Tiger TalkNews & Highlights of USD 340 � Vol. 10, No. 4 November 2007

Simon EveningThe Jeff West Booster Club will be

selling tickets for the annual SimonEvening of Giving. This is an excellentopportunity for you to support the JeffWest Booster Club and get a jump-starton your Christmas shopping.

On Sunday, November 18 from 6:30until 10 p.m., the ticket you purchasefrom the Jeff West Booster Club admitsyou into the mall for an evening of shop-ping with various discounts and drawingsthroughout the mall.

Advance tickets are $10 each. For ev-ery ticket sold $3 goes to the Simon YouthFoundation and $7 goes to the Jeff WestBooster Club. Tickets may be purchasedat the Elementary Office or contactDreana McClurg at 484-2418.

Fundraising DinnerThe High School Softball Team will be

hosting a chili fundraising dinner prior tothe Fall Sports Awards Night.

Menu will include chili, cinnamon rolls,veggies and a drink.

Serving will begin at 5 p.m.Come support the Lady Tiger Softball

Team.

Info on bullyingAll parents, students, and patrons of

USD 340 are encouraged to attend a pre-sentation on bullying. Monday, Novem-ber 5, at 7 p.m. at the Elementary School.We will have an excellent and timely pre-sentation regarding bullying. All par-ents, students, staff, and patrons of USD340 are invited to attend. Lisa Ellis,LMSW, is a social worker at StormontVail West on the Child/Adolescent inpa-tient psychiatric unit. She provides clini-cal services directly to children 5-18 yearsold as well as their families. Ms. Elliswill be speaking about what bullying is,the reasons for bullying as well as theimpact on both the victim and bystander.In addition, she will discuss the role ofparents and adults in addressing bully-ing and the importance of solid parentingfoundations to begin changing bullyingbehavior at home as well as school.

HS Tutoring andResource Center Jefferson West High School has a stu-dent resource center available one after-noon and one evening a week throughoutthe school year. The November scheduleis as follows:November 1: 6:30 to 8:30 pmNovember 5: 6:30 to 8:30 pmNovember 8: 3:30 to 5:00 pmNovember 12: 3:30 to 5:00 pmNovember 15: 6:30 to 8:30 pmNovember 19: 6:30 to 8:30 pmNovember 26: 6:30 to 8:30 pmNovember 28: 3:30 to 5:00 pm The resource center is located in thehigh school library and is available to allhigh school students. One adult staffmember and two student tutors are avail-able for assistance as needed. Your stu-dent does not have to attend the entiretime, simply drop in as needed for as longas needed. The purpose of the resourcecenter goes beyond tutoring and also in-cludes a quiet place to work and study,as well as providing computer access. If you have any questions regardingthis program, please call 785-484-3331during school hours.

Postal Patron

Jefferson West U.S.D. 340P.O. Box 267Meriden, Kansas 66512ECRWSS

NON-PROFITORGANIZATIONU.S. POSTAGE

P A I DPermit No. 2

Meriden, KS 66512

Pat Happer, Principal at Jefferson WestIntermediate and Elementary Schools,Meriden, Kansas, was recently awarded theStatewide Administrator Support Awardfrom the Kansas Coordinated School HealthProgram. He received the award at the state-wide conference and it was presented by RodBremby, Secretary of Health and Environ-ment. Pat received this recognition for exem-plary support to the Coordinated School

Rod Brimby and Pat Happer

Principal Receives State AwardHealth Council at Jefferson West, USD 340.In his work with the council, Pat has advo-cated for student and staff health in manyways. In particular, he has advocated to theschool board for district wellness policiesand he has promoted additional health edu-cation and physical education time for all el-ementary and intermediate students.

In 2006, Mr. Happer co-wrote a grant ap-plication to secure funding from the Sun-flower Foundation for a sidewalk/trackaround the middle and high school proper-ties. He then donated many hours supervis-ing the bidding process and much of the con-struction work of the track. The track is usedby school students all through the day andis also open to the public year round.

