School District of Seward
December Newsletter
Mission Statement
The school district of Seward --where every student, every day is a success -- affirms that all students will have the skills to become productive and contributing members of a global community. In cooperation with family and community members, the district is committed to the development of each student academically, emotionally, socially, and physically.
From the Superintendent
Congratulations!
At Seward Public Schools there is a lot to be thankful for and a lot to celebrate. This can be seen through the state classifications for Seward Public Schools, which we were one of two school districts in class A and B that received the highest ranking of Excellent, two years in a row! The other school district with this distinction was Elkhorn Public Schools. Student learning is what school is about and this accomplishment is a great celebration of our students, staff, parents, and community when we perform at such a high level. There is also a lot to celebrate with our extracurricular activities. The marching band received all superior ratings in all of their contests, our football team made it to playoffs, the softball team placed third at state, and the volleyball team made it to the district finals. In cross-country, both teams made it to state and our boys finished third at the state cross-country meet. The girl's golf team also qualified for the state girl's golf tournament. Our quiz bowl continues to compete well and our social media group presented at the fall NETA conference and our Striv broadcasting group continues to impress the community with their programming. There is a lot to celebrate each and every day at SPS from kindergartner’s learning to read or a student creating a new clay pot. The success of our students now and into the future is helping to provide the next electrician, doctor, teacher, farmer, and whatever else our students choose to do. Thank you for your support of Seward Public School and your great partnership with us. Please keep informed of the great things happening at Seward Public Schools at https://www.sewardpublicschools.org/, as well as on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.Community Conversation with Dr. Fields
School safety continues to be on the mind of parents, school staff, and community members across our country. Seward Public Schools continues to evaluate, update, and implement new safety programs, strategies, and technology to prepare for the worst in the hope it never has to be utilized. The purpose of this event is to inform parents, dialogue about concerns, and give feedback on ways Seward Public Schools can continue to improve in the safety of our students. This event will take place on Wednesday, January 8th at the Civic Center basement starting at 5:30 PM.
Winter Weather
Winter is here and dealing with something as unpredictable as the weather makes a school closing decision-making one of the most challenging responsibilities for school superintendents. Whenever dealing with something as unpredictable as the weather, mistakes will be made. The bottom line is that forecasts are not always correct, but ignoring them is not advised. If there are errors, I always hope to error on the side of caution.
As a superintendent, I have to make the call and live with the decision to have school or not. There are going to be many opinions, but I have to make the call on the information I have available at the time, and sometimes that information is not accurate. I apologize in advance because I know I will not always make the right call, but I guarantee the decisions I make will be based on the best information I have at the time. If a decision has been made to have school, PARENTS/GUARDIANS ultimately have the right to make a decision whether or not they want to send their children to school. If you think the roads are not safe for travel, then please keep your children home. Please call the school and let them know your plans so we don’t wonder where your child is.
If a decision is made to start late, school will begin two hours late with buses running accordingly. There will be no morning pre-school if there is a late start, but the afternoon pre-school will be in session. School will be held when the main roads are drivable. Buses will not travel untended or ungraded roads in bad weather even if school is in session. If it becomes necessary, you will be informed about pick up points that could be used when some roads are not passable for our buses. If we are having school and your road is not passable, please call the bus garage at 402-643-6069 and let them know if you have not already heard from your bus driver.
Once in a while a late start might be scheduled to give us more time to make a decision. Continue to listen to school closing information as a late start could be changed to a cancellation. Please be prepared.
Unless some unforeseen event happens, a decision will be made by 6:30 a.m. and the decision will be communicated via our alert system and posted to TV Stations (Channels 8 and 10/11). Weather-related school announcements will also be made using our social media Twitter, and Facebook. The alert system provides immediate messages/communications, so you do not have to listen to the TV or radio to find out what is happening. We gather parent/guardian contact information from PowerSchool, which is the student management software we utilize. If your contact information is accurate, parents/guardians should receive notifications. If you are not receiving alerts, you may contact Craig Williams at ticket@sewardschools.org.
