Latest / Bearcat Chat - A Podcast about all things Scottsbluff Schools / Five Questions with Dr. D - Featuring Superintendent Dr. Andrew Dick

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Five Questions with Dr. D - Featuring Superintendent Dr. Andrew Dick · Bearcat Chat - A Podcast about all things Scottsbluff Schools

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Bearcat chat, a podcast for everything
• 0:04
  Scottsbluff School. Hi everybody.
• 0:12
  I'm Melissa price and welcome to the very first episode of the
• 0:15
  Scotsman schools Bearcat chat with me is my special guest dr.
• 0:19
  Andrew Biggs superintendent of schools, welcome, hello Melissa.
• 0:24
  And thank you for having me on the show today.
• 0:26
  How's it going today? I feel like this is a really
• 0:29
  exciting time in the school year.
• 0:30
  There's always so much going on this know, October is a very
• 0:34
  exciting time in our school system.
• 0:37
  Our fall sports are starting to wrap up their seasons and
• 0:41
  involved in Postseason play our Career and Technical student
• 0:44
  organizations at the high school are beginning participating in
• 0:47
  some of their many events and starting to prepare for some of
• 0:50
  their competitions throughout the district.
• 0:53
  Our teachers are preparing for parent-teacher conferences and
• 0:56
  we're also looking to wrap up. Our first quarter of the school
• 0:59
  and the school year, same time. We also have our marching band
• 1:03
  competition, preparing for the old west weekend, and just a lot
• 1:06
  of fun events for students to expand on their traditional
• 1:10
  classroom based. Yeah, I agree.
• 1:13
  I think this is kind of the time of year where we move out of the
• 1:16
  back to school feeling kind of into that we're still down and
• 1:19
  into learning and I think that those one-on-one conversations
• 1:23
  that take place during parent-teacher conferences or
• 1:25
  just so valuable for our, not only our families, but also for
• 1:29
  our staff members. So it's always just a really
• 1:32
  exciting time right now. So the reason that you're
• 1:35
  joining me today for the people out there who maybe don't know
• 1:39
  is because we're going to answer a few Questions that we put out
• 1:43
  there hence the name of the episode five questions with dr.
• 1:47
  So what we did is put a call out for questions, they use The
• 1:49
  Insider newsletter and our social media channel to let
• 1:53
  anyone student parents. Anyone who wanted to ask a
• 1:55
  question, ask a question, you're going to answer them right here
• 1:59
  today. Are you nervous?
• 2:01
  I am, you know, not knowing what those questions are at.
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  Certainly I'm going to have to think on my feet here and
• 2:07
  provide a response, but I'm looking forward to it.
• 2:09
  That's great. I you are going to get It was
• 2:12
  maybe a couple of purple but I thought before we start I
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  thought I should mention we're making some history today.
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  This is the first podcast we've ever had for the school district
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  and the plan is to just share a lot of the good things we have
• 2:25
  going on for the district but also provide an opportunity to
• 2:29
  dig into some of the deeper things in some of our programs
• 2:32
  and things that we have going on.
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  So people who maybe aren't in our schools every day and get a
• 2:38
  better idea of some of the things that we're doing in.
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  The future. I'm going to have a variety of
• 2:44
  guests, bo staff members and students.
• 2:46
  And you're always welcome to take part in these any time that
• 2:49
  you want. In fact, we've already have
• 2:52
  students involved in this episode.
• 2:53
  You may or may not know but the intro for this podcast has been
• 2:57
  created by mr. Rooney's Music Tech students at
• 3:00
  stuff, okay? They created a variety of
• 3:03
  different options. I got to choose from and from
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  what I heard, from mr. Rowe me, they really enjoyed the
• 3:07
  chance to kind of show off their creativity and get involved with
• 3:10
  this project. Ready for some questions.
• 3:13
  I am and I just think it's fantastic.
• 3:15
  That there are certainly a student created component of
• 3:18
  these paths. You know I've always considered
• 3:21
  it to be my privilege to be able to tell the story as got the
• 3:25
  public schools and the remarkable things that happened
• 3:27
  within our school buildings and outside of our school building,
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  okay? Well let me warn you before we
• 3:33
  get started with our first question that some of these
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  questions are about the school district but some of them are
• 3:38
  more specifically about you so let's get Started right.
• 3:43
  Okay. First question, what made you
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  decide to choose education as a career path?
• 3:49
  That's a great question. And you know, to be completely
• 3:52
  honest that was not the path that I started out.
• 3:56
  When I first attended the University of nebraska-lincoln I
• 3:59
  come from a family of Educators, and when I left Scottsville High
• 4:02
  School in 1998, I was going to be anything, but a teacher and
• 4:06
  educator. And so I started down the path
• 4:10
  of business administration. And I was fortunate to be able
• 4:14
  to graduate in three and a half years from the University of
• 4:16
  nebraska-lincoln and it was a walk.
