Students getting laptops?
Students who attend the new high school in 2012 may get laptops.
USD 457 is looking into whether there is educational value in giving high school students laptops. On Monday night the Garden City USD 457 Board of Education entered into an agreement with Twotrees Technologies, Wichita, to develop classroom management strategies for teachers and assist in developing goals and objectives for the laptop initiative.
Superintendent Rick Atha said last week that the idea is still in the infancy stage, and the district isn’t sure yet on what brand of computer might be issued to students, or what the cost of the computers will be.
The construction of the new high school is under budget, Atha said, and the extra money could be spent giving each student at GCHS a laptop.
What do you think?
Subscribe to the comments for this postCollege accounts for kindergarten kids
Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend. Mine was spent helping my family paint, playing with my dogs, and sleeping in. Also, the cemetery in my hometown was decorated nicely and it was refreshing to see so many people visiting it.
To kick off the start of the work week, here’s a story from the San Francisco Chronicle about how the city is starting college savings account for children. It’s an interesting idea. What do you think?
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Newsom seeks college accounts for kindergarteners
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, May 28, 2010
Some say everyone should go to college. Mayor Gavin Newsom is trying to ensure that’s the case in San Francisco.
Every child who enters kindergarten at one of San Francisco’s public schools will get his or her own city-funded college savings account under a groundbreaking program officials plan to begin rolling out this fall, despite the current budget woes that will force layoffs and service cuts in other areas.
The deposits would be small – $50 to start, $100 for lower-income children – but the hope is that they will pay huge dividends, teaching students about saving and budgeting while forging the conviction that a college education is within reach.
“I believe that every single child should be born not necessarily into wealth, but into opportunity,” Newsom said. “Once a mind is stretched, it can never go back.”
City officials point to a study from the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis that found children who had just some savings set aside for college were about seven times more likely to go.
“It’s all about building aspirations – knowing they have a shot at being successful,” said city Treasurer Jose Cisneros, who developed the program with Newsom after seeing the success of their plan to offer affordable banking services to low-income workers who relied on payday loans and check-cashing centers.
Gradual rollout
The college savings program will begin gradually, starting this fall with 1,250 children – roughly 25 percent of incoming kindergartners – at 18 public elementary schools across the city. Next year, the program is to expand to cover 50 percent of incoming kindergartners, with full coverage planned for the third year.
Students will get a trust account in their name with $50 from city coffers – $100 if they qualify for the federal government’s free or reduced-price lunch program, city officials said.
The plan is to have corporations, nonprofit groups and others offer matching incentives to encourage children and their families to save.
EARN, a nonprofit that specializes in micro-loans and financial options for low-income workers, will contribute $100 for every student whose family also saves $100 during the first years of the program. EARN President Ben Mangan said the group has already raised $120,000 for the effort.
More deposits, other matches and compounding interest over about 12 years will go a long way toward paying for college, officials hope.
Funding the program
Of course, there is the real issue of paying for the program as the city struggles to cope with a historic $483 million budget deficit for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
In the first year, the program will cost less than $200,000, and Newsom is expected to include $400,000 in his budget to be submitted next week to the Board of Supervisors to cover the first two years of the program.
The cost would increase the following year, though, as the program expands. The proposal would have to survive budget negotiations but might attract diverse support. For example, Supervisor David Campos, who has clashed with the mayor on issues ranging from the city’s sanctuary city policy to Newsom’s proposed ban on sitting or lying on the sidewalk, backs it. “The fact that these are tough economic times doesn’t mean that you don’t make that investment,” Campos said. Proponents say the initial investment is dwarfed by the payback: creating a workforce able to compete in an increasingly global economy, helping pull people out of poverty and lessening the pressure on social services.
Some skepticism
“Getting a college degree now is pretty much comparable to getting a high school degree in the 1950s,” Cisneros said.
Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, often a Newsom ally, said he had opposed a similar idea several years ago and remains skeptical.
“I doubt now is the right time to create a new general fund entitlement program,” Elsbernd said, arguing that the social safety net already faces a funding shortfall. Newsom maintains that it is a relatively small appropriation in a $6.6 billion budget and the morally correct thing to do.
