May 2018

Newsletter Date

D i s t r i c t N e w s

Superintendent’s Corner:

Gemini project receives

high praise from KSDE Writing this newsletter article is bittersweet as it will be my

final one as the superintendent of this great district. I am so

proud of what we have done this year, and the past eight

years, to provide the best education possible for our students.

Colwich Elementary School and Garden Plain High School

are putting the finishing touches on their first year in the

school Gemini redesign program. We recently had a visit from

KSDE, where we presented what we had accomplished so far.

It was rewarding to hear from KSDE that our Renwick schools

were ahead of where most redesign teams are in the

inaugural year of the process. This is due to outstanding

staffs, which have put in countless hours of additional work to

change our approach to educating their students. This

process has really allowed us to focus on how to best provide

support and learning opportunities for each student in the

building. One of our goals next year will be to get our

communities more involved in what we are doing. If you have

the opportunity to attend a meeting, or serve on a committee,

I would encourage you to get involved. There are a lot of

exciting things happening in the process and we want to share

with parents.

The picture around school finance should become much

clearer in the coming days. The Kansas Supreme Court will be

hearing oral arguments on May 22 to determine if the school

finance bill the legislature passed this session meets

constitutional adequacy and equity. If it does, funding is set

for the next five years. If it doesn’t, a special session will be

required for the legislature to decide how to properly meet the

KSC ruling. If the legislature refuses to pass new school

finance legislation that is deemed adequate and equitable,

there is a real possibility that schools will no longer receive

funding to operate. I expect the legislature will pass an

additional funding bill if necessary, and will avoid any sort of

shutdown.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve Renwick for 24 of my

32 years in education. I have had the opportunity to serve as

a teacher/coach, principal, assistant superintendent and

superintendent. I have “grown up” as an educator, raised a

family and watched my children graduate from Renwick. I

have certainly received more from this district than I could

have ever given. I care deeply about Renwick, and am happy

Mindy Bruce will be continuing the work we started.

Kody Kasselman will be taking over the reins as principal

at Garden Plain High School when the 2018-2019 school term

begins in August. Kasselman — an educator for 16 years —

spent six years at Atchison High School before teaching at

GPHS for last 10.

Kasselman said he plans to “continue the good things that

are taking place at GPHS with Gemini and help grow what

current principal Kati Thul has started here.”

Kasselman also took the time to answer a few questions

about the district and his new role.

What are the strengths of the Renwick district?

Renwick strengths are but limited to great students,

communities and staffs. It is a unique and

wonderful district that prides itself on success.

What do you feel is most important to

provide to high school students in order to

prepare them for success post graduation?

I think it is a very exciting time in

education. Education is in a shift to where it is

focusing on the individual student instead of

streamlining learning.

There are many things a student needs to be successful after

graduation, but there no doubt work ethic is probably at the top

of my list.

Kasselman set to lead GPHS as principal

KSDE officials offered positive feedback to Renwick’s progress in the Gemini

school redesign project. Garden Plain High School and Colwich Elementary

participated in the program’s first year.

Page 2 Distr ict News

District on target for accreditation In January 2016, the Kansas State

Board of Education announced a new

vision and five outcomes for determining

the effectiveness of education systems.

The vision of the state BOE is: Kansas

leads the world in the success of each

student. The five outcomes for school

districts to meet are as follows:

Kindergarten Readiness

Graduation Rates

Post-Secondary attendance/completion

Individual Plans of Study (IPS)

Social and Emotional Factors

In addition the Kansas BOE developed

a definition of a successful high school

student: A successful Kansas high school

graduate has the academic preparation,

cognitive preparation, technical skills,

employability skills, and civic engagement

to be successful in postsecondary

education, in the attainment of an industry

recognized certification, or in the

workforce, without the need for

remediation.

KESA (Kansas Education Systems

Accreditation) is the new K-12

accreditation model approved by the

Kansas State Board of Education in June

2016. The first year to begin the KESA

process is the 2017-2018 school year. The

new model employs a systems approach to

school improvement. It requires our school

district to engage in a process of a system

wide needs assessment, goal setting,

implementation and reflection.

There are 5 rubrics in which to follow.

These rubrics encompass everything an

education system must do to achieve

successful high school graduates. The five

R’s are: Relationships, Relevance,

Responsive Culture, Rigor and Results. In

the KESA model, each school district will

meet with an outside validation team

(OVT) each year of the accreditation cycle

to determine its final rating in year 5.

Districts choose what year in the process

they will go in at.

Because of a very strong strategic plan,

Renwick decided to go in at year. 3. The

district choose the goals of Relevance and

Rigor to focus on. In addition, each

individual school choose goal areas for

themselves as well.

Relevance goals will focus on course

and activity offerings, career exploration,

internships. Individual Plans of Study,

technology integration, and kindergarten

readiness. Rigor goals are based on

innovative schools, redesign, Crisis

planning, Safe Schools, higher level

thinking skills for all lessons, student-led

instruction, project based learning and

meeting professional development needs.

On April 26th, we had our first OVT

visit. Cindy Couchman, Buhler School

District, Greg Rosenhagen, Cheney School

District and Tuanua Swartz, Chaparral

School District came into our district,

reviewed our goals and data, and visited

wit out district leaders.

The visit was a huge success and

everything in our KESA plan is on the

right track for accreditation in the 2020-

2021 school term.

