Brought to you by El Dorado Public Schools

May 1, 2008

STUDENTS EARN AUTO TECH CERTIFICATES
Two seniors, Michael Kuder and Patrick Sampoll, will graduate from EHS in May, and will also have earned a Certificate in Automotive Technology from Butler Community College. With the certificate the students have 34 college credit hours and are half way to earning their Associate in Applied Science. Another senior, Seth Etter, earned 21 college credit hours towards a Certificate in the Digital Media Specialist program.

The students were part of the El Dorado Career and Technical School, E-CATS, program. The program allowed students to attend BCC their junior and senior year of high school for technical education classes. The purpose of E-CATS was to broaden the high school curriculum by offering to students BCC classes that were not available at the high school. Students attended EHS part time to earn the credits for a high school diploma.

E-CATS students were enrolled in five different programs at BCC —Automotive Technology, Digital Media Specialist, Web Development Specialist, Information Assurance & Digital Forensics and Fire Science. Eighteen Technical Education programs were available through E-CATS. —Chris Knott, E-CATS Coordinator


STUDENT AND STAFF RECRUITMENT BEGINS FOR NEW CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL
USD 490’s charter high school, Project EXTEND, was approved for funding by the Kansas State Board of Education and the district is moving forward to an August opening. The Board of Education will soon consider a recommendation for director. At this time the district has begun a recruitment campaign for prospective students. The district will seek to recruit students who are in-need or desirous of an alternative to the "traditional" high school setting.

The purpose of Project EXTEND Charter High School is to meet the diverse needs of USD 490 students, increase work force readiness, provide alternative learning structure, lower the dropout rate and increase student engagement. Project EXTEND will serve a maximum of 40 students in an off-campus setting. These students will have the option to participate in extracurricular activities. The instructional delivery will be through virtual course work, self-paced learning packets, teacher-led mini units, performance electives and outside educational opportunities. Project EXTEND will have a flexible schedule (four-day week), varied instructional delivery, personalized graduation plan, no grade levels, credits are pass/fail, service learning and personal control.

HADLEY AND BIEBERLE TAKE HOME GRAND PRIZE AT SCIENCE FAIR
Sixth graders Faith Hadley and Allie Bieberle are 2008 Kiwanis/USD 490 Science Fair Grand Champions. Their winning entry, Which would you eat?, explored whether germs transfer from our hands to the food we eat.

Hadley and Bieberle were also the Biological Science Division Champs. Other division champions include: Grandview third graders Jolie Howland and Sidney Howland, Earth Science Division; Allie McKibban, middle school seventh grade student, Mathematics Division; and Lincoln fourth graders Kylie Gregg, Erica Holladay and Jill McCoy, Physical Science Division.

Each division champion (individual or team) received a monetary award of $30. The Grand Champions received a plaque and a monetary award of $50. Over 100 projects, representing 227 students, were entered in the 2008 science fair competition.

EHS CONSTRUCTION PROJECT UPDATE
By David Wagner, On-Site Project Manager
• Work since April 1st has been generally site and demolition related. The construction company fenced the area around the demolition site (the old commons, auditorium, classrooms, offices and kitchen). They boarded the access doors from the old commons to the gym. Demolition is progressing from west to east with the old auditorium, wood shop, and administration offices now razed. Workers are recycling materials from the building when possible. Demolition of the old facility will continue through the end of May.

• In addition, workers have installed site lighting on the west main entrance drive and the parking lot south of the activity center. The permanent lighting fixtures for the student parking lot will not be installed until Phase II is complete. Workers relocated the fire hydrant in the rear activity center parking lot to a location outside the parking lot. The cooling system for the new classroom addition has been started up and is now operational when needed.

• Areas around the classroom addition, on the east and south sides of the vo-tech building and areas between the roadway and the baseball and football fields have been seeded. In addition, new sidewalks have been poured south of the vo-tech building, into the boys’ team locker room stair landing and to the door on the south side of the activity center for Gym 3. They also poured four splash blocks around roof drains on the south side of the classroom addition and one at the current entrance to the temporary office.

SHUTTLE SERVICE AVAILABLE DURING EHS GRADUATION
Due to the construction of the new high school building and the demolition of the old facility, the number of parking slots available for graduation is considerably less this year. USD 490 will provide shuttle service before and after graduation from designated parking locations in town—the police parking lot across from the City offices (221 East First Avenue) and the old Food 4 Less parking lot (524 North Main). The district will provide wheelchair accessible buses for this shuttle service. (Please call 322-4804 in advance to schedule.) The shuttle will be the easiest way to circumvent the demolition site on the west side of the gym.

