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Welcome to my blog.
I will do my best to update this page on a regular basis as issues arise. If you would like to suggest a topic for the blog or have a question you can post a comment on a previous entry and I will respond.
Superintendent's Blog
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1. May 6, 2011
BOE Changes
As a result of Board of Education elections held in early April we will be welcoming two new board members in July and saying farewell to two current Board members. Mr. Joel Manzanares will be replacing Mrs. Carlene Jones as the at-large representative, and Mr. Eric Deitcher will be replacing Ms. Kay White on the board representing district C. Neither Ms. White nor Mrs. Jones filed for re-election. Both Mr. Manzanares and Mr. Deitcher have served on the District Advisory Council; Mr. Manzanares as a representative of SHES and Mr. Deitcher as a representative of Berryton Elementary. Please welcome them to the board when you get the opportunity. Also, please thank Ms. White and Mrs. Jones for their service to the district, the community and the students. When Mrs. White leaves the district in June she will have completed 20 years of service on the Board of Education, the longest term of service in the history of the district.
Facility Study
The board will soon consider a proposal from HTK architects to update the district’s facility master plan. After spending a considerable amount of money to maintain and upgrade the infrastructure of all schools in the district, the board wants to insure we have a plan to maintain those facilities over the next 15 years as well as a short term plan to assess any additional facility needs.
posted 5/6/2011 12:11 PM
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2. Snow Day
Classes were canceled today due to inclement weather conditions and at least one student declared her eternal gratitude to me. Thank you Tara!
Some of you may wonder about the criteria for a snow day and I have to tell you it is a very subjective decision. It may surprise you that sometimes not everyone agrees with the decision to cancel or not to cancel school. Today, the roads alone were not too bad, but when the cold temperatures and high winds were factored into the equation we decided to cancel. Some of the north-south roads in the county were drifting early this morning and blowing snow was causing visibility problems.
Unless road conditions worsen we will likely have classes tomorrow. Be safe and enjoy your free day.
posted 12/9/2009 1:46 PM
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3. State Finance Information
According to the Kansas State Department of Education, we are expecting funding cuts to be announced soon that will impact the current school year. According to sources inside KSDE schools should expect a minimum cut of $150 per student and as much as $210 per student.
Cuts of this magnitude present a huge challenge in the middle of the year for two reasons. First, most of our budget is dedicated to fixed expenditures like contracted employees and building utilities, which can not be effectively reduced mid-year. Second, much of the year has already elapsed. Our fiscal year begins July 1, which means we are nearly half way through the year already.
posted 11/17/2009 4:41 PM
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4. Teachers Return
This is one of my favorite days of the year, teachers return to work after summer break. Like the swallows to Capistrano, the flock back to the district with smiles and energy, happy to be back and looking forward to another greats school year.
This morning, after welcoming and introducing new teachers, we showed a short video starring Mr. Hallacy and Bob Trivia. Many parents with students who are or have attended Shawnee Heights Middle School are familiar with Bob. He often shows up at Pride Assemblies and has a knack for messing things up and eating Funyons and Cheetos.
Bob and Mr. Hallacy discovered the importance of expectations, insistence and support in meeting the needs of all students in the district. You can find the video of their journey and the data slides from the powerpoint under files and documents. We will be looking for shining examples of these principles throughout 2009-2010.
Welcome Back!
posted 8/6/2009 4:02 PM
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5. Summer
Summer in Kansas means mother nature has turned up the heat. Unfortunately it also means additional budget cuts for public schools. The Governor recently announced an additional $62 per student reduction in funding for the coming year. For Shawnee Heights USD 450 this translates into approximately $260,000.
While this is a substantial amount of money, especially given the fact that we have already cut $1.2 million from the budget, we are not ready to hit the panic button just yet. We had planned to increase our contingency reserve and some carryover to absorb potential reductions. Until we know what our enrollment is this fall any action to make reductions would be premature. An increase in enrollment cushions the reduction. A decrease in enrollment makes it worse.