District employees finishing up

their service at Renwick were

recognized at the May 14 Board of

Education meeting.

We wish them the best and thank

them for their dedication and

efforts for the students, staff and

patrons of USD 267.

Honorees included:

Kimberly Cole - 10 years of

service as a teacher

Diane Faber - 15 years of

service as a teacher

Allen Hackett - 26 years of

service as custodian (pictured

above with Tracy Bourne, AES

Principal Tad Hatfield & BOE

President Greg Tice)

Tammy Jennings - 23 years of

service as a teacher

Donna Martin - 20 years of

service as cook & custodian

Betty Pugh – 19 years of

service as an administrative

assistant/sub nurse

Joycelyn Veenstra - 13 years of

service as a teacher

Graduation day May 20

Graduation ceremonies for Andale High School and Garden Plain High School are

scheduled for Sunday, May 20.

GPHS seniors will receive their diplomas in a ceremony set for 2 p.m.

AHS graduates will be honored in a commencement at 4 p.m.

Both graduations are at the respective high schools.

Page 3

May 2018

Travis Howell is a Wildland Fire Suppression

Specialist with the Bureau of Land

Management Alaska Fire Service.

What degree(s) have you received since your

graduation from Renwick and what schools

did you attend?

After graduating from Garden Plain High

School in 1998, I obtained a Bachelor of

Science degree from the United States

Military Academy at West Point. I then served

as an officer in the Army for five years, and

after my discharge I attended a number of

other schools for firefighting in Alaska and

the New Zealand Fire Service Firefighter

School. As a result I have a number of

firefighting qualifications in both the United

States and New Zealand.

What do you enjoy the most about your

chosen profession?

Without a doubt, the lifestyle flexibility and

the ability to work all over the world as a

wildland firefighter. Wildland firefighters

typically earn a year's worth of salary during

the busy fire season summer months in the

western US. This allows me to not need to

work around half the year each year. My wife

and I have taken advantage of this lifestyle

and live in New Zealand half the year when

not working at the Alaska Fire Service each

summer. Also, firefighting qualifications and

skills are recognized in a number of other

countries so I have been able to work as a

firefighter in New Zealand and Australia.

Was there a teacher who made a positive

impact you or helped direct your path when

you were a Renwick student? How did they

inspire you?

For me, there was not a single teacher that

stood out as I think that all of them made a

positive impact on me. Rather than help

direct my path, they created an environment

for me to determine that myself and once I

had done so fully supported me to achieve

my goals. In my case, that was successfully

being accepted into West Point and taking

courses in high school which prepared me for

that.

Any advice you have to offer for current

Renwick students as they prepare for their

future after high school?

My first bit of advice is for current students is

to really consider if college is something that

is right for you immediately following high

school. There are lots of opportunities to

work, travel, and explore different parts of the

United States and places all over the world

when you are younger and college is

something that will always be there for you to

pursue at anytime in your life. While some

people figure out what career field they want

to pursue immediately after high school while

in college, for a lot of people it takes a bit of

life experience and exploration to find out

what they enjoy and what they want to pursue

in life. Figure out what you want for yourself

and don't let people persuade you from

pursuing what you want to do with your life.

What kind of a difference did your time as a

student at Renwick make for you?

The ability and freedom to take course and

participate in extracurricular activities, which

helped me prepare for my future goals at the

time.

Are you or someone you know Renwick

Made? Email anne.maxwell@usd267.com.

Travis Howell Garden Plain High School 1998

made RENWICK

Distr ict News Page 4

Careers on Wheels rolled into Garden

Plain on a cool, dreary April day, but

there was plenty of sunshine generated

from the excitement of the students.

The event was an opportunity for

kindergarten through second grade

students in the district to understand

how careers in our community work and

how they help with efficiency.

Ashley Hett, a district counselor who

helped organize the event, said the main

intent was to generate an awareness of

local careers for the young students.

“I hope that students will begin to be

more aware of the vehicles in their

surrounding areas that are career

related,” Hett said, noting Careers on

Wheels will be an annual event. “We are

always looking for more career vehicles

and would love to have a greater career

vehicle presence next year.”

While it will be years before any of

the elementary students get behind a

wheel for a career, being focused on

future plans is essential.

“Students are expected to be college

and/or career ready by the time they

leave our district and this early exposure

will prompt career exploration and

growth as they continue through

school,” Hett said.

“Conversations about careers can be

very helpful to our students, not only for

their own career exploration, but to help

children understand that careers in our

community are very important. Without

our garbage collectors we might have

trash lining our streets, without our mail

carriers we would not have easy access

to our mail and packages, without our

first responders — ambulance, fire

truck, and police — we would have to

find other ways to help ourselves in

unfortunate experiences. Parents can

begin to point out other careers in our

community, discuss their own career,

and ask their child what career they

would like to have when they grow up.”

Career event steers

students toward

future aspirations

Careers on Wheels drove home the importance of jobs for Renwick students in Kindergarten through

second grade at the event in late April. Students were able to view various work vehicles and visit with

career professionals about how their vocation serves the community.

“Conversations about careers can be

very helpful to our students. Parents

can begin to point out other careers in

our community, discuss their own

career, and ask their child what career

they would like to have

when they grow up.”

— Ashley Hett,

Renwick Counselor