Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Nebraska Performance Accountability System NePAS

The Nebraska Department of Education will be releasing the results of last year's state assessment results as part of the Nebraska Performance Accountability System (NePAS).

This year each school will be ranked in several categories. The grade level configurations are:

Elementary Grade-Level Configuration 
Grades 3-5 
Middle Grade-Level Configuration 
Grades 6-8 
Secondary Grade-Level Configuration 
Grades 9-12  (Only 11th grade takes the state assessments) 

The following will be ranked for Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8) and Secondary (9-12)

NeSA Reading 
 Average Score 
NeSA Math 
Average Score 

NeSA Science 
Average Score 
NeSA Writing 
Average Score 

Improvement 
NeSA Reading  


Difference of Average Score from last year




NeSA Math 
Difference of Average Score from last year

NeSA Science 
Difference of Average Score from last year 
NeSA Writing 
Difference of Average Score from last year 

Growth (not secondary)
NeSA Reading 

Average of Differences in Scores- same students 



NeSA Math 
Average of Differences in Scores- same students 


Participation
NeSA Reading 






NeSA Math 

NeSA Science 

NeSA Writing 






Secondary will also be ranked by Graduation Rate.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Fan support items approved by NSAA

The Nebraska School Activities Association has comprised a list of fan support items that can and can't be used during athletic competitions. That list is below. 

For basketball, no balloons, no confetti, and no things thrown into the crowd. 

And shirts on fans are required.

Monday, October 29, 2012

13th Annual Laureate Feast November 11


The John G. Neihardt Foundation, dedicated to the legacy of Nebraska’s Poet Laureate, will hold its thirteenth annual Laureate’s Feast dinner and auction fund raiser on Sunday, November 11th in the Culinary School building at 32nd and Sorenson Parkway entrance of the Fort Omaha Campus of Metropolitan Community College in Omaha.

This year the Neihardt Word Sender award will be presented to journalist and author Joseph Starita. Starita’s work on tragic yet uplifting inspirational biographies such as “I Am A Man” about Standing Bear and “The Dull Knives of Pine Ridge” have reignited interest in the plight of Native Americans.

In previous years, the Word Sender has been presented to such luminaries as journalist Tom Allan, Ron Hull of NETV, former Governor and Mrs. Thone, folklorist Roger Welsch, State Poet Bill Kloefkorn, and Poet Laureate Ted Kooser.

The evening’s activities include a wine reception with music by Dr. Ed Elfers of Wayne State College. Emcee for the event will be Paul Hammel, Omaha World Herald journalist and Foundation board member, and the auctioneer will be Dr. Myrvn Christopherson, formerly President of Dana College now retired. The reception, meal, and decor are all designed and prepared by the Culinary Arts Department of Metropolitan Community College. Both the silent and live auctions contain interesting, unusual, and valuable items such as a hot air balloon ride, an Lied Arbor Lodge weekend, fine art and signed prints, fine wines, a variety of gift baskets, prime vintage single-malt whiskey, Opera Omaha, Rose Theater and Omaha Symphony tickets, first edition works by Neihardt, signed works by other noted authors, and a great variety of dinner certificates, gift and collector items.

 The Laureate Feast is open to the public, but does require advance reservations as dinner seating is limited; reservations are open through November 5th. Contact the Neihardt Foundation office at 1-888-777-4667 or 402-648-3388 or on-line at Neihardt@gpcom.net for reservations. Tickets are $100 per person. Also available are Sponsor tables for eight at $1000. The Neihardt Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization and 35% of the dinner cost is tax deductible. The reception, music, and silent auction begin at 5 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. followed by the live auction. Dress is business attire.

B-R Football Stats 2012 Season



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Volleyball Subdistrict Tournament Bracket


ACT test definition of Success in College

Recently a report was released from ACT reporting that 30% of Nebraska students taking the ACT test scored "College Ready" in all four areas tested- Reading, English, Science and Math.

The definition of College Ready is defined as B or better average (3.0 GPA or higher) at a four year college (like the University or Wayne State).

ACT research has found that students that score at a certain level in Math (or any of the other 3 areas) on the ACT will generally get a B or better in college science classes.

If you look at percent scoring college ready in Math (or any other area) the percentage is higher than 30%. The 30% reflects students meeting the "B" criteria in ALL FOUR areas.

