Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Becky Haas talks about screenings at Sterling schools

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Talk Line: Becky Haas talks about screenings at Sterling schools · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
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  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty WIXN.
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  Speaker 1: It's eight fifteen on your Friday the thirteenth morning, and
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  Speaker 1: you know what that means. It's time for talk line
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  Speaker 1: and I'm joined in the booth today by our good
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  Speaker 1: friends from Sterling Public Schools. Becky has, director of Student Services,
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  Speaker 1: is here to share the latest. Becky, how are you
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  Speaker 1: and good?
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  Speaker 2: How are you?
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  Speaker 1: Very well? This is the first time I've had you
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  Speaker 1: on the show since I've been here. Did you ever
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  Speaker 1: come on during when Steve was on?
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  Speaker 2: I did not. This is my first time as well.
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  Speaker 1: Well, welcome you know, Friday the thirteenth for your first time.
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  Speaker 2: Hope you're not superstitious, not really, but we did have
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  Speaker 2: a building without power this morning, so they're working through that,
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  Speaker 2: so you just never know.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, we can blame it on the storm in not omens.
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  Speaker 2: Definitely the wind.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, Becky, tell us a little bit about your your
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  Speaker 1: position as director of Student Services and what what does
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  Speaker 1: student services offer our students.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, so, I've been in Sterling Public Schools twenty two
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  Speaker 2: years now. This is my thirteenth year as director of
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  Speaker 2: Student Services. I oversee special education, preschool, residency, enrollment, discipline.
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  Speaker 2: So it's just kind of all encompassing of how we
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  Speaker 2: can support students, kind of behind the scenes a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: That's no, that's absolutely great, and that is really perfect
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  Speaker 1: for what you wanted to share today, because you've got
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  Speaker 1: some screenings that you wanted to share.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, this time of year, we start promoting our preschool screenings.
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  Speaker 2: Within the last two years, we really expanded our preschool program.
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  Speaker 2: So we have a preschool building at Jefferson Elementary and
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  Speaker 2: one at Franklin Elementary. We have four classrooms for AM
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  Speaker 2: session and PM session. So this time of year we
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  Speaker 2: start screening so we can get those classes full filled
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  Speaker 2: up for the fall. So we have those screenings March
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  Speaker 2: thirty first, May fifth, and June ninth, and you can
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  Speaker 2: simply call district office and ask for Julia Penny, who
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  Speaker 2: is the coordinator to get those scheduled, or we have
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  Speaker 2: a link on our website. This time of year, we
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  Speaker 2: also start reaching out to families about kindergarten. What's important
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  Speaker 2: about kindergarten is that if your child is five before
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  Speaker 2: September first, they're kindergarten eligible. They don't have to come
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  Speaker 2: to kindergarten, but they're no longer eligible to be in
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  Speaker 2: our preschool program, which is stay funded, and they have
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  Speaker 2: regulations on ages. So we start screening for preschool, and
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  Speaker 2: what that entails is area excuse me, we start screening
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  Speaker 2: for kindergarten, and what that entails is at area preschools.
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  Speaker 2: Our staff goes out and screens those kiddos for basic
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  Speaker 2: foundational knowledge, letter knowledge, number knowledge, writing their name, counting,
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  Speaker 2: social emotional skills, just some basic foundational knowledge to help.
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  Speaker 2: I would say the principles prepare to make their class lists.
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  Speaker 2: And then if you don't have a child that attends
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  Speaker 2: one of our area preschools in Strelin, you can schedule
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  Speaker 2: us screening at Jefferson Elementary or Franklin Elementary. So we
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  Speaker 2: start promoting those on our Facebook page, and we're just
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  Speaker 2: really trying to get the word out to get those
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  Speaker 2: kids in because every year we have kiddos show up
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  Speaker 2: in kindergarten that didn't attend our screening or didn't come
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  Speaker 2: to a preschool. So we just try to catch those
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  Speaker 2: kids a little sooner than later so we can prepare
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  Speaker 2: for them because a lot of them have needs that
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  Speaker 2: are unique, or it's their first exposure to typically developing
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  Speaker 2: peers or a school and it's just a big adjustment.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean each kid's different. You want to
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  Speaker 1: do your best, and with so many kids, I mean
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  Speaker 1: that's why these screenings are so important. You're setting those
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  Speaker 1: baselines so that you folks over at Sterling Public Schools
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  Speaker 1: know how best to help them.
