USD 489 Virtual School readies for graduation

On this episode of the Post Podcast USD 489 Hays Virtual School Director Olivia Rice shares details from their upcoming graduation.

USD 489 preschool enrollment open now

On this episode of the Post Podcast USD 489 Director of Early Childhood Services Donna Hudson-Hamilton shares information about ongoing district pre-school enrollment.

In the home stretch of the year USD 489 begins prep for 2023-2024

On this episode of the Post Podcast USD 489 assistant superintendent and director of curriculum Shanna Dinkel shares updates from the district.

Facility update planning, work continues in USD 489

On this episode of the Post Podcast, USD 489 Public Relations director Chrisy Crough, shares updates from the district as they continue facility updates that will utilize a bond issue passed by voters in 2022.

Westside’s family-style lunch brings students, community together

On this episode of the Post Podcast West Central Kansas Special Education Cooperative assistant director of special education Lindy McDaniel, along with students Wyatt and Michael discuss Westside school's family-style lunches.

Hays High to present ‘Anne of Green Gables’ March 9-11

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays High Anne of Green Gables cast members Spenser Mills-Kulmula, Addy Brull and Devlyn Jochum discuss the upcoming performance of the spring play.

USD 489 Preschool Roundup set for March 2

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Early Childhood Connections coordinator Beth Hansen shares information about the USD 489 Preschool Roundup, scheduled for March 2.

Hays USD 489 BOE meeting recap: Feb. 20

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney recaps this week's USD 489 Board of Education meeting with superintendent Ron Wilson.

Hays USD 489 Kindergarten Roundup set for Feb. 27

On this episode of the Post Podcast Wilson Elementary principal, Anita Schieve discusses the upcoming Hays USD 489 Kindergarten Roundup.

Hays Middle School prepares for student led conferences

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Middle School principal Tom Albers shares information about the upcoming student-led conferences.

USD 489 Early Childhood Connections continues helping educate Hays pre-K children

On this episode of the Post Podcast, USD 489 Early Childhood Connections director Donna Hudson-Hamilton shares updates from the program.

USD 489 looks forward to 2023

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays USD 489 superintendent Ron Wilson recaps 2022 and shares what the district is looking forward to in 2023.

Hays Virtual School celebrates graduates

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Virtual School director Oliva Rice shares details about the program.

Five-year Hays USD 489 capital budget includes sports fields

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Hays Post reporter Cristian Janney recaps the latest USD 489 Board of Education meeting with superintendent Ron Wilson.

USD 489 prepares for parent-teacher conferences

On this episode of the Post Podcast Wilson Elementary principal, Anita Schieve shares information about the district's first parent-teacher conference of the year.

Hays High students, alumni prepare for 2022 Homecoming celebrations

Hays High is once again getting ready for Homecoming. From Hays HIgh Stuco Rilee Schwarz and Hannah Eikenberry stop by to share the details on this episode of the Post Podcast.

USD 489 Board of Education meeting recap: Sept. 27, 2022

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Post reporter Cristian Janney recaps this week's Hays Board of Education meeting with superintendent Ron Wilson. 

Go Truck Go set for Thursday

On this episode of the Post Podcast USD 489's Early Childhood Connections child development specialist Michelle Dannels shares information about the Go Truck Go event.

School year well underway at Hays High

Students at Hays High have hit the ground running for the academic year principal Shawn Henderson stops by to give us an update on this episode of the Post Podcast.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
Students at Hays High have hit the ground running for the academic year principal Shawn Henderson stops by to give us an update on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Shawn Henderson 
we have several new teachers that have joined us this year. And it's always exciting to see the energy that they bring in. Also to watch our people that are already part of our team, welcome them in and make them feel like they are part of this great thing that is Hayes Hi.
 
James Bell 
Love that, you know, it's it's gonna bring in a new energy and new kind of feeling when you have instructors in the beginning of the year and like new ideas and the collaboration and all that probably just to me seems like it would be I don't know, like a fun way to kind of kick off the year and move on into 2020 to 23. academic school year.
 