FYI 30% placed Nebraska in the top ten states for percent college ready.

Monday, October 22, 2012

"Prayers and Projects for Shannon" chili Feed November 11


A group of friends and community members in several area towns have come together to support Shannon Johnston, an 8th grade student at Bancroft-Rosalie Community School who was recently diagnosed with cancer. 

"Prayers and Projects for Shannon" asks that you help us support the Johnston family by attending a chili feed that will be held on Sunday, November 11th, 2012 at the Rosalie Community Building.  It will start at 11:00 a.m. and end at 2:00 p.m.  Besides food and fellowship there will be many opportunites to buy raffle tickets for many donated prizes, bake sale as well as silent auction items.  The 7th Direction karate club that Shannon belongs to will also be performing demonstrations.  

All monetary donations will go directly to the family for anything they need to help them in this time to get Shannon back home to her horses and animals that she loves so much.  If you are unable to attend the meal on the 11th, the Charterwest Bank in Walthill and the First National Bank in Bancroft have accounts set up directly for donations.  There will also be sites in Bancroft, Rosalie and Walthill where you can purchase raffle tickets.  We ask that everyone come together to help Shannon, who is an avid horse rider, church group member, volleyball player, book reader, 4-Her and karate brown belt to feel all good wishes and prayers coming her way.


B-R volleyball on West Point radio tonight.


West point radio will be broadcasting the Bancroft-Rosalie vs. Ponca match tonight.  It will also stream at www.kticradio.com 

Thomas Friedman article in New York Times


Obama’s Best-Kept Secret
Thomas L. Friedman – New York Times - October 20, 2012

**In this article,  Friedman explains the Race To The Top education reform program. Nebraska has begun implementing some of the Race To The Top principles- school accountability and "rating" schools, teacher and principal evaluation standards- but not all. Nebraska has chosen not to adopt the Common Core standards (36 states have adopted them) or allow for Charter Schools, and will not qualify for Race To The Top funding. This article describes the current direction of education at the National level. Politicians often complain about No Child Left Behind/Race To The Top, but it has been supported by administrations from both parties and is likely to continue in some form.**

"Race To The Top in schools is based on one brutal fact: “The high-wage, medium-skilled job is over,” as Stefanie Sanford, a senior education expert at the Gates Foundation, puts it. The only high-wage jobs, whether in manufacturing or services, will be high-skilled ones, requiring more and better education, and Obama’s two races to the top aim to produce both more high-skill jobs and more high-skilled workers."

"In the Race to the Top in schools, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has built on the good works of his predecessor, Margaret Spellings, and President George W. Bush, who put in place No Child Left Behind. Though never perfect, No Child Left Behind was still a game-changer for education reform because it gave us the data to see not only how individual schools were doing but how the most at-risk students were doing within those schools. Without that, educational reform based on accountability of teachers and principals could never start. The purpose of Race to the Top, Secretary Duncan explained to me, was basically to say that if we now live in a world where every good high-wage job requires more skill, we need to get as many of our schools as possible educating their students “to college- and career-ready standards,” measured against the best in the world, because that is whom our kids will be competing against. “We have to educate our way to a better economy,” Duncan argues. “The path to the middle class today runs straight through the classroom.”

So, Race to the Top said to all 50 states, we have a $4.35 billion fund that Washington will invest in the states that come up with the best four-year education reform plans that have these components: 1) systems for data-gathering on student performance, dropout rates, graduation rates and post-graduation college and vocational school success, so schools are held accountable for what happens to their students; 2) systems for teacher and principal evaluation and support, as well as systems to reward great teachers, learn from their best practices and move out those at the bottom — essentially systems that help elevate teaching into an attractive profession; 3) systems that propose turning around failing schools by changing the management and culture; 4) systems that set college- and career-ready, internationally benchmarked standards for reading and math.

It is too early to draw any firm conclusions, but Duncan points to some early positives. Some 4,500 state and local teachers’ union affiliates have signed onto their state’s reform proposals, showing they want to be partners. Roughly 25 percent of the turnaround schools, Duncan said, “have already showed double-digit increases in reading or math in their first year and about two-thirds showed gains.” There have also been “huge reductions of discipline incidents.” Although, over the two years of the program, 46 states submitted reform blueprints — and only the 12 best won grants from $70 million to $700 million, depending on the size of their student populations — even states that did not win have been implementing their proposals anyway. And because 45 states and the District of Columbia adopted similar higher academic standards (known as the “common core”) for reading and math, “for the first time in our history a kid in Massachusetts and a kid in Mississippi are now being measured by the same yardstick,” said Duncan.

