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Philippine teachers arrive in Wichita

Cara Ledy, principal at South High School, introduces Maria Santiago to one of her classes.

Ten teachers from the Philippines arrived in Wichita on Aug. 24. The teachers will spend the next two weeks getting acquainted with the district, their students, the curriculum, the city of Wichita and American culture before they begin teaching. Six will teach math, three will teach special education and one will teach math and physics. The schools that are receiving the teachers are East, North, South, Southeast, West and Curtis.

On Aug, 25, the teachers toured their schools and met fellow staff and some of their students.

At South High School, math teacher Maria Santiago received a warm welcome from her students. Many of her students had questions about her life back home, what she thought of Wichita and if they were going to have a lot of homework.

“It was a wonderful reception,” Santiago said after meeting her students. “I was thankful to see those beautiful students. I can’t wait to start.”

Santiago said that it was up to the teacher to make the subject interesting and to keep students engaged.

“I want to share my knowledge of mathematics,” she said. “I will also take the opportunity to teach about my culture and to learn about theirs.”

“I think it will be cool to have her as a teacher,” student Katherine Naylor said. “I think she will do great here.”

The district has been working with the teachers to help them adjust to their new life in the United States. The teachers have mentors to assist them. The principals and the mentors attended a cultural awareness seminar to teach them about the Philippine culture and offer ways to support the teachers as they adjust to life in the United States.

The teachers met with their principals at a luncheon before getting a tour of their school. Photos by Susan Arensman

The Philippine community in Wichita has also offered to help the teachers learn about their new home. The teachers will attend a cultural orientation to learn about life in Kansas.

The Wichita Public Schools hired teachers from the Philippines for positions that have been difficult to fill. The teachers were hired for teaching positions in special education, math and science that have been open for two years. Highly-qualified long-term substitutes currently hold these positions. After the district tried a nation-wide search to fill those positions, the district worked with the International Teacher Placement Program, which has teamed with districts across the U.S. to bring teachers from the Philippines.

The Philippine education system is modeled after the United States', so the teachers are familiar with the structure. Philippine children are taught in English from kindergarten through college. The teachers are fluent in English. The teachers will have 3-year work visas and will be encouraged to become U.S. citizens.

The district plans to have five to ten additional teachers arrive from the Philippines in September.

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Northwest "throws the switch" on internal TV station

Northwest High School students watch student produced programming on two large TV screens in the commons area when the school kicked off its internal television network. Photo by Susan Arensman

Northwest High School launched a new, internal closed-circuit television network, NWHS TV, on Aug. 14. A Throw the Switch ceremony was held during freshman orientation, allowing students to view a sample of NWHS TV programming on two large screens in the commons area.

NWHS TV programming will be written, produced and performed by students as part of a new curriculum offered at Northwest High School. They will show announcements, good news about students and staff and sports highlights among other topics.

“This is an easy way for students to get their information,” said Jim McNiece, principal. “It’s a great opportunity to celebrate our school.”

“Information gets out better,” said Conner Shine, Northwest’s student body president. “It makes the commons more lively, that’s for sure.”

Businesses will be able to purchase advertising on NWHS TV. Advertising revenues will go to Northwest High School's student activity fund, which will reduce the need for outside student fundraisers.

“We are looking for ways to make money, so students don’t have to go knocking on doors selling things,” McNiece said. “Our parents are very supportive of the idea.”

The students are also excited about the new curriculum.

“I really enjoy doing this,” said Seth Amott, senior, who helped produce the video that was shown during the Throw the Switch ceremony. “I never thought of something like this being offered here.”

Papa John’s Pizza and AT&T donated $12,000 to purchase the software to manage NWHS TV.

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District receives Positive Plate Award

Nutrition Services Director Vicki Hoffman, center, accepts the Positive Plate Award from Jane Byrnes, right and Jennifer Williams with the Wichita Dietetic Association. Photo by Susan Arensman

The Wichita Public Schools was given the Positive Plate Award by the Wichita Dietetic Association on Aug. 23 at East High School. The district received the award for its Student Wellness policies which promote the importance of physical activity, good nutrition and helping students learn to make healthy choices. The Positive Plate Award is given to Wichita restaurants, but the Association was impressed with the district’s new wellness policies and gave the award to the entire district.    

“We wanted students to develop healthy habits,” said Vicki Hoffman, Nutrition Services Director and chair of the Health and Wellness Committee. “We wanted students to make healthy choices and have a healthy, active lifestyle.”

