ELLIS — Steven E. Pegram will be interviewing for the position of superintendent with the board of education on Monday evening.
Pegram is the first of three candidates that the USD 388 Ellis Board of Education will be interviewing.Candidates were selected for interviews based on their fit with desired characteristics that were developed with input from a focus survey which were utilized throughout the search process.
Pegram is currently serving as the Superintendent at USD 434 Carbondale and has been in that position for 11 years.Previously, he served as the superintendent of USD 372 Silver Lake for seven years.Pegram also fulfilled duties as superintendent at Cherryvale USD 447 for five years and in that district, he was the high school principal for three years and an elementary principal for one year.
Ellis High School Principal will interview for the superintendent position on Wednesday via videoconference. The name of the third candidate will be released Thursday.
Steven E. Pegram’s Schedule
12:00-1:00 pm Meet at district office with John and Connie – lunch @ Riverside Esp.
(Time permitting:Bus Barn – Weightroom/Wrestling Room)
1:00-2:20 Tour district facilities – 2 Stuco reps. – Connie will bring candidate
1:00-1:30 – HS
1:35 -2:05 – GS
2:10-2:20 – OHS – Stuco reps returned to HS
2:25 – 2:55 Tour of the community – Jeff Augustine, Comm. rep will pick up at OHS
3:00 – 3:30 Candidate meets with Superintendent Young @ HS
3:40 – 4:30 Meet and greet for public and staff – HS Lobby – South End
4:30 – 5:30 Break – Connie will return candidate to district office to personal vehicle
5:30 – 6:30 Dinner with candidate, guest/spouse and BOE @ Arthurs
6:30 – 9:30 Formal interview, Special BOE meeting in executive session @ HS Library
The board of education will conclude interviews on Feb. 7.They will then determine which candidate is the best fit for the superintendent position in USD 388 Ellis.
Sen. Rick Billinger (R-Goodland), Rep. Barb Wasinger (R-Hays), Rep. Leonard Mastroni (R-La Crosse) and Rep. Ken Rahjes (R-Agra) at Saturday’s legislative coffee in Hays.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
The first 2019 legislative coffee hosted by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce Saturday morning was the first-ever for 111th Dist. Rep. Barb Wasinger, R-Hays. She was elected in November, defeating incumbent Eber Phelps, D-Hays, and resigned her seat on the Ellis County Commission.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve was a freshman,” Wasinger joked with the 35 or so attendees in the Fort Hays State University Black and Gold Room.
Rounding out the legislative panel were 100th Dist. Rep. Ken Rahjes, R-Agra, who had to leave early to attend a family funeral, 117th Dist. Rep. Leonard Mastroni, R-La Crosse, and 40th Dist. Sen. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland.
Rahjes announced he is the new chairman of the Higher Education Budget Committee. Presidents of the universities, colleges and technical schools in Kansas, including FHSU’s Dr. Tia Mason who was in the audience, will appear this week and next in front of the Appropriations Committee.
Following opening remarks, the first question from the audience was whether the legislators would support Gov. Laura Kelly’s proposed $9 million increase to higher education funding.
“We’re focusing and trying to make good investments in higher education,” Rahjes said, noting Friday’s news that Kansas collected $49 million less in taxes than expected in January. The decrease broke a 19-month streak of better-than-anticipated tax collections.
“My first goal as chairman is make sure we at least have what the governor has recommended,” Rahjes replied. “In talking with leadership, I think there are some opportunities to enhance that in some form. I will fight for an increase, absolutely, but I think we need to be cautious and not have a false sense of security that we have a lot of extra money.
“We have been told, and in discussions, this may be the year for increases,” he added. “To get the full increase of what the cut was years ago, it won’t happen. Nobody’s going to be made whole from those, I don’t believe.”
“We’ve got a pie of money and everyone wants a piece of it,” said Wasinger. “As you’ve heard, we’re having [financial] problems with transportation, corrections, the foster care system and we need to pay back KPERS (Kansas Public Employees Retirement System). We need to be as equitable as we can possibly be.”
Billinger went into detail about the “money pie.”
“We have an ending balance of about $900 million. Over $100 million of that was a skipped KPERS payment, $317 million was borrowed from the PMIB (Pooled Money Investment Board), $300 million of that continues to be swept from KDOT (Kansas Dept. of Transportation),” he explained.
“I think it’s a little premature to say we would do any amount for higher ed or other areas. We have a lot of challenges.
“This first year we’re probably going to be okay money-wise, but going forward, we’ve gotta be very careful.”