In many cases, we have seen as much reform from those “who did not get a nickel as those who got $100 million,” Duncan added. As Jay Altman, the chief executive of FirstLine Schools, which manages the turnarounds of failing schools in New Orleans, put it, “Louisiana ended up not winning Race to the Top, but we got close, and the process stimulated Louisiana and other states to think more broadly about educational reform rather than just approach it piecemeal.” 

Saturday, October 20, 2012

First Round Football Play-off Bancroft-Rosalie at Wausa 6:00 pm

We play at Wausa Thursday Night at 6:00 pm. The D-2 bracket is below.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Lewis and Clark Conference Volleyball Tournament

Parent-Teacher Conferences 4-8 pm

This Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences will be from 4-8 pm, one hour less than in previous years.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Report on Civil Rights Onsite Review

The one day onsite Civil Rights Review has been completed and the following recommendations were made:

- There should be three handicapped spaces- 1 van size, 1 regular space, and 1 space by the north door.

- There should be a handicapped sign at the main entrance to the building indicating that this is the handicapped entrance.

- A notice of nondiscrimination should be published before school starts each year in the Wisner paper. The notice should also be displayed on the front page of the school website.

- Job ads should have EOE at the bottom (Equal Opportunity Employer)

A small list of recommendations that can be easily taken care of.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Art Display at Neihardt Site during October

Fabric artist Beth Vogel-Baker of Norfolk, Neb., will  have her work on display at the John G. Neihardt Historic Site from October 1-October 30. The exhibit includes large hand felted robe wool and other natural materials collage pieces; each variously themed.

Early Dismissal Wednesday 2:00 pm

Bancroft-Rosalie School will have a 2:00 pm dismissal Wednesday October 17 for Staff Inservice.

Practices will be held at 4:00 pm as usual.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Weekend Volleyball Tournament Schedules

High School at Hartington Tournament

Junior High at Homer Tournament

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Social Studies class holding canned food drive election


The 8th grade social studies class is holding a canned food drive election from October 8th to election day November 6th. Students who wish to participate are asked to bring a non-perishable food item(s) in order to cast their vote for President Obama or Governor Romney. On Election Day, the 8th grade will weigh each candidate's total items and the candidate with the most weight will be declared the winner. They can vote (bring canned foods or other items) as often as they wish.
     The goal of this project is to raise awareness of the election as well as increase civic involvement. All canned food items will be donated to an local food bank.
    Donation boxes are located in the library, the hallway of the Elementary and outside of Mr. Peter's classroom.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Nebraska Department of Education onsite review Thursday

The school will have a Civil Rights onsite review tomorrow. The following letter explains the selection process and what the visit is for. I have worked for the past two weeks gathering the information the reviewers have requested.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Complaint Procedure for Coaches

This is the procedure the board approved in 2009. This gives the opportunity for the coaches to know what the issue is prior to meeting with the parent. There are some things that we feel are coaches decisions and not open for discussion.