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  Speaker 2: Right, absolutely, and this is for any school district. All
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  Speaker 2: school districts are screening this time of year. I know
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  Speaker 2: a lot of the staff at Washington Elementary and Dixon
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  Speaker 2: so they've already advertised their screenings coming up to So
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  Speaker 2: this isn't really just about Stralian public schools. I want
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  Speaker 2: to get the word out there for all the listeners
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  Speaker 2: in all the area. If you have a child that's
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  Speaker 2: going to be turning three or four, you know, check
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  Speaker 2: out preschool screens. If they're going to be turning five,
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  Speaker 2: look into kindergarten. We really want to make sure the earlier,
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  Speaker 2: the better earlier intervention, you know, getting those kids, because kindergarten,
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  Speaker 2: first grade, second grade is very different nowadays. It can
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  Speaker 2: be very hard and a big adjustment, so we want
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  Speaker 2: to make sure we're screening kiddos and make sure that
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  Speaker 2: they have the supports in place when they start school. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's it's been leaps and bounds in the school system.
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  Speaker 1: So I remember we had the keyboard typing class where
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  Speaker 1: at Rock Falls where they just had this cardboard like
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  Speaker 1: like a little guide over over so you could look
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  Speaker 1: at your fingers and you did that and had like
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  Speaker 1: the sims in the Oregon Trail in the free the
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  Speaker 1: Organ Trail.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I remember.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, So yeah, Now our kids are learning so much more.
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  Speaker 1: You guys are integrating technology in a way that just
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  Speaker 1: blows mind.
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  Speaker 2: We are one to one. Every student has their own device.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and some of the big monitor screens in some
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  Speaker 1: of the classrooms that are interactive that the kids. It's
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  Speaker 1: amazing what you guys are doing. So again that's just
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  Speaker 1: a preface, and like you said, not just at Sterling schools.
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  Speaker 1: This is just the best way to give you your
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  Speaker 1: child the best start coming right out of the gates. Absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: So anything else you want to share this morning back here.
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  Speaker 2: Sure in the area. We also do what's called they're
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  Speaker 2: free birth of three screen developmental screenings. You can call
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  Speaker 2: a regional office of Education if you have a child
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  Speaker 2: birth through three just for a general screening because they
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  Speaker 2: can really help link you with support services as well
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  Speaker 2: if your child needs some support with any area of development.
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  Speaker 2: And that's the Regional Office of Education and their phone
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  Speaker 2: number is eight one five six two five one four
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  Speaker 2: nine five you can ask for LOIS And they're actually
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  Speaker 2: located just a black past McDonald's Sterling on the right
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  Speaker 2: hand side. They're by the Goodwill so they have a
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  Speaker 2: very i would say centrally located office and they have
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  Speaker 2: a lot of support there as well for families.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, those are again really important. I've all, most
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  Speaker 1: my kids are are grown now, but you know, a
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  Speaker 1: couple of my my youngest son, you know, had some
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  Speaker 1: uh kind of you know, small delay with like speech,
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  Speaker 1: and these were the screenings that caught that and then
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  Speaker 1: they so important. Yeah, they suggest there's people in the
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  Speaker 1: area to work with, so it's not like you're going
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  Speaker 1: to have to go out out of Chicago or some
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  Speaker 1: Then he got the help. It you know, it didn't
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  Speaker 1: last long, especially with that help, who knows how long
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  Speaker 1: it would have stuck around, and he was able to
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  Speaker 1: kind of just be on level with everybody from there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we now have nine full time speech language pathologists
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  Speaker 2: Australian schools. When I started this position we had five
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  Speaker 2: so the.
