The following is Superintendent's Message to Employees of the Kuna School District for the week of February 23rd. Superintendent's Messages are always sent to employees on Wednesday of each week, and include the following sections: Celebrations, Budget Updates, and Rumor Mill.

Celebrations

KHS "Help Desk Willies" Robot Team Receives Recognition

Students from KHS recently received two awards while competing in the Tech Challenge.The Help Desk Willies Robot Team was awarded the Motivate Award for their outstanding team shirts and cheering section.They also received the Connect Award for creating a program that involved the school and community in community outreach and service.The Help Desk Willies were nominated for nearly every award at the competition, including the prestigious Inspire Award.Only three teams were nominated for this award, which goes to the team that best demonstrates overall performance in the tournament.Congratulations, Help Desk Willies!

Two KMS Teachers Receive $1000 Governor's Innovative Grants

Kelly Walton and Jennifer Wright—both teachers at KMS—are each the worthy recipients of the $1000 Governor’s Innovative Grant.Walton and Wright each applied for the grant to fund projects where their KMS teams of students have the opportunity to visit Barnes and Noble as a team and purchase a book of their choice.Walton and Wright were two of only 70 teachers throughout the State of Idaho who received this grant.

First KSD Love and Logic Class for Parents Reaches Successful Completion

This week concluded the very first Love and Logic class for KSD parents.Katie Stimpson, a Hubbard teacher who taught the class, received wonderful feedback from the group of approximately 40 parents.One parent commented that “My twin boys were at the breakfast table and not finishing their breakfast.I used some of the Love and Logic stuff on them. One of them said, 'Dad, you sound like you care.'The other twin said, 'Yeah, it's that Love and Logic stuff.’If that's not validation that the program works and that my kids have noticed a difference, then I don't know what is!"

Teacher, Steve Kilgore, In the Spotlight as a Seven's Hero

Channel 7 recently featured KHS teacher, Steve Kilgore on their Seven’s Hero feature for his awesome work in rallying support and donations to provide a racing wheelchair to a wheelchair-bound KHS student who wanted to participate in track.It is because of the extra commitment of teachers such as Mr. Kilgore that our students are able to succeed both academically and personally.

 Budget Updates

Nothing Concrete to Show for Innumerable Discussions Taking Place Across the Nation, State, and Community

There have been a number of productive conversations taking place at the local, state, and national levels that will directly impact funding for the Kuna School District in coming years.However, none of this discussion has resulted in concrete decisions as of yet.We hope to hear from Superintendent Luna in the very near future with regard to how the Federal Stimulus will directly impact our school district.We are also watching closely as education-related legislation makes it's way to the Idaho legislative floor.As always, we will keep you posted as new information becomes available to us.

Budget Review Team Update

Our Budget Review Team will be reporting back on their findings tomorrow evening and we look forward to learning what they have discovered with regard to last week's assignments.We have heard from a number of folks that this process is no longer necessary, because the government will make our budget woes disappear.We feel it very prudent to continue with our originally planned course of action.We will continue to research ways in which our District can save money or spend money more efficiently.

KSD Working on FAQ Document to Answer Your Questions

We have received considerable feedback from employees, parents, students, and other community members.A lot of this feedback has come to us in the form of questions, and we are currently working on putting together a FAQ document that will attempt to address many of the issues we are faced with.We will keep you posted on our progress in that regard, as well as with regard to the Budget Review Team meetings.

Rumor Patrol

Have You Heard a Rumor and Want to Know the Answer?E-mail 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 e-mail the rumor to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .You can also visit http://news.kunaschools.org/index.php/feedback.htmland select "Rumor" from the Category menu.

Rumor:The District will not be reimbursing teachers for credits next year.

Credit reimbursement is a Master Contract issue and must be discussed during the negotiations process that takes place between the School Board of Trustees and the KEA.Thus far, there has been no discussion about discontinuing credit reimbursement.If, through negotiations, the decision is made to change this process, we will immediately communicate that information to you.

Rumor:The District banned all field trips as of January 1, 2009.

There have been a number of discussions taking place around the issue of field trips over the last few months, but at no time has the District enforced an across-the-board ban of field trips.This, however, doesn't mean that we are ignoring the truth of the times: money is tight and we should be as frugal as possible in all the choices we make regarding funding.Principals are working with teachers to reduce the number of field trips and to find lower-cost alternatives to annual curriculum-related trips.For example, second graders usually go to the Morrison Center to see a play.This year, second graders went to KHS to watch a play put on by our wonderful Drama Department.