“Welcome to the Jungle,” Park Elementary Principal Kelsey Sciacca said as school board members visited her school Wednesday for their monthly luncheon meeting. For Park School, the jungle is a place of exploration and adventure.
Sciacca reported there are 256 students enrolled at Park, down eight to 10 students from last year.
When addressing school improvement efforts, she talked about the new RISE (Resilience, Inspire, Self-Empowerment) program, an alternative to out-of-school suspension in the Great Bend Public Schools. Park Elementary and the Special Education Cooperative teamed up with education consultant/professional learning agency ESSDACK earlier this year to create the program that helps students with disruptive behaviors become classroom-ready through a coordinated team effort. Two of Park’s students are in the program.
“Right now we’re seeing great things,” Sciacca said. Soon more Great Bend schools will get the training from ESSDACK, starting with Eisenhower Elementary on Oct. 7.
Great Bend will give a presentation on this program to other educators at the upcoming Kansas Association of Schools convention. “I think there’s a big need across the state,” Sciacca said.
The principal also reported that the Park Booster Club has raised $18,000, helping to pay for such things as a new mural in the gym (painted by Anna Popp), an ice machine for teachers and outdoor umbrellas for in front of the school. Students all enjoyed an outdoor lunch on Wednesday and some sat under the umbrellas. They are working on getting a garden canopy and revamping the school garden, as well as add two more tables at the front of the building.
Park Boosters were also busy working on the Homecoming float for Friday. Sciacca said the school’s float won first place in the last two Homecoming parades.
Scholars Bowl
Fifth- and sixth-graders at Park can participate in Scholars Bowl, practicing two or three times a week in this test of general knowledge. To demonstrate how the competition works, five students took on three adults in a mini-bowl during the board meeting. Superintendent Khris Thexton, Board President Jacquie Disque and instructor Megan Hoffman were given buzzers, as were the students, who won the game 60-5. Contestants are given questions on such topics as math, science, English, social studies and current events. One math question was: What is the shape of a cross section that cuts through one of the corners of a cube. (The answer is a triangle.)
“This will be our third year with Scholars Bowl,” Sciacca said. Park hosted an event last year and Riley Elementary will host one this year.
Other business
In other business, Wednesday, the board approved recent grants and contributions, then went into executive session for 15 minutes so administrators could give them an update on the incidents that occurred Tuesday and Wednesday at Great Bend Middle School.
• Lacy Wolters, GBHS ACT/Career Coordinator, has applied for and received a $2,000 Midwest Energy Inc. Internship Grant that provides internship wages/stipends for students interning with local businesses not offering paid internships.
• Great Bend High School’s FFA received $400 from Zoetis for vendor incentive rewards designed to FFA by Animal Medical Center.
• Great Bend Middle School received $183.10 from Identifications Co. for GBMS Cheer.
