Every Grownup, Every Child, Every Day!
Friday, February 28, 2020
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KCKPS kicks off the March Mayhem reading competition. What school will be crowned champion? Who will be named the top reading scholar? Check out the video and the article below.
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KCKPS Gearing Up for March Mayhem
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As part of the school district’s efforts to improve literacy, Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (KCKPS) is hosting its first ever March Mayhem reading competition. This event places third graders in all of the district’s 29 elementary schools in play for the 2020 March Mayhem reading champion. March Mayhem kicked off on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020 at T.A. Edison Elementary School with a special assembly.
The reading competition coincides with the Big 12 Basketball Tournament and NCAA March Madness Tournament.
“Children’s motivation and level of academic achievement improves when parents are involved in their education. March Mayhem provides a fun and unique opportunity to encourage parents to help their child build confidence in reading skills,” said KCKPS Superintendent Dr. Charles Foust. “While the reading tournament is planned to coincide with the excitement centered around college basketball, it emphasizes that literacy enhances a person’s quality of life. The tournament also highlights the importance of community members serving as partners and advocates for early literacy education.”
The total minutes read by a single school will determine their placement in the tournament. Highest scoring schools will advance to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight and then the Final Four. A special event will be held for the Final Four schools at Memorial Hall in downtown Kansas City, Kansas on Friday, April 3, 2020 where the championship school will be announced. In addition, the top three readers in the district will also be awarded.
Schools that advance each week will also be announced on the district’s Facebook page and live on KPRS Hot 103 Jamz! The winning 3
rd
grade class will be rewarded with a pizza party and ice cream bar sponsored by the Kansas Speedway.
“We’re thrilled to be able to partner with the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools on their reading program, which will benefit third graders throughout the district,” said Kansas Speedway President Patrick Warren. “It’s important to develop a passion for reading at an early age, and I look forward to seeing how many hours the students read throughout this program.”
The top three students with the highest minutes read will receive an awesome prize provided by the Kansas City, Kansas Foundation for Excellence. We will share what the prize will be at the Grand Finale event to be held at Memorial Hall.
We look forward to your support and encouraging our students to thrive in a sea of text that will take them any place in the world.
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District to Save Millions
Through Bond Refinancing
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Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools will save taxpayers more than $30 million following the school board’s approval to refinance $150 million of the district’s $235 million in General Obligation Bonds.
The Kansas City, Kansas community approved $235 million in bonds to pay for school construction projects including the construction of five new schools, safety and security upgrades in 47 buildings across the district, and a new central kitchen. Additionally, the last three of the five new schools—Carl B. Bruce Middle School, Lowell Brune Elementary School, and Westpark Elementary School—are scheduled to open for the 2020-2021 school year.
“We are continuing to raise the bar of excellence throughout our district, which is evident in the improvement of our test scores, as one example. But we are also providing sound financial management of our district’s resources which raises the quality of schooling that KCKPS students deserve,” said Superintendent Dr. Charles Foust. In addition, he affirmed the value of having the best education environments for everyone, noting that “our students, parents and staff deserve state of the art classrooms in safe schools with highly effective staff and outstanding instruction.”
At their Tuesday, February 11
th meeting held at F.L. Schlagle High School, the Board approved the refinancing of the bonds to secure the savings. “It is important to ensure that we are making the best fiscally sound decisions for our school district,” said Maxine Drew, School Board President. “We are grateful to the Kansas City, Kansas community for entrusting us to effectively serve as stewards of over the $330 million operating budget and $235 million bond referendum, along with leading the district in both academic and operational success.”
This news is great for our district, our students and entire community – a definite cause for celebration.
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Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (KCKPS) has hosted several Parents as Partners workshops during the month of February to help parents become more knowledgeable about the valuable resources and programs that are available to help support their child’s academic growth.
We encourage parents to attend one of the two remaining workshops in March which begins at 5:30 p.m. and concludes at 7:30 p.m.:
New Stanley Elementary School
Thursday, March 12
th
Lindbergh Elementary School
(To be held at Gloria Willis)
Wednesday, March 25
th
All Parent as Partners workshops will include language interpreters, food and door prizes. District members look forward to sharing great and valuable information to all KCKPS parents.
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Principal Dr. Angela Wright hosts Parents as Partners workshop.
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District Participates in Teen Town Hall
on Vaping
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Fox 4 News as well as KU Cancer Center partnered with KCKPS Sumner Academy to inform students and the public about the dangers of vaping. This event was live streamed through local news station's website and on their Facebook page.
There were 60 students who were selected to attend the event where medical professionals discussed the dangers of what vaping can do to your body. Students were encouraged to participate by asking questions to the doctors.
During the one hour program three different medical professionals provided information on how vaping negatively impacts different areas of the body such as the lungs and the brain.
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Ayelet Miron Garcia
Early Childhood student at Morse Early Childhood Center. Ayelet was nominated by her teacher, Ms. Caroline Chavez.
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Jessy Rodriguez
Third Grade student at Bertram Caruthers Elementary. Jessy was nominated by his third grade teacher, Ms. Pamela Herrick.