• 4:18
  I took one day through the education.
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  College at University of nebraska-lincoln that really got
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  me started on this app, I saw a sign about a post Baccalaureate
• 4:27
  program and at that time in my life, I'm sure I was thinking.
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  Wow, Andrew, this is a way to extend your time in college,
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  another year and a half. And so I looked into the program
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  at a conversation with my parents and decided to pursue
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  that. My Outlook at that time, was
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  that if I was to attain this additional education completed,
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  it would really open another door for me.
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  And so I stayed at the University, another year and a
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  half, and got my teaching degree student, taught was coaching at
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  a middle school and high school and Lincoln and just absolutely
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  love everything about it. The opportunity to work with
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  kids. Help and have it really make a
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  difference. I knew early on that the
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  combination of my The Joy Ashton I found working with kids and
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  education combined. With my experience in Business
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  Administration that I would like to get into educational
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  leadership as early as possible. That's odd way to kind of meld
• 5:22
  to career path setup very much. Well, that's really a great
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  answer. I feel like no matter who you
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  ask in our school district, you know what made you get the
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  decide to become a teacher, become an administrator,
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  whatever. They always seem to have that
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  answer that at some point. It just occurred to them that
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  they really loved working with kids and I, you know, I think I
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  think we see that absolutely everywhere throughout our
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  district, with all of our staff, regardless of what the job it is
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  that they do. Are you three ready for another
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  question. This is a fun one.
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  Yes, bring it on. Number two.
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  All right. So second question is a fun one.
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  If Anna Kelly challenge you to around a golf who would win?
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  Oh, goodness gracious. I wouldn't stand a chance.
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  I think my daughter said to me the other day when we were at
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  the award ceremony Anna Kelly, shoddy 60.
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  Isn't that what some people shoot on 9?
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  Yes, Jaden. That is what some people shoot
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  on 9 and your dad may or may not have shot a 60 at one point.
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  I'm Ana's performance on Tuesday was absolutely remarkable.
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  And what a fun way, what an amazing way to wrap up or senior
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  career and have five straight birdies six out of seven on that
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  final round. So, congratulations to Anna and
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  the entire Bowl team on another very successful season, right?
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  So for those of you who may not be aware, or maybe you're not a
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  golfer and until he's a senior at shsu just recently won her.
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  Second class B State. I will involve.
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  And as if that wasn't, you know, amazing enough.
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  She also, So said, an all pass pecker shooting a 66 on what
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  wound up to be very windy day, which it, you know, we're very
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  lucky that we get to have the state tournament hosted out here
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  in our community. It was at Monument Shadows this
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  year and but we do have our wind, so it really was quite an
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  incredible. He's so, and our Bearcats is a
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  pool wound up runners-up, so, it was really great, great
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  opportunity for everyone and for people to get to watch it
• 7:24
  locally. Next question, this is going to
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  be a bunch more serious, but we're serious question.
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  Question number three. What is the biggest issue?
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  Currently facing education and what is Scottsbluff Public
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  Schools doing about it? You know, I'm going to give two
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  two answers to that. I think two biggest issues
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  facing it right now. First off, it's the learning
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  loss that was experienced throughout the pandemic and when
• 7:54
  I talk about learning loss, it is not just academic.
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  It's also social and emotional. And so, some of the things that
• 8:02
  Scott's with public schools are focusing on at it, all of our
• 8:06
  levels, we've increased our after school tutoring and
• 8:12
  intentionally targeted supports for students to help them.
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  Those that students may have fallen behind and get back on
• 8:19
  track. We continue to increase and
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  enhance our summer, school opportunity as well.
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  And then just day in day out, our teachers are continuing to
• 8:31
  look at assessment data and make decisions.
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  Within classrooms to ensure that kids are receiving the
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  appropriate. Supports that they need to
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  ensure that they're progressing through our educational system.
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  The second issue I would say, you don't have to look far to
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  find stories on. This is the teacher shortage,
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  and in really, extends Beyond teachers, as there's a challenge
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  of, finding all people, for all positions, throughout our school
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  district, some of the things discussed in public schools is
• 9:04
  doing to address. This is we have About the team
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  that is putting together. What we're calling a recruitment
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  and retention plan is really, it's too old.
• 9:16
  You have to be able to retain your existing all qualified
• 9:21
  health staff, but you also want to continue to attract potential
• 9:24
  employees to your district. And so we were recently awarded
• 9:28
  a hundred thousand dollar Grant educator shortage Grant.
