By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Hays USD 489 school board continued its debate over spending $335,750 on laptop computers for students at Hays High School at its meeting Monday night.

The district’s technology committee is recommending selling its current Microsoft Surface tablets in favor of purchasing Dell Latitude 3189 two-in-one laptops. Sale of the Surfaces would reduce the cost of the project to an estimated $258,000.

Scott Summers, technology director, said the district has had problems with the Surfaces and had to send many back to Microsoft for manufacturing defects. The warranty on the Surfaces runs out at the end of the year.

Some board members questioned the choice of device and asked why the committee had not considered Chromebooks, which are less expensive.

Board member Greg Schwartz wanted to know how the recommended computers with their touch-screen capability integrated into classroom instruction.

“I have an iPad and I use it to take notes on too, but it is a very expensive notepad,” he said. “That is my concern is that is if that is all we are doing is taking notes on it and it doesn’t integrate into education, that is approximately $200,000 of money we are spending on a device that we could be spending on deferred maintenance or other items. (We could) still be giving the kids the opportunity to have the technology in their hands, but maybe not the latest and greatest and best, but something that is adequate and fits their needs.”

HHS Principal Martin Straub said the Dell laptops were the best device for the price that meets the teachers’ and students’ needs. He said the computers fit how the students are learning and engaging with technology.

Board member Paul Adams, who has children in high school and volunteers with high school students, said he has seen the students seamlessly switching between text mode and tablet mode. He said students are using the devices to put together videos and PowerPoint presentations for extracurricular activities that are important to the civic engagement piece of the new state assessment standards.

Schwartz came back to the issue of money.

“It is difficult to understand how we are going to justify asking the taxpayers to spend more on a monthly basis when we aren’t willing to look at sacrificing anything,” he said.

Schwartz went further to suggest the district have a bring-your-own device policy. Families who could not afford a device would be provided a device such as a Chromebook.

Adams said he thought the board should trust the committee of educators who have researched the needs of the students and teachers.

Assistant Superintendent Shanna Dinkel said the technology committee considered Chromebooks when it made its first purchase of computers but determined they did not meet students’ educational needs. Therefore, the committee did not consider the Chromebooks in this round of purchasing.

Board president Lance Bickle argued technology has become web-based, and Chromebooks would satisfy the needs of students today.

“Going through the budgets, every little bit counts,” he said. “If we can save $50,000 or $100,000 here that can go toward (other things) … it is hard to argue. $200,000 is $200,000, and it could be used for other needs in our district. I hope people keep that in mind that we have to look at all aspects not just technology.”

He also said he would like to look at the five-year capital needs review that is coming up at the board’s April 30 meeting before making a decision on the computer purchase.

Board member Mandy Fox asked Straub if the computer purchase is the top capital need at the high school.

“I don’t think we can sacrifice instruction, because we have great building needs,” Straub said.

He added the money being budgeted for computers would not solve all of the maintenance needs in the district.

Straub noted the school has had two of the highest ACT scores the school has ever had in the last two years. Increased scores can’t be attributed entirely to technology, but he said the computers play into how teachers teach and students learn.

The board asked the technology committee to bring back information about why Chromebooks were not considered to its next meeting. The board is set to vote on the computer purchase at its April 30 meeting.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

A recently released labor study for the Ellis County area shows the labor pool has increased despite a decrease in the area’s population.

With unemployment rates hovering in the low 2 percent range, the demand from is there. Employees with the right skills need to be matched with the right employers, said Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development Director Aaron White.

More people in the labor pool, which encompasses nine counties around Hays (Barton, Ellis, Graham, Ness, Osborne, Rooks, Rush, Russell and Trego) say they would be willing to take other employment, compared to similar studies done in 2004 and 2012. The labor pool is defined as those people within a 45-minute, one-way commute of Hays.

The population of the labor pool went from 83,669 in 2004 to 82,830 in 2018, but the labor pool jumped from 18,420 to 25,697 during the same time period.

White said the increase could be a reflection of the number of people who are willing to make career changes.

