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Important dates
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May 1: No school, Professional Development Day
May 12: Last day of school for seniors
May 14: Maize South High School graduation, 6:30 p.m. at Century ll
May 17: Maize High School graduation, 5:30 p.m. at Koch Arena
May 21: Last day of school
Please click here to access our 2014-15 district calendar.
Please click here to access our 2015-16 district calendar.
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 Current job openings
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Support our schools: Maize Education Foundation online campaign
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The Maize Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports Maize USD 266, has kicked off an online campaign to raise additional funds for grants for Maize teachers, classrooms and schools.
The Foundation is working toward a fundraising goal of $50,000 in grant dispersements this year by adding to the $22,000 already donated. The Foundation has received more than $170,000 in grant requests from teachers and hopes to fulfill as many of those as possible. Funds stay in the district to benefit students and are tax-deductible.
Please consider supporting this initiative! Grants will be awarded on May 1. You can learn more about this opportunity and about the Foundation in general by clicking here. Thank you!
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Staff spotlight
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Congratulations to Maize Middle School's Chad Cramer, pictured above at left. He was named Kansas Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association's Kansas Athletic Director of the Year!
Maize Central Elementary School teacher Shari LaMunyon, pictured above with a few of her students, was surprised earlier this month with a Golden Apple Award, which honors Wichita-area educators making a positive difference in local schools. Congratulations to her, and thank you to KAKE News, Papa John's Pizza and Davis-Moore for recognizing her. She was nominated by Janet Clasen, pictured at left below with her daughter Megan.
Congrats to Maize South Boys Basketball Coach Kip Schultz, named Sports in Kansas 5A Coach of the Year!
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 Summer camp central
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We've rounded up information on Maize USD 266- and partner-sponsored summer camps, and parents can find details by clicking here to visit our Online Bulletin Board.
Camps are available for students in Kindergarten through high school and include basketball, football, soccer, strength training, tennis, volleyball and more.
In addition to summer camp information, please visit our Online Bulletin Board for information about other school- and partner-sponsored events, including classes and fundraisers.
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Have you liked Maize Schools on Facebook?
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In August, Maize USD 266 launched our first official district Facebook account.
Please click here to like our page and to find district news, announcements, event information, photos and more.
Thank you for your support!
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 Program provides free summer meals for children | |
The Summer Food Service Program, operated by the Food and Nutrition Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides free breakfasts and lunches to children 18 years old and younger.
Please click here for more information. Stay tuned for details about Wichita-area participating locations once they are finalized.
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 Partner organization planning free concerts
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ArtsAMaize, a partner of Maize Schools, is an organization dedicated to showcasing the arts in underserved spaces, including retail stores, parking lots and places through the Maize area.
Organizers are planning concerts, including
Bach's Lunch, a series of free performances from 12:20 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. at the Maize community building at Academy Avenue and Khedive on May 8 (featuring Banda Hispanica) and May 15 (featuring Lieurance Woodwind Quintet). Attendees are encouraged to bring lunch and a blanket or chair. Please click here to learn more.
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Superintendent's Message
Bond resource page explains needs, opportunities for safer, stronger future for Maize Schools
BY DOUG POWERS
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It has been exciting to share with you, our parents and community, more information about our upcoming bond issue. It is an affordable vision for a safe and promising future for all of our students.
I invite you to visit our new Bond 2015 online resource page about the proposal at www.usd266.com/bond for details about the bond and the voting process. We will continue to add information to that page in the coming weeks to further explain the proposed projects. If you have additional questions not answered there, please email us your questions at [email protected].
You may have seen KWCH, Channel 12's story a couple of weeks ago about our critical need for a FEMA storm shelter at Maize High School, USD 266's largest building and our only school that does not have a FEMA shelter. It houses 1,354 students and 208 staff members. During inclement weather, they seek shelter in interior hallways and rooms, including restrooms. We need a safer option for our students and employees. Please click here to see the coverage.
