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October 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.
THE OCTOBER ISSUE:
1. NOVEMBER GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING- NOV. 2
2.KAIRS DISTINGUISHED EDUCATORS 2003 AWARDS
3.KAIRS CENSUS FORMS
4. PUBLIC POLICY UPDATE – Election November 2
5. KAIRS WEB PAGE UPDATE
6. IMPORTANT 2004-05 KAIRS DATES
7. KAIRS 2004-05 OFFICERS
8. FEATURED SCHOOL OF THE MONTH: Wichita’s Trinity Academy Provides
Well-Rounded, Faith-Based Education
NOVEMBER GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING – NOV. 2
Mark your calendars to attend the November 2 General Membership
meeting to hear Mike Neal, Ed.D., Assistant Dean for Academic Services
for the University of Kansas. Dr. Neal specializes in school
improvement, careers in education, and teacher evaluation. His topic
will be “Trends in Education.” The KAIRS Hall of Fame will also be
discussed.
The meeting will be from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and will be held at the
Missouri Synod Lutheran offices in Topeka.
KAIRS DISTINGUISHED TEACHERS 2005
Hopefully everyone is currently giving careful consideration to the
upcoming Distinguished Teachers Awards. Our various school groups each
have a different process, but the deadlines are quickly approaching.
November 12 is 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. However, all winners are due
to Shelli Kadel NO LATER than December 3. The past honorees truly have
been distinguished educators. Don’t miss out!
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!
KAIRS CENSUS FORMS
Just a quick reminder – if you haven’t already done so, please return
your census forms to Bob Voboril. The response so far has been
excellent and the information is truly valuable to our organization.
PUBLIC POLICY UPDATE - Election November 2
Please remember to vote, Tuesday November 2, and remind your families
to do so as well!
Note from Bob Voboril: We still need our members to contact Senator
Brownback to ask him to restore Title V funding to the President's
recommended level.
KAIRS WEB SITE UPDATE
The KAIRS Web site is completed, but we ran into the issue of photo
releases for those who appear on our web pages – especially our
Distinguished Teachers. So, Corey Reese is sending out photo release
forms to all the winners. Hopefully, we’ll be launching our site
around the first of November. Watch for an email announcement! Thanks
for your patience.
IMPORTANT 2004-05 KAIRS DATES
Oct 26: KAIRS Executive
Committee Meeting, The Independent School, 9 a.m.
Nov 2: General Membership Meeting, Topeka, 10 a.m.
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
*As we welcome David Swank, Trinity Academy’s Head of School, to the
KAIRS Executive Committee as our treasurer, we wanted to profile his
school this month.
FEATURED SCHOOL OF THE MONTH:
Wichita’s Trinity Academy Provides Well-Rounded, Faith-Based Education
With the motto, “Growing the Miracle,” Trinity Academy begins its
eleventh year of providing what its mission statement calls a
“Christ-centered, college preparatory high school education.”
Trinity’s campus is located on 72 acres on the west side of Wichita
and this year, with more than 75 churches represented, it has the
second highest enrollment in its history: 228 students.
What began as a dream in the early 1990s is now a school whose
heartbeat is to impact their students for eternity. David Swank,
Trinity’s Head of School explains “Our desire goes beyond academic
excellence to touching the hearts and minds of our kids on a daily
basis. We are a Living Curriculum school where the teachers are
involved in mentoring the students and modeling Christ each day,”
Living Curriculum Teachers are one of Trinity’s hallmarks. Teachers
living out their Christian walk while being involved in the lives of
students both inside and outside of the classroom characterize this
philosophy. They use the acronym of CHRIST by which to live. (C-
Christ-centered; H – hopeful and happy; R – relational; I –
innovative; S – skillful: T – trustworthy.)
As Trinity strives to provide a “well-rounded” education, it offers
honors and college concurrent classes as well as a variety of sports
programs, fine-arts opportunities and social opportunities.
Sixty-seven percent of Trinity’s faculty holds graduate degrees in
their field of study. The average class size is 16 students per class.
Mr. Swank, who is in his sixth year as Head of School, credits the
fact that Trinity Academy exists and operates in a debt-free 50,000
square foot building as a miracle. “In 1997, we were in the middle of
a building campaign – preparing for our annual banquet – and had
raised around $300,000 of a $3 million goal. A group of Christian
businessmen came together and pledged $2 million to build this
building. God supplied a miracle.”
He explains. “We are a unique Christian school in that we try to
address all areas of the students’ life – academic, athletic,
spiritual and social. For the next few years our focal point will be
the address these areas, encourage our faculty and see what doors God
opens.”
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