like to wish everyone a warm and safe spring break, I hope you enjoy your time off with your children.
Friday, March 2, 2012: Reading the Most from Coast to Coast
Today, several activities took place around the district to celebrate the 108th birthday of Dr. Seuss!
This morning, students at GRE hosted parents and grandparents at their annual "Books and Breakfast" event. After reading their books and enjoying muffins and milk for breakfast, students and their guests headed to the media center to take Accelerated Reader quizzes. GRE reading specialist Kathy Baughman’s motivation for this event came from the “Read the Most from Coast to Coast” event held across the United States today, where students were tasked with taking as many AR quizzes as possible in one day, hoping to beat the standing record. That record was a little over two million quizzes, and as of 4 p.m. today, over 3.5 million Accelerated Reader quizzes have been taken. What a neat event for these students to participate in!
At BES, teachers switched classrooms around the building to share their favorite Dr. Seuss book, and Barb Forbes’ 3rd grade at Linwood Elementary had Dr. Seuss activities all day long! These students were busy reading Dr. Seuss’ books, doing ‘Seussville’ math and spelling activities, and even creating a Thing 1 and Thing 2 art project.
I’ve said this before, and want to say it again: we are very fortunate to have a Reading Specialist in every elementary building. These teachers work closely with our struggling readers, as it is very important that our students are reading at grade level by the end of 3rd grade. Our teachers and support staff work hard to make this happen, and I’m grateful for that!
Friday, February 24, 2012: Job Openings
We have some great news for all of you parents with iPhones! Skyward, our student management system, now has mobile access for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The app is free and available through Apple's iTunes app store. Parents or students can simply download the free app (called Skyward Mobile Access) from the app store, find the Basehor-Linwood School District through a simple search using GPS location or by zip code, and log in with their normal login and password credentials. I just downloaded the app this afternoon and it appears to be very user friendly, and has all necessities like grades, attendance and discipline! Unfortunately, those of you that have Android devices will have to wait a little longer, but I'm told it will be coming soon…in the meantime, you can still use Skyward via your mobile browser.
We have posted job openings for the 2012-13 school year on our website at http://www.usd458.org. If you know of any potential teachers or principals that are looking for employment, please refer them to our site. We have two teachers retiring at the end of this year, and we have a few others that will be moving from the area. In addition, we will be hiring a principal for Basehor Elementary School for next school year. Currently, Mrs. Boyd is principal at both BES and BIS, but with continued growth in enrollment (485 students between both buildings) and programs, we have decided to split those principal duties. Mrs. Boyd will continue to be the principal at Basehor Intermediate School, and we will be hiring a new principal for BES in the near future.
Lastly, I would like to wish the best of luck to our state qualifying wrestlers, who are wrestling in Salina today, and to our basketball teams as they take on Bonner Springs this evening here at BLHS. Best of luck to our Bobcats!
Friday, February 17, 2012: Around the District
I made my way around the district again this morning, and wanted to bring to light several great things happening now and throughout the next week.
The BLHS Fine Arts Department premiered their “Larceny and Old Lace” production last night and will perform tonight and Saturday night at 7 p.m. at BLHS. Also, four of our BLHS wrestlers qualified for regionals, so they’re traveling to Spring Hill today and tomorrow to compete. Best of luck to Antonio Ferro, Sammy Seaton, Cory McCleary and Zach Carter!
I also wanted to recognize Mrs. Reynolds and Mrs. Jones as New Century Club Arts Grant winners! Mrs. Reynolds plans to purchase resources for general music instruction at Linwood Elementary and Glenwood Ridge Elementary, and Mrs. Jones will use her grant for classroom percussion instruments at both Basehor Elementary and Basehor Intermediate.
Students at Linwood Elementary School are gearing up for their Family Reading Night, which will take place next Tuesday night. The picture below shows Mrs. Reeves’ 5th grade art class working hard on the mural to decorate a wall for the “Book Fair Luau.” 1st, 4th and 5th graders contributed to this mural, while 2nd and 3rd graders will be creating a "hula bulldog" for the Book Fair hallway.
BLMS is preparing to host the 8th grade boys KVL basketball tournament next week! Games kick off next Wednesday evening, so be sure to come out and watch!