A few bond highlights:
- The bond will consist of two questions for voters to consider. The first is for $70.7 million for projects and improvements that will propel Maize Schools into a future that allows our students the best advantages for their education and futures. Our students of all ages and grades will see gains from this bond project, which will provide a safer district with the space we need to accommodate our students. This includes a safer option for our fleet of school buses, an expansion to Maize Middle School to accommodate our growing population at the 6th-, 7th- and 8th-grade level and a permanent home for our Early Childhood Center. The second question is for $12.85 million for a new natatorium for Maize Schools that will allow us to provide a place for curriculum, our winning swim teams and community members.
- A window of opportunity allows for the bond to be affordable. Our Maize Board of Education does not take lightly the request for additional tax dollars to help improve Maize Schools. Given current Kansas public school funding levels, school districts including ours cannot afford to pay for key projects out of our operating budgets. The $83.55 million bond would result in an annual tax increase of $11.50 on a $100,000 home, less than $1 a month. State aid would cover 38 percent of the bond (an estimated $41.9 million in combined principle and interest), and interest rates are historically low. The 14-year bond would be paid off in 2029, a time period that will save taxpayers approximately $9.4 million in interest as compared to a traditional 20-year financing period.
- Voters will weigh in via a mail-in ballot. Those interested in casting their ballots for this bond issue must be registered to vote by May 19. Please click here to double check your voter registration status. Please click here to register to vote or update your information.
As we head into the home stretch of this school year, we at Maize Schools appreciate you taking the time to educate yourself about our bond issue and how it will help secure a better future for decades to come.
Sincerely, Doug Powers, Superintendent of Schools
An architectural rendering of the expanded and remodeled Maize Middle School, part of the proposed bond that will go before voters this spring. |
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Maize superintendent search continues with candidate interviews next week
Members of the Maize Board of Education will meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Educational Support Center, 905 W. Academy Ave. in Maize, to discuss the superintendent search and identify which finalists they'd like to interview next week. Most of the meeting will take place in executive session, as it pertains to a matter involving non-elected personnel.
Finalists will visit Maize USD 266 individually next week on dates to be announced. Each candidate's visit will include a public reception from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Maize Middle School on the day of his or her visit. Please watch for additional information to come about that, as parents and community members will be welcome to attend.
Topeka-based Kansas Association of School Boards is assisting in the superintendent search process. On March 9, board members approved Maize Superintendent Doug Powers' resignation effective June 30. KASB employees on March 31 met with nearly 100 people from various USD 266 groups, including employees and community members. The process allowed them to gather input about what kind of characteristics the Maize Schools community wants in its next superintendent. Please click here to read more about that process.
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Maize Board of Education update
Maize curriculum, athletic fees set
to increase for 2015-16 school year
The Maize Board of Education had its regular monthly meeting on April 13, and board members voted to increase curriculum fees for the 2015-16 school year $5 to $95 for elementary and middle schools and $15 to $115 for high schools.
Members also voted to increase next year's athletic fee $5 to $45 across all levels. The increases are expected to yield an additional $46,000. The funds will help maintain the deteriorating textbook fund. This is the fund the district uses to pay for new curriculum and textbooks.
Administrators to recommend dissolving Maize Schools police department
In a cost-saving measure, Maize USD 266 administrators will be recommending to the Maize Board of Education that the district dissolve its own Maize Schools police department and enter into a memorandum of understanding with the city of Maize police department to provide safety and security services for the district.
Safety will continue to be a top priority for Maize Schools, especially regarding its students. If approved, the city of Maize's police department would offer the same quality services to the students, employees and schools of Maize USD 266. The recommendation would include that the board enter into a memorandum of understanding with the city regarding these safety services.
In February, Maize Schools explained to our community that Gov. Sam Brownback's allotment announced recently reduces general fund state aid to schools for the current academic year by 1.5 percent, which amounts to $351,000 for Maize Schools. Dissolving the Maize Schools police department is estimated to save about $80,000 a year.
District administrators have continued to examine cost-saving options throughout the district and have, in some cases, opted to leave staff vacancies open upon employees' retirements/or resignations.
Election yields two new board members
Two new members will join the Maize Board of Education in July: Jeffrey Jarman will be the new at large representative, and Scott Crawford will represent District 3.