Shawn Henderson 
Absolutely. And here's the thing. I mean, as an educator, there's nothing more exciting than the beginning of the year, right? I mean, get your new backpack, pick out a first day outfit, and come in and all those connections that are made, you know, our theme this year was engaged. And it was fun to watch that happen to watch our people engage with the students. And vice versa. We even had Open House on Monday evening and to get to have all of our clubs and sponsors out and to have parents come in and see our school. It's It's really neat.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. And some exciting stuff going on in the district just in general. But we talked a little bit or we want to talk a little bit about this enrollment up as well. And you've got that new school coming here in the next few years is probably going to be like, Oh, my gosh, I want in there now. Right?
 
Shawn Henderson 
Yeah, I think patience is going to be is going to be a real thing. But I'll tell you what, we have a great design team construction team, the district we continue to meet and talk about what this vision for the future looks like. So it's kind of fun, because we already we have feet on both, you know, on both ground here we are in the current school with the current people and we are doing all that we can. But we're also getting to plan for this new exciting thing that is on the horizon. And just knowing what impact that will make on not only our school, but the whole community is is really exciting.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, with this increase in enrollment, is it? Are you guys like add capacity, or you still got a little room for them to get around? Okay,
 
Shawn Henderson 
we definitely can feel the students, the the the extra people that we had last year, you know, we're up over 950 now. And we ended the year at about 888 last year. So we definitely have more students. And we have some teachers sharing some spaces as well. And obviously, but at the same time, it creates some new collaboration. You mentioned it earlier, and some of our new people are in those collaborative spots. And so it's been, it's been fun watching that happen. And actually, as we plan for the new high school, that collaboration and teacher spaces and how people work together to impact student learning. That's really where we're headed. So we're just we're getting there already. So
 
James Bell 
love that. So what kind of stuff you guys you know, and I know, you gotta get into the academics of it all, but what kind of stuff goes on in the first part of the year to kind of ease into the rest of it.
 
Shawn Henderson 
There's not much easing at the high school. That's okay, though. That's the energy that we like. And you know, it's so fun to walk down the halls and see the students dressed up. You know, today we have, you know, soccer and we've got tennis that's in town, we have the volleyball team that's on the road, we have cross country that's on the road this morning. So we've already got hundreds of kids that are out, you know, doing their thing just today, and that's a random day in the fall. Doesn't feel like fall, by the way, one day, we might get some fall weather, right. Yeah, I mean, that's, you know, and then Friday Night Lights tomorrow, highlighting, you know, it's never just about football, it's all of the things, it's the community. It's the brand new band uniforms, which we debuted last week, which was really cool. And the cheerleaders and the dancers and I mean, it's, it's everyone, and there's just nothing like it. Actually, we love that Friday Night Lights. So yeah, we just have a lot of activities up and running. And we've had a lot of success with our groups. And it's, it's fun to watch them thrive. And so that's really exciting.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. Very cool. Anything on the academic side this year, that's kind of harder than usual, or is it just businesses? Businesses normal there?
 
Shawn Henderson 
Yeah, it's businesses is normal. But you know, one of the things that we're really proud of right now is our CTE and pathways. pathways in the state of Kansas is a conversation about how do you get students out and into internships and turning their, their, their academics from school into future opportunities are both at the post secondary and, you know, training level and, and so we have a lot of those partnerships and we're, you know, growing those partnerships all the time. But you know, like right now we have 97 students that that are leaving our building that are in an internship. So when you see someone walking, a high school student like this morning, said, Good morning to one that was wearing scrubs walking in, because there's going to come a point in the day to day that they're headed over to the hospital. That's really, really neat for our students, and it's something that we want to build upon all the time. I'm,
 
James Bell 
yeah, I like that, you know, and one of the things not not at all to get political here, but one of the things that came out of the student loan proposal out of President Biden's office is the well, how did we get in this mess, and we need to fix that. And you know, over the last few years, what I've seen, especially locally here is there has been an effort to not to dismiss or discount college education, but to right track those students and get them in the career fields that they want to be in and not necessarily skip college, if that's the way they want to go. But get them into a program or an internship or some sort of post secondary or post high school training that gets them where they need to be, without incurring a whole lot of debt and wasting a lot of time and things like that.
 