“This one I will fight to the end to get it in the budget,” Newsom said. “I believe in it that much. … I want to be there when they graduate and see the faces of these kids.”
E-mail John Coté at jcote@sfchronicle.com.
Wheat facts
Kids are out of school and it’s hot outside — well, it was yesterday, anyway — and those two things could only mean one thing.
Summer!
And summer brings wheat harvest. I was looking at the Kansas Wheat Commission’s website today and I found a few facts I thought I’d share. (It’s hard to believe it’s almost harvest time.)
From The Kansas Wheat Commission:
Wheat Facts
- There are 22,430 Kansas wheat farmers.
- All of the wheat grown in Kansas in a single year would fit in a train stretching from western Kansas to the Atlantic Ocean.
- Kansas makes up 18 percent of the total U.S. wheat production.
- Kansas makes up 9 percent of the total U.S. wheat that is milled into flour.
- One 60-pound bushel of wheat provides about 42 pounds of white flour, enough for about 70.1 pound loaves of white bread.
- Half of the wheat grown in Kansas is used in the United States; the other half is exported.
- There are 9.5 million acres of Kansas wheat.
- Nearly one-fifth of all wheat grown in the United States is grown in Kansas. This is why it is called the “Wheat State” and “Breadbasket of the World.”
- There are about 50 “kernels” – or wheat seeds – in each head of wheat. A pound of wheat contains about 16,000 kernels.
- A modern combine takes just nine seconds to harvest enough wheat to make about 70 loaves of bread.
- A family of four can live 10 years off the bread produced from one acre of wheat.
- The 2009 Kansas wheat crop covered 8.8 million acres and yielded 369.9 million bushels, for an average yield of 42 bushels per acre.
- American consumers spend the lowest percentage of their annual income on food – just 10 percent.
- In 2009, one farmer produces enough food to feed about 144 people each day.
- Agriculture provides almost everything we eat, use and wear on a daily basis.
Block schedules vs. traditional schedules
The Wichita Eagle has a good story today about how changing from a block schedule to a traditional schedule may save school districts money in tight budget years.
Here’s the story.
And here’s a portion of the story:
Block schedules can work several ways. At some area high schools, students take four 90-minute periods each day. Students could be studying four subjects each semester or taking all eight courses throughout the year on alternating days.
In contrast, a traditional schedule consists of seven 45-minute periods each day. With block scheduling, students may have the opportunity to take eight courses a year, instead of seven with traditional scheduling.
Teachers spend 75 percent of their time teaching on a block schedule, as opposed to 86 percent on a seven-period schedule, according to Mike Rettig of School Scheduling Associates, a consulting firm that advises schools on how to use block scheduling.
Districts accommodate an increase in classes in block schedules by paying teachers to give up some of their 90-minute planning periods.
Derby spent $100,000 on these “buy-backs” this year.
The state audit estimated that Derby could save $619,000 a year by switching the block schedule that the district has used for 13 years to a traditional seven-period schedule. The move would allow it to cut 10 teaching positions.
Dome progress
Wichita County schools celebrated the near completion of one of its dome projects with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.
Below are some photos that I took in Leoti. The dome below is the multi-purpose dome, which will house a room that could be used as a weight room and a conditioning room, and the part that connects the dome to the standing school houses bathrooms and a locker room.
Work is continuing on two other domes and on the agriculture shop. The two other domes, located north of the middle school, will house first and second grade, along with offices, and the second will be used as a cafeteria and physical education dome.
I’ve been covering this story since the beginning of 2009. Through the meetings that I sat through, I have to admit I had no idea what the inside of the domes would look like. My questions were answered on Wednesday.
To quote the students that I talked with, who were snacking in the dome after the ribbon cutting ceremony: “Sweet.”
The multipurpose dome has cardinal red floors and tectum walls.
The dome is hooked onto the Wichita County Junior/Senior High School. The multipurpose dome will be used as a physical education facility.
Members of the USD 467 staff, board of education, USDA and economic development participate in a ribbon cutting ceremony in Leoti on Wednesday.
Another dome is under construction north of the middle school in Leoti.