Low unemployment numbers continue to be a challenge to growth in Ellis County, White said. Hays is at about 2 percent unemployment and the labor basin has ranged between 2 percent to 4 percent since 2004. The federal government considers 4 percent of the population unemployable, which means Hays is employing what might be considered the unemployable, White said.

“Existing companies look at that and look at expansions and realize that we have such a tight labor pool they may look at expanding elsewhere or holding off expansions and turning down work because they can’t meet the labor requirement,” White said.

“Companies that are looking to locate to Hays may see low unemployment numbers as an automatic concern for recruitment of a workforce,” he continued. “Employers who are already here may see incoming companies that are expanding this way as competition for the same workforce, so it makes it a very challenging environment for expansion.”

Wages tend to stagnant across a workforce if unemployment numbers remain low because there is not an influx of new companies or expansion of existing companies, White said.

About 28 percent of the those surveyed said they consider themselves underemployed. About half of those employees came from the service and retail sector, according to the study, which was generated by the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University.

Area manufacturers have a demand for production employees and other skilled laborers, White said. These jobs could be filled from employees in the service sector, but they would need training.

“We still see our biggest employment segment, and it has been this way for all three reports, across the labor basin is the service and retail sector,” White said. “It also includes some of the lower-paying jobs.

“These are positions that are not necessarily ideal for long-term careers, so those folks become ideal candidates. … for us to look at what skill sets do we need to provide, what training can we offer to the public? That trains up some of those lower-paid employees so they can pursue a career with greater wage, greater benefits and greater opportunity. It is more of a career track as opposed to just a job.”

Local manufacturers are willing to provide on-the-job training.

“Some employers even tell us there is an advantage to hiring somebody who maybe doesn’t have a strong background in manufacturing because they don’t have to break bad habits,” White said. “They train them up to do a particular skill set exactly how they want them to do it for their company. There can be an advantage to that.”

When the Coalition finds a gap in skilled employees, it works with NCK Tech and Fort Hays State University to create training programs to fill those gaps, White said. The Coalition is working with NCK Tech on a training program on basic production skills that will make local employees more appealing to local industry, White said.

The area is also seeing a high demand for commercial drivers. White said his last estimate was 200 openings for CDL positions in Ellis County. Ellis County does not have a CDL training program, and the nearest programs are in Beloit or at Barton County Community College. The Coalition is working to try to bring a CDL program to the area.

Perception is also a problem, White said.

“We created a short-course welding program a few years ago. We ran three classes through that — about 32 students attended that program,” White said. “One of the feedbacks that we got from these students is that when they read advertisements saying, ‘No training necessary. No experience necessary. We’ll train on the job,’ they didn’t necessarily think that it applied to them.”

Woman make up 56 percent of the Ellis County labor pool. However, White acknowledged some women struggle to see themselves in manufacturing.

“I had a local manufacturer who told me one of their very best welders is a young woman who had no experience before she went to work for them and turned out to be an exceptional welder when trained by the company. Women are starting to realize across all industries not just locally, the trade skills are not just a domain for guys and that women are every bit as capable of performing trades and skilled labor — welding and machinists — as the men can.

“I have even had trainers in some cases say working with women is easier because the guys they work with assume they already know it. It is trying to break bad habits. Women are more open to learning the process the way the company wants them to learn it. (They have) better attention to detail in many ways.”

For a section of workers, child care continues to be an issue. Only about 2 percent of the labor pool indicated they needed child care and could not access it. Although the percentage is low, this accounts for 895 people, which is more children than the child care system can absorb, White said.

White said the Coalition specifically asked the Docking Institute to address child care because it believed stay-at-home mothers could be a pocket of untapped labor. Those needing child care was smaller than White expected. White said the regulations to open a child care facility can be burdensome. The ECC has worked in recent years with several operators in attempts to bring child care facilities to the area, but the costs were so great the operators could not operate at a profit.

Manufacturers may consider offering alternative work schedules to tap into this portion of labor pool. One manufacturer in the area has offered a schedule specifically tailored for moms. The schedules start after parents drop their children off at school and releases early enough for the parents to pick up children after school.

Among those who categorized themselves as underemployed, the largest group, about 24 percent, said they were underemployed because of education. More than 35 percent of this group had bachelor’s degrees. Employers have high demand for science, engineering and math graduates, whereas demand for college graduates in the humanities has declined, White said.

