Murder by the Book

The All-School Play is underway! This year’s production is called Murder by the Book by Craig Sodaro. This murder mystery will be captivating as our 10 talented actors portray famous authors as their secret identities!  Will the murderer be caught and will The Raven Society live to see another year to grant the famous Smoking Gun Award?!?!  To find out please plan to attend the performances of Murder by the Book.

 Showing:

Thursday, April 26 at 2:30PM (School Performance)

Friday, April 27th at 7:00PM

Saturday, April 28th at 7:00PM

Sunday, April 29th matinee at 2:00PM

 

It will be a show you won’t want to miss!

Beginning a New Chapter: FCA

A Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) booster club was recently organized in the Hay Springs school and community.  The mission of FCA is to present to athletes and coaches and all whom they influence the challenge and adventure of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, serving Him in their relationships and in the fellowship of the church.  The booster club has four areas of influence and they are campus, coaches, community and camps.  We are very excited to announce that we have started a campus huddle on Mondays during the junior high and high school lunch hours.  Mr. Badje is leading the huddle as we dive into several areas including the Gospel and Doing Sports God’s Way.

We also have scholarship funds for summer camps available to Hay Springs junior high and high school students who may want to attend one of the following camps.

June 12th-15th – Nebraska FCA Distance Running Camp – Scottsbluff

June 19th-23rd – Black Hills Sports Camp – Spearfish

July 6th-8th – Max Out Sports Camp – Grand Island

Please contact Mr. Badje or myself at (308)320-4445 if you are interested in attending one of these camps.

Finally, I wanted to mention that we had an official kick-off event on Thursday, March 15th that included an encouraging devotion from Mr. Devin Davis from Chadron, pizza and a very fun and exhausting game of dodge-ball.  We are planning to have additional fun nights on Monday, April 30th, beginning after sports practices and one on Monday, May 21st tentatively set to begin at 4:30pm.  If anyone has any questions in regards to FCA please don’t hesitate to give me a call.

God Bless,

Jim Varvel

 

End of the Year Reflection

Can you believe that another year is coming to a close?  We are in the fourth quarter of the school year and High School graduation is less than two months away.  This will be our last newsletter of this school year.

The end of the school year is always a great time to reflect on our successes and recognize those employees that make Hay Springs Public Schools an outstanding school district.

TEACHERS: There is only one group to thank for the high quality education provided to the students of Hay Springs Public Schools – Teachers.  This dedicated group of educators teaches our students everyday, stays after school to assist students, and volunteer to serve on committees and sponsor activities.  They work long hours and weekends checking papers and planning the next day’s activity.  Please take the time to thank one of our professional staff members.

SUPPORT STAFF: We couldn’t function day to day without our support staff.  Paraprofessionals, secretaries, and technology coordinator.  They keep us organized, work with our students, and take care of all of our many needs.  They often work behind the scene to complete their jobs with little fanfare.  We appreciate what they do for us.

FOOD SERVICE: Often food service is judged by the number of complaints we receive. We receive no complaints, only praise! We serve an excellent homemade meal, students can get seconds, and no one leaves the lunchroom hungry.  We welcome parents and the community to come eat lunch with us.  Donna and Susan do a great job.

MAINTENANCE/CUSTODIAL: Our maintenance and custodial employees put in long hours cleaning our buildings, cleaning up after activities, keeping our grounds and football field looking good and addressing continued maintenance and repairs.  They are here from early morning to late evenings and often on the weekends.  Thanks for all you do.

TRANSPORTATION: Driving to school activities is part of life in the Panhandle.  No matter what athletic, academic, or fine art activity we attend we have to drive a long distance.  That’s life in rural Nebraska.  We appreciate our route and activity drivers for getting our children to and from activities safely.

EXTRACURRICULAR PROGRAMS: Coaches, class sponsors, play directors, music directors, ticket takers, clock keepers, concession stand workers, and the list goes on and on.  Most people don’t understand that when you have an extracurricular activity it’s more than just turning on the lights.  Without these individuals to assist with extracurricular activities we would have few student activities.  Thanks to all of you for volunteering.

SUBSTITUTES TEACHERS AND SUPPORT STAFF: People become ill, need to be gone for personal reasons, and are absent for student activities.  When employees are gone we hire a substitute.  No other school employee gets called at 6:00 am to report to work at 8:00 am.  We appreciate their willingness to answer our early morning phone calls and sound reasonably awake and cheery.

SCHOOL BOARD:  The School Board is ultimately responsible for the overall functioning of the school district.  This School Board is exceptional.  They have aggressively focused on quality learning, improved test scores, financial stability, improved facilities and develop school district policies that reflect the community’s beliefs and values.  They volunteer their time, listen to parents and community patrons, and attend many school events.  Thank a School Board Member when you see them.

We appreciate every employee and volunteer.  Our success academically, our excellent fine arts programs and the quality of our athletic programs are the result of our excellent employees.  Please take the time to thank one of our outstanding employees when you see them.

 

Elementary Pop Tab Contest

Last year, the elementary collected 81 pounds of pop tabs.  The fourth grade class found that it takes approximately 1000 pop tabs to make a pound, which would make our total pop tabs collected about 81,000 pop tabs! That’s a lot of pop!