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Sasha Dodds
Seventh Grade student at Rosedale Middle School. Sasha was nominated by her Social Studies teacher, Mr. William Heck.
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Kendon McClaine II
Senior at Washington High School. Kendon was nominated by Dr. Troy Pitsch, the Instructional Improvement Officer for the High Schools.
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Teacher Uses Twitter to Keep Students
On Track
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Charlie Xavier, a sixth-grade science teacher at Central Middle School, was selected as the January
Are You On Track
social media winner. Xavier has proven to make learning fun while continuing to push his students on their journey to reach the finish line. With the use of twitter, Mr. Xavier has also proved to be on track for his attempt at keeping the KCKPS community informed on what his classes are doing.
Over the past month, Xavier introduced his students to the ultimate science project when he brought unhatched chicks and quails to the classroom. Xavier’s students got the opportunity to track these eggs development process over the course of the next month before finally hatching in early February.
During this process, students were tasked with evaluating what the process of healthy development looks like during incubation. The students also were given the chance to interpret what is happening inside the egg up to the point of the pipped egg shell (cracked shell) with a process known as candling. Candling, or shining the light through the shell of the egg allowed the students to compare each egg. This ensured students a better understanding if the egg is developing correctly or if the egg would not hatch.
In recognition of Xavier and all of his hard work, KCKPS presented him with a prize as a thank you for being
On Track.
Xavier was presented with a gift card donated by Mills Record Company, as well as all of the KCKPS goodies.
Congratulations to Mr. Charlie Xavier for being
On Track!
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Sumner Student Takes First Prize
at KC BizFest
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KC BizFest (KBC), a four day Entrepreneurship Workshop took place last week. During this workshop, local Kansas City high school sophomores, juniors and seniors were given the chance to compete for numerous scholarship opportunities. 2020 marked the 16th annual KC BizFest event. During this event, 32 KCKPS Students from six different schools across the district completed the BizFest program. During this Entrepreneurship Workshop, students were given a project that seemed to be very real.
Their task you ask? Create a business plan with a complete market analysis of several different areas. This included: Finances, a description of the business, and an in depth breakdown of what the business does. At the end of day four, Neymara Freeman, a Junior at Sumner Academy, walked away with a first place finish and a scholarship that she plans to use on her next adventure.
Neymara may only be a junior, however, she already has big plans for her future. She expressed that she plans to take one of two routes during her undergraduate journey. These different routes include either attending a Historical Black College and University (HBCU) or to enroll at Washburn University. Once her undergraduate degree has been completed, Freeman plans to continue her education by beginning Law School. This is where her first place finish at KC BizFest comes in. With all of this post-secondary education, Neymara plans to use her scholarship to complete her educational goals as she states: “I will use the scholarship for whatever I can in regards to school. This may be my actual tuition or just my text books, but it will definitely be used to further my education.”
By completing or graduating KC BizFest 2020, 32 KCKPS students who participated will qualify for scholarships at partner schools. KC BizFest is a great opportunity to become involved in.
KCKPS is proud to have been heavily represented at this year's workshop.
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Paid Summer Internship for Students
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PREP-KC plans on offering paid summer lab research internships at KU Medical Center again this summer for six weeks from June 1-July 10. The opportunity is open to current juniors and seniors.
Parents if you have children in the 10
th
and 11
th
grade that you think would be a good fit for the experience (advanced science classes with lab components and considering a career in research), feel free to send them the application.
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Washington High School ROTC Program
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The Washington High School Junior ROTC Drill team has once again proved to be On Track at their most recent competition. The team competed against twenty-three other organizations from across multiple states.
The Regional Drill Meet was held at Lees Summit North High School. Washington High School was led by Senior and Wing Commander, Angel Bailey. Overall, the team proved to be on track as they brought home several different awards.
During the individual competition, 15 Washington High School team members qualified for the finals. In the end, Bailey took third place overall.
Moving forward to the Color Guard competition, Cadet Angel Bailey led the team to a first-place finish.
These two big wins helped the team to land a second-place finish overall which was a historic first for Washington High Schools JROTC.
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Superintendent Dr. Charles Foust poses with the Harmon High School cheerleaders and marching band to kick off March Mayhem at T.A. Edison.
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KCKPS Celebrates Black History Month
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Black History message from Superintendent Dr. Charles Foust and Maxine Drew, President of KCKPS Board of Education.
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WHY I – Victoria Burnau, senior on the bowling team at F. L. Schlagle High School.
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WHY I...
- Joseph McCray, senior swimmer from Washington High School
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KCKPS Upcoming Events and Activities
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Board of Education
Upcoming Meetings
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Central Office
March 10, 2020
5:00 pm
March 24, 2020
5:00 pm
April 14, 2020
5:00 pm
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Visit the
KCKPL website for a full list of calendar events for adults and all ages.
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Kansas City, Kansas
Public Schools
2010 N. 59th Street
Kansas City, Kansas 66104
913-551-3200
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