“Another thing that kids going to college need to think about is where the demand is,” he said.

A student may be able to make more money in a trade with shorter training time and less or no student loan debt. White said capturing students who attend some college, but don’t graduate with a degree is also a goal. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 41 percent of college students will not have completed a four-year degree within six years of starting college.

Better yet, communities can start engaging with students in high school or even middle school about the benefits of technical training or entrepreneurship programs.

“I think one of the areas you really have to promote is educating parents about opportunities,” White said. “You will still see a lot of parents when they are talking to guidance counselors or at career nights, it is the parent who is saying, ‘No, my son or daughter is going to go to college.’ Whether that student is truly suited to complete a university degree, that is where they are going. It is almost like they don’t have an option.”

They don’t realize they have some very good trade school, tech options for students that can provide very well for their long-term future.”

Despite cold temperatures on Saturday, beer fanatics crowded downtown Hays for the annual Brews on the Bricks.

Hays Post

Thomas More Prep-Marian will present the murder mystery/comedy “A Family Reunion to Die For” as its spring play  7 p.m. April 13, and 14 and 2 p.m. April 15 in the TMP Dreiling Theater, 1701 Hall St.

Travis Grizzell, director, said on the KAYS Morning Show Friday after the complex musical “Into the Woods” in the fall and Shakespeare last year, he and the students were ready for something a little goofy.

The play is set in a country western bed and breakfast in the Virgin Islands.

“We got a troupe of mimes, we’ve got a comic-con guy who shows up in a different costume in every scene. We have a few characters from all walks there,” Grizzell said.

Christine Franklin intends to show off her new husband, Freddie, at the Knotting Family Reunion. She hasn’t seen her relatives in years. However, the reunion turns tragic when Aunt Gretchen, Cousin Rachel and Cousin Stefan are murdered. Christine fears for her life.

Freddie, a mall security guard, tries to solve the case. Possible suspects include squirrel-hunting hillbilly sisters, a knitting former Vegas showgirl, a inept maid, a grouchy cook, a bitter journalist and a troupe of mimes.

The three dead relatives return and enlist the audience’s help to assist Freddie to find the real killer.

About 40 students are involved in this production, Grizzell said.

“You see the kids bloom in every show,” he said, “—the young ones or the ones who are finally coming around to fit into their own. It is a great process to see.”

Tickets are $8. Book tickets online by clicking here.

Tickets can also be reserved by leaving a message at the Fine Arts Ticket Line: 785-621-5478 or purchased at the door.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Elaine Rohleder has a large bulletin board in her office dedicated to notes, pictures, stories and crafts that her students have made for her over the 24 years at Lincoln Elementary.

In the middle of the board is a large pencil drawing of Bambi created by a former fifth-grader in 2004. There also a little paper snowman and a snowflake.

All of the these treasures are soon to be packed. After 31 years in education, Elaine Rohleder will retire at the end of the school year.

Yet these simple mementos remind Rohleder she has made a difference in her students’ lives.

“It is the little things that the kids do. They draw you pictures. They put them in your mailbox. They write stories about you. It is just the neat things that kids do that make you know that you are making a difference. It’s the simple things that they say. Just little things all of the time like a hug.”

Rohleder, 54, didn’t always want to be a teacher. She entered Wichita State University as a freshman to study social work.

However, after a year at Wichita State University, she felt she wasn’t going in the right direction. The Russell native decided to move back to western Kansas and enroll in Fort Hays State University as an education major. She did her internships for her undergrad degree in the Hays school district.

Her inspiration was her first-grade teacher in Russell, Mrs. Robertson, who she described as a sweet lady who always cared for her students. Rohleder said she wanted to be able to give some of that caring back to her students.

“It was just the right fit for me,” she said. “I loved working with kids. I loved seeing the difference I could make in the classroom and helping kids who were struggling or kids who were exceeding and being able to find ways to challenge them.”

Rohleder started her career as a substitute teacher in Russell and then in Dorrance. From there, she went to Westmoreland where she was a fifth-grade teacher for six years. While at Westmoreland, her husband studied toward his vet degree and she went to summer and night school at K-State to earn her master’s degree.

