Dec. 13, 2022 Maize Pulse

With my first semester nearly done, I am thankful for the strong foundations of excellence here in Maize USD 266!

There’s no place like home: Maize has been such a welcoming place: It already feels like home. It has been a joy to meet so many of our parents, students, employees, and community members at the Superintendent Meet and Greets, site council meetings, and district events. I am inspired by your passion for Maize USD 266 and the foundation of excellence found here. Another foundation you can find in Maize is the one for my new home! My family gathered there around Thanksgiving for our first "holiday" in our new house. It is so fun to watch this dream take shape. We are looking forward to our move this spring.

Exciting things are around the corner: Since I was hired in March, I have spent intentional time talking with a variety of stakeholders to gather feedback. We have reengaged district and building site councils, leadership teams, and advisory groups to thoroughly assess district strengths and needs. I am keeping this work going, as I am in the midst of an Employee Listening Tour in which I am spending time visiting with employees at every school and department between Nov. 17 and Feb. 15. We have a great foundation of information collected, and initial analysis shows the top needs are as follows:

• Employee pay and benefits
• A tiered system of support for student behavior/social-emotional needs and unity of district processes to best support students as they transition from one building to the next.

The new year is full of promise for progress in 2023 at work and at home as we build on these strong foundations. Enjoy your Winter Break, and I wish you the happiest of holidays and joyous New Year!

Dr. Raquel Greer

Superintendent of Schools

• On Twitter: @rockigreer
• Email: rgreer@usd266.com
• Online: www.usd266.com/superintendent

December

• Dec. 21: End term two
• Dec. 22-30: No school, Winter Break

January

• Jan. 2-3: No school, Winter Break
• Jan. 4: No school, Teacher Work Day
• Jan. 5: Term three begins
• Jan. 16: No school, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

February

• Feb. 9: No school, Parent-Teacher Conferences, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Feb. 10: No school

Access the 2022-2023 Maize USD 266 Calendar by clicking here.

Maize USD 266 is reflecting back on 2022 and celebrating the amazing stories of the year in the Top 22 Facebook Posts of 2022 series, which launched Dec. 9 on the district's Facebook page! Revisit some of the top stories already identified, and stay tuned during the last weeks of the year as we count down and celebrate once again our amazing students, employees, and #MaizeFamily!

Congratulations to Maize South High School junior trombone player Jared Eck on his recent performance with the National Association for Music Education 2022 All-National Honor Ensembles Concert Band. In November, Jared performed in National Harbor, Maryland, with other students representing the nation's top high school musicians, who became eligible for the national opportunity after auditioning with state-level honor bands. Jared was the only student from the Wichita area and only one of seven students from Kansas in the Concert Band. This is Jared's seventh year to play the trombone. He began in fifth grade as a student at Maize Central Elementary School. He was honored Dec. 12 during the Maize Board of Education meeting.

On Dec. 4, Maize South Middle School was named the 2022 Bronze winner in The Wichita Eagle Best of Wichita top middle school awards. According to Best of Wichita, more than 7,300 businesses, organizations, and individuals competed for votes to be named in the top three of 236 categories, including those in education. Click here to view the Best of Wichita Top Middle School list. Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who voted!

Stan Bergkamp, Maize High School science teacher since 1993, has published his new children's picture book "Loopie, the Spirit of a Cow Dog." Proceeds of the book benefit the Maize Solar Initiative - See Beyond Campaign. Check out recent media coverage about the book, available for sale at Woodard Mercantile, 4160 N. Maize Road in Maize, and Watermark Books.

• KAKE-TV: Interview with author Stan Bergkamp
• KMUW: Stan Bergkamp on 'Loopie' and making a difference in the world

Please review these items from the Maize USD 266 District Student Handbook, and please follow these policies for the sake of the health of all students and employees.

• Students who are ill should never be sent to school. Students with temperatures at or above 100 degrees will be sent home. They must be fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication before returning to class. The school health rooms are set up to give first aid to the sick and injured, do screenings, give necessary medications, and care for students with chronic health problems. Ill students need to be picked up quickly in order to prevent the spread of disease to others.

• Parents are notified to pick up students when the school finds it necessary to send a student home. If the parent/guardian is unavailable, the emergency contact will be notified. Please keep family and emergency information current with the school.
  

