Important dates
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- Nov. 20 through 24: No school, Conference Comp Day and Fall Break
- Dec. 21-Jan. 3: No school, Teacher Work Day and Winter Break
- Jan. 15: No school, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
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Nov. 7 election includes
Maize Board of Education seats
- Kate Doerksen (District 1)
- Farris Jibril (District 2)
- Richard Stiverson (District 3)
- Joshua Belcher (District 3)
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OneMa1ze students earn
impressive academic honors
 Sophia and Brodie Gullic, Maize South High School senior, are among 25 Wichita-area students to be named National Merit Semifinalists.
Maize USD 266 is extremely proud of these significant academic accomplishments!
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National award celebrates middle schools' commitment to student health, physical activity
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Maize Middle School and
Maize South Middle School this fall have received a 2017
Let's Move! Active Schools National Award. They were among only 24 schools in Kansas to earn the title. The award celebrates a
school's outstanding efforts and commitment to providing students with at least an hour of physical education and physical activity before, during, and after school on a daily basis.
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Second organization selects Maize High principal
as administrator of the year
Congratulations to
Dr. Chris Botts,
Maize High School Principal, named an Administrator of the Year by the K
ansas Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and
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Earlier this school year, Dr. Botts was named as Sedgwick County Area Educational Services Interlocal Cooperative No. 618's Principal of the Year.
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Thank you, bus drivers!
The State of Kansas earlier this month recognized School Bus Drivers' Appreciation Day. Did you know that Maize USD 266 school bus drivers transport 3,243 students a day?
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Find events, opportunities on
Online Bulletin Board
Maize USD 266's
Online Bulletin Board
is the place to go for information about upcoming events, fundraisers, and
other opportunities available through the district and partner agencies. Those interested also may
sign up to receive e-mail updates when new information is added.
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District photo album
The
Rotary Club of West Wichita on Oct. 24 hosted Maize Superintendent of Schools
Dr. Chad Higgins at Rolling Hills Country Club to hear more about the great things going on in the district.
Maize High School's large-scale "Menken Magic" recently featured music by famous composer Alan Menken and his songs from Disney's "Little Mermaid," "Hunchback of Notre Dame," and other scores.
Stan Bergkamp hosted a breakfast watch party before school Sept. 15 so he and his physics students could watch Maize High 2007 graduate and
NASA
as he guided the Cassini Grand Finale, NASA's years-long Saturn mission.
The Maize High School KAY Club recently hosted a dance with the
help of StuCo and ProStart. About
30 students and 30 residents and employees from The Oxford Grand Assisted Living and Memory Care attended.
Photo courtesy of Maria Loving.
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Interested in joining our Maize Schools team? Many openings are part-time jobs with full-time benefits, including:
* Group health insurance
* Summers off
* Fall,
Winter, and
Spring break off
* No evenings or weekends
* Bonuses
Maize USD 266 also is looking for:
* food service workers.
* Sedgwick County Area Educational Services Paraprofessionals.
Come and work in our OneMa1ze community, supported by parents, graduates, and Maize and Northwest Wichita. This would be a great opportunity to participate in the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System.
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Superintendent's Message
Feedback will be an important component
of collective vision
BY DR. CHAD HIGGINS
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Our students know they cannot improve without a healthy dose of self-reflection. They study before their tests, take their tests, and then review the answers they missed. They practice before the game, play the game, and then watch the film to celebrate well-executed plays and examine missed opportunities.
I have shared that Maize USD 266 is at the beginning stages of a large-scale strategic planning process that
will require similar introspection and self-examination. Just as our teachers and coaches work together with our students for improvement and success,
we want to have a conversation with our students and their parents, our community members, and our employees about what we do well and what we could do to be even better. We are curious about what we do that is most valuable for your child's future and the best things about your child's current school experience.
The careers of tomorrow may not exist today. When our current kindergarten students graduate in May 2030, we will send them on to post-secondary education and professions that use technologies our society has yet to dream up.
With that in mind, our goal is for a strategic plan with
short-term and long-term components
that is nimble enough to constantly adapt to emerging innovations, occupations and opportunities.
Maize USD 266 recently has
jumped a few important hurdles. We have
addressed policy issues that demanded our attention. With our OneMa1ze community's support, we are wrapping up a bond issue that is necessary for the growth of our district and the needs of our students. We are becoming
optimistic about the financial situation for public schools in Kansas through increased support.
We continue to concentrate on tasks for which Maize Schools has become known:
keeping up with our community's growth,
hiring the best teachers, and seizing new opportunities for our students.
But just as we expect our students to do before the test or the game or in life in general, we want to strive to be better.
That's why I'm asking you today to please begin to
think about what Maize USD 266 does best and how we can be better. You may consider topics including safety, social-emotional programs, academics, and other special initiatives.
We want to know w
hat you would like to see incorporated into your child's current school experience. We will ask h
ow we can better prepare your child for his or her future and career.
District leaders will request your feedback on these topics and others along the way as part of our strategic planning process.
We also will seek input from graduates,
those who are successful adults in a variety of
areas and industries, and those we could have better prepared for the world, whether on an academic or social-emotional level.
Before we set out on this quest, we first must make sure we know where we are now and where we want to be. Thank you in advance for your help navigating the process.