Lastly, as most of you know, our Board of Education vacancy was filled Monday night and we are pleased to have Shelley Stevens take that position. Shelley is active in our district already with a son who is a senior at BLHS and in working as Co-President of the BLHS Booster Club. Shelley will be a great addition to the Board of Education and she is definitely a cheerleader for our district! :) Please check out the picture below!
Friday, February 10, 2012: Become a Member of our Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation
If you would like to get involved in our school community, the Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation is looking to add members! Whether you’re serious about joining or if you'd just like to learn more about the foundation, don't miss the annual meeting next Wednesday, February 15 at 5:30 p.m.
The Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation is an organization of local citizens whose mission is to enhance excellence in education by distributing resources that advance educational opportunities and provide grants for teachers and scholarships for students of the Basehor-Linwood schools. BLEF handed out approximately $5,000 in grants to various teachers throughout the district this past November, and plans to give out $15,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors of 2012. A majority of the funds are raised through our annual golf tournament in the fall and through a discount card campaign each spring.
The time commitment is minimal and there will be refreshments at next Wednesday's meeting! You can find out more information about the Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation on our website or by calling Ashley Razak at 913.724.1396 x130.
Monday, February 6, 2012: A-K-I-M-B-O
This morning, BLMS students participated in the Kaw Valley League Spelling Bee, and we came out with a few winners! I want to say congratulations to Alex Teeple who took 1st place in the 7th grade competition after correcting another student’s spelling of the word n-i-a-g-a-r-a and then spelling a-k-i-m-b-o for the championship. Lauren Cline took 2nd place in the 8th grade competition, as well.
Last Friday, several spellers from Basehor-Linwood’s 5th – 8th grades also competed in the Leavenworth County Spelling Bee, and BLMS came away with a 3rd place winner. Ryan Stalcup will be representing Basehor-Linwood at the Sunflower Spelling Bee in Great Bend on March 17.
Way to go, spellers!
Friday, January 27, 2012: BLHS Career Fair
As many of you know, the first BLHS Career Day took place yesterday and I was lucky enough to be asked to present. Getting to meet so many students face-to-face and hear them ask questions about my career in education made me realize that we are tasked with a huge responsibility as educators in years to come.
Last week, at the Governor's Summit on Career Readiness, Gov. Brownback shared that in 2018, 64% of the workforce will require post secondary education, and that only 23% of Kansas graduates from the class of 2011 are career ready. It is our job to ensure that our graduates will be career ready, and I believe starting this BLHS Career Day tradition is a great way to help our students initiate that thinking.
I would like to thank the Career Fair Committee that worked so hard to organize this event, the presenters for making the fair possible and the administration and staff at BLHS for preparing our students for the occasion.
Lastly, I wanted to extend an invite for you to attend the Linwood Elementary School Chili Supper that begins tonight at 5:30! Admission is $5 per adult and $2 per child/student.
Friday, January 20, 2012: Around the District
Thursday evening I was able to stop by Basehor Elementary School for their annual Chilingo Night! In case you are not familiar with 'Chilingo,' it is an event where teachers and students combine the art of chili making and bingo! All of our teachers at BES and BIS make their very own chili, and then bring it to feed the masses of students and parents that are able to attend. It's always a fun-filled evening for everyone involved.
As you’ve probably noticed by the number of cars in the parking lot last weekend and all this week, it's been a very busy two weeks at the high school! Last Friday and Saturday, BLHS hosted the annual Bobcat Classic Wrestling Tournament. We have hosted this tournament for a number of years and have terrific competition from 35 schools across Kansas and several surrounding states.
This week, we are hosting the Bobcat Invitational Basketball Tournament and we've seen some great basketball so far. Our BLHS girls lost their opener to a very talented St. Joe Benton, but will be playing for 5th place tonight at 6 p.m. Saturday evening promises to be an interesting night of basketball, as well. The Holton girls (ranked #1 in 4A) will take on Ottawa (ranked #3 in 4A) tomorrow evening at 6 p.m., and at 7:30 p.m., the Ottawa boys (ranked #1 in 4A) will compete with our very own Basehor-Linwood Bobcats (currently ranked #2 in 4A) for the tournament championship. This should be some very exciting basketball and we hope everyone is able to come out and enjoy!
Friday, January 13, 2012: Food Service Management
At the January Board of Education meeting, there was discussion about a potential change with our school lunch program. We value the job that our food service employees do, but we are always looking for ways to be more efficient as a school district. One of our current options is to outsource our food service program to a food service management company.
