FAFSA (college financial aid application) opens tomorrow

Exciting news! If you haven’t already heard, the FAFSA is launching early this year –October 1!

What’s the rush you ask?

Schools and states have a limited amount of aid, and a bunch of states have a FAFSA deadline of “as soon as possible after October 1,” (meaning they actually could run out of financial aid) so it’s good to be at the front of the line! 

Don’t leave money on the table. FAFSA is now easier to fill than ever before and it can mean an opportunity for more students to go to college.

Thank you for helping to get the word out.

From your friends at the U.S. Department of Education.

After-School Program Schedule

Bancroft-Rosalie Community School

After-School Program Schedule 2016-17

Regularly runs from 3:45- 6:00 pm on days schools is in session

October 12              2:00 Dismissal          Hours:  2:00- 6:00

October 21              No School                 Hours:  8:00- 6:00       Field Trip to Aquarium/Schramm

November 16          2:00 Dismissal          Hours:  2:00- 6:00

November 22          No School E Day      Hours:  8:00- 6:00       Field Trip to be determined

November 23          2:00 Dismissal          Hours:  2:00- 6:00

November 24-25     Thanksgiving Vacation   No After-School Program

December 14           2:00 Dismissal          Hours:  2:00- 6:00

December 23-30     Christmas Vacation         No After-School Program

January 2                 Not decided yet

January 11               2:00 Dismissal          Hours:  2:00- 6:00

February 10             No School                 Hours:  8:00- 6:00       Field Trip to be determined

February 15             2:00 Dismissal          Hours:  2:00- 6:00

March 15                 2:00 Dismissal          Hours:  2:00- 6:00

April 12                   2:00 Dismissal          Hours:  2:00- 6:00

April 14                   Spring Vacation              No After-School Program

April 17                  No School                  Hours:  8:00- 6:00       Field Trip to be determined

May 19                   No School                  Hours:  8:00- 6:00        Field Trip to be determined

Bancroft-Rosalie 2017 Unified Bowling Team

Bancroft-Rosalie is looking for high school students that like to bowl. The school bowling club is organizing bowling teams. Each team can consist of 5 players of which three can compete and two can sub. How many teams we have depends on the number of students we have participating.

Unified Sports require that students with disabilities compete on each team.

Practices will be in Pender

Schedule:
October 17         Bowling season begins
October 29         At Wayne (B-R, Wayne, West Point and Wynot)
November 5      At Wayne (B-R, Norfolk, and Wayne)
or  (Nov 5 or Nov 12   TBA)
November 12    At Wayne (B-R, Osmond, and Wayne)
November 19    Tournament at North Bend
Week of Nov. 28     District Tournament
Week of Dec. 5       State Tournament

Girls Golf is East Husker Conference runner-up

The Thunder golf team placed second at the conference golf tournament completed yesterday in Beemer. Individual medalists- Paige Peters- 2nd Mariah Petersen- 5th Michelle Hallstrom- 7th Lindsey Gralheer- 10th

E Days (Electronic Days)

E-Days are days where students will receive their instruction and work online rather than direct instruction in the classroom. E-days provide students with the opportunity to learn skills in managing electronic learning, developing academic self-sufficiency and independence, and provide our school staff with opportunities to collaborate to improve classroom teaching.

 Some students in grades 7-12 have already received a class period or two of E-Day when their classroom teacher had to be gone, and comments from students and staff have been positive so far.

 The first K-12 E-Day will be Tuesday November 22. This is a scheduled teacher workday that was originally the day our school was to host the Conference One Act Play Contest. The play date was moved last month, but we are keeping it scheduled as our first E-Day.

How it will work-
Grades 7-12 students will have an assigned series of activities (or playlist) for each of their classes. The teachers will be at school and available to students via e-mail or messaging if the students have questions. We will be working with our teachers to have purposeful and rigorous activities for the students that would be equal to instruction they would receive if they were in the classroom.

