Maize South High School

Greetings Mavs!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a healthy and safe holiday season. I’m excited for the start of a new semester, and am looking forward to a great spring.

At the beginning of each semester we meet with all students through grade level assemblies. We are currently in the process of doing this with our 9th grade assembly complete and our 10th - 12th grade assemblies scheduled during Flex next week. Our second semester assemblies include sharing academic, attendance, and behavior data with students, a policy review of the most common policies that impact students on a daily basis, and a glance at preparing for pre-enrollment. Our seniors also get a list of second semester dates that are important for them and their families to be aware of in the final semester of high school. You can see the information shared with all students in this presentation.

Throughout the fall semester we have had a lot of conversation regarding student identification and lanyards. As a community, we have had a semester to adjust to this new policy and daily expectation. Following grade level assemblies, students will be issued detention each time they are not wearing the district issued student identification and lanyard. Students will still have the opportunity to get a temporary ID sticker if they forget their ID/lanyard upon entering the building to begin the school day. If students are issued a detention for not wearing student identification and lanyards or temporary IDs appropriately, they will not be eligible for Early Release on Fridays from Flex.

A few notes/reminders:

• There is no school on Monday, January 15th in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

• Winter Homecoming week is January 29th - February 2nd. The dance will be on Friday, February 2nd following the conclusion of the basketball games. Attire for this dance is casual.

• A full calendar of events can be found at www.avctl.org.

Mavs Up!

Becky Sailor

Want to nominate a Maize South staff member for Maverick of the Month? Click here Maverick of the Month or go to the MSHS website anytime!

Visit our school website at www.usd266.com/mshs.

Connect with Ms. Sailor at bsailor@usd266.com or 316-462-8000.

Maize South High School is located at 3701 N. Tyler Rd. in Wichita.

Follow Us

• Website: Counselor’s Corner

• Twitter: @MavCounseling

• Facebook: Maize South High School

The Counseling Center Facebook page has been deactivated. We are now using a general school Facebook page. Like the page for updates!

Upcoming Events

• Jan 8: FAFSA/Scholarships Information Session (9-12 Students and Parents), 6:30pm @ MCA
• Jan 18: FAFSA Completion Event (Seniors and Parents), 6-7:30pm @ MCA
• Jan 29: Late cap & gown, ring, and announcement orders/class ring & senior announcement delivery, commons during all lunches
• Jan 30: Late cap & gown, ring, and announcement orders/class ring & senior announcement delivery, commons during all lunches
• Feb 27: ACT @ MSHS
• March 4: Cap & gown and senior announcement delivery, commons during all lunches
• March 5: Cap & gown and senior announcement delivery, commons during all lunches

We will be hosting an ACT Test Prep Course taught by Power Prep, a Midwest-based company that has specialized in ACT preparation for 15+ years. This class is designed for any student who wants practical and relevant information on how to increase their ACT score. Although targeted towards Juniors, all grades are welcome to participate. Click here to learn more and/or register.

Mark your calendars!

February events:

5th - College & Career Fair

7th - Friends and Newman University college visit (registration opening soon)

8th - WSU Tech college visit

College visits are now open for students grades 10-12

Mark your calendar, the Spring College & Career Fair is scheduled for Monday, February 5th. We look forward to you joining us as we welcome over 40 college & career vendors who are excited to share the opportunities they offer.

March events:

Spring Break is a great time to have conversations pertaining to students post secondary plans and even possibly tour college campuses.

25th - College Tour - Fort Hays State University

April events:

2nd - College visit to Pittsburg State University

4th - Career Fair for seniors during Flex & Block 3 in the MCA Hub

17th - College Tour - Junior Days, Butler Community College

May events:

Date TBD - Senior celebration - Commons area during Flex

Secure your senior ad or yearbook NOW at: https://www.jostens.com/apps/store/customer/1873667/Maize-South-High-School/

Yearbook prices:

Winter: 12.9-2.16 for $50.00

Spring: 2.17-6.1 for $55.00

Deadline to order a yearbook will be June 1st. There will be no extensions for any reason.

Maize South students will host the annual spring-semester blood drive Wednesday, February 28 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the small gym.

Students, staff, family, and community members are welcome to schedule donation appointments on the American Red Cross website at https://t.co/dgIo6ND04M or email mbradshaw@usd266.com.

