09/01/14
Plainfield Community School Corporation
IN THIS ISSUE
- FOOD SERVICE UPDATE
- EVENTS CALENDAR
- TIPS & TRICKS
- KEYS TO OUR SUCCESS
- AROUND THE DISTRICT
Food Service in Plainfield Schools
If you pay attention to national news lately, or take a stroll through any school cafeteria during lunch hour, it's not a well-hidden secret that people seem to be unhappy with changes occurring in school meal programs.
“Our Food Service department is working under very strict requirements for what they can serve in school,” says Jud Wolfe, Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations for Plainfield Schools.
In December 2010, President Obama signed into law the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA), new legislation requiring the USDA to update school meal nutrition standards. The act was the most recent update by the USDA to standards for school meals in over 15 years. The HHFKA required that the new standards be updated to reflect the most current dietary science and advancements in understanding of human nutrition.
When first introduced, many of the new regulations allowed for gradual implementation so that changes did not occur all at once - whole grains and altered portion sizes, for example.
Smart Snacks in School Nutrition, implemented in July 2014, applies to all foods sold to students at school outside of federally reimbursable meals (Type A) served through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.
Food Services Director Kelly Collins says the Smart Snacks program had a more substantial impact on Plainfield Schools, as PCSC didn't have as long to prepare for the changes. The district held out for the final ruling on the program along with suppliers and vendors. When the ruling came, food services was left scrambling to find ala carte items that would qualify under the new guidelines.
To qualify, all food items must meet tight standards including limits on calories, sodium, fat and sugar. "Good things have come from the new guidelines," Collins explains. "Students are being introduced to colorful varieties of both canned and fresh veggies. We are also serving larger portions of fruits and veggies."
In response to recent criticism, however, Collins stressed, "School lunch (Type A) has not changed this year from last year. We are serving the same food and portion sizes we offered last year."
While true that schools are no longer providing several products because they do not meet the new requirements, Food Services was able to reduce the portion size of certain items to allow them to qualify and continue offering what students were used to buying.
Prices of reduced-portion items were also cut in half to align with the new sizing. "By cutting the price in half, students have the ability to purchase two items for the same price they used to pay for one."
For more in-depth information from PCSC Food Services Department, please read their August Update.
Nutrition & Wellness Community Forum
Join us for this interactive community fair with a variety of stations addressing aspects of nutrition and wellness at school and home for youth and children.
Forum participants will also be entered in a prize drawing which includes 2 tickets to the PHS Homecoming football game.
Organizations which will be available:
- PCSC Food Services
- Plainfield Parks & Recreation
- Hendricks Regional Health
- American Heart Association
- American Cancer Society
- Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
- PCSC School Nurses
- PCSC Teachers
Featuring cooking demonstration of a healthy snack by Beth Wilhelm, PHS FACS teacher.
Thursday, Sep 25, 2014, 06:00 PM
Plainfield High School
#1: Parent section on website
Many changes have come with the transition to a newly designed website. PCSC now features a FOR PARENTS tab on its website which provides quick access to areas of the site frequently visited by parents:
- PARENT INFORMATION - Key resources for parents such as PowerSchool and My Big Campus
- ATTENDANCE - Direct contact information for reporting student absences
- CLOSINGS & DELAYS - School status and alerts
- DAILY SCHEDULES - Building hours of operation and class period breakdown
- FORMS & DOCUMENTS - Access to printable calendars, district policies, guidelines and forms
- E-FUNDS/MY LUNCH ACCOUNT - Online tools for funding your student's lunch account
- PTO - Information on individual school Parent Teacher Organizations
#2 Quick Access ICONS
#3: LOAD PCSC EVENTS TO YOUR PERSONAL CALENDAR
Follow steps A, B and C below to import events from a specific calendar onto your own personal calendar. When events are added or modified, your calendars will automatically update.
A - Select a calendar from the PCSC website
- Go to the web calendar which you would like to add to your personal calendar
- Click on the ICAL link (indicated by yellow circle in above image)
B - Choose appropriate instructions for your personal device or calendar program
C - Copy URL
- Follow instructions for pasting URL for subscribed calendar to your personal calendar based on your device or personal calendar program
Keys to our Success
Plainfield Community School Corporation is proud of the legacy it is building. An astounding 44 of our current teachers are graduates of Plainfield High School themselves, having returned to impact and invest in their hometown schools.
CLICK ON PHOTOS BELOW OF PHS ALUMNI CURRENTLY-EMPLOYED BY PCSC FOR INSIGHTS INTO RETURNING TO PLAINFIELD SCHOOLS.
Courtney Carmichael - Central, 5th Grade
It never even crossed my mind that I’d be teaching, let alone in Plainfield AND at the elementary school where I attended.
I never thought that I’d teach 4th grade in the same classroom that I was taught 4th grade by Laurie Stark.
