Bulldog Bulletin

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While students do not have school Monday, September 18th, Gering staff will be dedicating the day to school safety. The GPS Team will be doing a refresher in Standards Response Protocols and running a reunification drill to test protocols.

This Wednesday, September 13th, students at Gering Middle School and Gering High School will hear presentations about Digital Citizenship.

• GHS - 8:30am
• GMS - 10:00am
• General citizenship/anti-bullying presentation for elementary students coming soon ...

What is Digital Citizenship?

• Digital Citizenship refers to the responsible use of technology by anyone who uses digital devices and platforms to engage with others. We continue to encourage and promote that our students learn the ability to navigate our digital environments in a way that's safe and responsible and respectfully engage others.

During the last legislative session several bills impacting school funding passed which has significantly shifted this year's budget considerations and process. Below are two bills of significant impact are referenced:

LB583

• Provides $1500 in Foundation Aid to Districts (will decrease to $900 in 25-26)
• Increases Special Education Reimbursement from 40% to 80%

LB 243

• Establishes Certified Property Tax Authority for General and Building Funds
• School Districts are Capped at 3% Annual Growth Plus Percentage Increases in Student Enrollment and Poverty Rates (we increased in both areas so our growth this year is 4.3032%)
• With a Local School Board Supermajority Vote (5 members) they have the Authority to Approve Additional Base Growth Up to 6% for Gering Public Schools

Due to the legislative impact and the valuation growth in Gering, our preliminary budget projections have put us above a 2% growth in revenue, which means Gering Public School District is required to participate in a joint public hearing (LB644). This hearing will take place in lieu of the budget hearing at the Board of Education Meeting (Scotts Bluff County postcards expected in mailboxes soon). This Joint Hearing is September 20th at 6:05pm in the WNCC Judy Chaloupka Theater.

Because we are limited to 5 minutes at the Joint Public Hearing and with the vast amount of changes, we do plan to do a more comprehensive budget overview at the regular Board of Education Meeting on Monday, September 18th at 6pm in the Freshman Academy.

Linked below is a booklet which outlines the 23-24 budget considerations. School finance is incredibly complex, so in an effort to simplify, here are the cliff notes for the 23-24 budget session:

• Approval of the additional base growth resolution of our board (70% supermajority required) will allow us to maintain our current 1.05 levy
• This is our hope as we continue to look to the future and improve the cash position of the district for stability and in alignment with state guidance.
• We want to ensure the ability to retain and recruit talented educators which requires us to be competitive.
• Our expenses per pupil rate is just below the state average - we want to continue balancing that efficiency while still growing student opportunities.

“You never know how STRONG you are until being STRONG is the only choice you have.”

I don’t think I ever truly knew real fear until we heard the words “your son has cancer.” From that point on nothing else really mattered except helping Walker fight this horrible battle and win. Our son, Walker Anderson, was diagnosed with leukemia in June of 2019 when he was 6 years old. He immediately began chemo that continued until August of 2021. It was the absolute worst journey of our life, but Walker showed unbelievable courage and strength through every aspect of this terrible disease.Thanks to the wonderful doctors and nurses at Colorado Children’s hospital, Walker is a strong and healthy Lincoln 5th grader now who plays baseball, fishes and loves the outdoors.

Right now, there are many children in our communities and surrounding communities who are battling some type of childhood cancer. They might be your family, friend, or neighbor. They might be a child that your children go to school with or a child from your church. Childhood cancer is affecting far too many children and there is far too little research being done and awareness being raised. The month of September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. Please take time this month to educate yourself, to raise awareness, to help a family battling childhood cancer, to donate blood, or to donate to a local organization that helps these families. In the United States today, there are approximately 40,000 children in active treatment for some type of childhood cancer. Go Gold and help raise awareness! Bulldogs are GOING GOLD for Childhood Cancer Awareness on Friday, September 29th! We encourage our Bulldog community to #beblueandGOLD and WEAR GOLD that day.

Jeane & Matt Anderson

Gering, Nebraska

Email: communication@geringschools.net
Website: www.geringschools.net
Location: 1519 10th Street, Gering, NE, USA
Phone: 3084363125
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/geringbulldogs/
Twitter: @GeringBulldogs