Donors of all blood types are needed. Blood is a perishable product that can only come from volunteer donors. Donors must be at least 16 years old, with signed parent consent.

Each year, high school and college blood drives supply nearly 20% of the millions of U.S. blood donations. Donors make a difference for cancer patients, accident and burn victims, and many other blood recipients in Wichita and across the nation.

For our on-campus drives, student volunteers recruit donors, work check-in, staff the snacks and

recovery area, and escort departing donors.

This semester, seniors Kate Quinton and Ava Mitchell lead blood-drive efforts as part of the student volunteer club CACOW, the Community Action Club of Wichita, working with faculty sponsor Mark Bradshaw.

In 2023, the American Red Cross recognized Maize South High School’s successful drives by naming the school a Premier Blood Partner. Two seniors received scholarship awards at graduation through the Red Cross high school program.

The Timothy P. O’Shaughnessy Foundation, established as a Wichita-based 501(c)(3) operating foundation in 2016, is dedicated to recognizing, motivating, and supporting exceptional high school graduates from the Wichita area who have shown a strong passion for learning and exploration beyond traditional classrooms by providing scholarship recipients financial and mentorship support; and by encouraging them to adopt the entrepreneurial mindset (exploratory spirit, critical thinking, challenging conventional wisdom, always seeking truth) and virtues (kindness, generosity, creativity, honesty, integrity, and humility) which Timothy O’Shaughnessy embodied during his lifetime.

Vitor Geromel, a senior at Maize South High School, has been selected as a member of the 2024 class of the Timothy P. O’Shaughnessy Foundation’s Lifelong Learning Scholarship.

“I am very honored and grateful to be selected as a scholar and to join something bigger than myself in the Timothy P. O’Shaughnessy Foundation. I believe that it is your actions when no one is watching that define you as a person and that we must incorporate Timothy’s traits in order to live life to the fullest.”

Rafael Martinez of Maize South High School is an eager recipient of the 2024 Timothy P. O’Shaughnessy Foundation’s Lifelong Learning Scholarship.

“The most courageous thing one can do is to follow their greatest ambitions. I am truly grateful and humbled to be a part of Tim O’Shaughnessy’s legacy, and both surround myself with and contribute to such an ambitious group of lifelong learners and explorers.”

Jan 15: No School

Jan 29-Feb 2: Winter Homecoming

Feb 2: Winter Homecoming Dance

Feb 12: No School

Feb 22: Parent/Teacher Conferences, 8:00am-8:00pm

Feb 27: ACT @ MSHS

If you have a child with a health condition that may require emergency action beyond first aid and/or emergency medication to be carried by the student or given in emergencies, please make sure you have communicated the health needs to the school nurse this school year.

Some students have health conditions which might require certain prescribed emergency procedures beyond standard first aid and/or emergency medication to be given at school if the student experiences severe symptoms of their health condition during the school day. Asthma, anaphylaxis, seizures, and diabetes are examples of health conditions that may require an Emergency Action Plan to be in place.

Emergency Action Plans are developed by the School Nurse at the request of the parent, to ensure necessary prescribed emergency care procedures for each individual student, including medications to be given, are communicated to the school staff who supervise the student during the school day.

This information must be updated with each new school year or whenever the condition or necessary care changes. It is the responsibility of the parent to notify the school nurse each school year of the health condition and to provide the necessary documentation from physicians for prescribed emergency actions to be taken. When this information is received, the Emergency Action Plan is developed.

District policy in USD 266 allows students in grades 9-12 to carry and self-administer certain emergency medications for the treatment of diabetes, asthma, anaphylaxis and/or seizures. In order to self-carry these medications, parent must submit the proper documentation signed by parent and physician.

Contact me to update your child’s most current health care needs at school if you have not done so yet this year so we are ready to provide the individual care they need. Thank you!

Vision and Hearing Screening Notice

Katy Carter, BSN, RN, NCSN

School Nurse, Maize South High School

kcarter@usd266.com

• If you need your student released during the school day, please contact the attendance office at 316-462-8000 as soon as possible so we can get a pass to them. The more advanced notice we have, the easier it will be to ensure your child is able to leave on time. If your child will be absent all day, please notify the school by 8:00am.
• Parents are strongly encouraged to call the school instead of coming into the building to have their student checked out. This will help reduce traffic through the front office.
• As defined in the BOE attendance policy, students have THREE school days to have a medical note turned into the office to excuse an absence.
• Parents are able to excuse SEVEN absences per class for the whole school year. Once seven has been reached, absences will be marked unexcused unless excused for a different reason.
• The accumulation of SIX absences in a block, per term/9 weeks, may result in no credit being granted. Credit may be granted pending a decision by a review panel. The review panel is available upon request by the student or parent.
  