Currently, Basehor-Linwood manages all of our food service operations, but there are companies that are willing to come in and contract food service for schools. One company we have visited with offers more 'from scratch' cooking and presents at least two hot meal choices per day. This will potentially increase our hot lunch participation, if there is more than one item offered each day.
One possible advantage for parents is that students who eat a hot lunch may tend to spend less money on a la carte items, which can become very expensive for families. A la carte items would still be offered at the middle school and high school, but we would hope that students would choose the healthier hot meal as opposed to eating off the a la cart menu. We would also be increasing the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables offered. We are excited about the possibilities and will be exploring further for the upcoming school year.
Please feel free to email me with any thoughts or concerns you may have regarding our school lunch program.
Friday, January 6, 2012: Cool School
I'm hoping everyone had an enjoyable holiday season! Unfortunately, it wasn't a "White Christmas," but on the bright side, the weather for January has been terrific!
Basehor-Linwood High School was chosen as the first Cool School of the Week in 2012 by KCTV Channel 5, and the celebration began early this morning. KCTV 5 was here at 6 a.m. for a live broadcast that featured interviews with BLHS students and highlighted many clubs and groups at BLHS. The BLHS band and choir performed and the Bobcat Dazzlers and cheerleaders kept the crowd excited all morning. For a behind-the-scenes look, check out our website.
Basehor-Linwood High School was also recently nominated for a 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools Award! This is such an outstanding honor for our students, staff and administrators. The Blue Ribbon nomination recognizes schools that close the achievement gap among disadvantaged students, as well as those schools that score extremely well on state assessments, regardless of their student population. BLHS was selected as a result of finishing among the top 15% of Kansas schools in performance on state assessments in math and reading. The state is only allowed to select five schools for the honor, so being nominated is an accomplishment in itself. We are very excited for Basehor-Linwood High School and look forward to receiving this national honor!
Also - be sure to stop in at BLHS tomorrow for our 5th Annual Powerlifting meet beginning at 9 a.m. 110 students from BLHS will be competing against lifters from 35 schools in Kansas and Missouri.
Monday, December 19, 2011: Winter Break
It's hard to believe that it is already time for winter break! I feel like we just started the school year, but in reality, it is already half over.
We have had such a smooth start to the year, and have achieved noteworthy accomplishments already this semester. I've touched on several of these with my blog: improved ACT scores, achieved AYP as a District, 33 Standards of Excellence, Kansas Teacher of the Year Nominee, several awards for our Marching Band, the district title in football, pre-season basketball rankings and many, many more. One thing I would like to add is that I am so pleased with how our teachers, administrators and parents support our students. It is evident in our sportsmanship at athletic events, etiquette at musical concerts and in our improved test scores, as well. All of you have taken part in making this first semester successful!
I hope that you all enjoy a long and relaxing break, and would just like to add that the District Office will be closed December 23rd, December 26th and January 2nd, but someone should be in the office the remainder of the break if you should need anything.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Friday, December 9, 2011: BLEF Teacher Incentive Grants
Last week, I had the opportunity to represent the Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation and visit each of our buildings to present Teacher Incentive Grant checks. This year, BLEF awarded grants for teachers ranging from Promethean Flipcharts to Boomwhackers, and I’ll tell you, these teachers couldn’t be more deserving!
The application process takes some time and effort, and out of 22 applicants, BLEF was able to approve funds for 13 grants that support programs to encourage and enhance innovative teaching and learning in our schools. Overall, the Education Foundation gave out more than $5,300 this year for the following projects:
Seeing and hearing the excitement from the students when that large check is brought into the room makes me realize how fortunate we are to have the Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation to provide for our teachers, especially when you take into consideration the reduced State budgets of the last few years. We really do appreciate all the Foundation does for our District.
If you would like to find out how you can get involved with BLEF, please feel free to contact Ashley Razak.
Friday, December 2, 2011: Winter Activities
Well, December has arrived, and with that, numerous winter activities are already underway in our school district.
Basketball season actually began for our high school girls last night and our middle school girls will be finishing their season with a tournament next week. Our high school boys season officially begins this evening when they travel to Tonganoxie to take on the Chieftains, while middle school boys basketball starts with tryouts next week, and their season will begin shortly after Christmas break. The BLHS boys and girls basketball teams are also receiving some well deserved pre-season recognition by being ranked #4 and #5, respectively, in the KBAC polls.