I also never thought I’d hear the name “Barbie” yelled down the halls again once I left Central as a student but yet Kim Lease still manages to call me by my "gym-given" nick name.
Devin Carter - PCMS, Assistant Principal
Having parents who were both teachers played a large role in my decision to become a teacher.
I really enjoyed going to school through Central, PCMS and PHS. I think that is largely attributed to the experiences my teachers and coaches created for me as a student. Here are some of those experiences that stick out to me:
- Making donuts for dads in kindergarten with Miss Kays (Mrs. Dixon now)
- Getting to go to the top of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument downtown with other students and Mrs. Knoll as a result of being one of the winners of the Central Social Studies Fair
- Learning about the different countries and their capitols by playing “Geoball” in Mr. Cavanaugh’s 7th grade social studies class.
I was so positively impacted by my experiences that I wanted to return to Plainfield and do my best to provide our kids with the same, if not better, experience I had growing up here.
Kevin Mucho - PHS, English 9 & 10
- Most of the teachers that had the greatest impact on my life were also my coaches. When I was a student at PHS, the number one thing I took from my coaches was to always strive to be a hardworking, caring person who is willing to help others. PHS is full of teachers like this, and I believe those skills will carry our students further than any short story or vocabulary quiz ever could.
- I never thought in a million years that I’d be spending some of my free time hanging out with a lot of my former teachers. When I was in high school, I could have sworn that my teachers slept at the school with their teaching clothes on, 24/7. I had no idea that they were as fun outside of school as they are. Teachers are awesome!
- I was a PCSC student from first grade through twelfth grade, and I loved every second of it because of the lifelong friends I acquired along the way. To this day, those friends would give anything to offer me a helping hand. Now, as a PCSC employee, I still get to come to school with my best friends. I developed many strong, lasting relationships in only one year at the middle school, and now I have the opportunity to teach alongside the teachers whom I admired in high school.
Brent Schwanekamp - PHS, Assistant Principal
Plainfield Schools are outstanding, and I am proud to have been a part of that success as a classroom teacher.
I believe that serving as an administrator will give me the opportunity to have a new type of impact on students and learning.
My new role allows me to work collaboratively with my colleagues as we shape our school’s curriculum, develop and refine best teaching practices, and integrate One-to-One technology in each classroom. This is an exciting time at PHS, and my new position allows me to be at the center of our growth.
Plainfield is home to me. I am proud to tell people that I am a graduate of the best high school in Indiana. Our students and teachers are second to none and are deserving of all the successes that come their way.
Having the chance to work in your hometown is very special. One of the main reasons that I went into education was the great teachers that I had as a student in Plainfield.
Our community is a special place, and that has everything to do with the great work of the teachers and administrators of PCSC.
Jennifer Gray - Brentwood, 4th Grade
I am very thankful to be teaching in the same school system that I got to experience.
I was in 3rd grade at Van Buren in Mrs. Nolan's class when I knew I wanted to become a teacher just like Mrs. Nolan. She made learning fun, and I loved being in her classroom. Now I give her hugs at our district breakfast on our first day back every year.
While teaching at Clarks Creek, I was also fortunate enough to be on the same teaching team with two of my former teachers: Mr. Van Paris (4th grade) and Mrs. Castor (5th grade). We all learned a lot from each other while teaching together. I strive to be like them - always learning new things and still making learning fun for everyone.
Nathan Ellis - PCMS, 7th & 8th Grade
I wanted to come back to Plainfield because I loved going to school here and wanted to give today’s students the same experience.
There are 3 teachers who stood out to me during my time at PHS, and I have tried to incorporate a little bit of each of their styles into my teaching:
- Social Studies was never my favorite class until I had Chuck Schwanekamp as my U.S. History teacher. The main thing I stole from him was “Be nice” as a classroom rule; if you follow this one simple rule everything else takes care of itself.
- As an attempt to have us speak more Spanish in class, Jamie Nichols would ask about our weekends, I routinely gave 3-5 minute responses about my weekend. She probably doesn’t know this, but I still speak Spanish in my class daily. Sometimes I give instructions to the students in Spanish, but I ALWAYS answer my phone in Spanish.
- Whether it was talking about sports or asking for advice, I knew I could always count on Lisa Bush to talk to and be available. I engage with students daily hoping to have the same positive impact on them that she had on me.
- I also love the opportunity to be here coaching with men who coached me and men who were my teammates!
As a student, and now as a teacher, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than Plainfield.
Thank you for your support!
Scott Olinger, Superintendent
Mary Giesting, Assistant Superintendent
Jud Wolfe, Assistant Superintendent
Email: pcscmessenger@plainfield.k12.in.us
Website: www.plainfield.k12.in.us
Location: 985 Longfellow Lane, Plainfield, IN, United States
Phone: (317) 839-2578
Facebook: facebook.com/PCSCQuakers
Twitter: @pcscquakers