Principally Speaking

Safety in our schools is #1 on our list of priorities. Many years ago, the majority focus on school safety was about fire alarms, tornado drills, and procedures if ever a bomb threat. Several years back, we added periodic searches of our facilities by means of drug dogs. Now it seems, even the safest of communities and reputable schools, are not immune from the concerns of firearms. Therefore, we now have intruder – weapon – and even active shooter drills.

As everyone is aware, no matter the root cause of these concerns, schools and communities are more aware than ever regarding the concerns about school and public safety. Our incident of last week, whereas a gun was on school grounds, made all of us aware this is no longer just about other schools and communities, larger than Aurora. Holdrege High School about a month ago, Aurora Middle School last week, and York (bomb threat to the Courthouse during County Government Day) all have come to realization that it can happen in our small communities.

Our incident of last week was unfortunate but was handled as quickly and safely as possible as well as the communication to our parents and students. We want to thank everyone for your continuous support and trust you have demonstrated to have for our Aurora School system.

A few comments regarding the past month are noted below. Enjoy the nice weather outside!

• P.O.P. It is tough to say what amazes me more each year, the student costumes, their projects and performances, or the response from the community. I’ll just say all are truly amazing and our 7th grade teachers certainly deserve commendations for their leadership in getting the most out of their students. Great job all and thank you community for your continuous support of this project.

• Thank you Abby Ostdiek (in photo) along with Vanessa Wergin and Henry Penner, for providing the uplifting and motivational words of re-assurance during our recognition breakfast ceremonies held at the end of each nine weeks. In this photo, thank you Abby as you delivered a great message to our 3rd Quarter students on our Grade Achievement Lists.

Educationally,

What do you do all day? I’m often times asked that question. I sometimes joke that I spend my time drinking Diet Coke and eating ice cream sandwiches.

Honestly, answering that question depends on the day in which you posed the question. The occupation of school guidance

counselor has changed a lot over the years and even now varies depending on what age group you work with. Many of you

probably recall your guidance counselor being a quasi-administrator who dealt with discipline issues and the school course

schedule. Being a school guidance counselor is now very different.

At the elementary level, school guidance counselors spend the majority of their time presenting classroom guidance lessons on

character education. Their job is to help guide students in good decision making and moral development in areas such as respon-

sibility and respect. They also meet with students individually who are needing extra attention.

At the middle school level, I offer small groups over lunch, individual counseling to students needing extra attention, oversee the

district assessments in our building, oversee our TNT program and do all the class scheduling for students in our building.

At the high school, the emphasis is placed on transitioning to the next stage in life and a lot of time is spent giving career interest

inventories, getting kids out to colleges to visit, publicizing ACT/SAT test information, offering scholarship application support

and information as well as all the paperwork of sending transcripts and writing letters of support for students. Add to that the

individual counseling for students in need.

You may have noticed that the job of guidance counselor is very different depending on what age group you work with. You may

also have noticed that there is one consistency, individual counseling for students needing extra attention. This is the one area

that I have seen grow the most over the last few years. There are more and more students suffering from depression, anxiety and

other mental health related issues. I have been reflective of this trend and do not have a clear understanding of why there has

been such growth in very serious mental health concerns. We are not immune to this nationwide trend. Here in Aurora, we too

have students who need assistance dealing with their thoughts and emotions.

It would be wonderful if we could just love all these feelings away but there is not an easy solution. It will require us as their

parents, teachers, administrators and counselors to continue to look for ways to help them and to work together to support

them. I can speak for all the counselors in the district to assure you that we continue to look for new ways to support your

children in this area.

8TH GRADE ONLY

NEBRASKA SCIENCE TEST

THRUSDAY, APRIL 12TH 6/7/8TH GRADES

NEBRASKA READING TEST

THURSDAY, APRIL 19TH

6/7/8TH GRADES

NEBRASKA MATH TEST

THRUSDAY, APRIL 26TH

Recognition Honorees

Pizza / Ice Cream Social

Throughout the course of the year, academic and extra-curricular efforts of our middle school students are acknowledged in a variety of means. However, in addition to recognition for these efforts, it is important to point out that we also have a very large group of students that demonstrate the types of individual social and behavior charac-teristics that parents would be proud of. We are proud of our students and want to acknowledge their leadership in modeling the types of characteristics we expect of them.

Although we have countless number of students that meet the qualifying criteria, each quarter our middle school instructors are allowed to select only nine students, three from each grade level.

Congratulations to all students that were selected to the Pizza and Ice Cream Social. The teacher nominated student selections were based on the following criteria: positive attitude about self and others, willingness to volun-tarily help and assist others, proper manners or conduct demonstrated within the school, and POSITIVE CHARACTER-ISTICS that exemplify the behavior we expect of our students.

Congratulations to the following students and a special Thank You to Shelba Vasquez, manager of the Aurora Pizza Hut, and Laurel Graff, manager of McDonalds for donating the pizza and ice cream for the honorees:

Recipients are: 6th Grade: 7th Grade: 8th Grade:

Amber Cure Roslyn Andersen-Lee Alex Hunter

Naela Merrihew Devin Danielson Alex Sheffy-Harris

Kassidy Quandt Jacob Ostdiek Zander Stromer

April Notes of Importance:

As spring has arrived, the potential for severe weather increases. Tornado awareness drills will be conducted in each of the buildings to address what to do in the event of an emergency due to severe weather.

