School Highlights: Points of Pride:
Welcome to the 2006-2007 school year!
I want to welcome back all of you to another exciting year in the Wichita Public Schools. We have many things to celebrate as we begin the school year. We have received additional money from the state, which has allowed us to provide substantial pay increases for staff, to add more teaching and support positions to support class-size reduction, high school reform, and other student achievement initiatives. We have also added 40 minutes a week for Professional Learning Communities, allowing teachers and paras to collaborate and learn from each other.
We will start this year running on all cylinders. We continue to improve student achievement and we are proud of the hard work our students and teachers have done on the Kansas State Assessments. Not only are Wichita students making significant gains from year to year, those gains far outpace gains made by urban districts across the country.
This year, we have five main points of focus that will enhance the efforts of the district to expect excellence, increase student achievement and narrow the gap.
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Curriculum - Better development of scope and sequence and lesson plans. Standards should be the core of what you teach. Sequence and pacing guides will direct the order and timing of instruction. It is our responsibility to tell you what to teach and when, but how you teach it is up to you.
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Instruction - Know your students and adjust instruction to meet their needs. Use a variety of instructional strategies and technologies to make learning engaging.
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Assessment - Learn to use assessment FOR learning instead of assessment OF learning. We have hired data technicians to study the assessment scores and to work with teachers on finding students' strengths and weaknesses.
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Professional Learning Communities - we have negotiated in the contract an additional 40 minutes a week, every Wednesday, to be a key learning time for teachers, allowing you to work together to implement instruction. PLCs are about your learning to support your students' learning
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Leadership - Work with each other on trying to solve problems and overcoming challenges. Be a leader on your team.
It's hard to believe, but bond issue construction has wrapped up, with the exception of Earhart, which will have a brand-new building in 2008. Be sure to watch for information about "School is Cool," the official celebration of the end of bond construction.
We are all committed to the students in our district. I know each of you will do your best on behalf of our students. Thank you in advance for what I know will be a fantastic school year!
--Winston Brooks, Superintendent
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Everyone can make a difference for students
On behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to welcome you to the beginning of the 2006-07 school year. This year is going to be our best year yet!
Everyone working for Wichita Public Schools is capable of impacting the lives of our students everyday. We all get the credit for the success or failure of a student.
Our district has worked extensively to find ways to help our students with the greatest needs be successful and continue to challenge students who already exceed district requirements.
The Board is looking forward to seeing increased gains in student achievement and graduation rates across the district. I know you are, too. The Board is with you all the way! Thank you for committing yourself to Wichita’s kids.
HAVE A GREAT YEAR!
--Sarah Skelton, Board of Education President
Proposed budget keeps tax levy the same
The Board of Education took its first look at the 2006-2007 budget during a workshop on July 31. Superintendent Winston Brooks’ budget proposal to the BOE was presented with the recommendation that the district’s tax levy remain the same. The district’s total 2006-07 proposed budget of just over $485 million dollars will be funded with no tax increases.
The Wichita Public Schools received $28.2 million in new state funding approved by the Kansas State Legislature. The additional funding will be used to pay for teaching positions and support to increase student achievement. Seventy-two percent of all budgeted expenditures are dedicated to instruction and instructional support.
In addition, $7 million additional dollars will be generated through the Local Option Budget (LOB). Superintendent Brooks has proposed to keep the LOB amount at 27 percent of the general fund. The mill levy (tax levy) which is designed to generate the funding for the LOB is also proposed to remain the same, at 51.3 mills. If approved by the BOE at their August 28 meeting, this will make the third consecutive year that the district and the Board of Education have held the line on local taxes.
Highlights of the district’s investment of $35 million in new state resources includes:
168 new positions--101 teachers, 44 data technicians to support teachers, 20 instructional coaches and 3 other support staff.
Supporting the district’s high school reform project, partially addressed by the addition of positions noted above, is a significant priority for the year.
The salary and benefit package for teachers will increase by 11.10 percent. That enables the starting salary for a teacher to increase to $35,507.
$22 million of this year’s additional revenue of $35 million will be invested in teacher salaries.
For the 2006-2007 Budget at a Glance, click here.
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Superintendent Winston Brooks responds to Kansas Supreme Court ruling on school finance
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| Board of Education Vice President Lynn Rogers and Superintendent Winston Brooks react to the Kansas Supreme Court ruling. Photo by Susan Arensman |
On July 28, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the Kansas State legislature complied with the court’s prior orders to correct flaws in the school finance formula. The Supreme Court also dismissed the school funding lawsuit on a 4-2 vote.
Superintendent Winston Brooks held a news conference to respond to the ruling, reminding everyone that the lawsuit was about increasing the quality of education for kids who are currently underserved because of poverty.
