Middle School

The Smoky Valley Public School District in McPherson County voted to consolidate middle schools Wednesday evening. 7th and 8th graders at Marquette will be moved to Lindsborg Middle School. The district needs to cut nearly half a million dollars from its budget. One way to do that was by consolidating their middle schools. By combining the middle school students at the Marquette Elementary School with the students at the Lindsborg Middle School, the district says it will save $187,000.

It's not very often that you hear of people who want construction on Kellogg.  But families in the Goddard School District do.   A traffic light will go in at the intersection of 167th Street West and Kellogg.  Three schools sit off 167th Street, and a fourth will open this fall. During construction, 167th Street will be blocked. But parents say it's all part of progress. When the kids start streaming out of Explorer Elementary School, the school bus isn't far behind; neither is the carpool.

The holiday season is here and that means---shopping! To help you with your list, we’re highlighting the best “Does It Work” items we tested this past year. This week we focus on kids (and everyone who is a kid at heart!) Soda Stream One product that not only worked, but had our group of middle school kids doubled over laughing was the Soda Stream. It converts a bottle of plain old tap water into your favorite flavor of pop. What's so funny about that?

He helps students focus, he gives them confidence and could help them in an emergency. A Kansas teacher has introduced a service dog into her classroom. She says she already sees the benefits. In the hallway, a black labrador named Draft is the center of attention. In the classroom, he prefers one-on-one time with the kids, sitting at the feet of a Derby Middle School student. Draft's laid back attitude fills the room like the soft music playing in the background. Teacher Kay Jacobs calls him a calming force.

An 18 year-old High School Senior is in jail, accused of emailing a bomb threat to his principal. Authorities evacuated Maize South High School Wednesday - no bomb was found.  Investigators won't say what led them to the student, but we do know technology like this is traceable. "I was in my class, study hall, studying, and then all of a sudden everyone had to start walking down to the middle school," recounted Maize South Senior Jason Alvarez.  "And I was like, what's going on?"

Eighth-graders at Andover Middle School are studying the Boston Tea Party. Tuesday morning, U.S. Congressman Todd Tiahrt told them today's  Tea Party movement basically wants the same thing as the original one: Fewer taxes and less government control. "The reason they adopted that name is they're trying to voice their disagreement in spending, borrowing and taxing," he said. Tiahrt, a Republican who just ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate, took questions from AMS students for approximately 30 minutes.

"Failure is the path of least persistence. " In the past couple of years, Jaime Scott found herself writing that a lot as she got back into the swing of schoolwork and tests toward earning her diploma. "I had this real fear of failure, and I had to keep telling myself I could do it," said Scott, who earned that diploma and will be the keynote speaker at Thursday night's graduation for the Salina Adult Education Center. The ceremony will be at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Salina Central High School.

By Michael Schwanke (WICHITA, Kan.) Wichita middle school students learned Friday their school resource officers likely won't return next year. Students say they will be missed. "Kids sometimes need someone to talk to and they can talk to him and he can help them," says Pleasant Valley Middle school student Kaylie Inez. The district is proposing to cut the four remaining middle school SRO's. The officers split their time between two schools, so eight middle schools will lose officers.

By Michael Schwanke (WICHITA, Kan.) Monday night the Wichita School Board shared results from its "Board Night Out" event last week.  About 1,000 community members participated in the event. Board members wanted feedback from the community before any cuts are made.  Community members used the districts "value list" to tell the board what they value most. Overall, the most popular was music.  It ranked at the top of the middle school list, and was among the most popular for elementary and high schools.

by Denise Hnytka (EL DORADO, Kan) New bond issues in El Dorado mean students like those at Jefferson Elementary could soon learn math in a new building. "I want to know a little more about the plan for the grade schools," said Shettera Ball, a mother of three children. It's a plan parents first heard about at meetings last month. The district wants to build three elementary schools and a new middle school. They would be paid for with two bonds, each costing more than 34 million dollars.