• A contagious disease may require a physician’s order for your student to return to school. Contact your child's school nurse for more information.
  

The Maize Special Education Cooperative invites parents to attend a free Bright Start screening to assess children in the following areas: vision, hearing, thinking/problem solving skills, fine and gross motor skills, self-help skills, communication skills, and social skills. Parents will receive information on the growth and development of their child following the screening. To schedule an appointment for this free screening, please call 316-722-3105 or email brightstart@usd266.com.

The Maize Board of Education's next monthly meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9 in the classrooms at the Maize Performing Arts and Aquatics Center, 1055 Academy Ave. in Maize. Meetings are open to the public. Find a link to meeting agendas and minutes, school board member information, and policies at www.usd266.com/schoolboard. Meetings are broadcast live at bit.ly/Maize266YouTube.

Thank you to all of the donors, including Maize USD 266 employees and community members, who supported this year's Maize Caring Hearts gift drive. The organization supports Maize USD 266 students and their family members in need. This is the third consecutive year during which donors have purchased all gifts on the wish list. Thanks to the generosity of the community:

• 72 families with 210 children were supported this year.
• 51 of those families had their wish list shared via Amazon, where 490 gifts were purchased.
• Maize High School Encore classes are buying gifts for 45 children.
• Maize USD 266 Transportation adopted 13 children and purchased another 175 gifts.
• Supporters assembled more than 200 boxes of food for the families.

Thank you for your support!

Complete High School Maize students volunteered at different locations across Wichita recently, ringing the kettle bell for Salvation Army. One student shared she had more than $150 donated during her volunteer time slot. We love seeing our students serve their community!

This year, the community rallied more than ever for the Maize Education Foundation's annual Giving Tuesday Staff Appreciation effort. More than 1,625 district employees each received an envelope with more than $30 in gift cards and promotions to enjoy this holiday season. That is more than $50K in support from parent organizations and local merchants. For those who would like to show appreciation for Maize USD 266 educators, there is still time to click here and make a year-end gift in support of Maize USD 266.

There are two new local dining for a cause options that can benefit the Maize Education Foundation. Those who visit Hurricane Sports Grill; 8641 W. 13th St. N., Suite 111 in Wichita; or Emerson Biggins Old Town; 808 E. Douglas Ave. in Wichita; can send the Foundation the receipt, and Luis "Big Lou" Lopez has pledged to donate a percentage of those receipts back to the Foundation.

Counselor Caitlin Hamilton shares the impact Maize Education Foundation donors have on students at Maize South Intermediate School and Maize Intermediate School. Social-emotional tools help students in the two new schools build relationships with each other and connect with their educators. Thank you to donors for providing these resources that help our students navigate their paths to success!

Video by Taylor Roetzer

Please keep these reminders in mind:

• Please ensure that you have updated your information for notifications: If you want to receive phone calls and/or text messages from Maize USD 266, please log into Skyward Family Access and click “Skylert” on the left. Skylert enables you to receive notifications concerning your child(ren). Snow day-related notifications and the majority of district-sent parent communications fall into the category of “General.” You can check the boxes under “General” in Skyward to select how you prefer to receive this information. Please also make sure your phone number is accurate. Please click “Save” in the upper-right corner if you make any updates.
• Make sure to opt in to notify your carrier if you want to receive text messages: Those who want to receive the district’s School Messenger text messages also will need to opt in by sending a text message of “Y” or “Yes” to 67587. This informs your mobile carrier that you approve of receiving text messages from School Messenger. Those wishing to opt out can do so by sending “Stop.” Please click here for more information. Text recipients will receive automated district messages from the number 67587.
• In the event of school being dismissed or canceled because of inclement weather: The district will send out notifications via phone call, text (SMS), and email to those who have elected to receive them. Phone notifications will go out as early as 5:30 a.m. on the day of the closure. If a decision is made the night before to call off school, calls and texts will go out no later than 10:30 p.m. District officials will update the district’s website (www.usd266.com), official Twitter account (@maize266), and official Facebook page as soon as the decision is made to call off school. When in doubt, the district encourages parents and employees to verify school closings by consulting multiple official district sources. Please do not rely on only one form of notification, such as a text message, if you are uncertain.

Thank you for your cooperation in preparing for potential inclement weather this winter.