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  Speaker 1: Needs and it was when my son was crazy, so in.
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  Speaker 2: The needs and communication have definitely grown, you know. And
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  Speaker 2: one of our speech pathologists she also speaks Spanish, so
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  Speaker 2: she can support families that are native language is Spanish.
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  Speaker 2: That's awesome, but it's important for families to know, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we want to make sure that you are aware of
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  Speaker 2: how we can support your child starting at the age
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  Speaker 2: of three, and even though school starts at age three
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  Speaker 2: for preschool, if you're not sure age one or two,
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  Speaker 2: you know, call those agencies and reach out because there's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of support services. There's earlier intervention, there's parents
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  Speaker 2: as teachers, and then there's just developmental screen at the
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  Speaker 2: regional office and physicians and the health department too. They're
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  Speaker 2: aware of these things so they can link link families too.
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  Speaker 2: So I know it's hard sometimes for first time parents
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  Speaker 2: or sometimes parents say well, I can understand them, but
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  Speaker 2: the hard part is when they start school, if nobody
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  Speaker 2: else can understand them, then we have to intervene. So
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  Speaker 2: it's just important to you know, kind of get a
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  Speaker 2: little more educated about what's appropriate for your child's development,
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  Speaker 2: and then to reach out and get support if you
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  Speaker 2: need it.
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  Speaker 1: Reach out, sign up. If people have questions about anything
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  Speaker 1: you know that you've shared here today, what's the best
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  Speaker 1: way to do that online? Make a call.
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  Speaker 2: We have a lot of resources on our website, but
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  Speaker 2: they can always call a district office eight one five
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  Speaker 2: six to six five zero five zero. They can ask
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  Speaker 2: for my coordinator Julie or my assistant Amber and they
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  Speaker 2: can help them. They can get them signed up. And
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  Speaker 2: if they have more questions about maybe they might need us,
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  Speaker 2: I would say specialized service that they're asking about, they
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  Speaker 2: can always ask for mining.
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  Speaker 1: To Okay, there you go, folks, give it a call,
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  Speaker 1: go online, get or done. Anything else you want to
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  Speaker 1: share this morning, Becky.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think so. I just wanted to kind of
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  Speaker 2: put out there that we're doing screenings and to get
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  Speaker 2: your kiddos signed up. Before you know it, August will
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  Speaker 2: be here. So well.
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  Speaker 1: I thank you very much for coming and sharing this
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  Speaker 1: information and all the great work that you're doing over
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  Speaker 1: at Sterling Public Schools. Absolutely had a blast covering Sterling
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  Speaker 1: as my time as a reporter and getting to see,
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  Speaker 1: you know, all the things that you guys did, not
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  Speaker 1: just in facilities and the awesome way that you're always
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  Speaker 1: on top of the budget, but the innovations again that
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  Speaker 1: went in the classroom that I got to see firsthand,
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  Speaker 1: which it was really cool for me as a parent
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  Speaker 1: who have come from this area and to have gotten
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  Speaker 1: to see the way education like just exploded in the schools.
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  Speaker 1: And it was one of those things that I thought
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  Speaker 1: didn't get talked about enough. So whenever I'd got a
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  Speaker 1: chance an that homage table, it was like this three
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  Speaker 1: D share for all those things that you all have
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  Speaker 1: over there. They were just really cool stories to tell,
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  Speaker 1: and I had to tell parents. I'm like, if you
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  Speaker 1: don't know what's available for your kid there, you need
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  Speaker 1: to have a conversation because my kids wouldn't always come
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  Speaker 1: home and talk about it, you know, or like the
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  Speaker 1: career center, and I'm like, you could be doing so
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  Speaker 1: much like you need you need to go do this.
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  Speaker 1: So I love telling parents about it. Thank you for
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  Speaker 1: what you guys do, absolutely and I look forward to
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  Speaker 1: having you and anyone else back to give us more
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  Speaker 1: updates on what's happening in our Sterling schools.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, thank you so much, thank you, Happy Friday Yes,