Month: November 2018

Light snow possible Saturday into Sunday

National Weather Service graphic

After a Friday in the 50s, Wyandotte County will see flurries from Saturday night into Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

The best chance for light snow will be overnight, from Saturday night to Sunday morning, the weather service said.

The Wyandotte County area could get a dusting of snow, according to the weather service, while a half-inch is possible in St. Joseph, Missouri, and to the north.

Wind chills in the teens are expected Saturday evening through Sunday morning, the weather service said.

Dry conditions are expected after the weekend, with a gradual warming trend beginning Monday and lasting into at least the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the weather service. The Thanksgiving forecast is sunny with a high of 57. Precipitation will become possible by Thursday night, but is most likely to fall as rain if it materializes at all.

Today’s weather, before the cold front arrives Saturday morning, will be quiet and mild, the weather service said. It will be sunny today with a high near 53 and a calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon.

Tonight, the low will be around 34, with increasing clouds, and a south wind of 6 mph becoming light and variable, according to the weather service.

Saturday, the high will be near 40 with mostly cloudy skies and a northwest wind of 6 to 14 mph, becoming north northeast in the afternoon, the weather service said. Winds may gust up to 20 mph.

Saturday night, there is a 30 percent chance of show, mainly after midnight, according to the weather service. It will be cloudy with a low of 24 and a north northeast wind of 7 to 11 mph.

Sunday, it will be mostly cloudy, then changing to sunny, with a high near 36. A north wind of 5 to 7 mph will become light and variable in the afternoon.

Sunday night, it will be mostly clear with a low of 25, according to the weather service.

Monday, it will be sunny with a high near 48, the weather service said.

Monday night, it will be mostly clear with a low of 28, according to the weather service.

Tuesday, it will be sunny with a high near 47, the weather service said.

Tuesday night, it will be mostly clear with a low of 31, according to the weather service.

Wednesday, it will be sunny with a high near 53, the weather service said.

Wednesday night, it will be mostly clear with a low of 37, according to the weather service.

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, it will be sunny with a high near 57, the weather service said.

Some regulation-free Kansas schools want rules back

by Stephan Bisaha, Kansas News Service

Seven Kansas school districts freed from some state rules now say getting that special status isn’t worth the effort.

Those districts are part of the Kansas Department of Education’s “Coalition of Innovative School Districts” program that started in 2013. Districts that join have the freedom to ignore state oversight on some of the ways they run their schools in exchange for pursuing novel approaches for improving student achievement.

The coalition uses the program to loosen teacher licensure and state assessment requirements. The relaxed rules for hiring teachers and instruction has come under criticism from some unions and education advocates who argue that the regulations are needed to maintain high standards.

“We think all of those kind of things are important and should never have been essentially done away with to begin with,” said Marcus Baltzell, the director of communications for the Kansas National Education Association.

Despite the extra freedom, the districts asked the Kansas Board of Education on Tuesday to release them from the program.

McPherson and Concordia needed to reapply this year to remain part of the coalition. But they felt that their concerns regarding regulations were already addressed by other programs and legislation that loosened guidelines for school districts across the state. Some of the new rules are based on experiments conducted by the coalition.

“The state has caught up,” said Quentin Breese, the superintendent for Concordia Public Schools. “The state board has been very progressive in that process.”

With McPherson and Concordia leaving, the other five districts decided to do the same instead of letting the coalition “die a slow death,” as some superintendents described the situation.

“We, as a unified group, felt the best course of action was just to ask for release,” said Bill Mullins, superintendent at Marysville Public Schools.

The districts said they will continue to collaborate with each other, but as an informal network instead of as a group that must report its progress to the Kansas Legislature. The superintendents also expressed confidence that the state is better positioned to deal with future restriction issues that may arise.

“We fully believe that teacher barriers that may come about, they will address,” said Adrian Howie, superintendent of Hugoton Public Schools. “They don’t need us challenging that part of it.”

Stephan Bisaha is an education reporter for KMUW and the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KMUW, Kansas Public Radio, KCUR and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. Follow him on Twitter @SteveBisaha. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post. To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.
See more at http://www.kcur.org/post/regulation-free-kansas-schools-want-rules-back.

Slow-starting Lady Blue Devils win sixth in row, 79-52

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Once warmed up, Kansas City Kanas Community College’s No. 9 ranked women’s basketball team rolled to a 79-52 win over Des Moines Area Community College on DMACC’s Boone campus Tuesday.

The win was the sixth in a row for the unbeaten Lady Blue Devils, who are right back in action Thursday when they play host to Saint Mary junior varsity at 7 p.m. Then they return to the road, playing Metropolitan Community College on the Penn Valley campus Saturday at 5 p.m.

Big second and fourth quarters carried the Blue Devils against DMACC.

“We didn’t arrive until 30 minutes before the game and started sluggish and cold,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “We certainly weren’t warmed up and because of that we had 13 turnovers and missed eight layoffs the first half.”

Trailing 14-13 after one quarter, KCKCC opened up a 31-21 halftime lead.

“The third quarter we played well and led by 18 points only to have DMACC go on a 10-0 run and cut the lead to eight points before we finally woke up and played the way we intended to do, outscoring them 24-9 the fourth quarter.”

Nija Collier and Lillie Moore led the Blue Devils with double-doubles. Collier had 19 points and 13 rebounds; Moore 18 points and 10 rebounds while Kisi Young added 10 rebounds, six points, three assists and three steals.

“Lillie and Nija really played well and enabled us to outrebound DMACC by a wide margin,” McKinstry said.

Caroline Hoppock was also in double figures with 11 points including a trio of 3-pointers; Lenaejha Evans had eight points and four rebounds; and Caitlyn Stewart six points and five rebounds. Brodi Byrd chipped in with six points and joined Young and Lexy Watts in the lead in assists with three.

The Blue Devils were a season low 6-of-25 from 3-point for 24 percent and 32-of-76 for the game for 41.2 percent.