Kansas City
Your opinion wanted: The Kansas City Public Schools will host four meetings this month to gather ideas from the public on the district's vision for teaching and learning. The areas covered include student achievement, community engagement, parent involvement and leadership.
Meetings will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the following dates:
Tuesday, Jan. 22: Garcia Elementary, 1000 W. 17th St.
Thursday, Jan. 24: Border Star Montessori, 6321 Wornall Road.
Tuesday, Jan. 29: Gladstone Elementary, 335 N. Elmwood Ave.
Thursday, Jan. 31: Paseo Academy, 4747 Flora Ave.
Each meeting, sponsored by the Local Investment Commission (LINC), will include free child care, a light meal and translation services in Spanish and Somali. Participants will work in small groups led by a school board member. Each meeting is identical, and citizens may attend more than one.
In February, the school board will review the input and publish a report on its findings. The report will be placed on the board's webpage for additional public comment. Any policy revisions are also expected to be considered in February.
Healthy eating: The student team from John T. Hartman Elementary is the Missouri winner of Fuel Up to Play 60's local Super Bowl Breakfast Challenge.
Fuel Up to Play 60 is an in-school nutrition and physical activity program created in partnership with the Midwest Dairy Council and the National Football League. It encourages students to eat healthy foods, be active and implement positive, healthy changes at school.
Lee's Summit
Summit Tech open house: Summit Tecnology Academy will host an open house from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Jan. 23 so students, families and the community can to learn more about the Lee's Summit school, which specializes in engineering and technology.
The academy is operated by the Lee's Summit School District at 777 N.W. Blue Parkway, Suite 3090, but is also open to students in the Blue Springs, Raytown, Grandview, Center, Hickman Mills, Raymore-Peculiar, Odessa, Pleasant Hill, Lone Jack and Independence districts. Those districts pay tuition for the students they send.
Anyone planning to attend is asked to RSVP at sta.leesummit.k12.mo.us. The snow date is Feb. 6.
Video honors: Summit Lakes Middle School students recently won third place in the Student Television Network Fall National Awards Contest for a public-service announcement focusing on bullying.
Students producing the video as part of their broadcasting class were Danielle Gorman, Alex Marko, Kayla Meyers and Lauren Meyers.
This is the school's second national win since 2010, when students took first place for "Texting and Driving."
Also capturing awards were students from Lee's Summit High School. Gretchen Shackelford and Marisa Gates won third place in the school promo category. Gabe Lasley won third place for his movie trailer.
Belton
Big feats: Faculty members at Belton High School have started a new tradition called the BHS Big Feat Award, given to teachers or staff members who go above and beyond. December recipients were Djana Trofimoff and Sheila Gilchrist.
Trofimoff was recognized for engaging her English students with The Freedom Writers, helping obtain "The Catcher in the Rye" and receiving a grant to take students to a performance of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" this month.
Gilchrist was honored for her role in launching the daily WBHS announcements, sponsoring DECA, coaching the cheerleaders and serving in other ways.
Center
Honor for Boone Elementary: The National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST) has selected Boone Elementary as a finalist for the 2013 NCUST Excellence in Urban Education Awards.
A team of educational professionals will be visiting Boone and collecting additional data before presenting the awards in May.
