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September 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 SEPTEMBER ISSUE:
1. SEPTEMBER MEMBERSHIP MEETING REVIEW
2. KAIRS DISTINGUISHED TEACHERS 2005
3. KAIRS CENSUS FORMS – Due October 1
4. IMPORTANT 2004-05 KAIRS DATES
5. KAIRS 2004-05 OFFICERS
6. PUBLIC POLICY UPDATE– Title V in Danger
SEPTEMBER MEMBERSHIP MEETING REVIEW
North Central Association State Director Highlights Strengths of NCA
The September 14 KAIRS quarterly general membership meeting featured
Dr. Nancy Bolz, Kansas Director for North Central Association. She
presented, “Is NCA in Your Future?” Dr. Bolz spoke for over an hour
and gave an excellent overview of NCA and how the association benefits
Kansas’s schools.
Dr. Bolz said that NCA was established in 1895 and her statistics
indicated that with the NCA model, 79 percent of all NCA schools show
student achievement gains. The organization accredits schools in 19
states with more than 600 member schools in Kansas.
“We are founded on the Effective Schools Model and our research
indicates that a comprehensive model is required. With NCA membership,
you receive a substantial support system,” Dr. Bolz said. “Over the
years, NCA has found that some schools are engaged in this process for
the stamp of approval only. These schools do not always have highest
rate of success. They don’t get the strong connection that we’re doing
this for the kids. Everything we do in school improvement is for the
kids.”
In her presentation, Dr. Bolz explained that NCA promotes achievement
among all students – not just the lower end, which is stipulated in
the No Child Left Behind legislature. The new requirements in the
Kansas Quality criteria are not new to NCA so the changes required in
new legislation are very similar to what is already in place in the
NCA process.
Dr. Bolz outlined the layers of NCA quality control, and indicated
that one of the primary NCA goals was to help schools make AYP and
meet state and federal requirements. She also explained the five-year
cycle, which utilizes the Problem Solving Model: Schools create a
profile and use that data to identify the problem. Construct a plan
including goals and objectives. Implement the plan in years two
through five, while looking to data to see results. Finally, evaluate
to substantiate the results.
“We can facilitate your success because research backs up that you
need to have this process in place. We can provide the tools, but you
have to do the hard work,” she explained. “Here is my definition of
School Improvement: Using a problem solving model and applying it to a
complex educational setting. In today’s world a complex educational
setting involves social issues, medical issues, ability of kids that
includes a wide diversity, funding, languages and facility issues. You
have to look at what’s working in your school. Even small improvements
are celebrated.”
Upon completion of her formal remarks, Dr. Bolz fielded questions from
KAIRS members. She addressed the challenging issues of teacher
certification within NCA schools, accreditation for small, rural
schools and the difference between staff who are fully certified
versus highly qualified.
A business meeting followed Dr. Bolz remarks. The April minutes were
approved and reports were given on the following matters: Public
Policy - Bob Voboril, KAIRS Web page – Corey Reese, Distinguished
Teachers – Shelli Kadel, Convention Update – Karen Norton and Judy
Pitts.
Public Policy Update – Bob Voboril
Bob reported that as of last week, the Senate Education Committee
voted to eliminate Title V, which provided funds for such areas as
library books. (See article from CAPE below.) Administrators need to
quickly contact Senators Brownback and Roberts regarding this issue.
There is good news regarding the IDEA bill and Bob indicated that both
versions included the provision that special services will be provided
where the student attends school and not where they reside. What
happens at the national level will most likely be proposed as state
law in the upcoming year.
Kansas elections this year are pivotal to KAIRS. KAIRS members need to
encourage their parents to vote. In addition, more KAIRS public
policy liaisons are needed in order to best communicate educational
issues to member school parents.
"This year could be a watershed election in Kansas," Bob said. " It is
our own fault when people are elected who know nothing about or
actively oppose the concerns of independent and religious schools.
Next year the legislature will spend a great deal of time
concentrating on the funding of schools and we want to be a part of
that dialogue."
Finally, Bob requested that KAIRS develop a set of focal issues to
present to next year's legislators. Educational tax credits and
educating at-risk students were two issues to be considered.
Two web sites were suggested for additional information regarding
political issues: capenet.org and the Kansas Catholic web site that
includes legislative issue positions for upcoming state candidates -
www.Kansas.nas.ccd.org.
KAIRS Web Page Presented
Corey Reese presented a visual tour of the new KAIRS Web page. The
site is ready to launch after obtaining publication releases from all
Distinguished Teacher winners whose photos are featured on the site.
All KAIRS members can visit the site at
www.kairs.org. All KAIRS members are encouraged to send well-shot
school campus photos as well as student group photos to Corey Reese at
info@kairs.org. (The best photos
for us to use are close-ups.) Please obtain a web release prior to
sending any photos to Corey and send that along as well.
Shelli Kadel distributed the KAIRS Distinguished Teacher award forms
and noted that all winners are due back December 3, with digital
photos and releases due to Corey Reese on that same date. (Please see
notes below regarding the individual school systems.)
Convention Update
The 2005 KAIRS Annual Convention will be February 7-8 in Topeka. The
Convention theme will center on technology. More information will be
available in the coming months. Judy Pitts is planning to step down as
the Annual Meeting Secretary and would like to invite anyone who is
interested in taking over the job to come along side her this year in
order to “learn the ropes!”
November Membership Meeting – November 2
The next General Membership Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November
2 in Topeka. It will cover security and safety issues that apply to
our schools.
KAIRS DISTINGUISHED TEACHERS 2005
The Distinguished Teachers Awards have become one of the highlights of
our year. You should be receiving your submission forms shortly.
Please give this careful consideration. Our various school groups each
have a different process. 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 – Due October 1
All schools should have received their census forms by now. Please
return those to Bob Voboril prior to October 1. The response so far
has been excellent.
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
PUBLIC POLICY UPDATE – Title
V in Danger
From the CAPE Web Page -
www.Capenet.org –
September 15, 2004-- The Senate Appropriations Committee today
approved a Labor-HHS-Education spending bill that eliminates Title V,
Part A, the Innovative Programs section of the No Child Left Behind
Act. The bill provides a 5.7 percent ($3.2 billion) overall increase
in education spending yet decreases funding for Title V from $296.5
million to $0. Thus, in a year when education funding is on the rise,
the committee chose to eradicate the federal education program that
reaches more private school students than any other federal program.
Additional Information
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Title V (then called Chapter 2) in the
1999 landmark decision Mitchell v. Helms. The program provides
materials, equipment, and services to meet the needs of students in
public schools and private schools, as those needs are identified by
local administrators. In one school Title V funds might be used for
remediation; in another, for library books; and in another, for
professional development. Because most children attend public schools,
most of the program's funds are directed toward public school
students, but as much as 11 percent of Title V benefits are available
for children in private schools, a reflection of their portion of the
school-age population.
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