Kinsley High School - Kihischo Yearbook (Kinsley, KS)

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THE KINSLEY-OFFERLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS Homecoming 1984 Parade - 2:30 p.m. Coronation - 7 p.m. Game - 7:30 p.m. Dance - 10 p.m. Friday. September 28, 1984 VOLUME 2, NUMBER 2 SEPTEMBER 27,1984 KINSLEY, KANSAS 67547 District tries to fulfill EPA regulations concerning asbestos; challenging the assessment could show guidelines were followed Superintendent of schools Robert J. Shanks explains at a board meeting the implications of the Environmental Protection Agency fine against USD No. 347. Board member Larry Olsen listens as to how administrators hope to show that the proper records concerning asbestos do exist. Trying to comply with federal asbestos regulations has brought an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) penalty fine against USD No. 347 of $22,500. School administrators, legal counsel, and board members are presently contesting this charge through prescribed avenues, saying that proper records do exist and that asbestos in any building area has either been properly removed or abated. John Wire, board member, summarizes the feelings of the other board members by asking. How did the EPA arrive that we weren’t in compliance? We know that we as board members and the superintendent acted in good faith in carrying out EPA regulations, and now EPA responds with this fine. School attorney J. Byron Meeks says, Nothing is wrong with the asbestos legislation. Neither is the school assessed for not dealing with the asbetos matter. We’re cited for not keeping records as required by law . . . but we compile enough infor mation to satisfy the EPA on what has been done. Then we can hope that the fine will be reduced. Meeks has responded to the complaint by filing a request for an informal conference and a hearing before the EPA regional center in Kansas City, Missouri. At that time, Robert J. Shanks, superintendent of schools, and Meeks will challenge the penalty by presenting the data dealing with the treatment of asbestos in the local system. Regulations In May 1982. the EPA published in the Federal Register rules and regulations governing asbestos in the schools: the regulations were mailed to school districts in June 1982. Local compliance was to be effective March 1983. According to Shanks, the regulations required school districts to perform two tasks: First, to identify the presence and the location of any asbestos substance and to take the necessary steps to see that the material is either removed or abated so that the health of em ployees and students is not negatively affected; Second, to document inspections and corrections made and to inform the employees, the students, and the public of the work accomplished. One regulation states that a certain form must be posted in the school indefinitely, stating that no friable asbestos material is present within the building; if such substance is, then the location is stated. Process Local school officials first became aware of the implications of these regulations when Shanks and Meeks attended a conference on school law in June 1984. At that time, Wilson and Company, Salina, was doing electrical evaluation at Southside Elementary School, so Shanks asked the company to examine the boiler room for the presence of asbestos. The representative found that the steam line from the boiler was covered with layers of corrugated asbestos paper insulation; furthermore, a canvas jacket covering the steam boiler had split, exposing asbestos. Writing for Wilson and Com pany, Damon P. Swain tells of the company’s contact with the Kansas City, Missouri office of EPA as to the recommended way for abating the asbestos fibers at Southside. The local board then hired F H Insulation of Wichita to do the work, completing the job August 13,1984. Wilson and Company’s letter to Shanks outlining the problem areas and stating the recommended solution is dated July 16, 1984. However, five days earlier, July 11, EPA inspector Robert E. Combs came into the school district, asking to see the local records containing the asbestos matter and to inspect the local buildings. “He gave us one day’s notice, says Shanks. And when he came, we did not have in our hands the Wilson and Company letter stating the recommended solution for the asbestos situation we had. On behalf of the school district, Shanks received the assessed fine from EPA Thursday. September 13. with these charges: •$6,000 for not having had in spected the friable material on the pipes in the high school cafeteria storage area and in the boiler room and for not making proper documentation; $6,000 for not having inspected the friable material on the boiler at Southside School and for not making proper documentation; •$6,000 for not having proper documentation concerning asbestos material within the school district on file at the Cen tral Office; •$4,500 for not having proper documentation at Offerle Middle School even though inspection revealed no friable material present. Sequence The irony of the situation. explains Shanks, is this: Before school began this fall, we had (Continued to page 9) 7

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HIGHLIGHTING Committee seeks to fill gap to meet state mandate Filling the gap remain a constant struggle for the USD No. 347 Board of Education curriculum committee. Our school system needs a K 12 program of basic facts and concepts. A school requires a well-articulated, sequential framework from which to work so instruction time becomes effective. When overlap or omission of concent occurs, students become bored, unmotivated, or lost. This results in graduates of our school system not fully educated. In approaching the teachers of K-12 last spring, the committee began the groundwork for a curriculum guide. Before classes start this fall, planning begins with a teachers' work day to formulate a plan for the guide and how comprehensive the guide will be in the end result. Ideas come together at a day-long meeting in mid-fall after teachers have worked on their individual areas. The goal of the board of education curriculum committee proves essential as teachers must use this guide effectively and not shove it into a drawer and forget the program. The guide, a valuable