MS FCCLA learnsabout bullying

The Jefferson West Middle School,Family, Career & Community Leaders ofAmerica chapter members attended theDistrict E-West Fall Leadership Academyat Sabetha Middle School Oct. 12, 2007.The theme of the leadership academy wasSTOP The Violence: Bullying. Membersheard from State Officer Anne Goodsonand State Advisor Charlotte Smith. Chap-ter members worked the registration tablegreeting guests and members and passingout name tags they had made. Denny Deywas the keynote speaker who is a well-known educator in Northeast Kansas whohas taught K-Adult Education, writtenseveral plays and screen plays and is cur-rently working on a documentary. Stu-dents also learned about future FCCLAdates to prepare for. The chapter whichhas 45 members, brought 38 members tothe FLA along with 3 Chapter Moms, Mrs.McClurg, Mrs. Broers, and Mrs. Valdivia.

JWHS to hostBlood Drive

JWHS is hosting the Community BloodDrive on Nov. 8 from 9 am to 4 pm. We hadan award winning year of blood donationin 2006-2007, collecting 188 units. Due tothis terrific response, the gymnasium hasbeen reserved this year to assist us in col-lecting more blood. Call today to scheduleyour blood donation.

Punt, Pass, & Kickby Jay Jackson

ES/IS Physical Education TeacherJefferson West 3rd, 4th, & 5th graders re-

cently competed in a NFL sponsored Punt,Pass and Kick event. Students were scoredfor distance and accuracy on one punt, pass,and kick. The winners of each age divisionwill represent Jefferson West at a regionalevent to be held later in Bonner Springs.Results of the competition were as follows:

8-9 Girls: 1st Kaleigh Wright, 2ndCandace Roberts, and 3rd MadelynnBroxterman.

10-11 Girls: 1st Olivia Brees, 2nd EmilyBrown, and 3rd Courtney Bradley.

8-9 Boys: 1st Jared Ice, 2nd Jacob Korb,and 3rd Dylan Hicks.

10-11 Boys: 1st Matthew Hamon, 2ndHunter Overstreet, and 3rd Jacob Dickey.

Jeff West students get organized for the parade downtown students are holding theirsign (giant report card) for Andrew Clements winning book, The Report Card.

Record attendance by Jeff West 4th-6thgraders at the William Allen WhiteChildren’s Book Award ceremonies in Em-poria on September 29 (62 students and21 adults signed up to go) was recognizedby the Emporia State University Dean ofLibraries with a Certificate of HighestAttendance.

Our school spirit was very evident as wemarched in a parade from the campus tothe downtown auditorium for the awardsceremony following a morning of activitiesand meeting with the authors as theyautographed their winning titles.

Third to eighth grade students acrossKansas had voted for Andrew Clement’sbook, The Report Card, and Sarah Week’sbook, entitled So Be It, as the winners ofthe 55th Annual William Allen WhiteAward.

Over 750 Kansas students joinedWhite Award winners in Emporia

www.usd340.org

Tiger Talk� Page 2News & Highlights of USD 340

From the Superintendent

Recreation Commission and Community Outreach ClassesWe are in the home stretch of realizing

an important goal to better serve the cli-entele of the dis-trict. After manymonths of hardwork put in byseveral verydedicated indi-viduals, we arethat much closerto holding anelection to see ifthe people of thedistrict will sup-port the forma-tion of a district-

sponsored Recreation Commission.At different times last year, I wrote

about the possibility of establishing a Rec-reation Commission to provide a varietyof services to the greater community, in-

cluding outside of school time program-ming for our K-6 students and also com-munity outreach classes for our adultpopulation. The programming for the stu-dents would take place before or afterschool and even on weekends as the pos-sibilities presented themselves. We do afabulous job of providing our studentswith exciting educational opportunitiesduring the school day, but, obviously, out-side of the limited tutoring opportunitieswe offer, our programming ends prettymuch at the end of the regular school day.A Recreation Commission, however, wouldexpand our programming opportunitiesbeyond the normal school day, makingavailable to our students educational ex-periences that historically have not foundtheir way into the regular school day. Inmy previous district, we maintained thissort of arrangement for our students, and

