Wichita Public Schools

Classes will resume on Friday for Wichita Public Schools. Students were out of school for the last three days due to the windchill being very low. Activities will also resume as scheduled for the district. Because some roads may not be clear, some buses may be running 15 - 30 minutes late. Parents are asked to make sure their children are dressed appropriately for the cold weather, or keep their children inside a house or vehicle until the bus arrives if at all possible.

Parents bundle up your students this Thursday morning. Wichita Public Schools will be in session today. The district says to be patient because some buses may be runing 10 to 15 minutes late. The district urges parents to dress their child warm for the cold weather and to wait with them in a car or inside somewhere.

The Wichita public school system is offering a one-time early retirement incentive for certain employees. It's part of working out a budget that needs to cut $30-million. The incentive will include a waiver of up to 12 months of health plan coverage premiums (medical, dental and pharmacy). The benefit ends at the conclusion of 12 months OR when a retiree begins to draw the USD259 bridge OR when a retiree turns 65 - whichever comes first. In order to be eligible, an employee must:     Be an active licensed/certified Wichita Public Schools teacher and/or administrative employee     Have 83 or more KPERS points OR are 62 years of age with 10 years of service     Not be drawing Wichita Public Schools bridge payments     Be less than 65 years of age     Be one of the first 200 to accept the offer by 4:45 p.m. on April 20 and retire at the end of the 2010-11 school year Those eligible to consider the early retirement incentive will be notified directly by Mary Whiteside, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources.

Superintendent John Allison detailed what the district is calling “Phase 2” in its effort to cut $30 million dollars from the budget. Allison held a news conference Thursday afternoon. "It hasn’t been an easy week," said Allison. He says the district has told 72 employees they no longer have a position.  Most of the cuts are at the central office level and include MTSS facilitators, family engagement programs, grants office and curriculum support services, JROTC support and several other areas.

Rick Pendland only worked as a teacher in the Wichita School District for five years.  But he made quite an impression on Wendell Turner.  His grandson was in Pendland's sixth grade math class in 2006 at Hamilton Middle School.  But Turner said Pendland wanted to be more than just a teacher. "He would call up and say, 'Barry do you want to go swimming with me?'  Grown men don't do that.  And, we wouldn't let him go,” Turner said. The Wichita School District confirmed Pendland worked at Hamilton Middle from 2003 to 2008.  Turner says, during Pendland's last year in Wichita, he tried to foster Turner's two grandsons.

On site enrollment started Monday at Wichita public schools, and some parents know that will mean big changes for their student. USD 259 recently changed school boundaries forcing at least 5,000 students, or about one in ten, to move to a new school this year. Everything is new for students at Isely Elementary. The name of the school hasn't changed, but the location has. The new school was built at 53rd and Woodlawn. "We are still working on some things in the main hallways, so access to that is a little limited," said Principal Kathy Stybr.

Wichita Public Schools cancel classes for a third straight school day because of the pending winter storm. The district made the decision Sunday night after monitoring the situation. The All-City Honor Band Concert and rehearsal scheduled for Monday night at Century II will be rescheduled. The Board of Education meeting Monday night is also postponed. Last week school was cancelled on Thursday and Friday because of the previous winter storm.

Wichita parents could see their kids turned away from school today.  That's because today was the cut-off for students to have their shots up to date. The rule affects all children who attend Wichita Public Schools.  Students must have all of their shots up to date, or a letter from their doctor explaining why. Students can also forfeit vaccines for religious reasons, as long as parents send in a signed note. School nurses have been busy notifying parents since last Spring about the changes.

Wichita Public School board members are expected to adopt a resolution for final negotiations of the sale Lincoln Elementary. The building, located at 1210 S. Topeka, closed at the end of last school year. The district plans to sell the property to the Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County Monday night. The resolution would declare the Lincoln school property as surplus, which will allow the BOE to enter into an agreement to sell the property. The CACSC made an offer to the district to purchase the property for $260,000, which is close to the property's appraised value.