Parents of grades K-6 students can choose to send students to the after-school program, which will be operating from 8:00- 6:00 that day, or keep them at home. The after-school program will provide opportunities for students to complete their assignments and then take a group field trip, location still to be determined.
K-6 students will have between 1-2 hours of assigned activities to be completed on their I-Pads. Grades K-2 will need to take their I-Pads home on November 21 for use on the 22nd and bring them back to school November 23. We will have some visitors to the building the 22nd to observe our first E Day. We have two other E Days on the schedule later in the year, and will also have E Days on snow days (but no after-school program on snow days).

Health Rocks

Jennifer Hansen and Stacey Keyes from Thurston County Extension led students through "Health Rocks" during the B-R after school program.

School Board members recognized at Area Meeting

Bancroft-Rosalie School Board members Naomi Brummond, Mike Nottlemann, Scott Hansen, and Pat Browning were recognized at the Nebraska Association of School Boards area meeting in Norfolk Wednesday night. Recognition was for reaching levels of achievement during their time as a school board member. Naomi Brummond received a clock for achieving level 9, the only level 9 recognized at the meeting. Pat Browning received an office set for reaching level 3, and Scott Hansen and Mike Nottlemann received T-shirts for achieving level 2.

Dorothy In Wonderland October 1 and 2

Career Education and Innovation

Here is a summary of the meetings I have been involved in the past two weeks.

September 9- Northeast Nebraska Career Academy Partnership Board Meeting

This board is responsible for overseeing the Fridays at Northeast program. There are 40 students attending from 14 schools, including 4 from Bancroft-Rosalie. At this meeting we discussed the success of the program so far and approved the purchase of additional tools for the auto programs and student shirts.

September 16- Accelerate Nebraska Meeting. This is a group of Northeast Nebraska school leaders that meet to discuss the “education pipeline” in Nebraska. We look at ways to improve the “pipeline”, the education system that students pass through from secondary to postsecondary to workforce. One concern that has been identified is the number of high school students that require remedial math and english when they begin college. Northeast Community College will be piloting a Technical Math course that will meet the math requirements of most Northeast programs. This dual credit course, combined with the college math courses B-R currently offers, will enable nearly all B-R grads to have their college math requirements completed before graduating high school.

September 19- Nebraska Career Education and Innovation Foundation. This board supports Career and Technical Education programs  in Nebraska. Projects we are working on include: “Teach To Your Power”, encouraging high school and college students to consider teaching careers; the Presidential Platform Challenge, a contest for high school students to answer “What they would do if they were President” with winners earning college scholarships; and Career and Technical Education Stakeholder meetings, regional meetings to gather input from employers across the state to see what direction they feel career education needs to take in Nebraska.

September 21- Pathways To Tomorrow. Our ten school consortium is working together to increase opportunities for students. This year a Computer Science Academy was established in Beemer. Classes are taught by former B-R student Matt Stansberry. There are 18 students from 5 schools. The curriculum is Project Lead The Way, which is a nationally known curriculum. Area colleges have been contacted about making the class dual credit.

Next year a Welding academy and a Health Science Academy are being planned.

P2T also supports Canvas implementation (a Learning Management System) and K-12 career guidance, including the Habitudes curriculum and student Personal Learning Plans.  

The goal of these programs is to expand opportunities for all students, which will involve rethinking how education is delivered in rural schools, and redesigning the senior year of high school.

E Day- Our first schoolwide E Day will be November 22. I notified the Nebraska Department of Education what we are doing and got the initial okay to count it as a day of school.  They would like us to document steps we are taking in preparation for E Day.

Afterschool Program- National Youth Science Day October 5

On October 5, 2016, millions of young people across the nation will become scientists for the day during the eighth annual 4-H National Youth Science Day (NYSD).  NYSD is the premier national rallying event for year-round 4-H Science programming, bring together youth, Volunteers and educators from the nation’s 111 land-grant colleges and universities to simultaneously complete the National Science Experiment.

Youth in Bancroft Rosalie Schools will join hundreds of thousands of youth across the world in leading the eighth annual 4-H National Youth Science Day (4-H NYSD) experiment. This year’s experiment, called “Drone Discovery,” is a hands-on engineering design challenge that explores the science behind drones and how they are being used to solve real world problems.  Youth will learn everything from flight dynamics and air craft types, to safety and regulations, to remote sensing and flight control.