The legislators were also asked about the Democratic governor’s proposal to reamortize, or refinance, KPERS to keep future state contributions to the pension fund manageable.
Billinger is among 18 Republican senators who’ve co-sponsored Senate Bill 9. It would put $115 million into KPERS this fiscal year to make up for previous contribution delays authorized by former Gov. Sam Brownback and the GOP-controlled Legislature.
According to Billinger, the Senate will vote on the bill Monday.
“We skipped a KPERS payment in 2016 when finances were tight and the legislature promised we would pay it back in 2018 with interest. It still wasn’t very clear where the revenues were and we didn’t make the payment then.
“It costs us $630,000 a month not to pay this payment,” said Billinger.
“We’ve been focusing on this since 2011, when I first came to Topeka. We had one of the worst state-funded pension plans in the country. It was on the verge of bankruptcy.
“We have put $5.1 billion into this since 2011. And now we’re talking about reamortizing. The latest figures I’ve seen is that would cost us $7.4 billion by pushing this down the road.”
Billinger recalled Gov. Brownback talked about amortization two years ago. “The costs are just not doable.”
“A Republican legislature shut down a Republican governor,” added Rahjes. “It’s not political. It’s called being fiscally responsible.”
Mastroni said he’s talked to a lot of other state representatives and there is “huge support” for KPERS. “I think there’s only about 10 years left to get this paid off,” said Mastroni, “and I’d really hate to see the reamortization kick in for 30 years, ’cause that’ll leave $7.4 billion for our grandchildren [to pay] and that’s just plain wrong.”
Wasinger agreed.
“KPERS was refinanced in 1993 with a 40-year term. We’re actually at the last 15 years of paying off that loan,” Wasinger said. “We’re just getting to the point where we’re starting to pay off all the principal. It’s important that we finish this.”
“If this Senate bill passes Monday, and it goes through the House and the governor signs it, it’ll be the first time in 25 years that we’ve hit the actual required contribution,” Billinger said.
There are more than 311,000 current and former public employees whose financial retirement plans are managed by KPERS, according to the KPERS website.
The second HACC legislative coffee, sponsored by Midwest Energy and AT&T, will be held at 8:30 a.m., Sat. April 6 in the FHSU Memorial Union Stouffer Lounge. There is no charge to attend.
ELLIS – The city of Ellis is considering the purchase of electronic-read water meters. Council members will discuss the proposal at their meeting Monday, Feb. 4.
Other agenda items include an update on the campground expansion project.
The complete agenda follows.
AGENDA
February 4, 2019
REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF ELLIS
City Hall – Council Meeting Room
BILLS ORDINANCE REVIEW WORK SESSION BEGINS AT 7:00 P.M.
ROLL CALL AND MEETING CALL TO ORDER AT 7:30 P.M.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
AMENDMENTS TO AGENDA (if needed)
CONSENT AGENDA
Minutes from Regular Meeting on January 21, 2019
Minutes from Special Meeting on January 29, 2019
Bills Ordinance #2062
(Council will review for approval under one motion under the consent agenda. By majority vote of the governing body, any item may be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately)
PUBLIC COMMENTS
(Each speaker will be limited to five minutes. If several people from the group wish to speak on same subject, the group must appoint a spokesperson. ALL comments from public on agenda items must be during Public Comment. Once council begins their business meeting, no more comments from public will be allowed.)
PRESENTATIONS OF AWARDS, PROCLAMATIONS, REQUESTS & PETITIONS (HEARINGS)
SPECIAL ORDER
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Update on Campground Expansion Project
Consider Approval to Purchase Electronic Read Water Meters
Consider Bids for Cedar Lane Lift Station Modifications
NEW BUSINESS
Consider Ratification of Invoice for Overhead Shop Door
Consider Letter of Agreement for Evaluation of Inflow and Infiltration in Sewer System
Consider Purchase of Carport for Sewer Clarifier
Consider Purchase of Valves for Water Distribution System
HAYS – The Center for Entrepreneurship at Fort Hays State University will host the Faulkner Challenge on March 30 at the W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship. Fort Hays State students and residents of a 26-county area of northwest Kansas are eligible to compete for $10,000 in prizes.
The event begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 30, in McCartney Hall, home of the Robbins College, on the Fort Hays State campus. Admission is free for participants and the public.
The Faulkner Challenge is made possible by the generosity of alumnus, Kevin Faulkner. It is a business plan competition for new, independent proposed ventures in the conceptual, seed or startup stages.
