Board of Education Corner - Reunion Page - WaKeeney

A Newsletter to the Patrons of
UNIFIED SCHOOL
DISTRICT NO. 208
May 2001
Volume 12, Number 9
Board of Education Corner
By Doug Malay
WHAT’S INSIDE
Construction Update ........ Page 2
Teacher App. Week ........... Page 3
Class of 2001 ...................... Page 3
Laubach Speaker .............. Page 4
Just A Thought .................. Page 4
www.wakeeney.com .......... Page 4
News from the Nurse ........ Page 5
Galloway Speaker ............ Page 6
Changes ............................. Page 6
Board Highlights ........... Page 7, 8
INSERTS
May Menu
May Calendar
Unified School District 208
527 Russell Avenue
785-743-2145
Board of Education Members
Mr. Michael Dreiling, Pres.
Mrs. Georgia Abbott
Mr. Randy Balluch, VP
Mrs. Kathy Jennings
Mr. Jim Knapp
Mr. Doug Malay
Working Together, Educating All
Trego County Schools
July 1, 2001, Mike Dreiling’s term on the USD 208 Board of Education will expire. This will conclude
28 years of faithful and unwavering service to the district. In those 28 years, Mike has missed one board
meeting. (He was in the hospital.) Mike has served as board president for 18 of those years. His diligence
and dedication are beyond compare.
Mike has also been the USD 208 representative on the Northwest Kansas Educational Service Center
Board of Directors since it’s inception 25 years ago. He has not missed a single meeting of that board.
Such complete loyalty is not only hard to find, but difficult to define. Mike is totally committed to students
and their education. In my six years on the board, I have never heard him be anything but positive about
our children. Mike sees all students as his. I have never heard him whine
about the tough decisions or gripe because it’s a thankless job. He just
shows up and cheerfully gives his all.
As a member of Lions Club, Mike is always taking tickets at games
and is the first to sign up to help on any project. He has given time,
money, support, and his heart to this district and it’s kids. In other words,
Mike has given himself to us and our future. So, now it’s time to say
THANK YOU. I’m sure he’ll receive a plaque and a reception, but it’s
not enough! The best way to say thank you is to walk up and shake his
hand and say “Thank you, Mike, for all you do.” It’s not enough, but it’s
a start.

USD 208 Newsletter – Page 2
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Greg Mann, Superintendent
At the April 9 Board of Education meeting, Fred Abercrombie USD 208
architect, updated the Board on his progress in developing plans for the upcoming
construction projects. The projects have been divided into three separate
groups for bidding and construction.
Group One: These projects have a May 18 bid opening with a late May or
early June start date. These projects must be substantially completed by the time school starts next
fall. This group includes: ADA modifications to the existing gymnasium, ADA modifications to the
TCHS Vo-Ag dressing room and bathroom, reconfiguring the access to the Vo-Ag shop from the
east to the west, and parking improvements at TCHS and WGS.
Group Two: This second group contains the major construction projects. They are scheduled for
a July 13 bid letting with work to begin in late July or early August. This construction will take
place at the east end of TCHS and will include the construction of: two new science labs, ADA
bathrooms, kitchen, commons area, and new double court gymnasium with locker rooms.
The kitchen will be completed first with an anticipated completion date of December 2001.
Once the kitchen is completed, work will begin on the science classrooms and ADA
bathrooms. These two areas and the new commons area are scheduled to be completed
in early August of 2002. Once the science classrooms are completed and the
science teachers have moved into their new quarters, the existing science classrooms
will be remodeled; one of them will be a new family and consumer science
classroom.
Construction on the new gym and locker rooms will begin in August of 2001,
the same time as that of the new kitchen. The anticipated completion date for
the gym and locker rooms is mid-October of 2002. The new gym will be air-conditioned.
Group Three: This group of projects includes the replacement of windows and the installation
of air-conditioning in classrooms at WGS and TCHS and the construction of a greenhouse at TCHS.
Bids for these projects are scheduled to be opened on September 14, with installation and construction
beginning around the first of October.
The window replacement and air-conditioning work will take place on weekends and evenings
and is scheduled to be completed in early March of 2002. The new greenhouse will be constructed
north of the Vo-Ag shop and is scheduled to be completed and ready for use in late December of
2001.
As part of the Group Three projects, an alternate bid will also be taken on the renovations of the
TCHS Auditorium. These planned renovations include the replacement of the existing seats and
ceiling.
If the schedule can be followed, all construction and renovations should be completed by Christmas
of 2002.
For additional information, see page 7,
Board Highlights, Architect Report.

