#KSD Ready & Resilient
Update from Kuna Superintendent Wendy Johnson
6.4.2021
- Lessons learned this year will shape next year
- KHS Class of 2021: Finding the way to future ready
- New face covering policy begins today
- Free summer meals available at Boys & Girls Club
- Boys and Girls Club is hiring
- COVID data dashboards
Lessons learned this year will shape next year
Kuna Families
As we wrap up the school year, I want to thank all who took our recent survey on the past year. Here are some highlights as well as information about how this feedback is informing decision making.
More than 2,000 individuals including secondary students took the survey. (You can review the survey results here.)
Some insights from what you shared with us:
- In person is preferred for conferences, meetings, events, etc.. However, many also like having a virtual option. Thanks to our experience this year, we can continue to be flexible and use these tools when it works best to connect with families.
- Providing devices for every student to take home was useful especially with quarantines and hybrid schedules. Our elementary families were concerned that requiring devices be taken home may not be needed in the future.
- The change to our face covering policy was supported by a majority. (We switch today see article below.)
- We used a hybrid schedule to help reduce the spread of COVID in our schools. Less than 7% of those providing feedback wanted this type of instruction to continue.
Budget priorities
We asked survey takers to rank various areas for potential investment of the one-time federal funds that will be used over the next three years.
On Tuesday, we'll share this information with the Board of Trustees and how the priorities would be addressed in the proposed budget for the 2021-22 school year.
Here's a look at what's proposed based on your feedback:
- Hiring more teachers to address areas of overcrowding was the top priority as we looked at student learning. We propose hiring 5 additional teachers with federal funds. Our supplemental levy provides 15. In addition, to support students who may need extra help, we propose hiring 10 teachers, 1 per school.
- The four options around health and safety were very close. We will continue to clean and sanitize. We also will add five health aides and a part time social worker.
- In the area of facilities improvements, Heating Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Systems (HVAC), were a prioritized, and we propose addressing some of those with federal funding. We also will reestablish our building and facilities committee next fall to look at other needs as we continue to grow as a community.
- Two important tools - websites and our student information system (SIS) -- received lukewarm overall ratings. We want to make sure our communications with you continue to improve. Look for new websites this summer, and we plan to replace Tyler SIS with a better system in the near future.
KHS Class of 2021: Finding the way to future ready
At last week's Kuna High School graduation, Principal Brian Graves gave a wonderful speech about the resiliency of the Class of 2021 as demonstrated by its many accomplishments it achieved. Here's a recap:
The class of 2021 earned more than $1.74 million in scholarships
5,677 dual credits were taken by the class of 2021
102 seniors finished with a grade point of 3.75 or higher
193 seniors will graduate with 12 or more college credits
Two Seniors - Kaya Cortez and Hailey Montes -- earned their associate’s degrees which is a first for Kuna High School!
12 seniors earned their GEM certificate - essentially completing their first year of college core classes
13 students enlisted in the military
CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION
100% of Broadcast Capstone students passed the state technical skills assessment
91% of Graphic Design & Business Students passed the state technical skills assessment
12 students qualified for Business Professionals of America (BPA) State Competition
six students qualified for BPA Nationals
83 of our Business pathway students certified in Adobe
13 students placed among the top scoring students in the nation for our High School of Business Program
FFA Parliamentary Procedure and Conduct of Meetings teams both placed 1st in their state competitions this spring and will represent Idaho at the national level this fall
Senior Makayla Greany won the FFA state proficiency award for specialty crop production.
Seniors Makayla Greany, Tanner Moss, and Bowe Pearson were the first KHS students to ever represent the school at the CSI Welding Wars competition which included a field of teams from all across Southern Idaho and Northern Utah. They designed and built an innovative and unique bench that earned 3rd place.
Welding students earned 27 welding industry certifications through the American Welding Society. Several of those students are already working in the welding industry.
HOSA-Future Health Professionals had three state winners and qualifiers for the international conference.
38 students completed the BLS CPR certification
16 students earned National OSHA-10 Healthcare lifetime certification
Six of our students are now nationally certified EMTs
SPORTS
18 of members of the Class of 2021 earned athletic scholarships to continue competing and playing at the next level.
Kuna High School Wrestling had the high school all-Americans this season. That is the most in program history.
Kuna Wrestling finished second place in the 5A State Tournament
Senior Michael Mitchell was the 5A 132 lbs. state champion and four time state champion
Boys varsity golf were back-to-back state academic champions
Girls Soccer finished tied for fifth place and Consolation State Champions
Boys Cross Country finished fourth place at the 5A State Meet
Seniors Courtney Weatherby and Mikayla Yore medaled in their National Qualifier Competition for the KHS Barbell Club
Our KHS JROTC Drill Team took 3rd Place in the McDowell High School National Drill Competition.
CAST students and teachers organized a COVID prom that was amazing and memorable.
National Honor Society students organized another successful Rake up Kuna even in a pandemic
Our Band, Choir, Theater and Orchestra teachers put on all of their concerts, plays and performances first virtually, then for limited audiences
Just before Christmas, the Kuna FFA Chapter, along with the help of the Kuna School District and numerous community partners, was able to provide over 200 boxes of food to 50 families in need throughout our community.
We know it takes a village to raise a child. Thank you for being a part of the village.
New face covering policy begins today
Free summer meals available at Boys & Girls Club
Students enrolled in summer school in June will receive free meals during their programs. Otherwise, free meals will be provided to the community by the Boys & Girls Club at 4th Street Gym. Children (age 1-18) do not have to be enrolled in the club to receive meals. They will be available weekdays from June 7 to Aug. 13. No meals will be served July 5.
Boys and Girls Club is hiring for the summer!
Please call Kuna Site Director Ben Gangwer at 208.318.6482 or email him at Ben@adaclubs.org
Superintendent Wendy Johnson
Email: ksdcommunications@kunaschools.org
Website: www.kunaschools.org
Location: 711 East Porter Street, Kuna, ID, USA
Phone: 208-922-1000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kuna-Jt-School-District-No-3
Twitter: @Supt_Wendy_J