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  We are one of four school districts in the state to
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  receive that Graham and some of the strategies included in that
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  included. It increasing our mentoring
• 9:40
  program, a student teacher incentive, we know that in
• 9:45
  individuals, interested in education are making decisions
• 9:47
  now and where they making teach based on those incentives.
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  They essentially work for free for a semester.
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  And so at our most recent board meeting the board approved a
• 9:58
  four thousand dollar stipend. For student teachers, we've also
• 10:03
  added an early. Retirement notification
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  incentive, we know that the sooner, we know, Individuals not
• 10:09
  going to be staying in the same position the following year.
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  It benefits us to be the first one at the table.
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  In terms of hiring, we continue to have an active president
• 10:19
  Presence at Job recruitment fairs.
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  We are also looking at our own grow, our own program and how we
• 10:27
  can expand that to potentially include some of our classified
• 10:30
  staff as well. And their fact coming up, we
• 10:33
  have a informational luncheon to make people aware of the
• 10:36
  opportunities that may May be considering teaching as a
• 10:40
  profession there so there's a couple other things that were
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  working on that we hope to be able to share more information
• 10:46
  about in the next month or two. That's really great and I think
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  as you think about though what those two big issues are in some
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  ways, they kind of go hand in hand because in order for us to
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  make headways in terms of some of that learning loss, we really
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  do need to be fully staffed and with the, you know, qualified
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  staff. But I think You're really longer
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  term sustainable ways of looking at how we can kind of grow our
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  own Workforce. And I think, that'll maybe
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  really serve as well as we, you know, continued ahead into the
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  future. I know with the learning loss
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  case, I think sometimes I tend to think of our youngest of
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  Learners. And, and the part that the
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  non-academic these that, unfortunately, you know, kids
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  who would have went into kindergarten, or were in
• 11:33
  kindergarten or first grade missed out on and it's just, you
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  know, no, I guess the good news of the Silver Lining with that
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  is that because they are our youngest Learners.
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  We have a lot of additional time to be able to focus on putting
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  some interventions in place to, you know, kind of help them
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  guide them through a more traditional in-person
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  experience. Yes.
• 11:58
  Very well. Very well said.
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  Yeah, that's some of the same anecdotal reports.
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  I perform our elementary teachers as well.
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  Okay, well, we will move on. We'll have it a little bit here
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  and we'll change the subject with another question.
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  How can I, as a parent or Community member support the
• 12:19
  work of the school? That that's a, that's a great
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  question, you know? We know it certainly takes a
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  village to raise a child for us to maximize our effectiveness at
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  the school district. It is Partnerships.
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  It is volunteers that allow us to do that.
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  And so Apparent or perspective, volunteer can certainly reach
• 12:40
  out to the building principal at whatever building that they may
• 12:43
  so desire to assist at what their particular interests is
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  potentially talking to one of our career academies and sharing
• 12:53
  experience from their own particular line of work, they
• 12:57
  can reach out to Justin Shattuck that successful high school to
• 13:00
  learn more about how they can support.
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  You may be a parent of an elementary aged child that I'd
• 13:06
  like to get involved with your school's PTO and teacher
• 13:11
  organization or maybe you just want to be that extra set of
• 13:14
  eyes and hands on a field trip or on a classroom Celebration
• 13:18
  Day. Halloween parties are coming up.
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  Certainly do not hesitate to get in contact with your building
• 13:24
  principal or the principal at the school that you're
• 13:27
  interested in getting involved. And so we certainly welcome the
• 13:31
  support and involvement of parents in our state bird.
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  And, you know, there's really there's another way that you
• 13:39
  didn't mention that I could ice back to our previous question
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  and what we talked about in terms of our staffing shortage
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  and if you're, if you're a parent or Community member and
• 13:51
  you've got your some time on your hands, one way that you can
• 13:54
  really help. Your school district is if
• 13:56
  you're interested, if you have a substitute teacher, oh, I'm so
• 13:59
  glad you brought that up. Melissa.
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  You know, when we talk about the shortage of Staff, this is Apple
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  near the top, and that is the depth of our substitute teacher
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  will. I tell people often that it's
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  got to be one of the best jobs because you can pick what days
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  you want to work, when you want to work at what level you want
• 14:20
  to work. And so you're somebody that has
• 14:23
  a minimum of 60 college credits and you're interested in working
• 14:27
  with kids and helping our school district.
• 14:30
  We would certainly, welcome your application to be a substitute
• 14:33
  teacher. And so if you have any questions
• 14:35
  on what it takes to, To be a substitute teacher, you can
• 14:37
  contact our district office here at 635 6200 and they will direct
• 14:43
  you to our HR coordinator, Darla schlager yeah.
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  There's also information on the district website that people can
• 14:49
  go through the get a little bit of a feel for what that looks
• 14:52
  like, specifically for substitutes.
