Celebration of Our Superheros!

If you have a celebration that you'd like to share, we encourage you visit our news web site and select the "Rumors, Questions and Feedback" tab. Congratulations to the following amazing members of the Kuna School District:

• The District LEP Team successfully applied for and received a state consortia grant of $10,000. KSD will partner with the Melba School District to meet the grant objectives of continuing to professionally develop confident and knowledgeable instructional coaches to provide on-going district support to teachers, specically addressing the needs of LEP students. Thanks to Arnette Johnson, Kellee Robinson, Patricia Stephens, and Laura Arrendondo for their work on the grant. Tate Vanorden was our man from Melba. Kuna and Melba were one of only three grants that were awarded.
• Thanks to Ralene Patten, Debbie Ryan and Arnette Johnson for helping Nampa School District kindergarten teachers with their transition to full day, alternate day kindergarten schedule. The three talented educators shared curriculum calendars, lesson plans, best practices and advice to help their Nampa colleagues during their transition to this new schedule.
• Thanks to the Technology and Maintenance Departments for helping the District Office successfully move to Support Services. Because of their help, the district office staff had little down-town during our move.

Updates

• Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities:
  • New Mathematical Thinking for Instruction (MTI) Teacher Leader Class Part I

    BSU has designed a class for teachers who have completed the MTI course and want to investigate and discuss mathematical topics related to instruction in grades 6 10. Activities include examining topics related to proportional and algebraic reasoning, building learning progressions, examining student work, and sharing resources and ideas. The group will be meeting at Borah High School in the IEN room from 5:00 7:30 on Mondays, Oct. 11, Oct 25, Nov. 8, Nov 29, Dec. 6, and Dec. 13. Both PD credit and graduate credit are available through Boise State but not required for participation. For more information, please contact Gwyneth Hughes at gwynethhuges @ boisestate.edu..

  • Grant Workshop October 14

    Are you interested in learning more about how to find grants that meet a need in your classroom? Do you need tips for how to write grants? If so, attend the grant workshop on Thursday, October 14 from 3:30 – 5:00 at Initial Point High School. The focus of this first grant workshop will be the Qwest grant. For more information, please contact Sharee Adkins at sadkins @ kunaschools.org. To register for this workshop, go to the following link: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22B9SC6BFCP

Rumor Mill

Have You Heard a Rumor and Want to Know the Answer? Post your question at KSD News!It is easy for rumors to get started in light of all the questions and concerns employees and parents have regarding the future of the Kuna School District. If you've heard a rumor that you'd like to get an "official" response on, we encourage you to visit news web site. Select the "Rumors, Questions and Feedback" tab.

Rumor: Why are 6th graders who signed up for orchestra being transported to KMS when they don’t even have a teacher yet?

Fact: 6th graders are no longer being transported to KMS for orchestra. Ms. Goerrich, the strings teacher at KMS, retired last spring after 15 years in the Kuna School District. Because we want a quality individual similar to Ms. Goerrich teaching the program, it has taken us more time than we thought it would to find someone to take over the program. While this process has taken longer than we originally thought, both the administration at KMS and at the district level have a strong commitment to continuing the strings program. Our intention is to continue the program, taking the time to find the very best teacher possible.

Rumor: I saw where the Dist. Board voted for an emergency levee…this is after the Jobs Bill money of 851,000.00 and also, what about the 75,000.00 that the district was going to pay for the increased insurance premium…I think a lot of money is floating in space and it needs to be accounted for, especially since we all took pay cuts…

Answer: The School Board did approve an emergency levy on September 3. The purpose of emergency levy funds is to assist school districts who experience an increase in student enrollment from the previous year. This school year, enrollment increased by 169 students which allowed the district to levy $577,830. The district negotiations team continues to work on how the additional revenue will be allocated.

Rumor: Is it true that the Kuna High School Football Coach would not allow the Cheerleader’s to ride the bus to the Caldwell game with the football team even though they were told that they would ride with the team to save on bus costs?

True. All activities have been encouraged to save money by consolidating transportation. Instead of having the cheerleaders ride with the football players to games, the athletic director organized a spirit bus that cheerleaders will ride along with all fans. The cost to ride the spirit bus for fans is $3.00. The spirit bus will be available for all away games.

Rumor: Why did the district office spend all that money moving their offices especially during a tough budget year?

Answer: Consolidating support services with the district office will actually make the district more efficient by saving money and time. The district will save money because we will have one less office to heat and cool and supply office materials and equipment. What is not quantified in dollar terms are the efficiencies of working with our team in one building. In addition, the district is renting the old district office space on Boise St. to the Kuna City police. The revenues that we will receive for the first year are estimated at $20,400. Renting our old district office to the local police will not only bring in additional revenue but will also provide a centralized location for our local police, putting them in closer proximity to our schools.