Middle school wrestling will be finishing up their season this month, and our high school wrestling team participated in their first meet this past Tuesday. Our strength and conditioning program is already underway with winter training and some athletes will be traveling to several powerlifting meets beginning in January. We also have band, choir and strings concerts coming up in the very near future, and of course, many of our high school students will begin studying for finals in the coming weeks.
I would like to encourage you to come out and support our students at both the middle school and high school athletic events and band/choir concerts. One thing to keep in mind is that if you are (or someone you know is) over the age of 65, you can come by the District Office to receive a free pass for all regular season home athletic events. I look forward to seeing you there!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011: Snow Days
A former Superintendent once told me that one of the most scrutinized decisions I'll ever make is whether or not to call a snow day. It's funny, but there really is some truth in that statement! I'd like to take this opportunity to help you understand our decision process when canceling school during inclement weather.
This is not an easy decision, and we know that not everyone is going to agree with the decision made, but student safety is our utmost priority. If we don't believe students have the ability to arrive at their buildings safely due to current or future road conditions, we will always err on the side of caution. Unfortunately, we are sometimes at the mercy of the weatherman, and we always like to poke fun about their accuracy. The Basehor-Linwood School District covers about 90 square miles, which means that road conditions can vary greatly within this large area. I generally drive the roads on the north end while our transportation director drives roads on the south end of the district. I also visit with our neighboring superintendents before making a final decision.
We will rarely cancel school after we assemble for the day. We believe that our kids are safer in the buildings than out on the roads as bad weather approaches, and we know that it is a tremendous inconvenience for parents to find care for their children unexpectedly.
Once we've made the decision to cancel school due to inclement weather, you will be notified via our SchoolReach phone messaging system around 6 a.m. You may also check the school closing lists on your local television and radio stations. We will also post on our district website, and if you follow me on Twitter (@dlhoward32), I'll actually "tweet" about it before making the SchoolReach call, so you can be one of the first to know!
Hopefully this has given everyone a better understanding of our decision process when inclement weather hits. I would also remind parents that if you believe the weather is too dangerous for your children, all you need to do is notify the school building and their absence will be excused.
Lastly, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a safe and fun-filled break!
Friday, November 11, 2011: Veterans Day
I'd like to take the opportunity today to honor all of our American veterans for their dedicated and loyal service to our country. Veterans Day was created to commemorate the end of the "Great War" (World War I), which officially ended on November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). In 1954, President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming November 11th as Veterans Day. He also issued a Presidential Order directing the head of the Veterans Administration to form a Veterans Day National Committee to organize and oversee the national observance of Veterans Day. The day we honor our veterans has changed over the years until 1978 when Congress officially returned the holiday to November 11th.
Several of our school buildings took the time yesterday to honor our veterans. At BIS, 5th grade students organized a tribute for local veterans that included the Fairmount Township Fire Department’s American flag flying on their extended ladder, the Patriot Guard riding in on their motorcycles with an escort from local police, and a presentation of a Veterans Day video and cards to honor those in attendance.
Again, a thank you goes out to all veterans who have served our country and sacrificed for all of the freedoms we so thoroughly enjoy today.
Friday, November 4, 2011: Restrooms/Concessions and Softball Field
The Board of Education made the decision at the October meeting to employ AMAI Architects to design and oversee the building of a secondary softball field and restrooms/concession stand area. The secondary field will be located directly north of the soccer field and the restrooms/concessions will be in between the two softball fields.
Currently, Basehor-Linwood is one of the few schools that does not have two softball fields so that the junior varsity and varsity teams can play at the same location. The secondary field will serve as the junior varsity field to alleviate this situation, and will be very similar to the existing field with fencing, dugouts and a backstop. None of the fields will have lights, however, due to budget constraints.
The second part of this project is to build restroom facilities and a small concession stand in that same area. We currently have no permanent restroom located near the soccer or softball fields, requiring us to use portable restrooms for facilities. The lack of decent restroom facilities for that area has been a point of contention for many soccer and softball supporters and this should help remedy the issue. Additional sidewalk will also be poured from the soccer bleachers to the new restroom area.