Participants will conduct the two-part “Drone Discovery” experiment on Wednesday October 5 at Bancroft Rosalie after School program, where they will use every day materials – including paper plates, clear tape, pen, and penny – to explore physics and engineering in the real-world. In the first phase, youth will learn about drones and create a drone adventure, they will fly a prop copter and learn about flight patterns.  In the third phase, participants will design and fly a glider.

B-R School hosts Japan Society visitors

The Japan Society is the leading U.S. organization committed to deepening mutual understanding between the United States and Japan in a global context. Fumiko Miyamoto and Betty Borden of the Japan Society Innovators Network visited Bancroft-Rosalie School Monday. They are interested in rural revitalization in both the U.S. and Japan. The school tour included how Bancroft-Rosalie School is using technology to provide educational opportunities for students. The guests were given information on Fridays at Northeast, Pathways to Tomorrow, and dual credit college classes for B-R students.

After school program field trips

The after school program will be scheduling educational field trips on days school is not in session. The first trip will be Friday October 21 to Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium near Gretna.
The bus (or buses) will leave Bancroft at 8:00 am. Sack lunches will be available and will run through the School Lunch Fund. The bus will return around 4:00 pm.

The field trips are for preschool through grade 8. There is no cost for students to attend. Parent volunteers are welcome.

10:00 – 11:00 – Visit Aquarium – movie and Scavenger hunt       
11:00 – 11:30 – Lunch in the park
11:30 – 1:00 – Hike
1:00 – 2:00 – Explore the museum, trout ponds, fossil beds and playground
2:00 – Load up the bus down at the park to head home.


"The AkSarBen Aquarium is a fun and educational place to bring your class and your family or friends.  We have a butterfly garden and a sensory garden outside our front door.  A visit to the Aquarium usually lasts about one hour.  We have the following at the Aksarben Aquarium:
1.     Lobby - a lobby area with bird watching, some small aquariums and a terrarium of frogs and turtles.  Photos displays by the Schramm Park Photography club.
2.    Classroom - Our hands on classroom includes a touch table of furs and antlers, a tent, reading area and a few aquariums of frogs, snakes and turtles.
3.    Aquarium - Our collection of fish and other aquatic animals all make their home right here in Nebraska, so the kids will learn about and see what could be just outside their door.  We have about 50 species of Nebraska fish and interactive exhibits
4.    Movie Theater – Spend another 30 minutes in our 105 seat auditorium.  This is a great place to watch a movie on Mother Nature or if a Conservationist is on-site during your visit, we can possibly arrange a live animal presentation."
 

School Board Meeting Agenda

Bancroft-Rosalie Community School
Regular Board of Education Meeting Agenda
Monday, September 12, 2016 --- 7:30 p.m. in Bancroft
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Read and approve the minutes of the August 8, 2016 regular board meeting.
4. Treasurer’s Report
     A. Approve the Bills
     B. Financial Review
     C. Board Committee Reports
 5. Review Agenda
6. Public Hearing
7. Administrator’s Reports:
     A. Superintendent’s Report
     B. Principal’s Report
8. Old Business: A.
9. New Business:
     A. Approve the district budget for the 2016-2017 school year.
     B. Approve the district property tax request for the 2016-2017 school year.
     C. Resignation of Ryan Wellman
10. Executive Session-
11. Future Planning- Next scheduled meeting- Monday, October 10, 2016
12. Adjournment

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Bancroft-Rosalie Community School

Budget Hearing Agenda

Monday, September 12, 2016 --- 7:30 p.m. in Bancroft

1.  Call the hearing to order.

2.  Roll Call

3.  Board discussion on the proposed 2016-2017 Budget.

4.  Request for public input on the proposed Budget.

5.  Final Board discussion on the proposed Budget.

6.  Adjourn.

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Bancroft-Rosalie Community School

Tax Request Hearing Agenda

Monday, September 12, 2016 --- 7:30 p.m. in Bancroft

1.  Call the hearing to order.

2.  Roll Call

3.  Board discussion on the proposed 2016-17 tax request.

4.  Request for public input on the proposed tax request.

5.  Final Board discussion on the proposed tax request.

6.  Adjourn.

 

B-R Elementary involved in State Systemic Improvement Plan

Bancroft-Rosalie Elementary School has been implementing a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) for several years. Our school will be part of the State School Improvement project to increase the number of students with disabilities scoring proficient on the Nebraska State Assessments (NeSA). We will continue to receive support from the State of Nebraska as we work to improve the MTSS process.

