Just before Valentine’s Day, the staff and students at Eisenhower Elementary School finished the sentence “I love Eisenhower because ...” and wrote their feelings on posters. Then they went on camera so the school could make a video slide show, set to music.  It was posted on the Eisenhower Elementary Eagles Facebook page.

The video can still be seen on Facebook, Eisenhower Principal JoAnn Blevins told the school board when her school was invited to Thursday’s USD 428 Board of Education meeting. Most board members met at the District Education Center while Eisenhower’s representatives joined the meeting via Zoom. Board member Jacquie Disque also joined the meeting via a remote connection.

The subjects in the Valentine’s Day video wore masks and stood in front of a red and white “love” background with heart-shaped balloons, holding their posters. One boy’s poster reads, “I love Eisenhower because everyone is awesome and nice.” Another loves Eisenhower “because I love my teacher, my classmates and recess.” Other answers were because “it’s fun here!” and because “it is nice – a place where friends are.”

The video has reached more than 1,600 people on Facebook so far, Blevins said.

A different USD 428 school joins the school board each month for a luncheon meeting. In the past, the board would meet at the schools but the luncheon meetings were canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They resumed in January when Park Elementary staff used Zoom to meet with school board members.

Thursday’s meeting was the second in the series, with Principal Blevins and other staff members asked to share information regarding the academic programs and the school improvement efforts at Eisenhower.

Blevins was at Riley Elementary for 19 years before moving to Eisenhower two years ago. “I had a lot of great mentors,” she said, naming a few. One of her challenges is “passing the lessons they taught me to a new generation of teachers. Most of our staff has less than five years of experience. We’re helping them find their teaching groove. Our veteran teachers have been trying to learn some new things in a crisis,” she added, mentioning the new skills needed for a combination of remote and in-person classes.

There’s also a challenge in the diverse community that Eisenhower serves, she said. That challenge is “to bring families together to form a unique Eisenhower family.” Later she added, “I think people that walk into Eisenhower can tell that we are a family.”

That can go beyond what is being taught in lesson plans, she said. She recalled how the previous Friday, Kelly McClure, the school’s family support worker, learned that a family didn’t have heat in their home. With help from Buzz Birney, director of the Live Like Jesus Today ministries in Barton County, they got the furnace fixed. Birney also joined with Lasting Life Ministries to open a warming shelter in Great Bend during the recent cold snap.

“We know how much it affects the kids’ learning when they’re worried about what’s happening at home,” Blevins said.

Personnel and contributions

In other business, the board approved the appointment of Kerrigan Travens, who will be an elementary teacher at a school yet to be determined.

Teacher resignations were accepted from Miranda Zink, a special education teacher at Ellinwood High School; Travis McAtee, a science teacher at Great Bend High School; and Carol McAtee, an instructional math coach at Lincoln Elementary School. The McAtees plan to move to be closer to family, Superintendent Khris Thexton said. The board also approved the retirement of Linda Reschke, a special education teacher at Jefferson Elementary School.

The board also approved some grants and contributions:

- A Patterson Family Foundation Grant of $25,000 was awarded to USD 428 to offset expenses incurred due to the pandemic.

- Wheatland Electric contributed a $1,000 Sharing Success Grant for the Little Panthers Preschool. Superintendent Thexton said there has been a lot of interest in the district’s plans to open another preschool later this year.

- Superior Essex donated $300 and the Fraternal Order of Police donated $250 to the GBHS Teen Closet/Groceries Families Fund.