Shawn Henderson 
Right. And I think, but the impetus for that has to start with what's best for this kid, what's their story? Where are they headed? And how do we get them where we're going for some of those students, it's absolutely college. And they should do that. For some of our students, they have a lot of skills and a skill set that communities need. And it could be in all kinds of things. And that's why, you know, within CK tech and Fort Hays and our other other partners, we are looking at the student and their story, and how we can support them in that. And then, as the community realizes, you know, we have these partnerships, we hope to expand that so that our students have those opportunities to say, this is what I think I want to do. But when they go out and have those experiences, they're like, yes, it's really what I want, or no, it's not. And then they can be very intentional with their parents as to what training they need. And I feel like even in the new high school, and we're looking at the plans and talking, those CTE programs, those are those are going to be prevalent, they are going to be seen, and kids are going to watch what other students are doing. And CTE is for everyone. And that's really that's, that's something that that we're proud of, and that we just continue to bolster in our school.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, love that. And I would imagine, too, it probably helps in the effort to keep some of the students out here in western Kansas, whether it be haze or whatever, it down, you're listening to us. And there's that brain drain that we hear about all the time and those folks going elsewhere. And I think if we can train them to do the jobs that we need hear, we're more likely to retain them.
 
Shawn Henderson 
Yeah. And some of it is just letting them know what the jobs are. Now, we often hear well, we're training kids for jobs that are not that don't exist yet. That's 100% True. But I think some of that is being a responsive community to say, we do have young people that have all of these skills and this opportunity, how do we create it to where they feel welcome to insert themselves into what we have. And I think that's, again, a partnership between the school the community, the institutions that support us, and, and we're having those conversations, and it's fun. I mean, especially if you start to talk about it in terms of the scope of a new building, and how the new building can assist that. Then it's, you know, and I'm a creative person. So, to me, those are fun conversations.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. Well, we've got just about a minute or so left, and we got to talk about this homecoming right around the corner, right?
 
Shawn Henderson 
Yep. It is coming up soon. It'll be October 3 through the seventh, you know, we have two new StuCo sponsors, Luke Lundmark. And Alan Neill. And they've just done a great job. I mean, I think we have literally I think we have 193 students on on the docket force StuCo. That's how many students are involved. And so I feel like that student engagement and that level of school pride is really up in the morale is up. And so I just imagined this homecoming to be really great.

As USD 489 accreditation process continues, district strengthens practical education programs

On this episode of the Post Podcast USD 489 assistant superintendent Shanna Dinkel shares updates from the district.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
As USD 49 continues in the accreditation process, they are evaluating and enhancing their career exploration and tech education programs. Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Shanna Dinkle stops by to share some of the details on this episode of the post podcast.
 