In the event school is canceled or dismissed early, typically all activity and athletic practices will be canceled on those days and the school buildings will be closed. If we decide not to cancel school and parents want their children to come home immediately after school, parents have the right to excuse their children from practice due to weather.
Annual Report/Strategic Plan Update
Every year our school district produces an annual report for our stakeholders. The annual report has information about our district including our progress on the strategic plan, demographic data, and student achievement data. Please be sure to click on the following link to learn more about our district: https://sites.google.com/sewardschools.org/annual-report-18-19
We are in year one of our implementation of the strategic plan. A majority of our time and resources have been devoted to supporting teachers with developing their understanding of mental health and its impact on instruction. We will continue to investigate this area further as well as work on developing community partnerships in the coming months.
A look ahead to the next SPS curriculum revision Spanish, Music/Band, and FCS
Seward Public Schools has a review cycle in place for all of our instructional areas. The review allows us to look at updated state and national standards, examine current research, and identify materials that can best help us teach in this area. This year, we are looking at our Spanish, Music/Band, and Family and Consumer Science curriculum. We will be having an initial meeting of our curriculum review team on January 3rd and then we will work to complete the review by the end of April. Once we have identified the standards that we will be teaching in our courses and the materials needed to support instruction, we will seek approval from the Board of Education. Questions about the curriculum cycle may be directed to Dr. Dominy at Matt.Dominy@sewardschools.org.
STATE PATROL, Sex Offender Registry
Are you aware that we have a number of sex offenders living in our school district in Butler and Seward Counties? Individuals convicted of sex offenses are required to register their place of residence and employment with the Nebraska State Patrol. Parents may access this listing on the State Patrol Website by going to https://sor.nebraska.gov/Registry. You can search by location and find registered sex offenders living near your home or our schools.
I encourage parents to check this website on a regular basis in an effort to stay informed. I will also tell you that according to school policy, a sex offender who is the parent or guardian of a student may participate in education conferences unless prohibited by court order, but shall not otherwise enter school grounds or attend school events without prior, express permission of the building principal.
2019-2020 School District of Seward – BUDGET
The following information provides an overview of the budget that was approved by the Board of Education on September 9 for the 2019-2020 school year. We feel fortunate to have strong public support for our schools, but also understand the responsibility we have to our tax payers to be fiscally responsible. The first chart shows the Seward Public School’s Valuation History:
State Aid Formula History
Below shows a history for the last seven years of what we have received in state aid. When looking at the total budget of Seward Public Schools, we receive very little money from the state.
The General Fund Expenditure Budget
The general fund expenditure budget increase is projected to be at or below 3%.
Like all school districts, the largest percentage of our budget goes to staffing. Transportation, maintenance, and curriculum materials account for a large portion of the rest of our budget.
In the bond fund we are levying to pay off the 2000 high school addition and the new middle school. The bond fund for 2019-20 was just over 10 cents going toward the high school bond and middle school bond fund. The last payment for the high school bond is in 2019, and the last payment for the middle school bond is in 2027, which is three years sooner with the new advanced bond refinancing. This will also save the taxpayers $1,282,114 over the life of the bonds.
In the Special Building Fund we levied two cents in 2019-20. These funds are used to pay for facility updates and maintenance projects, as needed. The board goes through a process to determine these maintenance needs, we then use this list to determine how many projects we can accomplish.
When looking at “all funds,” the tax asking went up $384,126 but the total tax levy went up by 2 cents to $0.95 cents per $100,000 of valuation. Every penny on the levy generates $161,121, which is then multiplied by our levy rate of $0.95 to get our total tax asking of $15,409,985 for the 2019-2020 budget. The chart below shows a history of our tax asking over the last eight years.
If you have specific questions about the budget, feel free to call the District Office at (402) 643-2941.
K-12 Enrollment Summary
School Bus Safety
Each year, we have multiple people who go through a bus stop and do not understand the school bus stop law. I hope the following illustration will help to educate the importance of following the laws to ensure our students are safe.