Matt Jensby, who was appointed to the board in September to fill a District 1 opening, was elected to that same seat. Incumbent Bruce Nicholson was re-elected to his District 2 seat.
Please click here to see Sedgwick County's official results of the April 7 General Election.
Insurance and Affordable Care Act
Beginning Oct. 1, Maize USD 266, to comply with the Affordable Care Act, will begin offering a monthly $200 health insurance contribution to 289 classified employees.
The district employs 790 people, and 459 full-time administrators and licensed employees, including teachers, counselors and nurses, currently are offered that benefit. Of the district's 331 classified employees, 42 are not full-time and do not qualify for that benefit. Maize Schools pays that insurance contribution from its general fund. The specific additional cost to the district are unknown at this time, as employees offered the benefit may opt to waive it if they receive health insurance elsewhere.
Board members' next regularly scheduled monthly meeting will be at 7 p.m. May 11 at the Educational Support Center, 905 W. Academy Ave., in Maize.
Find agendas, meeting minutes and board member contact information at www.usd266.com/schoolboard.
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Complete High School Maize, Maize South Elementary win awards for character education and related programs
 Complete High School Maize, USD 266's alternative high school, and Maize South Elementary School will be honored May 7 in Topeka. The recognition comes from Character.org and the Topeka City of Character, in collaboration with The Kansas State Department of Education and the Brown v. Board of Education Historical Site.
Complete will be honored as a Kansas State School of Character as a school that creates a caring community, engages families and community members in character-building efforts, fosters self-motivation and implements meaningful and challenging curriculum that respects all learners, develops character and helps students succeed.
During their April 13 meeting, Maize Board of Education members congratulated Complete students, staff members and parents, pictured above, on the school's recent awards.
Complete also has been awarded for its internship program and Somebody Someone mentoring program, which matches every student with an adult mentor who spends time with the student and offers guidance and friendship. Complete's recognition includes the Spotlight Award for Social, Emotional and Character Development.
Maize South Elementary will receive a Promising Practices award for its character education, which includes its Leader in Me program. Among other traits, it embraces the 7 Habits principles, a model that teaches accountability, responsibility, teamwork and other leadership skills.
Maize Middle School, Vermillion Elementary School and Pray-Woodman Elementary School each have been honored with character education awards in recent years.
 The honors bring attention to Maize Schools' district-wide Maize Way character education program, which teaches generosity, honesty, self-discipline, cooperation and respect, among other traits.
 Maize South Elementary School students participated earlier this school year in Bully Prevention Week.
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Congratulations to our 2016 Kansas Teacher of the Year nominees, Celebrating Excellence in Education winners
 Maize South Elementary School teacher Shelly Jennings, left, and Maize High School teacher Cara Poole have been selected as Maize USD 266's nominees for the Kansas State Department of Education's 2016 Kansas Teacher of the Year Award.
They also are among the following Maize teachers who will be honored next month as winners of the district's Celebrating Excellence in Education Award. It honors employees who have shown outstanding work and demonstrated the ability to connect, learn and lead during the 2014-15 academic year. Please join us in congratulating:
- Early Childhood Center: Crystal Elliott
- Maize Elementary School: Ashley Gibson
- Maize Central Elementary School: Stacy Wagner
- Maize South Elementary School: Shelly Jennings
- Vermillion Elementary School: Angie Baird
- Maize Virtual Preparatory School: Karen Podschun
- Pray-Woodman Elementary School: Crystal May
- Maize Middle School: Tammy Barney
- Maize South Middle School: Carla Cothern
- Maize High School: Cara Poole
- Maize South High School: Jennifer Kerr
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Student's artwork wins first place
Eighth-grade student Makenna Karp, center, was among Maize South Middle School art students who, under the instruction of art teacher Ryan Hendricks, competed in the Kansas Junior Duck Stamp Contest this year. Makenna placed first in her statewide division, which included 7th graders through freshmen.
Principal Gillian Gaskill Macias (pictured above at right with Makenna and Maize Board of Education President Wendi White) commended Hendricks on the instruction he gives his students. Another student, Suzanna Hansen, placed third, and 10 additional Maize South Middle students received honorable mentions.
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