Her decision to study education administration rose out of a desire to reach more children.

“I felt I was making a difference with the students in my classroom,” she said. “I thought rather than making a difference with 25 students, I could make a positive impact on an entire school full of students, and that was the reason why I went into administration.”

After Rohleder and her husband graduated from K-State, they moved to Savannah, Mo., where she was the principal at very small school in Helena, Mo., for a year.

Rohleder and her husband missed being near family in western Kansas, so they moved back to the area in 1993, and Elaine took the position as principal at Lincoln Elementary where she has been ever since.

Rohleder said after so many years working in schools, her favorite aspect of being a principal is still working with kids every day. It has been easy to do her job, because she has loved it.

“There are challenges, but just being able to be a positive role model or a positive influence in their lives and letting them know they can be whatever they want to be if they dream it,” she said. “If they can dream it, they can be it. They just have to work hard.”

Education and the Hays district has changed much in the 24 years that Rohleder has led Lincoln. She said one of the most significant and challenging transformations has been in the area of technology.

When Rohleder came to Lincoln, the school office was still using a typewriter. When she was an elementary school teacher, her classroom had one computer for 28 students. The students worked in teams and took turns using the computer to type articles for a monthly classroom newspaper. Their stories were printed on a very slow, noisy tractor-fed, ribbon printer.

However, Rohleder talked about finding one of those classroom newspapers recently and remembered her students and co-workers at the school fondly.

“I was reminiscing about what a great place it was to teach and begin my career and seeing what the kids produced in the newspaper and the writing,” she said. “It was a good reminder of where I started and how times have changed.”

Today, schools have acknowledged the importance of integrating technology into education to prepare students, even at a young age, for work after graduation.

“I think the Hays district has always been a very progressive district. We have always looked for ways to  be on the cutting edge — just making sure that the curriculum we choose for our students is challenging. We know technology is a direction society is going and work is going, so we have added that into our curriculum as well.

“But you have to find a balance between studies and the integration of technology. Sometimes that can be difficult, but I think we have done a great job in this district of finding a balance between teaching curriculum and the basic skills and incorporating technology to build on those skills.”

What has not changed and what has kept Rohleder at Lincoln for so long has been the family atmosphere.

“It was the family atmosphere that kept me here at Lincoln,” Rohleder said, “not just the staff being a family, but taking in all of our students’ families. It was just a place where people felt comfortable and liked being. They trusted each other and our students’ families trusted us to help them and give them guidance. The staff leaned on each other if they had things happening. It’s a great place to be.”

Rohleder’s children, who are now adults, attended Lincoln.

She asked herself each year if she was the kind of teacher or principal she would want for her own sons, Samuel and Thomas.

“I wanted to be that person if one of my kids had gotten in trouble at school, did I treat them honestly and fairly if there was a discipline issue. I wanted people to know I wanted the best for their kids because I only wanted for them what I would have for my own children.”

A number of the longtime Lincoln teachers and staff returned last week to see Rohleder be honored by the Kansas Association of Elementary School Principals as 2018 District 5 National Distinguished Principal honoree during an assembly at the school.

Hays Superintendent John Thissen said at the assembly, “I love working with individuals who are smart—intelligent people who know what they are doing and are organized—and Elaine has those characteristics. But the piece that has really made the difference and why I love working with Elaine and really miss the idea of her not being around next year is her heart. She has the most beautiful heart, not just working with the children but also her staff.”

Rohleder was nominated by fellow USD 489 principal Anita Scheve of Wilson Elementary School for the award. The National Distinguished Principal Program recognizes principals for their school leadership, school improvement, dedication, professionalism and service to students.

“It is rewarding because the people who you work with, the colleagues who you work with have the same goals as you,” she said. “We want the best for our kids, and we want our kids to succeed and be successful citizens. It starts at the elementary level. To be recognized by your peers is very rewarding and humbling at the same time.”

A desire to be closer to her family is leading Rohleder out of education. For years, she has gone on vet calls with her husband, and now her son Samuel has joined his dad in the vet practice. Elaine will be joining the staff at Rohleder Vet Service so she can spend more time with her family.