Shuttle Schedule: Parking lots to EHS—1:45 p.m. until 3:15 p.m. EHS to parking lots —buses will start for the return trip at the end of graduation exercises and continue for one hour or until all shuttle riders have been returned to the parking areas.

Buses will leave the parking area every five minutes or less to reduce parking lot waiting time. After graduation, the first buses will leave EHS when loaded and the following buses will leave every five minutes thereafter.

The loading and unloading area at EHS will be from the East Parking Lot near the Gym entrance. In addition, EHS will run a shuttle bus from the west parking lot to the gym doors by the elevator starting at 1:45 PM and a return shuttle after graduation.

MAY 6th IS NATIONAL TEACHER DAY
“Great Teachers Make Great Public Schools.”
“Thousands of communities will take time out May 6th to honor their local educators and acknowledge the contributions they make to our lives. ‘Great Teachers Make Great Public Schools’ draws attention to the crucial role teachers play in making sure every child receives a quality public education and conveys the hard work they do each day to make public schools great for every child.” -National Education Association

NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY INDUCTEES
Sunday, April 27, the following El Dorado High School students were inducted into National Honor Society: Hayley Fellers, Elizabeth Francis, Kate Green, Robert Lee Huff, Spencer Jensen, Adam Just, Joshua Lauber, Patrick Wilson and Nicole Zepeda.

DARE ESSAY CONTEST WINNERS
USD 490 fifth graders participated in DARE graduation on Thursday, April 17th. During the ceremony Garrett Howland, a fifth grader at Grandview Elementary, was named the city-wide winner of the DARE Essay Contest. He received a $500 savings bond from Fenton Ford.

Heartland Monument provided $50 savings bonds to the following classroom essay winners: Howland, Kristyn Utech, Grandview; Riley Payé, Washington; Breck Towner, Washington; Katy Swan, Washington; Marissa Sparks, Lincoln; Stephanie McGivern, Lincoln; and Logan Cooper, Lincoln.

RETIREMENT RECEPTIONS SET
•Grandview will host a retirement reception for Debbie Hall on Wednesday, May 14, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in the school gym.

•Jefferson Elementary will host a retirement reception on Wednesday, May 14, from 4:00-5:30 p.m. for Sherry Keller, Debbie Melcher and Sharon Pooler. The reception will be held in the school gym.

•El Dorado High School plans a retirement reception for Dorothy Beer, Chris Knott and Gary Melcher on Friday, May 2, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. The reception will be held in the high school gym. Please use the Recreation Center entrance and follow the signs.

•Margo Funk’s reception is set for Wednesday, May 14, from 3:30-5:00 p.m. in the El Dorado Middle School Library.

STATE MUSIC CONTEST RESULTS
The following EHS students competed at the State Music Festival on Saturday, April 26th:
I Rating—James Wilkinson, violin.
II Ratings—Caitie Coley, oboe; Avison Violin Quartet (Taylor Grunder, John Jones, Molly Milbourn, Sheridan Brown); Encore Men; Michelle Coley, violin; Blayze Trotter, vocal; Katie Bowden, percussion; Ian Ingram, vocal; Schubert Violin Quartet (Michelle Coley, Chhaya Kolavalli, Bailey Brush, James Wilkinson); Lucas Hadley, vocal; Choir Men; Elizabeth Francis, vocal; and Amanda Riddle, vocal.

JUNIOR FIRE CHIEFS
USD 490 fourth grade students recently completed the Jr. Firefighter education course. The goal of this program is to teach students fire safety. A Fire Chief was selected from each fourth grade class. The following were named Jr. Fire Chief: Jacie Mooney, Mariah Reynolds and Dante Bonomini from Washington; Olivia Peiffer, Jacob Kimble and Rebecca Schroff from Grandview; and Ashlyn McGee, Kaylee Hollis and Kylie Gregg from Lincoln.

NEW WEB DESIGN
The district plans to unveil its new web site design on May 14. The individual schools' pages will not be converted to the new design until this summer. Eventually all USD 490 teachers will have their own web page. The web site address is www.eldoradoschools.org.

HARBER WINS POSTER CONTEST
Lincoln fifth grader Chelsea Harber won the El Dorado Tree Board Arbor Day Poster Contest. Chelsea's poster was chosen from more than 90 entries. On April 24th, the El Dorado Tree Board planted a tree at Lincoln Elementary in celebration of Arbor Day.