By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
School board lunch meetings are back in session. With the start of the USD 428 school year last month, the board of education resumed its on-site luncheons with a meeting at Park Elementary School Thursday at noon. Park Principal Kelsey Sciacca highlighted some changes in her school for the upcoming year with an overall theme of getting back to normal.
"When we think about our second-grade kids, third-grade kids, that's half our school that have lived COVID, and that's all they understand of school," she told the board. "We're trying to change our mindset just within our building with our staff, our students, and our parents."
First impressions are big, and the school now has morning greeters consisting of both students and staff. A custom sign is created each morning, and a banner and a colorful mural by Melanie Ryan greet the students inside. Student and Family Advocate Alana Blessing leads approximately 60 students with a dance outside, and she also brings Theo, the therapy puppy to school each day.
But it's not all fun. The school is also pushing for higher attendance and achievement. A tiger prize moves to the classroom with the highest attendance each week. Students with 98-percent attendance for a given month are entered into a drawing for family gift cards. The school will call the homes of students with unexcused absences.
High expectations continue to things like manners, with students saying "please" and "thank you." And achievement is recognized on all fronts with a student from each classroom being recognized with a R.O.A.R.S. award to celebrate excellence for being respectful, showing outstanding leadership, showing academic success, and being responsible and safe.
"We sometimes get so focused on our Tier 2 and Tier 3 kids that we forget those kids who are really excelling," Sciacca said. "We've really talked to our teachers you might have the same kid win a R.O.A.R.S. award for four weeks in a row. That's great. You're going to have other kids who want to be that child."
Instructional Coach Lacey Hofflinger spoke about the Rocket Math program that is used district-wide but loved by Park Elementary students. A reading contest will also kick off during the second nine weeks of the school year.
"That also really seems to get kids excited about reading," Hofflinger said. "I like that the reward is a book. They're rewarded with more books when they fill out a reading log."
The USD 428 Board of Education will hold its regular monthly meeting on Monday, Oct. 10 at p.m. at the district building on Patton Road.