Wichita Public Schools responded to Congress’ request for wellness policies customized by each school district.  Meeting throughout the 2004-2005 school year, the Student Wellness committee created health and wellness policies to help promote physical activity and healthy eating. The policies also address what items can be sold in vending machines. The policies were adopted by the Board of Education in January 2006.  

“Overall policies were necessitated by the growing health problems posed by childhood obesity,” Hoffman said.

The district also created a Student Wellness Guidelines Manual that provides information including nutrient guidelines for a la carte food items, food safety requirements, and nutritious foods to be considered for school events. The manual addresses what can be included in school vending machines. Elementary schools don’t have student-accessible vending machines. Middle school vending machines can only have food that meet nutrition guidelines. With high school vending machines, half of the choices in each location must meet nutrition guidelines.

For a complete list of the Wichita wellness policies and the Student Wellness Guidelines Manual, visit www.usd259.com/parents/nutritionservices/student/default.htm. 

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Franklin nurse receives grant from Kansas Health Foundation
Tracy Mayfield, nurse at Franklin Elementary, has received a $21,000 grant from the Kansas Health Foundation. The grant will be used to develop resources for school nurses to better serve ESOL students and their families. Dalia Hale, Multilingual Education Center Director and Kathy Hubka, Health Services Coordinator, will also be involved in the project.

The grant will be used to translate all current health forms and to develop resources in Spanish and Vietnamese for district nurses to use with their students and families with limited English-speaking skills. The grant will also help fund health education pamphlets to be given to families and to pay for a health fair to be held at the Multilingual Education Center in the spring. School nurses will also be provided inservice opportunities to discuss differences in the health care needs by those from different cultures.

Anticipated project benefits include a significant increase in school nurse contacts, earlier identification of medical concerns, and more timely medical referrals resulting in better health care and education for ESOL students and their families.

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McCormick dedicates memorial walk on Sept. 10
The McCormick School Museum will dedicate its memorial walk on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 4 p.m., 855 S. Martinson. McCormick has been selling bricks to be engraved with names of students, alumni, teachers and other school staff. The bricks will pave the pathways of McCormick and help preserve the history of the Wichita Public Schools.

The Memorial Walk is an ongoing project. Bricks are still available for purchase. For more information, call 682-8994 or 634-2017. The startup cost for the project was underwritten by the Willard Brooks and Elizabeth Ellinger memorial funds.

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Employment agreements reached – raises to come
Agreements have been reached between the Board of Education and United Teachers of Wichita, Service Employees Union International (A-J), Wichita Association of Technical/Supervisory Personnel (K-Z), Wichita Educational Administrators Association, Security and Confidential employee groups.

UTW ratified their contract on Aug. 24 with 87-percent approving the contract. SEIU ratified their contract on July 29. The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the agreements with all groups during its Aug. 28 meeting. 

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Benefit Pool Plan helps during times of crisis
Employees can enroll in the district’s Catastrophic Benefit Pool Plan until August 31. The Plan is designed to help plan members recover at least some of their temporary leave days used when a catastrophic emergency occurs. All benefited employees can belong to the plan by donating one temporary leave day to the pool. Each member is eligible to receive up to 20 additional days of temporary leave a year.

To be eligible for the Catastrophic Benefit Pool, a person must:
            • have donated a day to the Catastrophic Pool
            • have used up all of their temporary leave time
            • not be eligible for or receiving disability payments or worker’s compensation.       

When a catastrophic event occurs, plan members need to fill out a Catastrophic Benefit Pool Request Form. If the three conditions have been met, the person will meet with the Catastrophic Benefit Pool Committee. Each person's situation is considered on an individual basis.

For more information about the plan, or to receive an enrollment form, contact Risk Management at 973-4581.

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Teachers: Transcript deadline is Sept. 15
Any certified teacher that has acquired college credit to move up for a Track increase in pay, needs to turn in his/her transcripts to Human Resources, attention Faye Olson, by September 15. Once the transcript has been received in Human Resources, a confirmation letter will be forwarded to the employee for verification.

The agreement with the United Teachers of Wichita states "All salary placements are subject to verification of experience and training and shall be adjusted in any direction for each school year to the level for which the teacher proves his/her entitlement on or before September 15 of each year." 

If you have any questions, please call Faye Olson, Certification Technician, 973-4619 or email folson@usd259.net.