Monday, October 8, 2012

The White Van


Last week there were stories circulating in Bancroft about a white van approaching a Bancroft-Rosalie Elementary student. A white van was seen in town and the license number was reported to law enforcement. The State Patrol did a background check and found that the owner has no criminal record.  The van is question did not match the description of other van sightings in northeast Nebraska/Western Iowa.
 At this point law enforcement does not believe that there is a credible threat to our students.  As always, talk to your students about strangers and suspicious behavior.
I am including some information from the National Crime Prevention Council website:
Who is a stranger?
A stranger is anyone that your family doesn’t know well. It’s common for children to think that “bad strangers” look scary, like the villains in cartoons. This is not only not true, but it’s dangerous for children to think this way. Pretty strangers can be just as dangerous as the not-so-pretty ones. When you talk to your children about strangers, explain that no one can tell if strangers are nice or not nice just by looking at them and that they should be careful around all strangers.
But don't make it seem like all strangers are bad. If children need help--whether they’re lost, being threatened by a bully, or being followed by a stranger--the safest thing for them to do in many cases is to ask a stranger for help. You can make this easier for them by showing them which strangers are okay to trust.
Who are safe strangers?
Safe strangers are people children can ask for help when they need it. Police officers and firefighters are two examples of very recognizable safe strangers. Teachers, principals, and librarians are adults children can trust too, and they are easy to recognize when they’re at work. But make sure that you emphasize that whenever possible, children should go to a public place to ask for help.
You can help your children recognize safe strangers by pointing them out when you’re out in your town. Also show your children places they can go if they need help, such as local stores and restaurants and the homes of family friends in your neighborhood.
Recognizing and Handling Dangerous Situations
Perhaps the most important way parents can protect their children is to teach them to be wary of potentially dangerous situations – this will help them when dealing with strangers as well as with known adults who may not have good intentions. Help children recognize the warning signs of suspicious behavior, such as when an adult asks them to disobey their parents or do something without permission, asks them to keep a secret, asks children for help, or makes them feel uncomfortable in any way. Also tell your children that an adult should never ask a child for help, and if one does ask for their help, teach them to find a trusted adult right away to tell what happened.
You should also talk to your children about how they should handle dangerous situations. One ways is to teach them “No, Go, Yell, Tell.” If in a dangerous situations, kids should say no, run away, yell as loud as they can, and tell a trusted adult what happened right away. Make sure that your children know that it is okay to say no to an adult in a dangerous situation and to yell to keep themselves safe, even if they are indoors. 

Friday, October 5, 2012

Wayne Powerdrive Meet Schedule for Tomorrow


Kitty Werthmann talks about life under Nazi Rule

Guest speaker Kitty Werthmann presented her story of life in Austria under the rule of Hitler to Bancroft-Rosalie 5th-12th graders and a group of middle school students from Wakefield. Her message was that America is the greatest country in the world and that we need to protect our freedoms. 
Several students had the opportunity to ask questions after the presentation. 
Mrs. Werthmann will be interviewed by "Crash" on KFAB radio AM 1100 later this afternoon.


Softball team still alive in District tournament

The girls softball team went 2-1 yesterday and plays Boone Central at 11:00 am today in a consolation bracket game. The winner will play at 1:00 pm against the loser of Wayne-Twin River.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Enrollment figures for school activities in 2013-14

Enrollment figures are submitted to the Nebraska School Activities Association as of the last Friday in September for classification the following school year. Last year we submitted an enrollment of 50 for grades 9-11. That placed us in Class D-2 for most NSAA activities this year.

This year we will submit an enrollment of 49. We should remain in D-2 again next year for most school activities (the exceptions are speech and play production). Baseball and softball don't have a Class D.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

District Softball starts Thursday Oct. 4 at Wisner

District Pairings  All games played at Wisner River Park

#1 Wayne- Bye

#4 Boone Central vs. #5 Wisner-Pilger (Bancroft-Rosalie, Lyons-Decatur)  11:00 am

#3 Pierce vs. #6 Columbus Lakeview  11:00 am

#2 Twin River vs. #7 Madison  1:00 pm

1:00 pm. Wayne vs. winner of Boone Central and Wisner-Pilger


Bright Lights students

Garry Clark, Executive Director of Cuming County Economic Development, presented a check for $100 to the B-R students who competed in the County Bright Lights contest. The students received second place in the contest. Their project was a proposal for a screen-printing business in Cuming County.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

District Play Production and Speech

Play Production
District D1-2: Nov 28, 2012 at Osceola
Bancroft-Rosalie
Clarkson
Humphrey
Lyons-Decatur Northeast
Mead
Osceola
Scribner-Snyder
Winside

Speech
District D1-2: 
Mar 13, 2013 at Bancroft-Rosalie
Bancroft-Rosalie
Cedar Bluffs
Fullerton
Humphrey
Humphrey St. Francis
Mead
Osceola
Scribner-Snyder
Winside

Monday, October 1, 2012

Girls/Boys Basketball District assignments

Subdistrict D2-5
Bancroft-Rosalie
Lyons-Decatur Northeast
Walthill
Winside
Wynot

Winner of District 5 plays the Winner of District 6
 
Girls Subdistrict D2-6
Ewing
Osmond
Santee
Stuart
Wausa