Entries will be accepted until the March 20 deadline. The eight best business plans will be selected as finalists to present on the Fort Hays State campus. Finalists will deliver 10 minute presentations to a panel of judges, and the top three business projects will split the $10,000 in prize money into awards of $6,000, $3,000, and $1,000, to first, second, and third places, respectively.
“It will be an exciting event on our campus to showcase the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of our students and the Kansans of this region”, said Dr. David Snow, the director of entrepreneurship for FHSU. “This is meant not only to be a fun event for all involved, but a contribution to economic development in northwest Kansas and a boost for those early-stage entrepreneurs.”
The eligibility area comprises the 26 northwest Kansas counties stretching from Cheyenne down to Wallace County, east through the top three tiers of counties and then into the eight-county block from Jewell and Republic down through Ellsworth and Saline.
Plan presentations begin at 9 a.m. and run through 12:15 p.m. A luncheon will go from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. The judges feedback session will run from 12:45 to 1:15 p.m. Awards presentations begin at 1:15 p.m. and end at 1:30 p.m.
MANHATTAN — The Kansas Department of Agriculture, K-State Research and Extension and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment will host a regional workshop in Hays on Friday, Feb. 22, at the K-State Agricultural Research Center. This is one of six regional workshops which are being held this winter to assist farmers’ market vendors and managers.
Kansas farmers’ markets not only provide a fresh food source, but also stimulate the local economy. In 2018, 95 farmers’ markets were registered with KDA’s Central Registration of Farmers’ Markets.
“Farmers’ markets provide growers a wonderful opportunity to have real interaction with consumers, and a chance to tell their farm’s story,” said Londa Nwadike, consumer food safety specialist with K-State Research and Extension and the University of Missouri. “It’s also important for farmers to understand certain legal, safety and financial parameters before choosing to sell at a farmers’ market.”
A keynote presentation will feature tips on marketing and making a profit, and a panel will provide information selling to institutions such as restaurants, groceries and schools. KDA’s weights and measures program will also offer free scale certification for attendees. Workshop topics will include:
• Pest Control Methods, Cover Crops and Soil Health
• Regulations for Selling Meat, Eggs and Poultry
• SNAP Program and Sales Tax for Vendors
• Specialty Crops and Produce Safety
• Kansas Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program Training
The workshop will be held at the K-State Agricultural Research Center, 1232 240th Ave. in Hays. Onsite registration will open at 8:30 a.m. and the workshops will begin at 9:00 a.m. and conclude by 3:00 p.m. Registration for this workshop is now open and is $20 per participant. Registration includes lunch; however, lunch will only be guaranteed to those participants who register by Feb. 14. Registration forms can be found at FromtheLandofKansas.com/FMWorkshop or at local extension offices.
For more information, contact Lexi Wright, KDA’s From the Land of Kansas marketing coordinator, at 785-564-6755 or [email protected]. Workshops were also held in Olathe, Parsons, Dodge City, Wichita and Manhattan.
KDA is committed to providing an environment that enhances and encourages economic growth of the agriculture industry and the Kansas economy. The Kansas Ag Growth Strategy has identified training for small companies via workshops as a key growth outcome for the specialty crop sector, particularly in the western half of the state. The farmers’ market workshops will provide education through partnerships to help make Kansas farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses more successful.
WICHITA – Wichita State University has announced the names of more than 3,000 students who were on the WSU dean’s honor roll for fall 2018.
To be included on the dean’s honor roll, a student must be enrolled full time (at least 12 credit hours) and earn at least a 3.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
WSU enrolls over 15,000 students and offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas of study in seven undergraduate colleges.
The following northwest Kansas students earned the honor:
Bird City
Bergan W Bock
Colby
Erik B Mallonee
Goodland
Sara B Amend
Amanda R Coon
Hays
Brianna M Burns
Maci M Gerhard
Bridget M Heimann
Isabella H Lee
Ashlyn M Parrish
Michaela N Spalsbury
A billboard on a Chinese campus appeals to college students to help tutor rural “left behind” children. With parents gone to work in the city, grandparents often do not have the education level to help their grandchild study the modern curriculum.
A population equal to two-thirds of the United States has moved from rural China to urban China in the last decade. This rapid draw-down in rural communities has resulted in villages of mostly elderly retirees and a shrinkage of rural schools. China’s rapid educational expansion has been a 30-year miracle, dramatically raising the educational level of the younger generations. But this advancement has not been equal between countryside and city. And the shrinkage in rural schools is causing China to consolidate to improve quality.
John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.
