Tag: Kansas City Kansas Public Schools

KCK schools ‘grab-and-go’ curbside meal locations to be reduced

Starting Monday, Dec. 7, the number of meal sites for the “grab-and-go” curbside meals will be reduced for Kansas City, Kansas, Public School students and patrons.

There will be a little more than half the number of school nutrition sites now available for meal pickup. Students may go to a nearby open site to pick up the meals.

According to a school district website post, the consolidation of the meal sites was necessary to help the staff and the community stay safe.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools’ Board of Education voted Dec. 1 to reduce the meal sites after hearing a district staff report with that recommendation.

According to the staff report, there was a difficulty in trying to staff all the sites adequately, with an increase of COVID-19 in the community. There were more absences being reported among the staff recently, according to the staff report.

According to the district’s website, meals will be available for pickup Dec. 7 at these schools:

High schools: Harmon, Schlagle and Washington.
Middle schools: Central, Carl Bruce, Gloria Willis and Rosedale.
Elementary schools: Banneker, Claude Huyck, Douglass, John Fiske, Lowell Brune, Mark Twain, M.E. Pearson, New Chelsea, Stony Point South and Welborn.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools currently are in remote learning and are not in the classrooms.

The nutrition program provides meals for students, who pick them up from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Breakfast and lunch are included, and milk and juice are available. Students pick up two lunches and two breakfasts on Monday, one lunch and one breakfast on Wednesday, and two lunches and two breakfasts on Friday.

Students must pre-register to pick up a meal; pre-registration is available by calling 913-627-3900. There is also a pre-registration form on the district’s website. The nutritional services department wants to know if students have a food allergy, when registering.

The meals are free for ages 1-18, and participants do not need to be a KCKPS student to have access to the meals, according to the district’s webpage.

School board members were concerned that the distance might be too great for some students to pick up their meals. Those who have transportation problems may call their school principal or school social worker to see if other arrangements can be made.

Members of the community with children using the grab-and-go meal program without a home school may call the district at 913-627-3900 to share any challenges around picking up meals.

Schools that will no longer serve curbside meals after Dec. 4 include Bridges, Caruthers, Eisenhower, Emerson, Frances Willard, Frank Rushton, Hazel Grove, KCKECC, McKinley, Quindaro, Silver City, Stony Point North and Edison.

For more information visit https://kckps.org/important-update-on-grab-and-go-meal-location-changes/. This website also lists some other food distribution sites, some through private agencies, that are operating in Wyandotte County.

See previous story at
https://wyandotteonline.com/kck-school-board-votes-to-delay-return-to-in-person-learning-until-april/.

KCK school board approves winter sports

In a change from its previous action not to allow fall sports, the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education voted 5-2 Tuesday night to approve winter sports, including basketball.

The Unified Government Health Department had recommended that schools not play indoor winter sports because of the risk of COVID-19.

Practices can begin Jan. 4, with games starting Jan. 18. The action applies only to high schools, according to board members. The board will require all athletes and their parents to sign a statement that they are aware of the Health Department recommendation, whatever it is at the time they sign the waiver.

On Oct. 30 the Health Department issued winter sports guidelines recommending against indoor sports because of the risk of transmitting COVID-19, especially the risk among spectators.

It also issued guidance for school districts that decide to play winter sports, including number of fans allowed and cohorting athletes.

Students have been writing messages to the board and also sending messages to local media that they want to play sports. At one point, they held up signs outside the Health Department letting them know about it.

Yolanda Clark, a board member who voted for winter sports, said her vote means they are trusting parents to make the decisions for their students.

Wanda Brownlee Paige, who voted against the motion, said she wanted everyone to be safe and that meant a lot to her.

Dr. Stacy Yeager said she wanted equity and equality with the other districts around them that have been playing sports successfully. It is very important for students to get that opportunity to play sports, she said.

Dr. Valdenia Winn, who voted against the motion, said the positivity rate remains too high in Wyandotte County, and this pandemic is not under control. Not only Wyandotte County, but also the state of Kansas is now spiking, she said.

Dr. Winn said the UG’s current positivity rate was listed at 17 percent on the UG Health Department website.

District officials presenting the proposal to go ahead with winter sports said they looked at gating criteria from the state of Kansas, and Wyandotte County was listed at lower numbers in the KDHE statistics.