Rohleder said she knows she will miss the school, the staff, the children and their families, but she is looking forward to spending the next stage of her life with her family and working side by side with her husband and son.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Anthem insurance recently made headlines for its policy on denying payment for some emergency room visits for non-emergencies.

The Anthem policy initially was rolled out in four states, but that did not include Kansas.

Officials at HaysMed said its billing department has not had patients say they had problems with denial of payment for emergency room visits.

However, HaysMed emergency room doctor Dr. Derek Yarmer recently talked to the Hays Post about when it is appropriate to use the ER and what he thought the effect of possible denial of coverage for ER visits might have on patients.

Emergency rooms cover a wide array of conditions in part because they are always open and can usually perform diagnostic tests quickly, Yarmer said.

He said it can be difficult to distinguish if a person is having a health crisis until a doctor has run a battery of tests.

“It is so hard to define,” Yarmer said. “Someone falls awkwardly on their ankle. If it is a sprain, it is not an emergency. If it is broken, it needs to be splinted. You don’t know until you get the X-ray.”

Symptoms that definitely should result in a trip to the ER include chest pain, symptoms of a stroke and bad infections.

On the opposite extreme, maladies such as earaches, coughs, colds, and bumps and bruises are probably conditions that can be addressed by a primary care physician or at urgent care.

Cost is the primary reason insurance companies have sought to rein in emergency room visits.

The base charge for a trip to the ER is $1,000 in Hays. An office visit to a primary care provider runs about $105, and the cost of a visit to urgent care is the same.

In an addition to higher costs, ERs doctors complete more complex and often more costly tests than primary care doctors.

“I am boarded in emergency medicine, so if you come to the ER, you basically declare you have an emergency,” Yarmer said. “It is my job to prove you do or don’t. If you do, then I treat it. We do a lot more CT scans trying to find something wrong as opposed to the mindset of a primary care doctor where they will see you in clinic where they will do some blood work and see you back in a day or two. We don’t have that luxury. We have one shot to prove or disprove you have an emergency.”

Receiving care for non-emergent conditions from a primary care physician can not only be cheaper but better for the patient.

The American Academy of Family Physicians reported in 2015 that a study in California indicated those who maintained a relationship with a primary care physician were less likely to use the emergency room or be admitted to the hospital.

Nadereh Pourat, Ph. D, noted in an article for the AAFP on her study those patients who received regular primary care received preventive care such as medication management, weight management and exercise plans.

Data from the HaysMed indicated 23.6 percent people served in the ER did not report having a primary care physician, but it is not necessarily because they didn’t have insurance. Self-pay patients made up 9.5 percent of those served at the HaysMed ER.

Regardless of insurance or primary care status, the majority of Americans are saying they are using the ER because they think they have a condition serious enough to warrant it. A National Health Statistics Study released in 2016 indicated 77 percent of respondents age 18 to 64 went to the ER because of the seriousness of their condition, 12 percent went because their doctors’ offices were closed, 7 percent went because of lack of access to other care and the rest gave no reason.

Although there may be benefits in encouraging patients to seek care from a primary care physician, Yarmer said policies that create fear of denial for ER care can be detrimental. Yarmer gave another example.

“You don’t know if it is an emergency until we do some testing,” he said. “People come in for chest pain that ends up being acid reflux. Two totally different things, but if you are having a heart attack, that is definitely an emergency, but acid reflux isn’t. You don’t know until you get the testing done to rule it out.

“I think if you start limiting access to the emergency department or (create) fear of being penalized financially for it, then people probably won’t come in for their chest pain,” he said.

Attempts have been made in the past to curtail ER use, Yarmer said, but he said it is difficult for the average person to know when a condition is not an emergency.

“I think it is dangerous to threaten people with not paying for them to be seen. I can understand the insurance companies want efficient care. There are a lot of things that we see in the ER that could be seen in a different clinic, but I think once you start threatening to not reimburse, there are going to be people who have bad outcomes — missed heart attacks, missed strokes — things like that. People are going to be just too worried about the bill.”