• If you know ahead of time that your student is going to miss more than one day of school in a row, they're able to fill out an extended absence form. Completing this form will make sure those absences are excused. It requires signatures from all teachers, a parent, and an administrator. This form will need to be completed at least three days before the student is absent. You can access the form below.

• If your student is going to be tardy to school, please call the office. They are allowed THREE parent excused 1st block tardies per school year, after that they are subject to detention.
• Students are allowed TWO tardies per term. Once they reach their third tardy, a one hour detention will be assigned to them.
• Tardies reset every term.
• Tardies are defined as coming in late and missing 20 minutes or less of class time.

• If you need to pick up your child from school during school hours, please call the office with the time your child needs to be released. They will receive a pass ahead of time and can check themselves out at the requested time. The exception to this, is lunch time. If you wish to check your student out for lunch, a parent must come in and sign the student out. Parents are not required to sign students back in.

• When a student is absent, it is the responsibility of the parents to call the attendance office within 24 hours to verify the reason for the absence. Please be sure to provide a doctor's note to the front office when your child has seen the doctor, dentist, etc., these visits won't count against your child's attendance. Medical notes can also be faxed to 462-8001.

• If your child is absent and will require homework, please email the teacher.
• It is a district policy for all students to wear their school ID and lanyard at all times. If a student does not have their ID, they will be given a temporary name tag. Students will be issued detention once they have been given FOUR temporary name tags. IDs and lanyards can be replaced for $3 each.

• Because students are not allowed to bring balloons or glass items on the bus, the Maize school district will not be accepting any flower, candy, cookie, or balloon bouquet deliveries to students.
• We have a "closed lunch" policy. Students will be expected to eat at school and NO OUTSIDE FOOD may be brought in or delivered.

Thank you for your help with this. We appreciate it!

USD 266 Maize offers Online Driver Education each term during the school year. The online driver education program strives to prepare students to become knowledgeable and respectful of the law; to learn basic driving skills; and to develop a responsible attitude toward driving. The instructors will provide critical experience to students; involve parents in the process, and foster cooperative interaction with others in the driving environment. Students should be studying the Kansas Driver Handbook and be ready to take a handbook test at the start of the course. Students that have a Kansas Permit that is valid through the course dates will be exempt from taking the handbook test. More detailed information on Online Driver Education can be found on the high school website, (click on Counselor, Enrollment and Course Information, then Driver Education).

Online Driver Education 2023-2024: Both the Student and the Parent/Guardian must attend the enrollment night in order to be in Online Dr. Ed. Each term class is limited to 50 students. Enrollment packets may be downloaded off of the high school website or the button below.

Enrollment Dates:

Term 4: March 4, 2024 at 6:00pm MSHS Commons

**Both the Student and one Parent/Guardian will be required to attend the enrollment meeting. Please bring your enrollment packet, a writing pen, corrective eye wear (if needed) and any type of Kansas Permit/License you already have to the Enrollment Meeting**

A parking permit is required for students to park on campus. A completed form will need to be turned in to the North Office and a sticker will be assigned to the student. The sticker will need to be placed on the back window in the bottom left hand corner. The form can be accessed below.

If you would like to speak with someone in the main office during the school day, you may call (316) 462-8000.

NORTH OFFICE

Megan Fowler, Assistant Principal I-P

Paige Luna, Counselor I-P

Dave Nash, Assistant Principal Q-Z

Melissa Bush, Counselor Q-Z

Christina Black, Counseling Secretary

Stephanie Brooks, Discipline Secretary

Ivanna Rodriguez, Registrar

Madison Schmidt, Communications Secretary

SOUTH OFFICE

Becky Sailor, Principal

Luke Smith, Athletic Director/Assistant Principal A-B

Taluia Pentecost, Counselor A-B

Alison Klock, Assistant Principal C-H

Brooke Sorenson, Counselor C-H

Lyn Brown, College and Career Advocate

Taryn Scott, Accounting/Athletics Secretary

Suzanne Sullard, Attendance Secretary

NURSE

Katy Carter