IF the elementary as a whole can collect more than 81 pounds of pop tabs THIS year, we will have a PIZZA PARTY for the WHOLE ELEMENTARY!!!

Please have all pop tabs turned in by Monday, May 14th. Stay tuned for the grand total…

 

Kindergarten Roundup

Mrs. Olson will be holding Kindergarten registration Friday, April 13, 2012 from 8:15 am to 11:30 am in the Kindergarten room. A child must be 5 by July 31st to register. Please bring a copy of your child’s state certified birth certificate, social security number, and immunization record. The 2012 Kindergarten will visit school Thursday, April 19th from 8:00 to 11:00. If you are unable to attend registration, please contact the school at 638-4434.

 

Assessment News

For teachers, thoughts of spring bring with them thoughts of testing.  While testing does take time from classroom instruction, it can also be a valuable tool for teachers and parents.  It allows them to see student progress, strengths, and weaknesses.  It also helps teachers make instructional decisions for individual students and the whole class.  Besides, it’s required by law whether we like it or not.

Students in grades 4, 8, and 11 took the Statewide-writing assessment the end of January or beginning of February.  This is a writing assessment that measures student performance on state writing standards.  It is given every winter.

Students in grades 2-11 are taking the NWEA MAPS assessments in March.  These are computerized assessments in reading, math, language, and science.  Teachers shared the available results at Parent Teacher Conferences.  If all of your child’s scores were not available at conferences they will be sent home at a later date.

The legislature has also required that we start giving a state test in the areas of reading, math, and science.  The reading test is required for students in grades 3 through 8 and 11.  It tests vocabulary and comprehension and is an on-line assessment.  This is a two day test that will be given in April.  Students will also be taking the state math test (NeSA-M) and the state science test (NeSA-S).  You will receive results from all of these tests in the fall.

Elementary students were benchmarked this fall and winter using AIMSweb fluency & comprehension.  This winter they were also benchmarked using AIMSweb math.  They will be benchmarked for spring before school is out.  Teachers should have shared the results from the fall and winter benchmarks at parent-teacher conferences.

Actual test dates have not been set for all tests at this time; however, your child’s teacher should notify them of an impending test.  You can help your child by remembering it is important for him/her to get a good night’s sleep before testing and to eat a good breakfast.  Also remind your child that these tests are important and encourage him/her to do their best.  If you have any questions about these or other assessments please talk with your child’s teacher or contact Mrs. Marx at the school.  She would be happy to answer any questions you have.

 

 

Hawk Wrestlers 48th of 64 Teams at State

In only the second year of our revitalized wrestling program and only having freshmen and sophomores on our team we qualified half of our six man team for the state tournament in Omaha at the Century Link Center. The three qualifiers were freshman Levi Ray at 126 lbs, sophomore Joey Johnson at 132 lbs and sophomore Stevin Horrocks at 220 lbs.

Levi lost his first match to state runner-up Mason Klingelhoefer of Amherst and his second match to Garrett Sonderup of Fullerton. Joey lost his first match to Evan Ashcroft the third place finisher from Plainview and his second match was a loss to Cody Brouilett of MCJU.

Sophomore Stevin Horrocks won his first match over Scott Adams of Freeman by a pin in :51 seconds. His second match was to eventual 2 time state champion Jarrod Bazata of Howels by pin in 2:58. In the wrestlebacks Stevin pinned James Starr of Mullen in 4:58 then lost to eventual third place finisher Kalen Pfeiffer of Amherst. Both of his loses were to Seniors and place finishers.

Being a young team and a growing team we are looking for good things next year and a better showing at the state meet. The team placed 48th out of 64 teams with 7 points.

 

Seniors to Attend County Government Day

On March 29th, the senior class of Hay Springs will join Seniors from Gordon-Rushville and participate in the annual County Government Day. County Government Day was started in 1942 to educate high school seniors about how local government works. The American Legion Posts and the Auxiliaries from Hay Springs, Rushville and Gordon go together to sponsor the event. The Auxiliaries provide the midday meal.

Each senior will shadow a county court officer for the day. They will see what each officer does in the course of their day. Seniors will find out how county government works and how local tax money is allocated.

At Hay Springs High School, the seniors campaign for four different offices and the student body chooses the winners. Any one not winning election was appointed to another office. This year the offices will be held by the following people.

County Sheriff Marc Sandberg

County Assessor Tauna Letcher

County Treasurer Jerilyn Scherbarth

District Judge Dustin Lee

Public Defender Kelsey Kudrna

County Commissioner Kerisa Marx

County Attorney Dylan Mathson

Road Superintendent Kyle Parker

Weed Superintendent Seth Badje

 

Hawks Recognized for Outstanding Small Ensemble

Congratulations to the Hay Springs Small Instrumental Ensemble for being recognized as the outstanding small ensemble at Panhandle Conference Music Contest on Friday, March 23rd at Sioux County. The group consists of: Cydney Jancik, Kate Roberts, Jen Scherbarth, Whitney Heiting, Katie Scherbarth, Brittany Ferguson, Shaunna Hunter, Eli Badje, Jordan Encinia & Chris Ray.

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