Shanna Dinkel 
Two big year for our school district in that this is our final year of a what was to be a five year cycle, but really six year with COVID apology are in there of accreditation, so we will send our information about our processes and and how we work for continuous improvement as well as the measures we have in place and the growth we've shown and that will go to the state board this year. And we hope that you know, we will be fully accredited. That's our anticipation. One of the measures, obviously state assessments is a measure in the academic measure that we focus on. But there we look at wider range, because our ultimate goal and rock as a district is a successful high school graduate. And that's so much more than just the academics, it's also admit socially emotionally, how students are and what support they need to be able to get to the academic piece. And so our families of third through 12th graders got an email or a text this week, asking them to opt in and allow us to provide a screener for their students on social, academic, and semi emotional questions. And so that came about because we had some new legislation this past year, which is requiring schools to reach out and let parents know what the tool is, which is very appropriate. And so I just wanted to kind of help explain why that text was sent this year and not in the past. But it is one of the ways in which we look at how students are doing socially, emotionally. We also look that though at attendance, attendance is so important. And then behavior course grades, but that sabres, that screening piece is just another layer in which we can just make sure that we have whatever support is needed for students to be successful. And again, as a successful high school graduate, from pre K, all the way up, everybody plays a role in that. So that was something that was sent out this week. But another big piece and, and one of the data points that really we need to celebrate as a district is the post secondary success of our students, you know, our ultimate goal at the state level is defined at 70 to 75%. Because, according to studies out there, 75% of our graduates will need some type of post secondary education, to to have a workforce, you know, here in Kansas or, or in the nation, those other 25% are also successful, they may be going to the military, they may be taking over the family business. So it's not to say that those aren't successful, but that's our target. And as a district, we're at 69.5% of students who graduate then a year, starting their second year out have been to some tech, Ed type thing or are enrolled in that second year of maybe a two year or four year university. So career tech ed is so huge, and we used to think about it in two groups of our high schoolers college prep or career tech ed. But really, we're all on a pathway to some career in after high school. So it's a large umbrella that really, it's all about career tech ed. And so we have some amazing things happening at our high school. Becky hicker, who is an assistant principal there, she and her team have worked really, really hard. We have career exploration happening. So just a few numbers is last year, we had 9060 students who were out in the community doing some career exploration this year, we have 97. And that wouldn't be possible without partners in the community, with businesses to allow our students to get out there. But it's such a necessary and important piece of students exploring what it is that is of interest to them that they might want to pursue. Post High School.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, if that makes perfect sense because I you know, I think back to my college experience, and I had a pretty major shift mid college, and I say mid I was about four years in when I decided to change majors and have a scene that in advance, I may have made different decisions when I was 18.
 
Shanna Dinkel 
Yes, and so we hope to even grow that. And at last year's class of 2220 22. We had 120 members who were pathway concentrators, so really it has a lot to do with what courses you take and how many, a lot of times students Are we actually enrolled in more than one pathway, but as we call them a pathway concentrator, it's how many they align within a pathway. But we're trying to expand the pathways next year. It's exciting that we hope to have a military and military military health pathway for students who choose to explore that. This year, we're starting our health science pathway. We're partnering with Hays Med, and a grant out of K u. And that's been excited. We have over 70 students who are in the intro to health career courses. And we know how important that is. There's just it's so exciting. And we have students who, you know, some of the NCQA programs that our high schoolers are involved in our Certified Nurse Aide, allied health, pharmacy tech, auto mechanics, so many of those things, we have students who go and attend Fort Hays on campus during the day, or taking online through NC K or Fort Hays on campus at Hays high. So really just you know, one of our core values is selling students on the possibilities and opportunities for their future. And that's really what it's all about. And it's not just something that happens in high school, you know, one of the resources that's available to parents, as parents, we, you know, we want to talk to our kids to about what it is, is of interest to them, there is a program called Higher paths, H AI, R e paths.com. And there were some grant money, and there's some amazing videos, and just talking points for parents, upper elementary are ready to just start thinking and exploring and seeing what's of interest. So lots going on. And again, it's that partnership with parents that the school wants to work with, because that's such an important role in what their student chooses to do post secondary, but good things happening. And like I said, are the 70, nearly 70% of our kids having some success after that high school graduation, that that's awesome. And we want to see that continue to grow?
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you know, I love that I've seen this over the I don't know, I'd say maybe the last 10 years or so really an effort, and especially locally in all of the high schools from Fort Hays and CK tech, USD 49. And the Catholic schools as well to have that kind of overall focus on not pushing children into one thing, university education, but rather, what is it that you like to do? And how do we get you to a successful point there. And I've seen some of the USD 49 tech programs in action. And it is truly incredible. There's constant learning, not only with the students, but with the educators as well. And how do we better implement this? And how do we bring in new tech, and especially on the coding front? It's really just incredible to me to see.
 
