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November 2004
Welcome to KAIRS Today!
This is the monthly electronic newsletter of the Kansas Association of
Religious and Independent Schools (KAIRS). KAIRS TODAY is sent as a
service to KAIRS members across Kansas.
Our goal is to keep you informed about legislative, regulatory and
national news and educational issues. Please look for this on the 20th
of each month. Contact Corey Reese, editor, with questions or concerns
– info@kairs.org.
Happy Thanksgiving to All!
THE NOVEMBER ISSUE:
1. KAIRS ANNUAL MEETING: February 7-8
2.HIGHLIGHTS OF NOVEMBER MEMBERSHIP MEETING
3.KAIRS DISTINGUISHED EDUCATORS 2005 AWARD
4.KAIRS WEB SITE UPDATE!
5.ASSESSING THE RECENT ELECTION – FROM KAIRS PERSPECTIVE
6.ADDITIONAL PUBLIC POLICY INFORMATION
7.IMPORTANT 2004-05 KAIRS DATES
8.KAIRS 2004-05 OFFICERS
***Our condolences go to our KAIRS President, Karen Norton, who lost
her mother this week. A donation has been sent on behalf of KAIRS to
American Cancer Society in honor of Karen's mother. Please remember
the family in your prayers.
KAIRS ANNUAL MEETING: February 7-8
The KAIRS Annual Meeting is the highlight of our year. You won’t want
to miss this opportunity to glean from excellent speakers, interact
with other Kansas administrators, visit with vendors and celebrate the
excellent KAIRS Distinguished Educators for 2004 and the inaugural
class of the KAIRS Hall of Fame. The meeting is scheduled for February
7-8 in Topeka.
This year the annual meeting will concentrate on technological issues.
Speakers are currently being contacted and more information will be in
the December issue of KAIRS Today. Reservation forms will be
distributed in December. Please mark your calendar and make your
reservations early.
HIGHLIGHTS OF NOVEMBER MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Mike Neal, Ed.D. Assistant Dean for Academic Services for the
University of Kansas, was the featured speaker at the November KAIRS
General Membership meeting. Dr. Neal gave an excellent overview of the
five-year teacher preparation at the University of Kansas. In
particular, he assured KAIRS members that KU seeks to place KU
students in non-public schools for various student teaching
experiences. He also mentioned that KAIRS members need to be advocates
to colleges to get student teachers into private and faith-based
schools.
On the part of KU, Dr. Neal indicated that the university is committed
to identifying prospective teachers who have the necessary emotional
and attitudinal makeup to become caring, compassionate, skilled
practitioners. He stressed quality over quantity.
Dr. Neal discussed several excellent in-service ideas for staff that
were at low or no cost. One technique is to find "the expert" on any
given subject among one's own staff and then have that person give an
in-service to everyone else, even if in another building. Another way
he challenged his own district was to offer the opportunity for a
teacher to showcase their "excellent lesson plan" by demonstrating
this plan on the school's stage. Soon the stage was being scheduled
daily, every hour, with the whole school community seeing examples of
fine teaching.
He also shared his personal views on teacher preparation. He spoke on
the importance of personally connecting with each teacher. He said,
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you
care,” and “Teachers need a missionary zeal.”
Also at the meeting, Bob Voboril reported on public policy issues and
indicated that Congress reconvenes on November 15th. Title V is still
under consideration regarding the amount budgeted. Bob again
encouraged us to write to our senators expressing the needs of our
schools for these funds.
Special education- Children should be served in the district where
they attend, not in the district where they reside.
Two additional issues were addressed: No building report cards for
non-public schools are being listed and the State board of education
needs to discuss accreditation and teacher certification.
(Thanks to Bill Dieckhoff, Bob Voboril and Shelli Kadel for their
input on the meeting.)
KAIRS DISTINGUISHED EDUCATORS 2005 AWARDS
Hopefully everyone is currently giving careful consideration to the
upcoming Distinguished Teachers Awards. November 12 was the deadline
for ACSI schools to send their nominees to Warren Holmes and for the
Independent schools to send their nominees to Shelli Kadel. The
Catholic and Lutheran Schools select their winners within their own
organizations.