Wichita Public Schools cancel classes for a third straight school day because of the pending winter storm. The district made the decision Sunday night after monitoring the situation. The All-City Honor Band Concert and rehearsal scheduled for Monday night at Century II will be rescheduled. The Board of Education meeting Monday night is also postponed. Last week school was cancelled on Thursday and Friday because of the previous winter storm.

Students at Wichita Public Schools will get a second snow day.  The district announced classes will be cancelled Friday February 22nd. All schools and the central office will reamin closed because of weather conditions.  Click here for school and community closings The district says cancellation was determined by three factors.  They considered the projected weather activity through the remainder of Thursday, the...

The entire Wichita Public Schools family is deeply saddened to hear of the news of the tragic elementary school shooting in Connecticut. Our thoughts and prayers are with those families and the community. There will no doubt be extensive coverage of this event on the news, and much discussion about it in the coming days. I want to assure you that the safety of our students is our top priority, and that our district schools have comprehensive safety plans in place to help avoid tragedies such as this.

Wichita Public Schools team with GraceMed to help children and adults get better access to affordable healthcare. Next month, GraceMed, will open its fourth school-based clinic in the city.  The new facility is connected to Dodge Magnet School and will serve the underinsured in west Wichita. "Even though there are pockets of poverty on the west side it has basically just been ignored," said GraceMed CEO, Dave Sanford. The clinic, which opens January 7th, is expected to provide dental and health services to more than five thousand patients a year.  It has a dental chair and six exam rooms.

A Wichita school bus driver was fired after students say she took them on a crazy ride all over town that ended with a hit and run accident. The bizarre string of events unfolded last Thursday after pick-up from Hadley Middle School. 7th grader Michael Kesinger said it all started with one wrong turn and quickly got worse as the bus driver became lost and admitted she didn't know where she was headed. "We had no clue where she was going to go," Kesinger said. The boy said he felt crying it was so scary.  He described how the bus struck a street sign and rolled onto a curb at one point.

On site enrollment started Monday at Wichita public schools, and some parents know that will mean big changes for their student. USD 259 recently changed school boundaries forcing at least 5,000 students, or about one in ten, to move to a new school this year. Everything is new for students at Isely Elementary. The name of the school hasn't changed, but the location has. The new school was built at 53rd and Woodlawn. "We are still working on some things in the main hallways, so access to that is a little limited," said Principal Kathy Stybr.

The Wichita school board has approved recommendations to name three school buildings. The new southeast quadrant K-8 school will be named Christa McAuliffe Academy.  McAuliffe was a high school history teacher from Concord, New Hampshire.  She was one of 11,000 applicants for NASA's Teacher in Space program.  She died January 28th, 1986 when the Challenger exploded after launch.  McAuliffe's motto was "Reach for the Stars. " The new Lewis/South Elementary will be named James Enders Elementary School.  Enders was a social studies and physical education teacher in Wichita Schools and was known as "coach" by many.  He began teaching in 1961 at Roosevelt Jr. High School.  He moved to Truesdell Middle School in 1964 and retired in 1991.  He died in 2010.

Distinguished Classroom Teachers recognized     The Wichita Public Schools' 2012 Distinguished Classroom Teacher Award recipients were recognized during the March 12 Board of Education meeting. Megan Gross , Intermediate special education teacher at Adams Elementary - New Teacher, Elementary category Sarah McDaniel, science teacher at South High School , - New Teacher, Secondary category Esther Calderon, second-grade teacher at Cloud Elementary - Primary Teacher (Pre-K through 2)

Wichita parents could see their kids turned away from school today.  That's because today was the cut-off for students to have their shots up to date. The rule affects all children who attend Wichita Public Schools.  Students must have all of their shots up to date, or a letter from their doctor explaining why. Students can also forfeit vaccines for religious reasons, as long as parents send in a signed note. School nurses have been busy notifying parents since last Spring about the changes.