We have some early estimates for the project, but won't have any firm numbers until the job goes out for bid. The projected timeline for completion is late spring of 2012. This means the softball field will not be ready for play until spring of 2013, which by then, should have a good stand of grass growing.
Also, I want to put out a reminder that the Basehor-Linwood football team will be playing for the Regional Championship on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. Plan to arrive early, as I would expect this to be one of the largest crowds to attend a sporting event at BLHS.
Go Bobcats!
Friday, October 28, 2011: District Celebrities
I'd like to take the opportunity this week to boast about a few of our Basehor-Linwood students and their various activities outside of school. Obviously, we have numerous talented students, and unfortunately, I don't have the time to write about all of them, but I do want to share a few stories with you this week!
Ben Forshee, a junior at BLHS, who is involved with Kansas City Youth Jazz, was invited to play an improvised trumpet solo at the new Kauffman Center for Performing Arts in Kansas City back in September. Also, earlier this month, 'Good Morning America' featured the Kansas City Youth Jazz group and we were able to catch a glimpse of Ben playing his trumpet on national television!
The Basehor Sentinel ran a story on Katie Fulkerson, who is a sixth-grader at BLMS. Katie recently won championships in two Grand National Events at the Grand National and World Championship Morgan Horse Show in Oklahoma City. She finished the year with 9 championship rides out of 12. Katie has been involved with horses for just a couple of years now, but obviously has an enormous amount of talent.
Stella Harrington, a third grader at Basehor Intermediate School, has been doing voice-over work for a series of books in Hallmark's Interactive Storybooks and Story Buddies Collection. Stella won the part as the voice of Abigail The Bunny. The best part of this story is that Stella was actually paid for doing this job!
There was also a student this week at BLMS who was selected Student of the Week (much to his parents' surprise!). I normally wouldn’t point out a Student of the Week, but I personally know this particular child and am proud of his accomplishment. Congratulations, Parker!
We are fortunate to have so many talented students within our district. Our athletes are no exception: Quinnlyn Walcott, a freshman at BLHS, qualified for the 4A State Cross-Country meet tomorrow in Wamego and the BLHS football team wrapped up the District Championship last night with a 35-28 win over Perry-Lecompton. The Bobcats will host a first round game here Tuesday evening beginning at 7 p.m. Please come out and show your support!
Friday, October 21, 2011: Standards of Excellence
A couple weeks ago, I touched on the fact that we received numerous Standard of Excellence awards based on a preliminary outlook. The final numbers have been released and altogether, the district received 33 Standard of Excellence awards. This is the most state Standard of Excellence awards we have ever earned in a given year!
To achieve the Standard of Excellence, a large percentage of students must score at the exemplary level on the state assessments and only a small percentage of students may score at the academic warning level. Once these two requirements are met, a formula is applied to the test score range to determine eligibility for the Standard of Excellence designation. Below, you can see the Standard of Excellence awards achieved by each school building.
BES/BIS
BLHS
BLMS
GRES
LES
3rd Grade Reading
Building-wide Reading
6th Grade Reading
3rd Grade Reading
3rd Grade Reading
4th Grade Reading
Building-wide Math
7th Grade Reading
4th Grade Reading
5th Grade Reading
5th Grade Reading
8th Grade Reading
5th Grade Reading
Building-wide Reading
Building-wide Reading
Building-wide Reading
Building-wide Reading
3rd Grade Math
3rd Grade Math
6th Grade Math
3rd Grade Math
5th Grade Math
4th Grade Math
7th Grade Math
4th Grade Math
Building-wide Math
5th Grade Math
8th Grade Math
5th Grade Math
Building-wide Math
Building-wide Math
Building-wide Math
Building-wide Science
This demonstrates, once again, all the hard work and devotion our teachers and administrators impart on our students and the support our parents provide their children. I'm so proud to be a part of this district, and I think you all should be, as well!
Friday, October 14, 2011: BLHS League Change
BLHS has made an official application to join the Frontier League beginning with the 2014-15 school year. This decision came with careful thought and deliberation.
We currently have two schools in the Kaw Valley League with enrollments of 1,140 and 318. The larger of the two schools is actively seeking another league and will potentially be a 6A school in the next couple of years. The lower enrollment school continues to decline in enrollment and will potentially be seeking another league that will better fit its size. An ideal-sized league consists of at least 8 schools, and with the potential of the Kaw Valley League losing two of the current 8 schools, we thought it would be best to be proactive in this situation.