So relax and enjoy the rest of your summer and we will keep you updated in the fall.
posted 7/9/2009 3:27 PM
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6. Welcome to 2008-2009
Okay. If you have been monitoring my site, or even if you haven't, you will notice it has been quite a while since I have updated. This is only because I am over 40 and blogging is not a native activity for me. I don't have a facebook or myspace site, and I am not that hip. In fact I am so not that hip that I still use the word "hip."
Regardless, we have kicked off the 2008-2009 school year. The biggest change this year is the redistribution of students under the new boundaries. While not everyone fully embraced the changes, we have a much more balanced enrollment district-wide and have alleviated much of the stress on Tecumseh South.
The other big changes this year are the building improvements to Tecumseh North, Berryton, and Tecumseh South. While most of the improvements are hidden behind walls and above ceilings, one is most notable; the air conditioning of the elementary school gymnasiums.
I want to thank the staff at Tecumseh North and Berryton for their patience and understanding in dealing with the incovenience of starting school amid construction. Each and every staff member showed tremendous professionalism, patience, and flexibility in getting the year off to a good start despite less than ideal conditions.
Thanks to all for a good start to the school year.
posted 8/25/2008 6:37 PM
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7. School Closing
For those of you who wish to be the first notified in the event of a school cancellation, you can receive instant email notification through the district website. Go to www.usd450.net and click on "subscribe to e-News." This link will take you to a page where you can subscribe to a variety of newsletters from our administrators and booster clubs. Simply fill in the information requested and you will be notified via email or text message to your cell phone when school is cancelled.
posted 12/11/2007 3:51 PM
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8. SHES Site Council
A big thank you to those patrons and site council members from SHES who took time out of their busy schedules to attend the site council meeting on Monday evening October 22nd. Active, involved parents and patrons make this a stronger, better district. Thanks for listening and asking questions.
posted 10/24/2007 12:49 PM
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9. Bounday Realignment Study
A lot of misinformation is circulating about the elementary boundary realignment process which will soon begin. Let me explain the process and provide you will some information you may find helpful.
To begin the process, a consultant retained by the Board will project elementary enrollment under the current boundaries for the next five years. He will then present a report on his findings to the Board of Education. We expect this report to be presented at the October 15th Board Meeting. Based on our recent experience we can reasonably anticipate this report will project continued growth at Tecumseh South Elementary and the need to adjust elementary attendance boundaries to alleviate this extraordinary growth.
At that same meeting, the Board of Education will then discuss the guiding principles for realignment. The consultant will then develop three plans to adjust the elementary boundaries in order to more evenly distribute enrollment in grades K-6 across all four elementary schools. The Board will take public comment on the three plans at two public meetings in December and/or January. It is anticipated the Board will approve a final plan in February for implementation in the 2008-2009 school year. This will allow families time to make any necessary adjustments in daycare and the district to make adjustments in staffing prior to the start of a new school year.
I invite all interested parties to attend the meeting on October 15th at 7:00 PM in the high school library to learn more about the enrollment projections and the process that will be used to guide realignment.
posted 9/18/2007 2:49 PM
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10. Website
Thank you to those who took the time to compliment us on the new website. In answer to one concerned patron's question, the cost of the new website service is approximately $7,000 per year. I believe the site is worth that fee because it allows staff members to update the site directly, getting more accurate information to patrons and parents in a more timely fashion. It is our belief that once we have established the website as a reliable source of information, parents and patrons should find it a valuable resource.
Other features allow us to offer enhanced services. For example, patrons can sign up to receive email and/or cell phone notification of school cancellation and other important news. Teachers can develop websites to use as instructional and communication tools with students and parents. In addition to improving the flow of information, the site also manages our teacher application process, thus serving as a recruiting tool and streamlining paperwork for applicants.
In addition to your feedback a number of statistics indicate the site is being used effectively. During the month of July, 2007, for example, we recevied a total of 14,303 distinct visits to the website and 1,996 files were downloaded. In addtion, 409 different web pages were viewed a total of 73,569 times.
We will continue to monitor the use of the website monthly to insure it is delivering the value that we believe makes it worth the cost.
posted 8/17/2007 1:29 PM
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11. Welcome
Do you have a comment about our new site?
posted 6/11/2007 3:03 PM
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Dr. Martin Stessman's Site
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