Shanna Dinkel 
Yeah, and you know, really, that is the purpose of T CTE is to support and empower schools, developing those pathways to lead students to whatever is post secondary. And a lot of times, we want to train them with that content, like we've talked about, but also can they work with others? That's that social piece? How do they feel about their learning emotionally? Where are they so it's all tied in with like, we talked about social emotional learning is such an important way, and why that's also something that as schools, we want to make sure that we work with parents and help support kids, because a lot of times, it's those soft skills, too, that we want to make sure whether it's growth mindset, working through things, overcoming some difficult situations. So lots of good things happening. And it's exciting to be here. And I look forward to our accreditation that we send to the state board, because I anticipate that we will be fully accredited.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, get that check off. That's, that'll feel so good, I'm sure. Yeah. You know, I'm curious how much of this the shift in education to this kind of newer model where we were on the career track and the pathways? How much of that is the changing education structure? And how much is the changing world we live in? And I think about, you know, all the tech that, you know, I'm at the end of that age that when I was in, you know, my my kids school age, in fourth, fifth grade, we had a computer in the classroom, and it played Oregon Trail. And that was about all it did. You know, we had some typing tutors, but they're what they do on technology is so different and so much more expansive, and a wonder like, if you want to kind of help us, or help us share with us? Are we learning better how to adapt those kids to that world? Or are we learning a better rather how to educate them for that world? If that makes sense? Yeah, it's probably a
 
Shanna Dinkel 
little bit of both. And you know, I think that's why it's important to even start exploring careers because there's so many things out there, our tech will eliminate some jobs and add to others. So we don't even know some of those things that are out there. Sometimes when we think about tech and students are, you know, devices are just second nature to them. As a system, we need to unlearn some of their habits of more just casual use of technology to really get into some specific I'm things with technology. So one of the things that's exciting with the bond passing, again, thanking the community for that opportunity, as we, you know, look at design, we really want to make sure that we're taking into account what our students need for the world beyond high school so that they're ready, including technology and those types of things. So I think it's a little bit of both, it's kind of like our kindergarten readiness, you know, that's another one of our measures for accreditation, we don't want to have students have to fit our environment, we need to know the needs of our incoming kindergarteners and create that environment that meets their needs, where they're at, and then moves them forward. Same thing, when we talk about career tech, Ed, what's out there, and then making sure that we provide that for students to move them forward.
 
James Bell 
And I would imagine, too, at this point, you kind of have to teach students to be I don't know what the right word but able to adapt themselves to the business world because it changes so quickly, you know, like I think of jobs that didn't exist when I was in school that are now you know, top needed jobs and out in the workforce, that you wouldn't have the there's no way you would have the education for you have to educate yourself. Right.
 
Shanna Dinkel 
And I think that's what we're hearing from businesses and again, are Dr. Watson, the Commissioner of Ed has been on tours across Kansas. And a lot of times we hear, we'll train them on those specific skills they need for this job. It's more of those soft skills, showing up on time, making sure that you're in attendance, having a good work ethic, growth mindset, working well with others, being able to express yourself, when written or oral communication, being a good listener. All those are things that through the different, you know, content and academic tying that all together because then at some point, yeah, it's hard to prepare him for everything that's out there. But just making sure that those basic skills are there so that they can adapt and be adaptable out in their environment and what they choose to explore next. Very cool. Yeah,
 
James Bell 
sure. We've got just about a minute left. Any other last thoughts or anything else that we want to hit on? Before we go? You know,
 
Shanna Dinkel 
I really think we talked about a lot. I'm excited to be it is a great year, we started off well, like you said, Superintendent Wilson share that last week and it's just a really good start and all the activities and the whirlwind is is picking up as we get here into September and and it'll fly by but we're just glad that we're able to work with students, parents, and again, thanking the community for all those career exploration opportunities they're giving our students because it really does make a difference.