“Because of the lawsuit, students who attend schools like Wichita are now receiving a more equitable education,” Superintendent Brooks said. “Let’s all keep in mind why this lawsuit came about, Wichita kids and students like them, were drastically under-funded and that has been corrected to some extent.”
The ruling did not state whether the court felt the state’s finance formula was constitutional, “I thought that was the whole purpose for the lawsuit and the whole purpose of the Supreme Court getting involved was to decide that,” Superintendent Brooks said.
Superintendent Brooks said he was disappointed that the Court lifted the stay on the cost of living provision for the 17 wealthiest districts in the state. This allows those 17 districts to collect additional local property taxes to generate more revenue for their students. “We find that incredibly unfair and it contributes to the inequities between the wealthy school districts and those districts with greater needs.”
Superintendent Brooks and Board of Education Vice President Lynn Rogers both indicated that the Wichita Public Schools will be watchful of the Legislature to make sure it honors its commitment to fully fund SB 549, with an additional $149 million statewide for the 2007-08 school year and $123 million for 2008-09.
Because of the funding lawsuit, Wichita has received more than $60 million additional dollars over the past two years. This has been used to reduce class sizes, give salary increases to retain and attract highly qualified teachers, implement a high school reform initiative and to give teachers more intense and focused staff development in reading and math.
“We are excited about the 2006-07 school year and anticipate that every student will be academically successful and achievement gaps will continue to narrow and will soon be eliminated. Additional funding from the state will enable us to move in that direction,” Brooks said.
The news conference can be watched on the district’s website at http://wichita.usd259,net/media/Streaming%20Videos/NC7-28-06.wmv
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Blackbear Bosin Academy new name for school
The Board of Education voted to rename Alcott Academy to Blackbear Bosin Academy during its June 26 meeting. The name was chosen to honor the local Native American artist whose sculpture, “Keeper of the Plains” stands at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers and is a symbol of the city.
On April 10, the Board approved a plan to move the Alcott Academy program to the vacant Price Elementary site, located at 6123 E. 11th St. Alcott Academy didn't receive any upgrades with the bond issue and the facility didn't meet the needs of students and staff. Price-Harris Communications Magnet moved into the Harris campus as a result of the school's bond issue project, leaving the Price campus vacant. With Alcott moving to the Price site, a committee was formed to consider a new name for the school.
Board of Education President Sarah Skelton headed the committee and said the decision to name the school after Bosin was unanimous. “The committee feels that naming the new school site Blackbear Bosin Academy will instill pride within the students,” Skelton said.
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Levy will celebrate 25 years in October
Levy Special Education Center will be celebrating its 25th anniversary at the 400 N. Woodchuck location on Saturday, Oct. 14. The event will start at 4:30 p.m. Levy invites current and former students, staff, parents and community members to attend the celebration. For more information or to make reservations, contact Judy New or Linda Dunham at 973-3410 or jnew@usd259.net or ldunham@usd259.net.
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Open enrollment for benefits ends on August 18
Benefits Open Enrollment ends on August 18. Employees can complete enrollment through the eBenefits online system. If employees do not enroll, their health plan coverage will default to the Basic Plan at the same level they currently have (individual or family).
The options available for Open Enrollment are:
- To change your health plan or enroll in flex for the 2006-07 plan year, go online or attend one of the "come and go" sessions to make your benefit selections. Your online benefit selection will be your authorization for any payroll deductions.
- If you want flex benefits for 2006-07 you must re-enroll online or at one of the "come and go" sessions.
For employees who do not have computer access or would like assistance in enrolling, there will be several sessions offered to enroll online or complete the paperwork.
Instructions for enrollment, a health plan summary, health plan cost comparison, and a video tutorial about how to enroll can be accessed at http://wpsportal1 from any district computer and http://wpsathome.usd259.net from a home computer. Click on eBenefits Help and Tutorials for the information. Each building principal has a copy of the video tutorial on DVD which can be played from any district computer.
To sign in to enroll, the User ID is the same as an employee's USD 259 network ID. The password for first time PeopleSoft users is: eben#(plus the last 4 digits of SSN). You will receive a message that the password has expired and the password will need to be changed. The new password must have at least 8 characters, including one number and one special character, i.e. (#!*&).
For assistance, please attend one of the come and go sessions or contact Risk Management at 973-4581 or riskmanagement@usd259.net.
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Employees asked to keep old directories
Employee directories for the 2006-2007 school year will not be available until late fall of 2006. Employees are asked to keep their copies of the 2005-2006 directory until that time.
If employees have home address and/or phone number changes, or wish to have their phone numbers or addresses "unlisted" in the directory, they need to send a written request to Human Resources - Attn: Peggy Warrender by Sept. 8. Requests will not be accepted over the phone.
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Education EDGE can make a difference
Employees and community members can show their support of teachers and students by contributing to the Educ