When I speak to large groups of future biology teachers-in-training at their normal universities, I ask for hands of those who come from the countryside. In spite of more than half of China’s population living in rural areas ten years ago, usually only one-fourth of the students have come from those regions. When I ask how many of them are planning to go back to the countryside to teach, all hands drop. That is their problem.
Rural schools in China face a dramatic shortage of college-educated qualified science teachers–roughly a million nationwide. The term for a countryside person [nóngmín, 农民] or “peasant” is a term that has the connotations of poor and uneducated. And poor pay and primitive living conditions is the reason new teachers will not return. Many country schools are staffed by teachers with less than a college education. This decreases the opportunity for students to get a good education and score high on the high school leaving exam or gāokǎo[高考]. They do not have an equal chance to advance into college, an inequity that I always press when talking with university party secretaries. So that one-fourth who are in university and raised their hands studied hard to overcome the odds.
Young rural parents who migrate to the industrial opportunities in China’s cities have two options. They can leave their child or children (many rural families have more than one child) with the grandparents, send back money, and return to their rural home during this holiday. These are China’s “left behind” children [liúshǒu’értóng, 留守儿童]. The rural “left behind” numbered roughly 60 million in 2005 but have dropped to under 40 million today.
The other option is to take your child (or children) with you to the suburbs of the industrialized cities. However, residency documents or hùkǒu[户口] prevent these children from attending the regular urban schools.They must attend special migrant schools where again, although located in the city, teacher pay is low and students again have lesser-qualified instructors. These urban students are therefore also “left behind” children and numbered about 17 million in 2005. They now have risen to 23 million. When I again point out the inequity in education, party secretaries tell me that there are plans to rotate the good teachers from the “number one” public schools through the migrant city schools. But regular teachers say “no way!”
There are also about 20 million migrant kids whose families move about, especially in distant rural herding communities. Their numbers have not changed and they pose a separate and difficult problem.
But in China’s rapidly changing educational scene, the governments at national, provincial and local levels can and does work to consolidate these shrinking rural schools. Providing the best teachers possible to restore educational equity remains uppermost on their agenda.
The United States faces a similar problem. Unfortunately, providing qualified teachers for our shrinking, mostly-rural school districts in the United States in order to provide educational equity is not at the top of our American education agenda. Many rural areas in America are also depopulating, although not at the breakneck speed of China. Yet, providing qualified teachers and academic equity for rural students is rarely voiced. Arguments made for school consolidation are usually couched in terms of saving money.
In most states, public schooling makes up the biggest state budget item, often comprising half of state tax dollars. With 50 states and 50 different systems for managing schools, it is difficult to generalize. But in the 1950s and 1960s, a national movement toward school consolidation did occur as one- and two-room schools were replaced by larger modern classrooms, often on a township level for elementary schools and county level for high schools. But many states did not fully consolidate. As our rural areas depopulate, the number of school districts that lack a full array of specialized teachers grows. And it is not just our Great Plains and Midwest regions that face this dilemma. States such as Vermont with 270 districts, New Jersey with 545, Maryland, New Jersey, Maine and Virginia also need consolidation. But the desire to keep our undersized local school for sports, community identity, or other political reasons makes consolidation efforts fail.
Americans may disparage China’s central control. But it is the downside of our local control democracy that results in the United States producing educationally “left behind” children.
John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.
John J Stremel, Hays is a new junior member of the American Angus Association, reports Allen Moczygemba, CEO of the national organization with headquarters in Saint Joseph, Mo.
Junior members of the Association are eligible to register cattle in the American Angus Association, participate in programs conducted by the National Junior Angus Association and take part in Association-sponsored shows and other national and regional events.
The American Angus Association is the largest beef breed association in the world, with more than 25,000 active adult and junior members.
Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Laura was six years old. There was a big present for her under the Christmas tree. She excitedly opened the package and was delighted to find it was a sewing machine from her grandmother. Her interest in sewing grew, and decades later it became a sort of magic carpet which would bring her and her husband back to Kansas.
Laura and Ronn Martin live at Elkhart. They went off to the big city for their careers but came back to Kansas.
Ronn grew up at Elkhart. Laura grew up on a farm near McCracken, a rural community of 190 people. Now, that’s rural.
The two met at Tabor College in Hillsboro. Ronn earned degrees in computer science, and Laura earned degrees in psychology and counseling. They followed his career to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas where he worked in information technology. They also raised a daughter and son.
When Laura was a little girl, her mother had been a seamstress on the farm. “One of my earliest recollections was sitting on my mom’s lap while she sewed,” Laura said. One Christmas, Laura received the aforementioned sewing machine from her grandmother. With help from her other grandma, she even did a 4-H sewing project. Laura loved sewing, but when her mother encouraged her to try quilting, Laura had no interest at the time.