Baccalaureate Services
Sponsored by WaKeeney Ministerial Alliance
Sunday, May 13, 2001 – 2:00 p.m.
Philip Galloway, Speaker
TCHS Auditorium
TCHS Commencement Exercises
Sunday, May 20, 2001 – 2:30 p.m.
Rhett Laubach, Speaker
TCHS Custer Field
USD 208 Newsletter – Page 3
National Teacher Appreciation Week
May 6-12
Today, as never before in our nation’s history, we need to show support and respect for the
profession of teaching. It seems almost oxymoronic to officially rec- ognize teachers’ accomplishments
during only one week of the year, because a teacher’s impact
on his or her students may last a lifetime.
Take the time to show appreciation for
the daily commitment of teachers nationwide.
A personal note to your child’s teacher, or
to a teacher of your own, is a gift that will be
treasured.
The main part of
intellectual education
is not the acquisition of facts,
but learning how to make facts live.
— Oliver Wendell Holmes

USD 208 Newsletter – Page 4
A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired
to his mother who lived 200 miles away. As he got out of his car he noticed a
young girl sitting on the curb, sobbing. He asked her what was wrong and she
replied, “I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother, but I only have 75 cents, and a rose costs two
dollars.”
The man smiled and said, “Come on in with
me. I’ll buy you a rose.” He bought the little girl
a rose and ordered his own mother’s flowers. As
they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home.
She said, “Yes, please! You can take me to my
mother.”
She directed him to a cemetery, where she
placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.
The man returned to the flower shop, canceled
the wire order, picked up a bouquet and
drove the two hundred miles to his mother’s
house.
Rhett Laubach
Commencement Speaker
Rhett Laubach is a full-time professional speaker and operator of YourNextSpeaker! – a leadership
resource group for organizations seeking high-energy speakers and high-impact seminars and conferences.
In the past two years, he traveled over 40,000 miles to conduct more then 400 interactive and
educational leadership development seminars. His material is useful and relevant to both youth and
adult audiences interested in improving in areas such as positive role-modeling, customer service,
team dynamics, human relations and communication.
Rhett is coauthor of the book Possibilities – Awakening Your Leadership Potential, he writes a
weekly life skills column for the company web site, and is a free-lance writer for the Tulsa CityScape
magazine. He received his Agricultural Economics degree from Oklahoma State University in May of
1996 and currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma with his wife, Ashley.
Just A Thought
Mother’s Day
Sunday, May 13
You can now read the school newsletter
on the web at www.wakeeney.com.
Click on TCHS Alumni Page, and then
select which edition of the school newsletter
you want to read.
While you’re on the TCHS Alumni
Page, you can enter your profile, read
about other classmates and graduates of
TCHS, participate in the survey, and find
out reunion information.
(Currently the Class of 1991 has the most
profiles entered.)

USD 208 Newsletter – Page 5
News from the Nurse
Shauna Lang, LPN
School Nurse
Change in Sports Physicals
WaKeeney Medical Group will once again do sport physicals for USD 208
athletes at no charge. However, the student must get the physical on June 20 or
June 27. Students getting physicals on other dates will be charged for the service.
This also includes children with Health Wave and Medicaid.
If your child wants to participate in ANY
school sport, please plan to have them get a
Free Free
Free
physical on June 20 or June 27.
Sports Sports Physicals Physicals
Physicals
If your child plans to attend summer
June June 20 20 or or June June 27 27
27 camps prior to June 20, that require a physical,
please contact the school office for a copy of
their current physical.
Watch the Western Kansas World for further details concerning the sports physicals.
National SAFE KIDS Week
May 5-12, 2001
This summer, children will be rushed to
emergency rooms nearly 3 million times for
serious injuries resulting from motor vehicle
crashes, pedestrian incidents, drownings, bike
crashes, falls, and other hazards. While we
think of summer as the fun season for kids,
emergency room doctors know it as trauma
season. Tragedies arise during the summer,
when children are supervised less, have more
free time and engage in more outdoor activities.
This summer, scooters are a particular
concern. The number of scooter-related injuries
is expected to rise dramatically, adding to the
already high number of injuries kids receive
while bicycling or in-line skating. Using appropriate
safety gear and following basic safety
guidelines can prevent most of these injuries.
To help your kids stay safe and out of the
emergency room this summer, the National
SAFE KIDS Campaign, along with the Founding
Sponsor Johnson & Johnson, will launch a
nationwide summer safety initiative – Make it
a SAFE KIDS Summer!
Hepatitis B
The last Hepatitis B vaccine will be given
May 3 for TCHS students and May 7 for WGS
students. If money is owed for the vaccine,
please send the money with your child.
If your child has NOT had the Hepatitis B
vaccine and you would like them to receive it,
please contact Pat Moeder, RN at the Trego
County Health Department.
Immunization Audit
The Kansas Department of Health and
Environment has completed the School Immunization
Audit for the 2000-2001 school year.
The percentage of compliance was 99%. We
were also commended on the good response of
children that were vaccinated for Hepatitis B.
I would like to thank the parents for their
quick response in getting their children up to
date on their immunizations. I would also like
to thank the Trego County Heath Department
for coming to the school to give the immunizations.