District health officials explained that the KDHE was counting all the tests given to people in the county, even if it was to the same person several times, while the UG Health Department was only counting people one time, even if they had five tests that week. The way the state calculated the figures made the rate appear lower than the UG’s figures, according to the district health official.

Paige said she saw presentations today that said the state and hospitals COVID-19 rates are going off the chart. The U.S. also has a problem and seems to act like they don’t, she said.

Janey Humphries, who voted yes, said since they’re not starting practice until Jan. 4, after the holidays, it would all be subject to change according to what the health conditions are at that time.

Tammie Romstad, district athletic director, presented information that most of the schools in Kansas were playing sports. There were 38 COVID-19 sports clusters in Kansas, which resulted in 338 positive COVID-19 cases, one hospitalization and one death, according to her information.

According to Romstad, Turner, Bonner Springs and Piper schools have told the district they will be playing winter sports, and will wear masks at all times, even while competing. There will be no spectators and each gym will be limited to 45 people only. Bishop Ward High School is planning on playing at home when possible and will wear masks, according to Romstad. There will be no spectators.

At the time they talked to the district officials, Johnson County schools were planning to compete in all sports, wearing masks off the court, with limited spectators, according to Romstad.

The Kansas City, Missouri schools were planning to compete in all sports, with masks on only when they are off courts, and limited spectators.

Romstad said wrestling is not included in the sports that they will start on Jan. 4. Because it is high risk, they will reevaluate it on Jan. 4, she said.

Bowling, swimming and basketball practices will start Jan. 4, according to Romstad.

The athletes will continue conditioning in November through Dec. 18, following mitigation procedures, she said.

The delay of winter sports practices until Jan. 4 will allow for students to focus on their grades, Romstad said. By not competing for the first two weeks, they will have time not to mix the teams until after 14 days of practice, with plenty of time to quarantine players after holiday gatherings, according to Romstad. They will be allowed to compete in post-season with a smaller number of games in the schedule, she said.

There will be no spectators at winter games, Romstad said.

With no spectators allowed, the KCKPS high school games will be live-streamed for home games, according to Romstad.

KCK school board selects firm for superintendent search

The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education on Friday selected a Texas firm to do a superintendent search.

The school board selected the JG Consulting firm in a special meeting at 2 p.m. Friday.

Board members had ranked the three applicants, also including the Kansas Association of School Boards and Bakertilly. JG Consulting was at the top of all but one board member’s list.

James Guerra, the president and CEO of JG Consulting, of Austin, Texas, told the school board on Oct. 30 in a video meeting that they would be an equitable search firm. Board members would be able to see all the interviews and pre-interviews they do with candidates, and would be able to access all the information from all the candidates, he said.

JG Consulting offered to do the superintendent search for $25,000, and that would include everything, except travel expenses for candidates who come here.

At the Nov. 6 school board meeting, board members said they wanted board attorney Greg Goheen to explore some issues to clarify exactly what the agreement would pay for, including travel expenses. The board also asked him to find out about who would be paying for translators and community outreach.

Guerra said his firm recently recruited one of the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools administrators, Dr. Lynette Hookfin, deputy superintendent, who went to work this past summer for a school system in Louisiana.

During the Oct. 30 school board meeting, Guerra showed the KCK board the Louisiana interview with Dr. Hookfin, and said it was part of the public record in that state. In the interview, she said she was attracted by the data and demographics of the new district, and the new district was close to the high school she had attended.

During the past meeting discussions on a superintendent search, some board members expressed the desire to have a superintendent who looks like the students.

Guerra said his firm would cast a very wide net for superintendent candidates.

Guerra presented a possible timeline Oct. 30 for the superintendent search, including naming a finalist in March. The KCK board, however, said today they would want to to adjust the timeline to its own schedule.

Guerra also told the board on Oct. 30 that he had some candidates now who have expressed interest in the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools superintendent position.

One of the JG Consulting team members on Oct. 30 asked about Kansas open meetings and records laws, and whether all the candidates for superintendent in Kansas were required by law to be public. Some candidates who are currently working may not want their employers to know they are applying somewhere else.

Goheen told him Kansas law has an exemption for personnel in the open meetings and records act, and the names would not be required to be public.

In the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools’ superintendent search a couple of years ago, the top two finalists were announced and met the public as part of the superintendent selection process.

Board members said they plan to start meeting with JG Consulting in the week before Thanksgiving.