• 14:54
  But yeah, you really great opportunity for someone who if
• 14:58
  you really enjoy and have the ability to have some
• 15:00
  flexibility. The other thing is, you know, if
• 15:03
  you're a big supporter of our activities, you know, we need In
• 15:06
  order for our coaches, to be able to go on those road trips.
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  And I think, you know, we may travel is much more than any
• 15:14
  other school district in the state.
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  So, you know, those those activities, you know, take take
• 15:20
  time out of our sometimes a teacher or school week.
• 15:22
  So, substitute for just so important to us.
• 15:26
  Yes. In order for us to be able to
• 15:28
  continue to provide the rich robust, offerings of extra care
• 15:33
  options for students. You know we certainly have
• 15:36
  Without Subs, which can then allow that sponsoring coaches to
• 15:39
  travel with their students. Okay.
• 15:42
  Well the last question is a fun one and the parent who submitted
• 15:46
  the question actually, put a little disclaimer on there that
• 15:49
  they wanted to make sure that you got to answer but of course
• 15:52
  I had to include this one and this is the question just kind
• 15:56
  of really specifically for you. The question is, is do you feel
• 16:00
  older or younger than your age and Y 0?
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  That is, that is a fun one. Um, you know, I'm 42 years old
• 16:08
  and not knowing what Or T3 or 45 or 47.
• 16:15
  Feels like I think I feel about my age, you know, I might try to
• 16:20
  take care of my body and, you know, and exercise that as my
• 16:25
  schedule allows and probably could do it more, as many of us
• 16:28
  can say, but I feel like I have great energy and I'm able to do
• 16:33
  everything. I need to within the demands of
• 16:36
  this position, as well as continue to be very involved
• 16:39
  with my family and spend time. Time with them and support my
• 16:43
  kids in their activity. So I think I feel about my well,
• 16:46
  I think it's, you know, and it's good and it's good to have a
• 16:49
  well balanced lifestyle that there, hopefully supports that.
• 16:54
  So there you have it, folks, your we did five questions here.
• 16:58
  Questions have been answered. So again, I'd like to thank dr.
• 17:01
  D for being the very first guest, on this podcast.
• 17:04
  I hope you have fun. This was fun, I certainly look
• 17:07
  forward to Future opportunities, to do this, right was so before,
• 17:11
  Wrap up. I'd like to take the opportunity
• 17:13
  to give a student a shout-out. So Progressive egg safety day is
• 17:17
  an event that was, that is held for elementary students at the
• 17:19
  Mitchell Fairgrounds and some of our FFA students recently
• 17:23
  attended that event is helpers. And we got a really nice email
• 17:27
  from a teacher from another school district about one of our
• 17:29
  students, that student is Olivia cruel, who's a sophomore at shs.
• 17:34
  So, I'm just going to read a little bit of this email, and
• 17:36
  here's what it said, said my group was led by a young lady
• 17:39
  named Olivia. The last name.
• 17:42
  I'm pretty sure she's a sophomore, which is why I
• 17:44
  decided to email you. She was so kind and helpful all
• 17:47
  day, but you did two things that specifically stood out.
• 17:50
  To me, I have a student with pretty severe learning
• 17:53
  disability and Olivia went out of her way to sit by the student
• 17:56
  and talk to her when she was having a hard time.
• 17:59
  Also our lunch break run a little bit long.
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  So my fifth graders were getting a little bit Restless.
• 18:03
  Olivia came out of her lunch, in the other room, early and
• 18:06
  initiated a game. Of Simon Says, with our kids and
• 18:09
  played with them for 15 to 20 minutes.
• 18:10
  I was Impressed by her. So, great job.
• 18:14
  Olivia. It sounds like you, you know,
• 18:16
  really made an impact on those younger students.
• 18:18
  Wow, that's amazing. And congratulations, Olivia.
• 18:23
  I'm receiving that certainly noteworthy recognition and
• 18:26
  thanks for what you do. Not only respectful high school
• 18:29
  but representing us so well and working with those kids and all,
• 18:33
  you know, we often don't hear the positive.
• 18:35
  So it's so welcoming to hear that.
• 18:38
  And wonderful to hear that yes. And with that, This is going to
• 18:41
  wrap up our first-ever, Bearcats have podcast.
• 18:44
  Future episodes are going to be available on the scaffold Public
• 18:47
  Schools website on Spotify, Apple music or wherever you get
• 18:51
  your podcast. Thanks for tuning in.
• 18:41
  This is going to wrap up our first-ever, Bearcats have
• 18:44
  podcast. Future episodes are going to be
• 18:46
  available on the scaffold Public Schools website on Spotify,
• 18:49
  Apple music or wherever you get your podcast.
• 18:52
  Thanks for tuning in.