Supt. Scott Myers

I know that our students benefited for it.The second portion of programming

provided by a Recreation Commission cen-ters on educational opportunities foradults. These outreach programs wouldonly be limited by our imagination and bythe availability of qualified instructors.Toward that end, I am pleased to an-nounce that the adult nighttime weldingclass we have been working to put togetheris all organized and ready to start classesin mid-January. The class will meet fortwo hours per night, two nights a week, forsixteen weeks. In a partnership with TheErnest-Spencer Companies, we will beproviding welding classes to those adults18 years of age and older who are inter-ested in learning more about welding.While the class will explore a variety ofdifferent types of welding, the emphasisof the class will be geared toward GMAW

(mig/wire feed) welding, and the studentswill be working toward becoming GMAW-Spray Arc certified. More specifics aboutthis program will be published as the timeapproaches.

Obviously, a welding course will not fitthe needs or interests of everybody in thedistrict, and that is okay. This is merelyan example of the sorts of classes we wouldbe able to provide for our people with theestablishment of a Recreation Commis-sion. Once an election date for establish-ing this commission is set, we will be sureto provide even more information to every-body about this potentially powerful edu-cational organization. As always, though,if you have any questions about this or anyother issue, please do not hesitate to giveme a call to discuss it. I always appreci-ate hearing from the people of the district.

by Jody LockhartOn Friday, October 12, the 4th and

5th Grade students participated in the2nd annual Jeff West Science Day. Thestudents attended seven 20-minutesessions that taught lessons based onthe local science outcomes. The stu-dents then had the opportunity tospend three 20-minute sessions inExhibit Hall. The Exhibit Hall washoused in the gym and contained dif-ferent hands-on activities that the stu-dents could interact with.

Some of the lessons included: cre-ating the Earth and its three layersusing a marshmallow, red hot and

chocolate, observing the chemical reac-tion that occurs when you mix Mentosand Diet Coke, learning about turkeysand their adaptations, and water andits properties.

Examples of activities in the Ex-hibit Hall included: a flaming pump-kin using chemicals to demonstratethe different states of matters, creat-ing simple circuits, rat dissection andgiant bubbles.

The event brought in more than 50community volunteers to teach les-sons and help with activities. The daywas a great success and fun was hadby all.

Thirty-eight of the sixty-three JeffersonWest High FCCLA members were presentat District E-West Fall Leadership Acad-emy when the state Advisor, CharlotteSmith, announced they had received theonly Honor Chapter Award in District E-West.

This is a huge accomplishment becauseit shows that the organization has a wellrounded program of work for the past year.It includes being involved in many commu-nity service projects, developing a public re-lations campaign, working with other or-ganizations, attending district, state andnational meetings as well as showing lead-ership through involvement in individualprojects and STAR Event contest.

Students attending the District E-WestFall Leadership Academy at Sabetha on

Congratulations to the Lady Tiger GolfTeam for their 4th place finish Tuesday Oc-tober 9, at Regionals. Hayden won the tour-nament with a score of 402, while TaylorFagan of Rossville won individual medalistwith a score of 82. There were 10 teams and60 golfers participating. The Jeff West teamnearly qualified, only being 7 strokes short.Winning top ten medals the trip to competeat the State Championship, are seniorsBecca Cozzadd and Kristen Brainard, as well

as junior Abbey Deiter. Becca placed 7th,while Abbey and Kristen tied for 9th and10th, with Abbey winning the playoff. It wasa great day to be a Tiger. Other Jeff Westgolfers were Kyane Stortzum, KarlyKennedy, and Tana Kern. The ladies went toHutchinson for state October 15. Out of 100girls Deiter placed 67th while Brainard andCozadd tied for 78th. They had a great expe-rience, made lots of memories, and enjoyedthe trip.

October 12 included (shown in picture above):First row (l. to r.): Holden Watson, Josh

Fritz, Logan Shenk, Brianna Ploude,Melanie Beeghly, Ellen Zirkle, Erika Her-ring, Christine Chadwell, Karly Kennedy,Alyssa McPherson, Emmy Cody, RebeccaCozadd, Bethany Nesbitt, and Mrs.Knowles. Second row: Amanda Narverud,Jessica Martin, Morgan Morris, AmandaWelsh, Misty Edwards, Brooke Kahler,Kaely Fox, Kaitlyn Fangman, Cece Liby,and Hayley Prescott. Third row: NichellePalmateer, Mandy Bostwick, Tana Kern,Kanielle Steffey, Amber Hittle, TimHeckel, Misty Edwards, Steven Skaggs,Alexa Von Arb, Dennon Ostrander,Pamela Griffin, Brittan Anderson, NoahLivingston, Angel Benton, Nick Essman,and Riley Farrant.

