• Exciting Feature Now on Newsletter: Translation to Multiple Languages!
• Bringing You a "Lighter" Newsletter During Hootie's Holiday & Special Assignment
• 15 Free Attractions with Kansas Sunflower Summer Program
• "Save the Dates" for Family Fun in Wichita
• Did You Receive Your "Wellness Simplified" Postcard at Home?
• Owl Be Back: Hootie Will Be Back in July with Family Fun Giveaways
• Employee Benefits: Who We Are & How We Can Help You
  

Please note when you receive your newsletter now, you will find a "Translation" button in the top right corner of your e-mail and in the website where you view the newsletter. If you are viewing on your phone, you will find this on the small icon in the lower right corner that looks like a person. By clicking on this, it will provide a dropdown and allow you to choose another language. Please help us spread this good news with others so hopefully we can bring more readers to our newsletter. We are always looking for ways communicate in different ways to reach as many employees as we can and in as many different ways as we can! Inclusivity in our benefits is important to us.

We know that many of you have just wrapped up your school year and are ready to recharge for a few months. The Employee Benefits team usually plans vacations in the summer months since we work year-round. Summer time can still become a busy time for us though as we use the time for planning for the coming school year. This year is no exception as we have some exciting new projects underway and also want to take great care in ensuring we have a smooth rollout this coming fall with all of our programs and any changes we have made.

Hootie is the star of this newsletter and is delivering some tips to you for your summer, whether you are off for a few months or a year-round employee who will enjoy Fridays off for a period of time.

Part of your overall wellness can be connecting with your community and where you live, and this summer is the perfect time to do that with a lot going on right here in Wichita. If rising prices have kept you from planning a vacation this year, if you are looking for ways to keep your kids entertained while off school, or maybe are looking for things to do with family traveling to visit you - check out these Wichi-tastic ideas! Hoot Hoot!

Attractions participating in the Kansas Sunflower Summer Program will offer free admission to K-12 students and up to two adult family members. The program has already started and will run through August 13th. You are required to download the app on your phone to access the program.

Attractions include:

• Botanica
• Exploration Place
• Sedgwick County Zoo
• Wichita Art Museum
• Tanganyika Wildlife Park
• Old Cowtown Museum
• Museum of World Treasures
• Kansas Aviation Museum
• The Kansas African American Museum
• Great Plains Nature Center
• Field Station: Dinosaurs
• Sunflower Summer Sunday with Wind Surge
• Mid-America All-Indian Museum
• Kansas Wildlife Exhibit at Riverside Park

Click here to access more information and to download the app:

https://www.sunflowersummer.org/

$2 Summer Movie Express

• $2 movie tickets for kids at Regal Warren East & West on Tuesdays/Wednesdays
• $2 admission for all at Derby on certain dates
• Check out more info at this link: Summer Movie Express

Sat, June 10th: Kids Day at West Wichita Sedgwick County Farmers Market

• 7 AM- 12 PM
• Free admission
• Balloon-making and prize wheel
• Firetruck
• Free donuts
• Petting zoo
• Planting activity

Sun, June 11th: Stop Suicide ICT Family Fun Day at OJ Watson Park

• Starts at 11 AM
• Free admission
• Face painting, rides, prize wheel, and balloon-making

Sun, June 18th: Father's Day Car Show at Sedgwick County Zoo

• 9 AM -4 PM
• Dads get in free with paid child admission

We shared in our last newsletter and also in an all-district e-mail the plan to roll out a more simplified wellness credit plan for employees during this fall's open enrollment. Postcards should have hit your home mailboxes by now. If not, please be sure your address is correct on file in PeopleSoft. Bswift pulls addresses from PeopleSoft to catch regular updates, so we want to be sure you have the correct address there for future communications. The rest of the postcard is shared below again for reference.

We wanted to share more on the WHY behind this.....

• To reduce frustrations: Wellness credits are intended to be a positive thing, but they can end up being a source of frustration for employees when credits do not show up. We want to reduce that for you in an already busy time when school has started just months earlier and you are navigating your benefit choices.
• To refocus on your benefit choices: By simplifying this process and removing this step during enrollment, you can use this extra time to focus on choosing the benefits that are best for you and your family. This is one of the most important decisions you will make all year. Employee Benefits will also have more time to provide guidance on these choices by not having wellness credits to review and approve throughout the enrollment period.
• To make enrollment a more positive experience: We are passionate about your benefits (for many of us, these are our benefits too!) and want you to be too. We don't want it to be a process you dread, so we are doing what we can to make enrollment something that is easier for you each year. We want you to view this as a menu of choices you have where you have a voice, not one more thing on your to-do list.

Please remember, to truly simplify this process, we do not want you uploading any wellness documentation information now or during enrollment. If you are randomly selected as part of our audit sample following open enrollment and we are unable to verify wellness, we will contact you with directions on how to upload wellness documentation at that point. Many of you have reached out already about uploading. To be prepared, you can hold onto any documentation you have and have that somewhere safe to upload if asked to do so. We want the process to be simplified for you, but also for Employee Benefits, so request you not send documentation in unless requested to do so.

Have a great start to your summer! Hootie will be back in July with some family fun giveaways for you. Stay safe, and don't forget that sunscreen.