Herington USD 487 -

Fifth grade students put their knowledge of measuring angles to work while enjoying the nice spring weather. #growinglearners

Donalyn Biehler will be interviewing for the position of superintendent with the board of education on the evening of April 17, 2019. Mrs. Biehler is the third of four candidates that the USD 487 board of education will be interviewing. Candidates were selected for interviews based on their fit with desired characteristics that were developed with input from focus groups that were utilized throughout the search process. Donalyn Biehler is currently serving as the Director of Student Learning in USD 487 Herington. Previously, Mrs. Biehler served as Elementary Principal for three years in USD 487 Herington. Mrs. Biehler served as a Special Education Teacher in both Elementary and Secondary positions for 17 years prior to.

Fifth grade students worked collaboratively on creating maps using measurement and cardinal directions. Once each group finished creating their map, they switched with a different group to see if they could successfully navigate from the starting point to the ending point of the other group’s map. #growinglearners

Last night the HHS Forensics team traveled to Abilene for their last tournament of the season. This was the last chance to get events qualified for state. Also, the only events that could be taken were ones that had not qualified yet. Mr. Hirsch and the team could not have been happier with the results! Angie Morales placed 4th in serious solo. She did not make state this year, but Mr. Hirsch and the team could not be any more prouder of the progress she has done through the season! The IDA team of Hailey Delisle and Tanner Foust received 2nd place, which sends them to state! Finally the Duet team of Madi Becker and Jessica Mascareno received 2nd place, also sending them to state! Congratulations! State Forensics, which is very competitive, will be May 4th in Wichita. The following will be the State bound team: Hailey Delisle in prose, the team of Madi Becker & Jessica Mascareno in IDA and Duet, and the team of Hailey Delisle & Tanner Foust in IDA. Thank you to everyone for their continued support of the team. Go Railers!

Congratulations to the High School boys and girls track teams. They both finished 3rd tonight in the Hillsboro Track Meet

Jacelynne Griffith, the daughter of Brenda and Chuck Griffith, has been selected to be apart of the Emporia State Dance Team for the 2019-2020 school year. Congratulations! We are so proud of you!

Board to interview Second Superintendent Candidate Travis Githens will be interviewing for the position of superintendent with the board of education on the evening of April 16, 2019. Mr. Githens is the second of four candidates that the USD 487 board of education will be interviewing. Candidates were selected for interviews based on their fit with desired characteristics that were developed with input from focus groups that were utilized throughout the search process. Travis Githens is currently serving as the Jr-Sr High School Principal in USD 284 Chase County. He is in his fourth year in that position. Previously, Mr. Githens was a 5th grade Teacher at USD 484 Fredonia for a year. He spent seven years as the Associate Vice President for Career and Technical Education at Independence Community College prior to becoming a teacher.

Track Schedule for High School Meet Tuesday, April 16th.

Monday, April 22nd is Earth Day. We wanted to do something special for the students that day to celebrate the occasion. In order for us to do this, we will need to switch Monday and Thursday's menu around. So, Monday we will be serving PB & J Uncrustables and Thursday we will be serving Pancake & Sausage on a Stick. We are excited to be able to do this for the students. We haven't done this in several years! Thank you for your understanding!!!

Donna Zerr will be interviewing for the position of superintendent with the board of education on the evening of April 15, 2019. Ms. Zerr is the first of four candidates that the USD 487 board of education will be interviewing. Candidates were selected for interviews based on their fit with desired characteristics that were developed with input from focus groups that were utilized throughout the search process. Donna Zerr is currently serving as the High School Principal in USD 402 Augusta. She is in her ninth year in that position. Previously, Ms. Zerr served as a principal for two years in USD 250 Pittsburgh.

Meet schedule for Monday, April 15th.

Herington High School was recognized today by State School Board Member Ben Jones for receiving the 2018 Challenge Award for outstanding achievement based on Kansas math and reading assessment results in spite of factors that sometimes affect these results . Congratulations to Herington High School and staff for all their dedication and high expectations for our students!

CTSO group will be selling spring flowers. Orders are due the 25th of May.

Fifth grade students put their knowledge of area and perimeter to the test. #growinglearners

Herington schools will be collecting items until April 26 to send to families who were affected by the recent flooding in Iowa and Nebraska. At the elementary school we will accept cleaning supplies, personal hygiene items, non-perishable food, and cash. The high school and middle school will collect cash only. Our collections will go to Mills County, Iowa, with an emphasis on the residents of Pacific Junction. About 600 homes were damaged by the flooding in Mills County when three levies broke, and Pacific Junction still has homes that are under 3-4 feet of water. We chose to send our supplies to Mills County because it is a rural community with similarities to Dickinson County. #growinglearners

Mrs. Amy Gutsch's third grade has been participating in some IDL (Interactive Distance Learning) opportunities. These are taught by Greenbush Science Center in Southeast Kansas, and are offered to our district through the local TEEN network, which is headed by director Lena Kleiner. We connect through cameras and microphones brought in by Ms. Kleiner on the Zoom internet meeting platform. By participating in this, students gain extra science opportunities and expertise from certified science instructors. Often we can observe live animals, unusual plant species, or an experiment that we would not otherwise have access to in our classrooms. This month we learned about early flight discoveries from ancient artist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci. He left behind volumes of sketches of flying machines that later scientists utilized. We learned the engineering process and recreated it in a couple simple exercises. Students watch, learn, and follow the science instructor, Sharon Bertolio, lead them through lessons and experiments. We then continue the project after disconnecting from the 45 minute session. #growinglearners

Just a friendly reminder HES is hosting kindergarten round-up tomorrow, April 12th. Please call the office to sign up for one of the two sessions if you have not done so already: 8:30-9:30 or 12:30-1:30. There will be no school for our current kindergarten students because of kindergarten round-up. 1st-5th grade students will have an early release at 1:00 pm.

Kindergarten students participated in a pizza making activity that focused on following directions and included some math integration! #growinglearners

Mrs. Beye’s Employability Skills class participated in job interviews today. Thank you to Traci Alt, Susan Mueller, JB Pritchard, Matt Fox and Donalyn Biehler for helping with the mock interview process.

Mr. Hirsch’s MTSS class is cataloguing, transcribing, and researching the contents of a mysterious suitcase. In the history room closet was an old suitcase. On inspection, there was found hundreds of old postcards of France and Germany. With further investigation, letters were found dated 1917 & 1918. The soldier is Francis Lafayette Smith. He served in Europe during World War 1. Mr. Hirsch is excited that his students have taken an interest and he has been researching trying to find family and thinks he has done it! Only time will tell.