USD 208 Newsletter – Page 6
Galloway Baccalaureate Speaker
Philip Galloway, a senior at Trego Community High School will be giving the baccalaureate
speech for the graduating seniors of 2001. Philip has been in forensics all four years of high school
and has had a lot of public speaking experience during his high school years at TCHS. He has
given sermons for various churches in town as well as many organizations. Philip has been speech
entertainment for organizations such as the Hospital Auxiliary, Lions Club, and the PEO organization.
He has also lead church services for the senior citizens at the Long Term Care and Heartland
Manor.
Philip will be attending the University of Kansas for his freshman year
of college. Philip hopes to continue his public speaking and sermon giving
for the duration of his time in WaKeeney. (See page 3 for time and location.)
Change
This is the last edition of the school newsletter for the 2000-01 school year. By the time you receive the first
edition for the fall school year, many changes will have taken place.
• Many parents will have cried (and rejoiced) as they celebrated their child’s graduation from high school,
8 th grade, or kindergarten.
• Good-byes will have been said to Greg Mann and family as the USD 208 leadership baton is passed on
to Robert Scheib.
• We will have bid farewell to board members Mike Dreiling, Chuck Mattke, and Jim Knapp and welcomed
new board members Max Dirks, Deb Locke, and Glenn Riedel.
• The opportunity to once again earn college credit while still attending high school will be an option for
TCHS juniors and seniors this fall.
• The new Drop-out Recovery Program will give those without high school diplomas an opportunity to
earn one.
• Our junior high and high school students will have access to new high speed computer networks and
upgraded computers.
• We will have cheered as the old gymnasium is demolished and construction has started on the new
projects!
Even though change is inevitable, it always takes time to adjust to those changes. We get comfortable with
what is familiar to us — familiar faces, predictable actions, and set routines and schedules. We like what we like
and we don’t want to change. (We want to eat lunch in a cafeteria, not a gymnasium!)
But life is all about change. Spring reminds us of that as we see the plants emerging from the ground. Those
tulips that we love so much would never exist if it weren’t for the change that takes place beneath that cold, dark
soil. In order for there to be life, there must be death. In order for something new to happen, something old must
be given up. There is no growth without change.
The next few months will be filled with changes – filled with growth. I’m sure there will be moments where
it looks like there is more destruction than construction, but we must stay focused on the ultimate goal. For the
school district, it’s an updated high school facility that will meet the needs of our students.
The class of 2001 will be glad they got out before all the mess. The class of 2002, well, they’ll just have to
make great memories in all the mess, enjoy the few months of being served
from the new kitchen and rejoice with those that will actually get to do cool
experiments in the science labs, participate in the new gymnasium, eat lunch
in the new commons area, and enjoy air conditioned classrooms.
Growth is all about change and change is an attitude thing. Have a
great summer.
Change is inevitable,
but misery is optional.

