Community and Schools Together (CAST) participants met at Suncrest Elementary on Wednesday. This month’s presentations were given by Diane Stiening, Food Services Director, Debbie Bracken, Director of Technology, Martin Hale, Technology Integration Specialist, and Stephanie West, Principal of Suncrest Elementary.Stiening provided information about the food services program. Stiening has been with the CSF for 27 years, and she has seen many changes in food service. The biggest change is that she must follow strict guidelines outlined by the Hungry Free Kids Act of 2010 for meal preparation and must provide a vast array of fruits and vegetables. In 2017, 651,678 meals were provided to students. These meals included breakfast, lunch, dinner, summer school lunches and snacks. The food service program is a federally funded program. The state provides reimbursement for free/reduced meals. Parents can pay for their student’s lunch fees online at https://www.frankfortschools.org/. Click the Support Services tab then click on Food Services to find the forms. Forms can also be picked up at the schools. Free/reduced meal applications are also online for families experiencing financial hardship. At times, families who are on paid status have difficulty paying for their student’s meals throughout the year.
There is an angel fund anyone can contribute to which will help pay for students’ lunches. To donate to the angel fund, contact Stiening at 765-659-6230. If you would like to donate to a particular school, contact the food services manager at the school about donating. Each school has a “share table” where sealed food can be placed if a student does not want to eat it, and other students can freely take an item from the table if they are still hungry. Also, the Salvation Army collects sealed food from us that is not used.
The renovation at the high school has provided a very nice dietary experience for the students there, and they especially enjoy the pizza. High schoolers really enjoy the holiday meals prepared by the dietary staff. Tables are decorated nicely with white table cloths, candles and festive decorations, and this makes students feel very special to have an opportunity to share a formal meal with their friends at school. Vending machines have to follow strict guidelines. Stiening has to make sure that the foods available in the vending machines are of good nutritional quality. To introduce new foods to students, Suncrest staff is working on a grant with Healthy Communities. The grant will provide new food taste testing at the school.
Bracken and Hale presented about technology at the Community Schools of Frankfort (CSF). The CSF Technology Department currently employs four specialists: Bracken, Director; Hale, Integration Specialist; Chris Ragsdale, Systems Manager; and Jose Contreras, Desktop Support. Last year, Contreras assisted at the Student Help Desk at Frankfort High School. This year, he was hired for desktop support across the district. Regarding utilizing technology in the classroom Bracken stated, “Today’s students require different modalities to learn, and technology is a great tool to use to reach all of our learners.” There are a vast number of sites and programs students can use that will help them succeed. At the CSF, students have access to many programs including but not limited to Google for Education K-12, Discovery Education K-12, Prodigy Math K-8, Canvas 9-12, and Type to Learn K-5. Math Seeds and IXL Math have been purchased from Title I funds to support student learning with technology. Read 180 was purchased for the middle school from Title I funds, and students are using it to increase their reading skills on a daily basis.
Thanks to the Secured School Safety Grant from the state, all buildings have been secured with a unified door entry system. All employees have a key fob that allows access to the building. In case of an emergency, administrators are able to lock down the entry doors and disable fob access until the emergency is contained. All city police officers have a fob as well. Security cameras were also partially funded from this grant. There are cameras on our school buses for student safety as well as in each of our buildings. Administrators and police have access to the system. Additional cameras will be added this year from additional grant funds. Also from this grant, eight 800 MHz radios that allow staff to speak directly to police in case of emergency were purchased.
District data is securely backed up and stored daily. To keep students safe while surfing the internet, a content filter is in place. There is ongoing monitoring for Internet security, and the Technology Department is notified about any occurrences of student bullying, harassment or self-harm issues by Auditor monitors.
Frankfort High School is 1:1. Students are using their laptop computers daily, and the students have been respectful of the computers. There were very low incidences of computer damage when they returned them to the Technology Department last May. All five schools have projectors and screens in each room
for instruction. The elementary schools are not 1:1 yet, but they have laptops and I-pads for student use. One tech tool that Bracken pointed out was Impero, which allows access to computer screens all over the district from the technology office, and this allows the Technology Department to be able to help
teachers remotely with issues. Impero also allows the department to turn large numbers of computers on and off remotely.
Hale stated that students at the high school can sign up to be a part of the Student Help Desk. Stationed in the high school library, it is the first step for students to access if they experience computer trouble. Mr. Hale provides training, and students at the help desk trouble shoot computer problems, correct
issues if they can or assign a loaner computer, and let Mr. Hale know of any service issues. Some students are studying for the A+ tech certification, a certification which will help students as prepare for a career in computers.
West introduced the School Resource Officer assigned to Suncrest, Officer Mark Schilling. Officer Schilling briefly shared that over the summer
that he and other officers received school resource officer training. He is proud to be at Suncrest. He shared, “Suncrest is a great place where students have
good behavior, and both the teachers and the students are focused on learning.” His main objective is to make sure students are safe to focus on learning. He
also builds positive relationships with students, staff, and families. He wants to be seen as a person they can trust. West stated that Officer Schilling helps out in so many ways while at school. He not only keeps students and staff safe by monitoring visitors and helps with any issues that arise, he also volunteers to read to students, helps in the cafeteria as well as at arrival and dismissal.
Superintendent Don DeWeese stated, “Officer Schilling and all of our School Resources Officers have become a part of what we do here at the CSF.” Troy Bacon, Chief of Police stated, “The SRO program is going very well. What our officers are doing by earning the trust of the students will make Frankfort a better place to live.”
At Suncrest, this year’s motto is, “We Believe, We Achieve, We Succeed”. The Leadership Team at Suncrest is participating in a book study with the book The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon and bringing their positive attitudes to school with them each day. All staff believe students can work to achieve 70% or higher in all they do. Suncrest staff have high expectations for students and considerable growth has been made by students in the last five years. Students and staff both record students’ progress. Students use data folders, and teachers use data walls to track the progress. Kids take ownership of their learning and do their absolute best in all their work. Teachers meet with each of their students once a month to talk about progress. Suncrest has started SWOOP, where staff “swoop in” to Kindergarten and first grade classrooms and help students improve their reading skills. They work on letter identification, letter sounds, and reading comprehension skills. There is a new full day preschool program at Suncrest, and some students in preschool already know letters and sounds, and can also read beginning level books. West appreciates every volunteer who helps at Suncrest. Mrs. West stated, “We have many community partners –
from Healthy Communities to the Chamber of Commerce, several people in this community help Suncrest students each year. Suncrest has a special volunteer this year for Kindergarten who volunteers half a day each day to help students improve their reading skills. All volunteers are appreciated.
Last year and this year, Suncrest staff initiated a One School One Read program. Last year, each student read BFG by Roald Dahl. This year, students will read Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. Each family receive a book, and, students take the book home to read with their family and answer questions. Students return their answers to the questions and are eligible for prizes. There are so many learning activities happening each day at Suncrest, including the garden club in which 30 students participated. West spoke proudly of the students, staff, families, and community partner volunteers. Suncrest is a great place to be.
If you are interested in joining the 2019 CAST which begins next February, please contact Lola VanDyke, Director of Title I at 765-654-5585, ext. 1012 or email [email protected]
Information for this article was provided by Lola VanDyke, Title I Director for the Community Schools of Frankfort.