B-R grad Cathy Browning Goetstouwers completes her Doctorate

INCOME ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES ANNOUNCED FOR SCHOOL LUNCH

We encourage everyone who qualifies to complete the forms and return them to the school office.

The Nebraska Department of Education’s Nutrition Services office has announced the Income Eligibility Guidelines for free and reduced price meals for persons unable to pay the full price of meals served under the National School Lunch, Breakfast, Special Milk and Child and Adult Care Food Programs.

Participating schools, child care and adult care centers have a copy of the policy, which may be reviewed by any interested party.

Application forms are being given to all households with a letter to parents, guardians or adult participants. To apply for free or reduced price meals, households should fill out the application and return it to the school or agency. Additional copies are available from the school principals or agency administrator. The information provided on the application will be used to determine eligibility and may be verified at any time during the year by school or other program officials.

For the school or agency officials to determine eligibility, the household must provide the following information on the application: names of all household members; the last four digits of the social security number of an adult household member or a statement that the household member does not have one; total monthly household income by source; and the signature of an adult household member certifying that the information provided is correct. Children who are members of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) assistance units or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) households are automatically eligible to receive free meals. Participants at adult care centers receiving Food Stamps, FDPIR, SSI or Medicaid are automatically eligible to receive free meals.

2016-17 School Budget

ACT selected as the State assessment for Juniors

The Nebraska State Board of Education has selected ACT to provide the standardized college entrance exam for Nebraska students in the 11th grade. Beginning in the spring of 2017, the exam will be administered to all high school juniors and will replace the current Nebraska State Accountability (NeSA) assessment at that grade level.


In April 2016, the Nebraska Legislature passed Legislative Bill 930 requiring public school students in the 11th grade to take a college admission test. In addition, the requirement for a statewide writing assessment will end after the 2016-17 school year and will be replaced with a statewide reading English Language Arts assessment, containing a writing component.

“The selection of ACT represents our continued effort to provide equal opportunities across the state. All juniors will now have access to a college admission test, as there will no longer be a registration fee,” said Commissioner of Education Matthew Blomstedt. “This exam will also provide a clearer picture of where Nebraska students are in terms of college and career readiness.”

A committee of reviewers received two proposals and selected ACT as the top proposal overall. Director of Statewide Assessment Valorie Foy said, “We are excited to partner with ACT to administer this exam. The ACT test content parallels the assessments that students have taken over the past seven years on NeSA: English Language Arts/Reading, Mathematics, Science and Writing.”

The ACT will provide students with a score that can be used at colleges or universities to contribute to application and admission decisions. ACT is an independent, nonprofit organization that provides assessment and research in education and workforce development.

College Night in West Point

          Bancroft-Rosalie students joined other area youth to visit with college representatives at the annual Cuming County College Night Aug. 31 at the Nielsen Center in West Point.  The seniors had the highest percentage of attendance for B-R, with 50 percent turning out to investigate their options after high school.

With more than 30 colleges and military personnel from across the area represented, students had a wide range of opportunities to explore.  Both public and private 4-year colleges, as well as community colleges, and cosmetology schools had representatives on hand to give high school students an overview of what each school has to offer.  Military representatives included the Army, the National Guard, and the Air Guard, offering prizes for participants who could do 50 pushups on the spot.

 Justice Johnson, Aaron Ras, Zach Bridges, and Paige Peters won Ru-De’s gift certificates as door prizes for the evening.  The college night and door prizes are part of B-R’s College Access Program funded by an EducationQuest grant to help high schools increase their rates of students pursuing more education after high school.
This opportunity was due to the efforts of the Cuming County School Guidance Counselors.