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December 7, 2015

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Budget Conversations Continue - Stay Involved and Take Budget Survey

The Blaine County School District Board of Trustees are in the process of creating a five -year fiscal plan. This survey continues the conversation that began with the 24 budget meetings held in October during the Financial Plan Listening Tour. If BCSD maintains the current programs and services, in 2-3 years expenses will exceed revenue by $2.75 million annually.  
The results of the Financial Plan Listening Tour indicated that the community would like further conversation on the following topics:

  • International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme
  • BCSD Administrative Staff - District Office
  • Communications Department
  • Two teacher planning periods at Wood River Middle School and Wood River High School
  • Parent Liaisons
  • Community Event Support
  • Two possible solutions to maintain current programs

There are several ways you can participate in the Budget Survey:

1) Email - parents and staff with current email addresses will receive an invitation
2) Public link - find the public link for the survey here
3) Paper - request a paper survey at your school

Surveys are available in both English and Spanish. Complete the survey by Friday, December 18.

For a list of Questions and Answers from the budget meetings, click here.

Read the Superintendent's Letter

Dear Blaine County Neighbors, 

When thinking about learning and teaching, I almost always think about what I would want for my own children. They are both grown now and making their way in the world, but I still think about them as my standard for what we should be doing as educators. There has been a good deal of debate about the new standards, both nationally and at the state level. I sometimes wonder in these debates how many folks have really looked at what the new standards are asking. Let's look at one math sample to compare what we might have asked our children to understand under the old Idaho standards and what we expect them to understand now under the new Idaho Core Standards.



Read more here.
Attend a Board Meeting

New location, new features to make things user-friendly! The Board of Trustees will now hold their regular monthly meetings at the Community Campus, located at 1050 Fox Acres Road, Hailey. The meetings are held in the Minnie Moore Room. 
  • Board Accolades: Kristy Heitzman, John Koth
  • School Report: Silver Creek High School
  • Superintendent Report:
    • Dr. GwenCarol Holmes, Virtual Field Trips, Paul Zimmerman
    • GATE Data Update
  • Board Chair Report:
    • Student Liaison Report, Tyson Spellman, SCHS
    • Correction of Alleged Violation of Open Meeting Law, November 17, Special Meeting 
  • GATE Program Update: Angie Martinez
  • Teacher Liaison Position: Trustee Cami Bustos
  • Consideration of Draft Policies: Interscholastic Competition, Class Size
How can you participate in the Board meetings? Public comment is always welcome at regular Board meetings. To read about how to make a public comment, click here.

You can also watch Board webcasts here

The Board of Trustees also has a newly updated page for Public Records Requests here.

Habr� interpretaci�n al espa�ol en la reuni�n de la Junta. Spanish interpretation will be available at all regular Board of Trustees meetings.

Come to a Holiday Concert

All holiday concerts are presented to the community free of charge and everyone is welcome to attend.  Join us for holiday cheer and see how our students are inspired, engaged, educated and empowered by music. View all concert times and dates here.
Student Spotlight
Meet Shannon Robertson 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 [email protected].

Read the article here.

Emergency Drill Gives Students, Staff, Time to Practice

Wood River Middle School and Hailey Elementary will be involved in a full-scale drill on Friday, December 11.  The purpose of the drill is to practice the safe evacuation of students and parent/student reunification.  The non-violent scenario includes using the Incident Command System and the Standard Response Protocol.  This full-scale exercise will involve parent and staff volunteers, as well as observers from local emergency management, including the Hailey Police and Fire Departments. Elementary schools do not have students that day due to parent/teacher conferences. For more about Safety and Security, click here.
Students Compete With Robotics

Blaine County Bots teams from Wood River Middle School and Wood River High School competed with 19 other teams in Weiser, Idaho recently. Coach Kevin Lupton stated, "Both of the high school teams made it through the prelims undefeated 8-0, the only teams to do that. In the finals the sophomore team consisting of Cameron Maxwell, Dawson Hicks, Carson Smith and Carter Gerringa were tournament champions and never lost a match the whole day. The Juniors consisting of Jens Blackman, Kegan Lupton, Joseph Anderson and Kevin Browder earned the drivers skill award and the coveted excellence award that is based on engineering, design, documentation, programming and interview."

Coach Jeremey Silvis stated, "The MS team consisting of Mason Corkutt, Mason Marshall, Davey Schrader and Kenneth Aguayo were the only MS team there and did well competing against against the high school teams finishing the prelims 3-5 and are gaining valuable experience competing against more experienced HS teams."

Issue: 178

In this Issue:

 Note the Date

Board of Trustees Meeting
Tuesday, December 8, 6:00 p.m.
Minnie Moore Room, Community Campus, Hailey


Elementary Parent Teacher Conferences
No School
Thursday, December 10 -Friday, December 11


 
School Board Members 
Chairman
Shawn Bennion 

Trustee
Cami Bustos

Trustee
Carole Freund


Trustee
Rob Clayton

Vice-Chair
Elizabeth Corker  
   
For more information visit the 
on our website
 

 
Superintendent
 

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The mission of Blaine County School District is to inspire, engage, educate and empower every student.
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