September 21, 2015

Five Candidates Apply for Board Vacancy: Interviews This Thursday Open to the Public

Five candidates applied for the Board of Trustees vacancy for Zone 2.

The five candidates are: Jeannie Bradshaw, Cami Bustos, Heather Colvin, Laurie Kaufman and Sonia Munoz. Read about the candidates here.

The candidates will be interviewed on Thursday, September 24 at 4:00 p.m. at the Community Campus in the Minnie Moore Room.

The meeting is open to the public and will be webcast. Spanish interpretation will be available. The Board of Trustees will interview and vote for the candidates at the meeting.

Student Spotlight

The Weekly Sun Student Spotlight is back. For the next few weeks we will be catching up with students interviewed over the summer.

Meet Emily Scott in the Weekly Sun.

Each week, Jonathan Kane will be profiling a local high-school student. If you know someone you'd like to see featured, e-mail jkjohnkane@gmail.com.

Read the article here.

Attendance Counts

Our mission is to inspire, engage, educate and empower every student. Every day counts in the academic journey of each student. Why does attendance matter?

We value relationships. If students miss school, they don't have the benefit of positive relationships with teachers, students and staff that are developed over time.

Our teachers provide rich learning experiences in their classrooms that often cannot be duplicated or recreated if a student misses school.

If students fall behind in academics, it is harder to catch up.

Missing school causes stress for students, particularly elementary students.

Attending school every day helps develop good habits that continue for a lifetime.

Attendance affects revenue for our schools. The majority of state funding is based on average daily attendance, not enrollment. BCSD average daily attendance is 88%. The gold standard in education is 95%. Together, we can improve our average daily attendance.

Schools will be making efforts to monitor student attendance and follow up on students who missed more than ten days last year. Help us help your children, get them to school every day, on time, unless they are sick.

Back to School Photo Contest

Look for an announcement this week about the winners of the Back to School Photo Contest. Winners will be contacted through email or Facebook. Thank you for submitting 85 photos this year! Don't forget to like us on Facebook, we are only 9 likes away from 1,000!

Thank You Blaine County Education Foundation

The Blaine County Education Foundation (BCEF) distributed 175 backpacks to Blaine County schools this year. BCEF partnered with the Advocates to distribute the backpacks and the Lee Pesky Center helped provide funds for the campaign.

Local businesses donated supplies and proceeds to BCEF, including Kings, Atkinsons, Janes Artifacts, Albertsons and Wood River Insurance. Wood River Insurance and other volunteers helped assemble and distribute the backpacks.

School Calendar Committee

The School Calendar Committee will meet on Wednesday, September 23 at 4:30 p.m. at the District Office, 118 W. Bullion, Hailey. The meeting is open to the public.

Members of the committee include: Dr. GwenCarol Holmes, Marcia Grabow, Maritt Wolfrom, Jamie Stimac, Dorinda Rendahl, Stephen Poklemba or Jonah Torseth, Dorothy Madsen, Thor Topp, Mary Gin Barron, Jessica Gouley, Liz Young, Thad Biggers, Keith Nelson, Rex Squires, Kelly Green, Lee Dabney, Nicky Elsbree, Jennifer Schwartz.

Finance Committee

Pictured above left to right: Mike Chatterton, Rob Ditch, Mike Beck, Beth Andrews, Gerry Morrison, Liz Corker, Sandi Viau, Lyman Drake, Dr. GwenCarol Holmes. Not pictured: John Gaeddert.

The Finance Committee met on Tuesday, September 15. The meetings are open to the public. The agenda included a vote on whether the Finance Committee would recommend splitting the duties of Business Manager and Treasurer. The Finance Committee voted not to recommend splitting the duties of the Business Manager and Treasurer. This will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees for their consideration.

Wellness Committee

The Wellness Committee met on Thursday, September 17. The meetings are open to the public. The agenda is here. Members of the Wellness Committee include: Dr. GwenCarol Holmes, Carole Freund, Kris Stouffer, Duane Sorensen, Craig Eastop, Brad Henson, Christian Hovey, Cynthia Carr, and Kandy Blackburn.