Congratulations and kudos to the top Accelerated Reader point earners for the 3rd Quarter (only 3rd Quarter) of the school year.

Ethan Ramaekers 6th Grade 225 points

Kimberly Evans 6th Grade 167 points

Amber Cure 6th Grade 146 points

Adrianna McNeese 6th Grade 142 points

Annalesa Talkington 7th Grade 141 points

Electronic Devices including cell phones are not allowed on school grounds, on school buses, at extra-curricular prac-tices nor Middle School activities. This does include Saturday Middle School track meets at Aurora and as invited guests at other schools. This also includes school sponsored evening and Saturday events! Thanks for addressing this rule with your child as it would be preferred that they not join the activity group, rather than violating the rule. Again, if your child is on school grounds with a cell phone, they are in violation. The school provided iPad is the only necessary electronic device (with exception to the traditional style calculators), that are allowed or necessary on school grounds. Ipads however, are not allowed at track practices or track meets.

Although I do not use Twitter for personal use, I have found I like sharing some enjoyable pictures of our students and staff members doing what they enjoy. Perhaps occasionally you will find a picture including your child on my twitter feed. Feel free to follow @thiele_ken

During the school year, each of our 8th grade students are required to give 10 hours of service with intentions to help others that are less fortunate, unable to help themselves, or non-profit agencies. In our Middle School, similar to that of many athletic record boards, we post a Top 10 All Time list to acknowledge the giving nature of our kids. Our goal is to teach student how to give of time, talents, and service to others. So many of our students come by this naturally. This is of great reflection on our parents/guardians.

Physicals Required

Reminder to parents of all current 6th grade parents, health physicals are required prior to enrollment in the 7th grade.

In addition, sport physicals are required of all 8th grade students planning to participate in an athletic activity for the 2018-2019 school year. Although 7th grade student physicals are required by law, prior to being allowed to attend any 7th grade classes, 8th grade sports physicals must be obtained prior to the first day of the athletic activity of which the student is involved.

Please be reminded, in accordance with the guidelines established by the NSAA (Nebraska School Activities Association), all physicals taken on May 1 or after of the current school year, may be applied to the upcoming 2018-2019 school year. Thus, please be advised and aware before scheduling physicals that are necessary for any upcoming summer camps

April 10th is Runza Day for Teammates. 10%

of the day's proceeds will be donated to our

chapter. We greatly appreciate all the support.

During the Week of March 20th- March 27th,

Middle School students participated in a March Madness

Food Drive for the Hamilton community food pantry.

Each day had a theme to get students thinking about

items they could donate through out the week. The food

drive was a competition between TNT groups and

the winning TNT got to " can the principal". This

years winning TNT was Mr. Feik! Thank you all for

your participation in this event! The food pantry will

appreciate the generosity of the students and staff.

Reading classes visited the media center for the purpose of pursuing potential books to read in small groups in class. Mrs. Fiala found an idea for a "Book Tasting". The tables were decorated and sets of books were displayed on each table. Students were given personal "menus" or brochures to jot down details about specific books they viewed. They were to select a book that caught their eye, referred to as their first "bite", check out its summary and rate it, read their choice of pages for 2-3

minutes and decide if that was a book they'd like to read or discard.

The groups at the tables then shifted to another table to repeat the process with a different set of books. Five tables later, they were asked to rate their top 5 choices for Mrs. Petersen so that she could put them into groups. These reading groups will

begin next week and continue between 2-3 weeks total.

AURORA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

PROGRAM

Benefits • High Quality, good tasting, local beef for lunch.

• Opportunities to learn about nutrition and lifelong healthy eating habits.

• The school will be substituting and serving local beef versus government commodity beef. The per-cent of local beef used through the school year is dependent on the success of our fundraising efforts.

• The beef will mainly be in the form of ground beef but other cuts such as roasts and stew meat may be used as the program progresses. (Serving sizes will not be affected by this program as those are set by the government).

Ways to Get Involved/ Donations • Monetary donations can be made to the Hamilton Community Foundation in the name of Husky

Diner Beef Program. The Foundation is a 501 C3 non-profit organization:

• Donations can be mailed to:

Hamilton Community Foundation

PO Box 283

Aurora, NE 68818

All monetary donations are tax deductible. The purpose of this account includes, but is not limited to, covering the costs to purchase ground beef and to cover associated costs with processing if an approved animal is donated.

Contact Information Denise Bone (Nutrition Director) – dbone@4rhuskies.org

Damon McDonald (Superintendent) – dmcdonald@4rhuskies.org

Recognition of Donations Donors will be recognized in the school’s monthly newsletters and on the school’s website.

GO HUSKIES!!!

On March 15 the 7th graders gave their People of the Past (POP) presentations. Many historic figures of American and world history were on hand to discuss their lives and the contributions that they left behind. Some of these included Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Cleopatra, and Steve Jobs to name just a few. To hear about the lives of these great men and women, the public had to donate at least a quarter into a container next to the historic figure. In just an hour’s time the total donations came to $2731!!! This money was divided equally to the Aurora Adapt a Pet, Make A Wish Foundation, and Wells for Haiti. Thank you to all who attended and help make this project a successful night!