FCCLA–Gold Honor Chapter Award

Lady Tiger Golf Team sendsthree members to State Meet

What happens when youmix Mentos and Diet Coke?Ask a 5th (or 4th) Grader

Tiger Talk � Page 3News & Highlights of USD 340

The JWMS FCCLA members have heavyduty trash bags to sell as a fund-raiser thisyear. Trash bags will be available for pur-chase during Parent Teacher Conferences orat future home games at the middle school.White bags which have a capacity of 15 gal-lons, are 24" x 33", on a roll of 65 for $10.Yellow bags which have a 39 gallon capacityare 32" x 45", on a roll of 25 for $10. Bluebags which have a capacity of 55 gallons, are38" x 55", on a roll of 16 are $10. Pumpkin

Mr. Jeff West helps raise fundsMr. Jeff West successfully raised over $400 dollars that is being used to assist our Ger-many Bound students to “Get Home Safely,” providing transportation to and from theGerman airport. Stuco and J-Dub Roadcrew would like to thank all the participates, whodid a marvelous job of sharing their time and “talent”– the judges, who creatively ques-tioned–and our audience members, who laughed with a fun loving heart, pocket booksopen.

The 7th and 8th grade volleyball sea-son ended with great success. Both the 7thand 8th grade A teams placed second atthe Silver Lake Tournament and in Big 7League Play.

The 7th grade team ended the seasonwith a record of 11-2. The 7th grade domi-nated most matches in league play. Pre-vious playing experience showed in theskills they had coming into the season.Their only losses came in championshipmatches against Silver Lake and Holton.

The Jeff West Kindergarten classestook a field trip to the Meriden Fire Sta-tion in conjunction with National FirePrevention Week. The children weretreated with a presentation on fire safety

bags are available individual for $1.50 andare 44" x 52", with a 55 gallon capacity.These are great for show in your yard afteryou have filled them with raked leaves. Holi-day bags are the same size as the yellowbags and come 25 bags per roll for $11. TheHoliday bags are red with Holly berries andleaves. These would be great for wrappingthat hard to wrap gift or for use during theholidays for your trash. You can contact Mrs.Abbott at JWMS at 785-484-2900.

The 8th grade A team ended the sea-son with a record of 7-6. The 8th grade con-tinually improved as the season pro-gressed with their hitting and teamworkfalling into sync. Their losses were tightmatches that often went to three games.Going into the Big 7 League tournamentthey were ranked 4th but they beat the topranked Sabetha in the first match. Theywent on to beat ACCMS and Royal Val-ley. Their loss came to Holton in the Cham-pionship match.

Know a middle school FCCLAmember? Then buy some trash bags!

MS Volleyball has successful year

by the local volunteer firemen and thenwere treated with water being shot outfrom the fire hoses. At the end of the af-ternoon, each student received a packetof information and a fire hat.

un at theFire Dept.

TowardExcellenceby Mary Getto,Director ofCurriculumand Instruction

Scores Become OfficialJefferson West students and teachers

can officially celebrate their outstandingKansas Assessment Results as the Kan-sas State Department of Education re-leased the results

October 9, 2007. Each year schoolsmust test all students in third, fourth,fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades,and once in high school in both readingand mathematics. Though we have pre-liminary results right away because ourstudents test online, the scores are notofficial until the following fall. This yearall four of our buildings met the Standardof Excellence: Jefferson West ElementarySchool, Jefferson West IntermediateSchool, Jefferson West Middle School,and Jefferson West High School. Of thefourteen tests in reading and mathemat-ics, our students met the Standard ofExcellence on twelve of them. This spe-cial Standard of Excellence designationrecognizes schools that do a good job inincreasing the academic progress of allstudents in all categories.