Last year, we were informally approached by representatives of the Frontier League about the possibility of joining them. The Frontier League consists of the following high schools: Baldwin, De Soto, Eudora, Louisburg, Ottawa, Paola and Spring Hill, and we actually have many commonalities with those schools.
Although BLHS will most likely be joining the Frontier League in 2014, we think it is in the best interest of our BLMS students to continue where we are with the Kaw Valley League. Middle school game times are typically earlier in the day, and with the increase in travel time, we would see a greater loss of instruction time for our BLMS students.
We truly believe that the Frontier League will be a great fit for our students at Basehor-Linwood High School for many years to come.
Thursday, October 6, 2011: Fall Participation Numbers
Last week I wrote about Mr. Oberndorfer's class and discussed how important it is for students to be engaged in the classroom. This week I'd like to give you some insight on how many of our students are 'engaged' in after school activities, both academic and athletic.
Our fall participation numbers are outstanding and it is great to see so many students involved in activities outside of the school day.
High School Participation Numbers
Middle School Participation Numbers
Football - 87
Football - 55
Soccer - 25
Volleyball - 43
Cross Country - 41
Cross Country - 47
Girls Golf - 10
Managers for Fall Sports - 11
Volleyball - 30
Cheerleading - 16
Cheerleading - 12
Student Council - 15
Dance - 11
Band - 119
Band - 62
Choir - 139
Color Guard - 10
Strings - 66
Fall Play - 40
Jazz Club - 20-30
Chess Club - 20
Gardening Club - 10-15
Green Club - 20-30
As you can see we have numerous activities in which students can participate and we believe there are many life lessons that are taught during these different activities. I've said this many times before and I'd like to say it again: students that are actively involved in extracurricular activities tend to have better attendance and grades than those not involved in any activities. Keeping kids active takes immense support and dedication from parents, and for that, we are very appreciative.
Friday, September 30, 2011: Engaging Students
It was nice to see such a fantastic turnout for our homecoming game last week. According to Mr. Keeler, our high school athletic director, it was one of the largest crowds ever to attend a Basehor-Linwood football game. It's great to have such awesome community support!
Below is a video from Mr. Oberndorfer's Multimedia Class that I wanted to share with you today. Many of you may have already viewed this video, but when I first saw it, I couldn’t help but think about how much our students are learning by creating a project like this. Learning how to integrate their artistic abilities with technology and work with their peers are major benefits, but the overall level of engagement required of our students to produce a piece like this is what I’m most impressed with.
We know from research that students who are actively engaged in learning retain information for a longer period of time. This is a lot different than the traditional 'sit and get' methods that many of us parents were accustomed to. Having students engaged in the learning process promotes higher levels of thinking and understanding.
This type of teaching is becoming more prevalent today for numerous reasons. Teachers are no longer a student’s only source of information because today if a student needs information they can always 'Google' it! This change in our society is definitely causing teachers looking at different ways to deliver instruction and I believe if you watch this video you can see the value of having students engaged in learning.
Friday, September 23, 2011: State Assessment Results
Preliminary assessment results are in and I’m very pleased with what I see! Not only did we meet Adequate Yearly Progress in each building and the District, but our State assessment scores were outstanding! In reading, we had over 95% of our students meet or exceed the State standard, and in math, we had over 94% meet or exceed the State standard!
The breakdown by elementary and secondary looks just as good:
Reading
Elementary Schools
Middle School
High School
93%
96%
99%
Math
Elementary Schools
Middle School
High School
95%
93%
98%
With State assessment scores comes Standard of Excellence information, as well! Initial calculations show that USD 458 earned 36 Standard of Excellence awards out of 46 possible areas. I’m very appreciative of our teachers, parents and students for working so hard to continue making Basehor-Linwood School District a great place to grow, learn and succeed.
Finally, don’t forget to come out and cheer on the Bobcats at the Homecoming game this evening! Parade begins at 5:30 and the game vs. Bonner Springs starts at 7 p.m.