Years later when family came for a visit in Texas, Laura’s mother-in-law went to a local quilt shop. Laura observed the results. “I saw the entire process, from when she took the fabric out of the bag, handed the receipt to her husband, studied the pattern, and carefully cut out the pieces,” Laura said. Then Laura watched a beautiful quilt come to life.
“I thought to myself, ‘I could do that,’” Laura said – “especially the part about handing the receipt to my husband…”. She tried quilting and was hooked. She even worked part-time at a quilt shop in Texas.
When their children graduated, Laura and Ronn decided to make a change and move back closer to family. Ronn’s computer job enabled him to work from anywhere, as long as he had high-quality internet access which they found in Elkhart. It also meant that Laura could have her own quilt shop.
Laura and Ronn bought and remodeled a historic building in downtown Elkhart. In June 2018, Laura opened her new store. She called it Sew Loved Quilt Shop. In addition to the obvious reference to sewing, she cites as inspiration the Bible verse which says God so loved the world.
“There are a hundred women that quilt in our area,” Laura said. “Some of them can make quilts as beautiful as anything you will see at the international quilt show in Houston,” she said.
Quilters can purchase fabric, notions and other supplies at Laura’s quilt shop. Laura offers classes for all levels of experience.
“We offer kids’ sew day on days when there is no school,” Laura said. “Kids can spend a couple of hours and leave with a finished product.”
That was so popular that it led to a moms’ sewing time, which is scheduled later in the evening after supper. Laura also has a longarm device, which is like a giant, automated sewing machine that can quilt great big pieces of fabric.
“People come to the shop by the carloads,” Laura said. “We serve five states.”
What about the transition from the big city to small-town Kansas? “The people are so wonderful and down-to-earth,” Laura said. “We had forgotten what pretty sunsets looked like,” Ronn said.
It’s time to leave this quilt shop in Elkhart. We commend Ronn and Laura Martin for making a difference by returning to their Kansas roots. As we go, we observe one final treasure on display: It’s the original sewing machine which Laura received as a present when she was six years old. It’s a reminder that she was so loved.
And there’s more. Remember how Ronn’s job required high-quality internet access? We’ll learn about that next week.
Monday Sunny, with a high near 41. North northwest wind around 10 mph becoming east northeast in the afternoon.
Monday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 21. East northeast wind 9 to 13 mph.
TuesdayMostly cloudy, with a high near 33. East wind 7 to 10 mph.
Tuesday NightMostly cloudy, with a low around 25. East wind around 8 mph.
WednesdayMostly cloudy, with a high near 36.
Wednesday NightA slight chance of freezing rain before 7pm, then a chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 12. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Wanted sexual assault suspect, Tre M. Carrasco was observed getting into the below silver pickup at 10:08 a.m. Sunday at a Colby gas station. The pickup was observed leaving the truck stop heading south toward Interstate 70.
The photograph is of Tre Carrasco at the gas station and he was wearing a hoodie that says “HUSTLE” on the front of it.
Carrasco is to be considered armed and dangerous. If anyone has information on the whereabouts of Tre Carrasco please contact the Hays Police Department at (785) 625-1011. Carrasco is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
At 5:42 a.m. Sunday, the Hays Police Department received a report that a female had been sexually assaulted in the 400 block of west 7th Street in Hays, according to a media release.
The suspect has been identified as 23-year-old Tre Miekale Carrasco. He is described as a light skinned black male who is 5-foot-8 tall, weighs 173 pounds, has brown eyes, and black curly hair that is in a short afro. Carrasco may have facial hair and be wearing a red shirt.
Carrasco should be considered armed and dangerous.
Carrasco reportedly stole a 2011 four-door navy blue Chevy Malibu with tinted windows from the scene which has since been located.
Carrasco has three previous convictions that include aggravated sexual battery and aggravated battery, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
If anyone has information on the whereabouts of Tre Carrasco, contact the Hays Police Department at (785) 625-1011.
Fort Hays State University Science Café presents “Bats: Rock Stars of the Night” Monday, February 4 at 7:00 p.m. in The Venue at Thirsty’s, 2704 Vine St., Hays.
Join us for a batty evening to learn about these mysterious creatures of the night! Come learn some of the crazy, cool things bats do and how they are ecologically and economically important. Free and open to the public.
Presenter: Dr. Amanda M. Adams, Department of Biological Sciences, FHSU
Sponsored by Science and Mathematics Education Institute