Sincerely,
Dr. Chad Higgins, Superintendent of Schools
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Maize Board of Education update
District to begin placement process for eligible 8th-graders
During their monthly meeting Oct. 9.,
Dr. Chad Higgins, Superintendent of Maize Schools, updated
Maize Board of Education
members on the
district's plan to send information about high school placement to
families of eligible students. Those qualified to select a high school for the 2018-19 school year
must be current 8th-graders
who were enrolled in the district Oct. 24, 2016 when the board approved the new student
placement policy.
Board members celebrate
teacher's national recognition
 Maize Board of Education members in October honored
Pray-Woodman Elementary School teacher
Crystal May. She is one of only five recipients nationwide of the NEA Foundation Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence 2018 and will be recognized in February in Washington, D.C.
She and teacher
Angela Knapp and a few of their students also spoke about the $10,000 grant they received last year from Virginia-based nonprofit group ASCD. It funded a teacher-led coaching model to help teach math in an innovative way. They and a few of their students explained how they approach math differently and the benefits of using data to drive a deeper conceptualization of math. The school has seen math proficiency improvements, and students are learning to love math.
Pictured above from left, Pray-Woodman Elementary School students Brandon Morales, Carson Levey, Connor
Levey, and Dani Hill with teacher Crystal May, Superintendent Dr. Chad Higgins, Principal
Nils Gabrielson, and Vice Principal Karen LaMunyon. (Also pictured in back: Maize Board of
Education President Matt Jensby and Vice President Dr. Jeff Jarman.)
District moves forward on new valedictorian selection process
 Board members in October reviewed a draft of a Maize USD 266 Valedictorian Selection Process,
accessible by clicking here. Board
consensus was for the district to move forward with the plan, but members did not take any action.
District and high school administrators
have been researching this topic and reviewing the district's
practice, which is that the student of each high school with the highest weighted GPA is named valedictorian. The second highest is named salutatorian.
The new process offers the opportunity to be recognized as
valedictorian and salutatorian both to students who have attended a Maize USD 266 high school for all four years and to those students who
have transferred into the Maize School District who have earned grades with
weightings in courses not offered in the Maize district.
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Bond issue update
Work continues on Maize Career Academy, transportation center
 Crews have been busy finishing projects near 45th and 119th streets in Maize that are part of the June 2015 bond issue. The Maize Career Academy (pictured at right) is scheduled to open in January to Maize High School and Maize South High School students. The academy will house Career and Technical Education and Pathway programs.
 Also visible from 119th Street is a
metal structure that will serve as the transportation driver and administrative building. The block structure inside of that building is the storm shelter area. Asphalt paving has started on the driver and maintenance parking lots. A vehicle maintenance shop is being constructed to the east side of the current maintenance building. The plan will include bus parking that will cover the front portion of buses,
reducing the need for drivers to scrape bus windows. Each stall will have an outlet to plug in block heaters. The bond project's cost is $4.8 million.
In September, Maize Board of Education board members gave a nod to a plan to use bond funds to build a simple game field with bleachers and lighting on the
Maize South Middle School campus. There also will be a renovation to the Maize Middle School track and the use of
sod rather than turf at the Maize Middle football field. This plan will alleviate a number of logistical challenges
with middle school fall sports. The Five-Year Capital Outlay Plan also includes a parking lot expansion at
Maize South Middle School
. These changes will provide each middle school with their own home game field.
Maize USD 266 appreciates the community's continued support on the bond projects. You can learn more about the bond vision by visiting our bond resource page at
www.usd266.com/bond
.
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Maslow's Pantry a free resource
for entire OneMa1ze community
 Maslow's Pantry is a students-helping-students program that provides food, hygiene items, and clothes to students, their families, and others in our community.
The pantry is in the building in front of
Maize High School that formerly served as the police station. Maslow's respects anonymity and depends on donations. Students visit to select items they need.
stand.
How you can support Maslow's Pantry:
Others interested in helping can deliver donations to the front office at Maize
High, 11600 W. 45th St. North in Maize.
Needs include dried boxed food, personal hygiene items, and
prom dresses. A local business will dry clean and alter gowns for Maslow's prom
dress exchange, which started last year and aims to be even larger this spring. Thank
you for your support!
Pictured above from left, Maize High School senior Madeleine Gillispie, senior Megan Paul, teacher Sherry Pfeifer, junior Emma Bise, and sophomore Abigail McCoy (who also helped design the logo above) with Pray-Woodman Elementary School third-grade students Evelyn Tran, left, and Preslie
Cunningham.
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Complete High School gaming curriculum boosts attendance
Maize USD 266's alternative high school, Complete High School Maize, has seen positive gains this semester after introducing its own innovative gaming curriculum believed to be perhaps the first of its kind in the nation.
The program is a vehicle to teach students other skills, including web design, HTML, and social skills like teamwork.
The school featured its new program during a recent Kansas Department of Education convention at Century II in downtown Wichita. Students spent time explaining the program to other educators, journalists, and even Dr. Randy Watson, Kansas Commissioner of Education, pictured in center above.
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Maize native Alexander shares musical talents with students
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Shop via Amazon Smile to support the Maize Education Foundation
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Find more OneMa1ze news, photos, articles on social media
 Connect with us on Maize USD 266 official social media accounts:
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Did you know that by using Amazon Smile you can contribute to the Maize Education Foundation at no additional cost to you?