Friday, September 16, 2011: Homecoming Events
Homecoming festivities begin on Monday and it should be a fun-filled week! Students will show off their spirit during the school day by participating in Spirit Days. This year, students will have a neon/florescent color day, twin day, pajama day, dress up day and, of course, a green and gold day on Friday. There will be the traditional bonfire on Thursday evening beginning shortly after 8 p.m. The parade will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and the Class Floats will be on display Friday evening on the southwest corner of the football field. The Booster Club is featuring the Bobcat Meal Deal starting at 5:30 and you can get yourself a BBQ Beef Sandwich or a hot dog, chips and water for only $5. The football game against Bonner Springs will begin at 7 p.m. and we are expecting a great crowd and even better game! The homecoming king and queen will be crowned at halftime; the candidates, princes and princesses are featured in the picture below.
One thing has changed this year for Homecoming: the dance. Traditionally, the dance was held on Saturday evening and has become a very formal event. However, this year's dance will be held after the game on Friday until midnight. The theme is "Under the Big Top," and although less formal, it should be just as fun with a DJ, photos, food and games. Student Council is hoping for better participation this year with the dance following the game. (I'm hearing that many parents 'pocketbooks' may be cheering this change as well!)
I hope you will all come out and cheer on the Bobcats next Friday!
Back row: Austin Dean (9), Broc Lindsay (10), Skylar Ross (12), Jesse Hiss (12) , Riley Trowbridge (12), Trevor Hickman (12), Janrae Bondoc (11)
Front row: Alex Gorman (10), Olivia Cowan (12), Brooke Redmond (12), Hannah Tush (12) Maggie Hattock (12), Devan Belt (11) Sarah Ford (9)
Friday, September 9, 2011: Enrollment Numbers
I stopped by Glenwood Ridge Elementary School this morning to see our kindergartners celebrating Grandparent's Day with a gymnasium full of grandparents! The kindergartners were busy cutting and coloring under the watchful eye of their company. To be fair, I actually might have witnessed a few grandparents doing most of the coloring! :) It's so great to see the parental involvement we have in our district and what a great sight to see grandparents taking time to spend with their grandchildren, too.
We've just completed our 3rd week of school, and I wanted to share some of our early enrollment numbers with you. Currently, the district has a total of 1,980 students, which is an increase of 53 students over last year. Basehor Elementary has 233 students Pre-K through 2nd grade. Basehor Intermediate has 230 students in 3rd through 5th grade. Glenwood Ridge (K-5) has an enrollment of 309 students and Linwood Elementary (K-5) has 122 students. Basehor-Linwood Middle School (6-8) has 480 students and Basehor-Linwood High School's enrollment is 606. It's good to see our numbers increasing again, as this does help offset the recent budget cuts from the State of Kansas.
Tonight is our first home football game and our band will be performing a pre-game as well as marching at halftime. I hope you are able to come out and enjoy what should be a great evening!
Friday, September 2, 2011: Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation
The Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation is an organization whose mission is to enhance excellence in education by distributing resources that advance educational opportunities and provide grants for teachers and scholarships for students of Basehor-Linwood schools.
Right now, the foundation is gearing up for the annual Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation Golf Tournament, which will be held at Falcon Lakes on Friday, October 7th with lunch beginning at 11:30 a.m. and a shotgun start at 1 p.m.
Last year, BLEF gave out approximately $5,000 in grants to various teachers throughout the district, ten (10) $500 scholarships and ten (10) $1,000 scholarships to graduating seniors. A majority of the funds are raised through our annual BLEF Scholarship Golf Classic, which has been held for the last 8 years! I'm hoping you will join me in this year’s event at Falcon Lakes.
If you are interested in learning more about the Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation or in serving as a member, please feel free to join us for our next meeting Wednesday, September 7 at 5:30 p.m. at the District Office.
You can find out more information about the Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation on our website at www.usd458.org under the Alumni link, or link directly by clicking here: Basehor-Linwood Education Foundation.
I hope all of you have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!
Friday, August 26, 2011: ACT Results
Last week, we received the results of our ACT scores and I'm extremely excited to report that our students made tremendous gains last year! The ACT is a nationally recognized test that measures student readiness for post-secondary education.
Our composite score increased from 21.2 in 2010 to 22.3 this year and we tested 108 students or approximately 83% of those that graduated last year! Again, I believe this increase is due in part to our teachers and administrators sharing a common vision for our students and raising expectations within the classroom. We also need to give credit to parents for supporting increased academic rigor and encouraging their children to take rigorous classes. We have added 5 Honors Courses at the high school that we believe will continue to challenge our students academically. Below you will find an attachment that lists ACT scores from surrounding districts in both Kansas and Missouri, and don't forget to check out the article in the Basehor Sentinel!