Board Highlights
USD 208 Newsletter – Page 7
Regular Board Meeting – April 9, 2001
• Guests: Daryl Stegman, Jim Hickel, Fred Abercrombie, Robert Scheib, Mark DeWald, Max Dirks,
Carey Fose, Deb Locke, Glennis Billinger, Steve Sedbrook, Lance Thornburg, and Susan Thornburg.
• Architect Report
√ Parking:The parallel parking in front of the high school (excluding the north side of the street
from the office door to gym door) will have 72 spaces and two handicapped parking spaces.
√ Drainage: Several options were discussed of how the drainage will be handled for water coming
off the new gym.
√ Boring: The final report of the boring samples from where the new gym will be located have not
come back yet.
√ Gym: The maximum capacity in the gymnasium will be 1556 with 1506 seats.
√ Temporary Lunchroom: The temporary lunchroom will be located in the current gym for the
second semester of the 2001-02 school year. The new kitchen should be ready to operate in
January 2002.
√ Bleachers: The bleachers will fold back instead of to the front, the mezzanine will seat approximately
445 with 6 handicapped spaces.
√ Kitchen Bids: The board will need to decide if they want Sunflower Restaurant Supply to write
the bid specifications for the equipment in the kitchen.
• Communications and Petitions
Lance Thornburg and Steve Sedbrook shared their thoughts about having only one section of first
grade for the 2001-02 school year.
• WGS Site Council
Glennis Billinger reported for the WGS Site Council. Items discussed at their March meeting were:
no parent meeting in April; Fun Run, May 19; QPA On-site Visit, April 11.
• Administrative Report from Greg Mann
√ The natural gas prices have gone down over the last month
√ The district received certificates for USD 208 teachers who have been teaching in Kansas 25 years
as of 2001; Mark DeWald, Jo Durr, Doug Durr, Bev Legg, Cindy Malay, and Carl Mohler.
• Administrative Report from Daryl Stegman TCHS Principal
√ Mrs. Dirks and yearbook staff will go to Quinter to help Quinter students set up their yearbook.
√ Mrs. Mussemann has been elected as the FCCLA District Advisor for the 2001-02 school year.
√ Prom went well.
• Administrative Report from Jim Hickel WGS Principal
√ WGS has been working with the Trego County Extension Office on an intergenerational grant.
√ Mary Meckenstock was a story teller for all elementary students on March 23.
√ Amy Shaw, Miss Kansas, spoke March 30 about positive mentoring.
√ Eighth graders went to TCHS for pre-enrollment and a parent meeting.
√ Fifth graders will be attending the Shrine Circus in Salina on April 21.
√ MCEL Scholars Bowl in WaKeeney on April 9 went smooth with a lot of great help.
√ At the QPA On-site Review, WGS will be looking for suggestions for the team for writing. There
will be a district-wide inservice on Six-trait Writing at the beginning of the 2001-02 school year.
√ WGS has just completed Kansas Assessment Testing and will begin ITBS testing.
• Non-Action Items:
√ Special meeting for goal setting will be postponed until after July 1.
√ Cory Munsch was in attendance to submit a contract from ServiceMaster for the 2001-02 school
year. Mr. Mann is meeting with an independent custodial consultant from Salina to talk about costs
of staffing, equipping, and training our own custodial service.
Continued on page 8

USD 208 Newsletter – Page 8
• Personnel Actions:
√ Adopted the resolution of intent to non- renew the teaching contract of Carey Fose for 2001-02.
√ Motion passed to transfer Susan Thornburg from WGS to Detention Center Secure Care
classroom.
√ Motion passed to transfer Cheryl Fabrizius from Grade 1 to Grade 2.
√ Approved the following Summer School staff at the Detention Center: Teachers, Irene Dirks,
Carey Fose, Cindy Malay, and Robbie Uhl. Teacher Aides: Colleen Klein, Kay Michellich,
Paula McCurdy, and Olive Rush.
√ Hired Troy Dale as an assistant high school track coach for 2001.
√ Accepted resignations from: Kathryn Shubert, TCHS Spirit Squad Co-sponsor; Amy Hofer,
assistant women’s tennis coach, head women’s basketball coach, and SADD sponsor; Mike
Hofer, assistant women’s basketball coach.
• Approved the following:
√ Republishing the 2000-01 General Fund Budget to increase the budget authority by $19,100. A
special meeting for purposes of holding a budget hearing is scheduled for April 23, 5:00 p.m.
√ Drop-out Recovery Program contract with SWPRSC.
√ Approved the resolution to sell Blocks 73, 74, 75, and 76 to the City of WaKeeney for $21,500.
√ Approved the proposal to further upgrade the schools’ computer networks.
√ Individual Development Plans for Marilyn Eberle and Dawn Howard.
• Accepted the following:
√ Low bid of $15,300 from Halbleib Const. for concrete work at WGS for an outdoor play area.
• Additional Items
• The next regular board meeting is scheduled for May 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the District Office.
This Newsletter to the Shareholders of the Trego County Schools is a publication of Unified School District #208, Trego County,
KS An Equal Employment/Educational Opportunity Agency. Unified School District 208 does not discriminate on the basis of sex,
race, color, national origin, handicap, or age in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its programs or activities. Any
question regarding the district's compliance with Title VI, Title IX, or Section 504 may be directed to the superintendent who can be
reached at (785) 743-2145, 527 Russell Avenue, WaKeeney, KS 67672, or the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights,
Unified School District 208
527 Russell Avenue
WaKeeney, KS 67672
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