tool, becomes useful to help school personnel improve instruction, clarify purposes, and communicate activities to others. In conjunction with the school board's goal of a curriculum plan, the Kansas State Department of Education requires each district the task of developing district goal and curricular objectives. Each unified school district and non-public school must record educational goals and curricular objectives for each instructional area in the educational program. The due date set of September 1, 1985 hastens our work toward the goal. The Kansas State Department of Education attempts to bring all instruction to a level of excellence that addresses all the studies done in the past few years showing our weakness in education. -Julie Ackerman, president Board of Education, USD No. 347 BOE, administrators prepare teaching assignments, budget “Excellence in education has become the motto of the board of education and the administration as together they have planned during the summer for the opening day of school for students next Wednesday. Superintendent of schools Robert J. Shanks says, With the emphasis on educational excellence in our nation, the board of education and the administration hope that we educators can recognize the opportunities in our Kinsley-Offerle schools as we work with the parents and the com munity-at large to provide an ex cellent education for each student. Assignments Striving towards excellence, the board has changed some staff assignments, including these: •Mrs. Jean Edney will teach middle school and high school band and high school vocal music. A graduate of Wichita State Univer sity, Mrs. Edney has taught at Montezuma and at Junction City and has directed the Kinsley-Offerle community band this past summer. •Mrs. Darlene Weers will teach all vocal music in grades K-8. •High school industrial arts teachers. Duane Adams and George Bakumenko, will also teach at the middle school, expanding the offerings in metals, woods, and mechanics. •Middle school teachers Ron Miller and Galen Graff will also teach at the high school-Miller in American history, Graff in mathematics. •Mrs. Norma Murphy will teach home economics classes to stu dents in grades 7-12. •Mrs. Sally Maack will teach one section of the third grade at Southside: all elementary teachers will teach art. •Ray Daniels is the custodian at Southside and will continue driving the bus to and from the Garfield special education center. Inaugurating these teaching and staff assignment changes will demand cooperation from the faculty, the board of education members, the students, and the public, says Shanks, and that spirit does exist.” Budget Shanks announces tht the mill levy for the 1984-85 school year will be 78.29, a decline of 5.73 mills from the 1983 84 year of 84.02 mills. These figures are for the general as well as the capital outlay funds. The decrease comes from such factors as an increase of $37,310 in valuation for the school district, an estimated receipt of $74,025 in state aid based upon projected student enrollment, and a reduction in the percentage of delinquent taxes within the school district. In working with the budget. Shanks makes the following observations: •For the operating of the regular bus routes. 85 percent of the actual costs will be covered by state aid. •The district anticipates receiving $79,000 in transportation aid from the state for the 1984-85 school year. the initiative and go up and make yourself acquainted with these young men. Include them as part of any conversation or activity. And avoid doing anything that would jeopardize their staying here the entire school year. Second, all people have a need to be respected-and frequently nonverbal gestures convey a message people of all languages can understand. Those students accepted for this exchange program, says Mrs. Westhoff, are for the most part rather socially mature who can make rapid adjustments. But still it takes time to get used to new foods, new customs, different family habits, different curfew hours. At first, the exchange student may want to withdraw, but patience is the key. Give the student time to make the cultural adjustment.” Third, the host family plays an integral part in the success of this program. A local family,” says Mrs. Westhoff. participating in this program must want to learn about the people of other countries. And this goal comes about when the family treats the exchange student not so much as a guest but as a •The total utility costs (including telephone) for the 1983-84 school year were $4,384 less than they were for the 1982-83 school year: $37,674 compared to $42,058. member of the family. And from our involvement in this program, continues Mrs. Westhoff, our family will realize that there’s more to the world than Kinsley, Kansas USA. There’s a world where friendship and understanding unite our interests with those of others. Fourth, Hoymyr and Bentin will meet periodically with 21 other AISE students in the Dodge City area. “These sessions are directed by the area representative. Leslie Schoonover of Dodge City, says Mrs. Westhoff. Mrs. Schoonover’s purpose is to help the exchange students adjust more easily to the American lifestyle. Sharing “One word, summarizes Mrs. Copeland, describes the exchange program as our family sees it: sharing. Thomas comes from a highly populated area with no siblings in his family. He comes to rural America to live in a home with three brothers. “And in making that adjust ment, Thomas will learn how to share: we as a family will learn more about sharing, and we will all be the better for the experience,” says Mrs. Copeland. Two Scandinavian students begin classes at KHS (Continued from page 5) 6