We also received some great news last week regarding test scores. The Basehor-Linwood School District met Adequately Yearly Progress in every single building and as a District! This is a testament to how hard our teachers and administrators are working to insure academic success for all of our students.
In addition, "Meet the Bobcats" took place last night and it was great to see so many parents and community members turn out to show their support. Community National Bank was there cooking hamburgers and our Booster Club was very excited to be in their newly remodeled concession stand. The district provided materials for the remodel but all of the work was handled by volunteers and they did a fantastic job. Again, I'm constantly amazed at how much this community supports their school district and I would like to say "Thank You!"
The beginning of school always seems to bring an onslaught of activities and this year is no different. It is amazing how busy our students are once we get into the swing of things, but I will tell you from experience, students involved in activities, whether athletic or academic, tend to do better in school! Students obviously need to be more organized today with rotating class schedules, athletic/activity schedules and practice times, not to mention homework and project deadlines!
We've already had a high school girls golf meet, soccer this Friday, volleyball next Tuesday and the opening high school football game next Friday at Piper. Our annual "Meet the Bobcats" night is tomorrow night and the high school marching band will be performing at the Tiblow Days Parade in Bonner Springs this Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
We have the BLMS Open House tonight, BLHS Open House on Monday, August 29th and all the elementary school Open Houses will take place next Thursday evening, September 1st.
Our District Calendar online is a great resource for parents and students to view any events that take place within our attendance centers, CLICK HERE to check it out.
Friday, August 19, 2011: School Begins
Well, it's official…the 2011-12 school year has begun at Basehor-Linwood. Today, students in grades K-6 and 9 were greeted by teachers and administrators as they filed into their buildings. This is one of my favorite days of the school year, as we are always able to watch students enter the building with so much enthusiasm. I saw many cameras and a few video recorders in the elementary buildings this morning, as many were dropping off students for their first public school experience. I might have also witnessed a few tears, however, those were all parents. :)
As I said last week, I have a daughter entering high school this year as a freshman, and I will tell you that she wasn't as thrilled to get her picture taken with her father as she used to be. So to all of you elementary parents: enjoy the time you have with your young children, because having your picture taken on the first day of school is not as cool when they get older.
Speaking of high school, one of today's activities that I’m really excited about is something administrators and staff at Basehor-Linwood High School invite our freshmen to participate in each year: the signing of the Commitment to Graduate banner. Students have their hands painted either green, gold or yellow and put their handprint and signature on the banner. The banner is then displayed in the locker commons area throughout their time at BLHS and when they graduate, it will be on display at their graduation ceremony. A neat tradition that started last year and one I hope we will continue in the future.
I've attached a few pictures from the first day of school and the Commitment to Graduate activity below. Enjoy!
I apologize for the hiatus on my weekly blog this summer but we've been so busy getting ready for the upcoming school year that the blog slipped to the back burner. Also, our former Communications Coordinator, Kaci Brutto, resigned to take a similar position with another district closer to her home. As a result, part of my summer was spent conducting interviews to replace her. I'm very happy to announce that Ashley Razak was chosen as the district's new Communications Coordinator and began her duties in August.
We are gearing up for the start of school and will be welcoming back K-6 students and 9th graders on Friday, August 19th. Grades 7-8 and 10-12 will begin classes on Monday, August 22. We prefer to bring in the incoming 6th graders and 9th graders to their buildings a day early so they have time to become acclimated to their new environment, before we bring in the other 300 students at the middle school and 450 students at the high school. As a parent of both an incoming 6th grader and a 9th grader, I'm glad they will have a day to become familiar with the teaching staff, building and their lockers beforehand.
We've been busy this summer with a few construction projects around the district and I'm happy to report most are complete at this time. The kindergarten classroom renovations at BES went very well, as you can see in the pictures below.
In addition, we would like to thank our High School Booster Club for all the volunteer work they provided this summer in remodeling our concession stand at the football stadium. I would especially like to thank Shawn and Shelley Stevens for their help in organizing the workers. They all have done a fantastic job and the project should be complete in time for our Meet the Bobcats night on August 25th. I hope to see you all there!
