Secondary Principal ’ s Report March 10 th, 2014

Mission Statement The mission of the Pender Public School District is to provide quality educational opportunities in a safe, positive learning environment that motivates and challenges all students to become productive and responsible citizens.

Workshops/Meetings Attended Past Meetings/Trainings Feb 12 – Pender-Thurston Community Education Foundation Future Meetings/Trainings March 17 – Pender-Thurston Community Education Foundation April 2 – ESU #1 Special Education Directors Meeting

Student Assemblies *Pep Rally for wrestlers/flames *Pep Rally for the girls basketball team

Winter Activity Review Dragon Flames – Participated in the state dance competition Feb. 22nd – Very successful dance season Wrestling – Qualified 6 wrestlers for state – Benny Oliver, Jacob Sebade, Josh Davis, Chris Kai, Mark Dunn, and Devin Soll – State Champions: Jacob Sebade, Mark Dunn – State Runner-Up: Benny Oliver Boys Basketball – Ended the season at 1-23 – Record does not reflect their effort & improvement Girls Basketball – Ended the season at 28-3 – Qualified for state as a wildcard – Finished 3 rd in class C2 Spring sports have officially begun and I will report more on those next month.

NeSA Testing Nebraska State Accountability testing in full swing. Testing windows are as follows: NeSA – Writing Jan. 20-Feb. 7 - complete NeSA – ELDA Feb. 10- March 21 NeSA – Reading, Math, Science March 24-May 9 Teachers are preparing students now for success during the testing window.

ACT comes to PPS ~ Next ACT date in Pender is April 12 th ~ We are also giving the ACT with accommodations for those students who qualify on an individual basis. ~ Both of these opportunities are very helpful for our students.

County Spelling Bee Was be held in Pender again this year Tuesday, Feb :30 p.m. Students participating from Walthill, Winnebago, Pender Finalists were: – 1st Place - Danya Wolfe, Winnebago – 2nd Place - Madison Marr, Pender (7 th Grader) – 3rd Place - Kelcie Bartlett, Pender (7 th Grader), DeShaun Mitchell, Walthill -- Daelyn Zagurski, Winnebago -- Austin Roth, Pender Danya Wolfe of Winnebago will move on to the regional spelling bee in Omaha!

Parent-Teachers Conferences Attendance 7 th Grade – 11/27 8 th Grade – 11/25 9 th Grade - 9/21 10 th Grade – 13/28 11 th Grade – 7/22 12 th Grade – 21/36 Total Attendance 72/159 or 45% 2013 Spring Conference = 91/160 or 56%

You Are Invited… Mrs. VonSeggern asked that I extend a personal invitation to each of you to attend Pi Day Friday, March 14 th – all day Mrs. VonSeggern’s classroom Please stop up and sample some some pie!

G.O.O.S.E. G.O.O.S.E. stands for Get Out of School Early I cover 1 st or 8 th period for the receiving teacher/paraprofessional Can cover the period after lunch for coaches/sponsors who cannot come late or leave early Given as recognition for a job well done GOOSE recipient this month is Andy Welsh Andy is doing an great job with our business curriculum. He is always looking at how to improve. Did a really nice job with our boys basketball team. Congratulations Andy!!

Science Night Held Monday, March 3 rd Heese Event Center 5 th -10 th Grade Students Participated with projects Numerous other students were here just to be a part of it TONS of family fun! Kudos to Kari Athey and Jennifer Davis as well as the numerous other staff who helped our kids complete their projects.

FFA News Recently participated in District CDE (Career Development Events) – State Qualifiers Were: Meats Eval Team – Kody Wageman, Devin Soll, Kolton Lehmkuhl, Jase Sorenson Welding Team – Mark Dunn, Cheyenne Duenas, Josh Davis Ag Sales Team – Braden Peters, James Bensen, Haylie Roberts, Bryson Bovee Ag Science Team – Makrae Kelly, Hallie Ballinger, Cecilee Jacobsen, Kamryn Anderson Agronomy Team – Spencer Rutar, Tyler Gralheer, Mark Dunn, Chris Kai Envirothon Team – Josh Davis, Martina Juhlin, Shelby Anderson, Emily Essmann, Kolton Lehmkuhl Other FFA News: – 8 Students earning State FFA Degrees Shelby Anderson, Leigh Heese, Emily Essmann, Spencer Rutar, Mark Dunn, Drake Johnson, Chris Kai and Molly Burmester – 1 State FFA proficiency finalist : Shelby Anderson

Mentoring Continue to work on our Request for Program application. Letters of support have been secured. Working on additional fundraising opportunities. Have booked Dr. Tom Osborne for our fall kick-off. I will continue to update you as we move forward.

Backpack Program Continuing to work on formalizing this program. Did send food home with one of our families over the last long weekend O-C schools have continued to provide us with resource information for starting/formalizing this program. Hope to put some things in place this fall with sign-ups and referral forms.

Activities Survey Advisory groups participated in a survey regarding students activities and participation levels. Included questions about use of the weight room and what we as a district could do to entice participation in summer weight lifting. Got some great information from our kids. Will report more on that next month. One exciting thing to note was that 95% of our kids are participating in something.