All winners are due to Shelli Kadel NO LATER than December 3. The past
honorees truly have been distinguished educators.
For the past two years, we have featured the Distinguished Teachers in
our Annual Report and plan to continue this tradition. We hope that
with their permission, we will also feature them on our new KAIRS Web
page.
When submitting a photo of your winner, please take an excellent,
digital close-up from the neck up, with a neutral background. Either
color or black and white are fine, and please send it as a jpeg file
to Corey Reese at info@kairs.org.
It is one of the favorite aspects of our Annual Report!
(All winners are due to Shelli Kadel by December 3. Thanks!)
KAIRS WEB SITE UPDATE
Without future complications, the KAIRS Web site should be up and
running within the next week!! Corey Reese will send out an
announcement email on the day it is actually available on the web.
Thanks to all the administrators who had their teachers sign photo
releases. Sorry about the inconvenience.
We have linked KAIRS member schools that have contacted Corey Reese
with their school web address to the KAIRS Web page. If you have not
contacted Corey, please do so and we’ll add your school as soon as
possible.
Also – thank you to the schools that have submitted photos of their
buildings. We’re in the process of adding those photos. If you have
not yet submitted your school’s photo, feel free to send it to Corey
Reese at info@kairs.org.
Thanks for everyone’s patience!
ASSESSING THE RECENT ELECTION – FROM KAIRS PERSPECTIVE
*The editor asked Bob Voboril, KAIRS Public Policy Coordinator, for
a brief assessment of the recent elections. The following is his
response:
There are many ways to assess the outcome of national and local
elections.
First, the results of the national elections should enable KAIRS
members to maintain the programs in which we currently participate
although Title V and e-rate remain in limbo.
Secondly, the Kansas legislative results would indicate that KAIRS
member schools have some opportunities with the new legislature to
seek support for our concerns provided that we do not get trapped into
supporting certain parties or individuals but instead focus on
supporting our key issues.
Thirdly, there will be a dramatic change in the makeup of the State
Board of Education. However, the last time this happened, KAIRS got
caught on one side of a 5-5 split and was unable to achieve meaningful
change. The current 6-4 split provides KAIRS with some opportunities.
However, I strongly urge KAIRS members to build working relationships
with all elected representatives as, in the long run, we seek the good
will of all and the common good for every family.
ADDITIONAL PUBLIC POLICY INFORMATION
Teacher Tax Credit Extended
Congress has passed the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004, which
among other things extends the $250 tax deduction for teachers who
incur out-of-pocket expenses for instructional materials. The benefit
covers the calendar years 2004 and 2005.
Where do public school teachers send THEIR children to school?
According to a study sponsored by the Fordham Institute, slightly more
than 12% of American families send their children to private schools.
For urban families, the number jumps to 17.5%. For urban public school
teachers, the number goes even higher to 21.5%. In Chicago, 38.7% of
public school teachers send their children to private schools; in
Philadelphia, 43.8%.
Source: CAPE OUTLOOK, October 2004 (From Bob Voboril’s - NOVEMBER 17,
2004 KAIRS PUBLIC POLICY UPDATE)
IMPORTANT 2004-05 KAIRS DATES
Jan 11 - KAIRS Executive
Committee Meeting, The Independent School, 9 a.m. (To finalize
Annual Convention plans.)
Feb 7-8: Annual Meeting, Topeka
April 5: KAIRS Executive Committee Meeting, The Independent School,
9 a.m.
April 12: General Membership Meeting, Topeka, 10 a.m.
KAIRS 2004-05 OFFICERS
President: Karen Norton, The
Independent School, Wichita
Vice President: Nick Compagnone, Salina Catholic Diocese
Secretary: Bill Dieckhoff, Holy Cross Lutheran School, Wichita
Treasurer: David Swank, Trinity Academy, Wichita
Annual Meeting Secretary: Judy Pitts, Bethel Life School, Wichita
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