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HIGHLIGHTING Counselor recommends seniors taking the ACT Why should a senior take the American College Teat (ACT)? This is a question that the counselor hears often when registration for the ACT is begun. The students have every right to know what use will be made of the test scores at schools, and also who will have access to their scores here. They need to know what they can expect to learn in turn for paying a registration fee of S9.50. One of the most important things a student gains from taking the ACT is learning how well prepared he is when compared to other seniors in the Midwest. These others are the students with whom he will be competing the next year. There are four tests in the ACT battery, and each provides the student information on that subject. In addition, a statistical average called composite score is also reported. These individual tests as well as the battery have been found excellent predictors of a student's ability to do college work in the specific areas as well as overall. ACT is constantly engaged in research and test items are revised annually. Tests are therefore appropriate for current secondary students. Their research has also studied the benefits of taking the test later in the school year. No gains can be expected as higher levels of success are expected as time into a school year passes. Schools want test results early but the student can also benefit from knowing his scores early. Strengths and weaknesses can be given time and attention when the student sees the need to maintain or improve performance. Unless factors such as personal illness or excessive anxiety pulled results down on the first testing, a retest may not be called for A brief interest inventory and a rather extensive self-description also alert students to decisions that they will need to make. For example, what factors have been used to select the choice of schools? Was it school location, reputation, costs, specific field of study available, size of school enrollment, private or public that led to the choice? Not all graduating seniors will attend a community college or a university next year, but even so, results from the ACT will be required later should they decide to enroll. Students will be better able to show up well on ACT taken now rather than after an absence from attending school. Results are maintained by ACT for five years and can be sent to almost any school or agency in the nation for a small additional fee. Results from the ACT will provide valuable information for the student and the parent as well as the schools in which the student has an interest. Results are given on an individual basis to each student and confidentiality of the results is maintained. The results do become a part of one’s permanent record. Any senior or a former graduate who has not taken the ACT is encouraged to spend $9.50 and approximately three hours to learn much about himself and to meet admission requirements of each and every two-year and four-year school in Kansas. -Nadine L. Stallard School district counselor BOE president remains involved Yearbook to incorporate increased coverage I make it my business to be concerned! So says Julie Ackerman, president of the local board of education. Mrs. Ackerman is a former graduate of KHS and also has had two children graduate from KHS. Perhaps Mrs. Ackerman's most pressing concern is making sure that a wide curriculum exists. I want to make sure that everybody in the school has everything they need to prepare them for life. she says. For a small school, we offer almost everything the bigger schools do. Mrs. Ackerman also realizes the issues connected with merit pay for teachers. Merit pay will be very, very hard to do because of the human factor. How do you determine which teacher deserve a raise and which ones don’t? she asks. “If we can find fair ways to determine merit pay, it's a very good idea. Mrs. Ackerman supports the weighing of classes. This means that harder classes such as chemistry, algebra, and history would be worth more weight to a student than music and home economics. A chemistry class might be worth five points whereas a music class would be worth two. By the board of education requiring a student to have a certain number of points to graduate from high school. Mrs. Ackerman believes that this will require a student to take harder classes instead of just coasting along on easy classes. Balance Mrs. Ackerman feels sports and other activities are very important but feels that there’s too much emphasis put on sports by parents and armchair quar terbacks. We must keep academics and activities in per spective. Mrs. Ackerman also feels that the media can play a very impor tant role in all activities of the school. We need to make sure that all school events are well publicized. This is not only for sports but also for academics. plays, musicals. In short, the media can either work with us or against us. Several changes are planned for the 1984-85 yearbook, now on sale at the high school office. First, says Dr. Galen Boehme, publications adviser, the coverage will be extended. The book will cover the school activities. not just of the high school students, but of students in grades K 12. Plans call for the final book to be approximately 160 pages long with the members of the high school publications’ class respon sible for several aspects of the book: the selling of the adver tising, the writing of the copy, the taking of the pictures, and the laying out of the copy and the pictures for the printer. Second, the book will contain Focus, the school district newsletter published approximately every three weeks. The students will help with the writing of this copy. To get Focus into the year book.” explains Boehme. we had to devise a special printing for mat. Every time we publish four pages of Focus, we will print 12 pages of the yearbook.” Third, the final bound yearbook should be ready for distribution in July 1985. “This distribution date, says Boehme. is approximately eight weeks earlier than we have had with the previous yearbook companies. Consequently, the year book should have more meaning to the students-especially to the graduating seniors before they leave for college or employment. Students in all grade levels made requests for yearbooks during the fall enrollment. Com munity individuals wanting to order may do so through the high school office (659-2126). A book requested before October 1 sells for $12.50: after October 1, the price increases to $15 per book. We need to confirm our order by October 1, says Boehme. We originally ordered 200 copies. We now have to extend that number as we already have more than 200 requests. Focus will be distributed at no charge as it was last school year: by mail to those school patrons requesting such: as such centers as the local grocery stores, the Offerle Cafe, and the local pharmacies. 8