The same federal law that requires

these assessments has other criteriaschools must meet to remain fully accred-ited. The school as a whole and each sub-group of students (male/female, ethnicity,English language learners, students withdisabilities, and students from low in-come homes) must meet a certain percentproficient in order to make adequateyearly progress, or AYP. Each year thatpercentage rises. Each year the numberand percentage of students in the sub-groups rises. Schools must also have ahigh attendance rate, a high percentageof students participating in the assess-ments, and have all of their teachershighly qualified for the subjects theyteach. There are four ways to make AYP.There are forty-two ways to fail.

All of our schools made AdequateYearly Progress. We are reaching morestudents than ever before. We know moreabout teaching and more about how stu-dents learn than ever before. We appre-ciate how much our local School Board,our parents, and our communities sup-port our efforts as we continue our climbtoward excellence.

Tiger Talk� Page 4News & Highlights of USD 340

is brought to you by Unified SchoolDistrict #340. If you have sugges-tions or questions, please contactthe central office staff at 601 Wyan-dotte, Meriden, KS or call (785)484-3444.The persons listed here will serveyou in any way they can.

Scott MyersSuperintendent

Mary Getto,Director of Curriculum & Instruction

Amy Adams-Mitchell,Board Clerk/Secretary

Marcia Ricklefs,Accounts/Treasurer

Dayna Heineken,Central Office Secretary/StudentData Collections

TigerTalk

1 2 3Football

Regionals

SAT Test

Football Sectionals Dist/State Band/Chorus Auditionsat Baldwin

MS WR Tourn. atSilver Lake8:15 am

MS Girls’ BKB atHolton 7A, 8A9 am

MS G BKB Perry8A, 7A 4 pm (H)

MS Girls’ Basketball Tournaments8B at Sabetha 4 pm7B at Effingham 4 pm

MS WR at Holton 4 pm

Winter Sports Parents’ Meeting7 pm

MS Girls’ BKB Tournaments8B at Sabetha 4 pm7B at Effingham 4 pm

Fall Sports Award Night 7 pm

Blood Drive 9 am to 5 pm

4 5 6 7 8 9 10ACT PLAN Test 8 am

Booster Club Meeting at ESLibrary 7 pm

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

MS WR at Hiawatha 4 pm

FCCLA Lock-in

Registration DeadlineDec. ACT

KSHSAA Buffer Week

Jostens Graduation Orders Noon

MS Girls’ BKB Holton 4 pm8A, 8B (H) 7A, 7B (T)

4th Grade Music Program7 pm at IS

FCCLA Cluster at Atlanta, GA

MS WR Tourn.at Rossville8:30 am

HS Scholar’s Bowlat Royal Valley9 am

MS Girls’ Basketball8A, 8B at Hiawatha 4 pm7A, 7B Hiawatha 4 pm (H)

FCCLA Mini Relay for Life6:30 to 8 pm

After Prom Meeting 7 pm

JWEA at ES 3:40 pm

MS WR at Jeff West 4 pm

MS Girls’ Basketball8A, 8B Sabetha 4 pm (H)7A, 7B at Sabetha 4 pm

MS WR at Perry 4:30 pm

MS Girls’ Basketballwith Royal Valley 4 pm8A, 8B at Jeff West7A, 7B at Mayetta

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

Football Sub-State1st Day HS Basketball/WrestlingPractice

Mid Quarter Progress ReportsSent Home This Week

BOE Meeting 7 pm

State Football

NO SCHOOL and NO KATS — Thanksgiving Break

FFA at Sabetha 9 am

MS Girls’ BKB at Rossville 4:30 pm7B/8B, 7A, 8A

MS WR at St. Marys 4:30 pm

THANKSGIVING DAY

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

HS WR at Perry 5:30 pm

FCCLA Clusterat Atlanta,GA

High School Commons Closed 4:30 to 9 pm High School Musical 7 pm

HS Musical2 pm

Skills USA Fruit Sales Begin

MS WR League SeedingMeeting at Jeff West 6:30 pm

ES Country Store

FR/JV/V Girls’/Boy’s BKB SilverLake 4:45/5/6/7:15 pm (H)After Prom Meal

WR JV Tournament at SantaFe Trail 4:30 pm

KSHSAABuffer Week