Latest / Bearcat Chat - A Podcast about all things Scottsbluff Schools / 5 Things for Families to Know for the New School Year

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5 Things for Families to Know for the New School Year · Bearcat Chat - A Podcast about all things Scottsbluff Schools

• 0:00
  Welcome to the BearCat Chat, a podcast for everything Scotsloff
• 0:04
  School. Welcome everyone, to our first
• 0:16
  episode of season two of the BearCat Chat, the podcast for
• 0:21
  Everything Scotsloff Schools. I'm joined today by
• 0:24
  Superintendent Dr. Andrew Dick. Hello.
• 0:27
  Hello, Melissa. Thank you for having me on
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  today. Yeah, we closed off the end of
• 0:32
  our last season last spring and here we are again.
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  We're going to get this going again for the new school year.
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  Yeah, I'm sure many of our students are asking the same
• 0:40
  thing, but I'm kind of wondering where our summer went.
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  But we are looking forward to the start of another school
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  year. Yeah, really weird weather we
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  had this summer. I don't know.
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  Hopefully everyone kind of got to get their summer things in
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  that they wanted to do this year.
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  Yeah, I do feel like the uncharacteristically cool and
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  wet June we had compressed our summer more so than years past.
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  Either way, I think back to school time is in the air.
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  I think everyone, everyone's feeling it.
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  I, you know, I've been in stores and places and I've seen
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  families looks like they're doing back to school shopping it
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  it is the season. Yes, it most certainly is.
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  It's an exciting time for. Those that are associated with
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  the school and kind of one of the special unique things about
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  being involved in education is that fresh restart that we get.
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  And for some of our students and families, it'll be a fresh start
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  with Scottsville Public Schools. Yeah.
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  So for everyone who might be joining us for the very first
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  time, if you're new to our district, welcome.
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  We, you know, we can't wait to see you on the first day of
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  school, which, by the way, when is the first day of school?
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  All students will start Thursday, August 17th.
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  Oh, just over a week, I hope. I know I'm ready.
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  I hope everyone else is ready. You and I both.
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  Well, that's why we're here today.
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  That's kind of our topic is this time of year.
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  You know, we really work hard to try to get a lot of information
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  out so that families can kind of feel confident heading into the
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  school, new school year that they know what's going on.
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  And so we're here with five things for Scottsville families
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  to know for the new school year. So we're going to do a
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  countdown. I've never done a countdown on
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  here before, so this should be fun.
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  We'll just jump right in, shall we Start with?
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  Why don't you let us know what #5 is?
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  #5 New for this school year is a back to school guide that should
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  have hit all of our family's mailbox approximately a week
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  ago. A very professionally completed
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  multi page brochure with a lot of pertinent information
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  included. Families can get the answers to
• 2:52
  their questions and information on topics such as school meals,
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  bus transportation, our After School program, Chromebooks, and
• 3:00
  more. If you did not receive a copy of
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  the Back to School Guide, we do have copies available in all of
• 3:06
  our school offices. Or you can access it online at
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  our website at www.sbps.net. Yeah, this was something new
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  that we did this year. I put this together and I
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  really, I hope that it was a really convenient thing for
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  families just to have the opportunity to kind of have all
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  of the nuts and bolts of a new school year right in one place
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  at their fingertips. I don't know about you.
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  I've heard good things about it. People said, hey, I stuck it on
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  my fridge. So hopefully this will be, you
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  know, kind of an ongoing thing that we can continue to do just
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  to help everybody kind of feel like they know what's going.
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  Yes, I thought it was an outstanding idea.
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  And I think the comments I've heard are very similar to what
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  you've experienced. And I know my students and that
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  I in my own home were excited to get that information.
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  And just kind of a reminder, what was not too far along in
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  the not so distant future was that start of school on
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  Thursday, August 17th. Yeah.
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  If anything else, it might just kind of get people in the mode
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  and thinking about all this stuff that they they have to get
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  ready for the new year. I have time to move on to.
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  We'll talk about #4 five year strategic plan approved.
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  Yeah, another exciting new thing for Scottsville Public Schools
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  this coming school year at the June board meeting on the Board
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  of Education approved our five year strategic plan, which
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  includes 5 strategic priorities. The thing I'm probably most
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  proud and pleased about within the strategic plan was truly the
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  grassroots effort to gather input that.
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  Occurred during the discovery phase.
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  That process was facilitated by one of our own parents and a
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  local businesswoman, Jamie Weingart of JMW Consulting.
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  The five strategic priorities promote a sustained focus of
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  what it will take to continue to be a high achieving district.
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  And so I'm grateful for the input that was provided by
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  various members of our community, representing parents,
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  staff, individual board member conversations, students,
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  community members. And it was through that
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  discovery phase that we gathered a lot of input and we're able to
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  then come together late in April about a 16 member team and take
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  all that input to determine what those five strategic priorities
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  would be. Yeah, I this was really a
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  culmination of a whole lot of work over from a lot of people
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  over a lot of time. But I think what's really great
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  about this plan is, you know, like you mentioned, not only the
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  fact that we, you know, we included some voices in this
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  plan that we never had like students.
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  We conducted a student focus group and to be able to have our
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  students weigh in on where we should be headed over the next
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  five years, I I thought was really special.
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  But I think this plan, it has the things that are measurable,
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  it has things that are achievable, but also at the same
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  time, I think we'll really get us to some places where we
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  should be as a district. Yeah, I look at this plan is is
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  really it's our road map for the next five years.
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  You know, decisions that we make should be made in alignment with
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  our strategic plan and we need to be looking at it through that
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  lens. And so it'll be, it'll be fun to
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  look back in five years and say you know what, this is what we
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  had hoped to achieve, what were we able to achieve and and
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  celebrate those successes. But as we both know, the real
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  work begins now as we look to execute that five year strategic
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  plan and it's going to take all of us working together to
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  accomplish that. Yeah.
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  And so for families, if you haven't seen that plan, you know
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  it got approved during the summer.
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  So the timing was you know, a little different there.
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  If you haven't taken a look at that, it's the full entire plan
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  is available on our website at svps.net under that about
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  section. You'll find that strategic plan
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  there and you can go through and read the the whole plan and its
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  entirety and I'd really encourage people, you know, do
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  that so that you can see, you know, what's important to us as
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  as a school district. Shall we move on to number?
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  3 #3 is Lincoln Heights receives A modernization through our
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  ongoing elementary modernization project.
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  The prior 2 summers have seen the Roosevelt and Longfellow
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  communities, elementary buildings receive a
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  modernization and this summer it was Lincoln Heights.
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  That does not mean that Longfellow and Roosevelt.
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  Were not did not receive any updates this summer as they did
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  themselves. Both schools received restroom
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  remodels that were completed recently at Roosevelt and
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  Longfellow. The the focus this summer at
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  Lincoln Heights was very similar to that at Longfellow and
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  Roosevelt. Receiving new paint, new carpet,
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  classroom storage, all new furniture A.
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  More secure, safe front entrance at Lincoln Heights and then
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  upgrades to the common areas such as paint and tile in the
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  stairwells, new carpet in the hallways And very similar to
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  Longfell and Roosevelt, we are anxious to see students
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  reactions when they first see their school.
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  That's going to look a lot different than the way they
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  remember it in May. Yeah, we've had, I know you and
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  I have both been with the district a long time.
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  So we've had a lot of those back to school moments and those
• 8:42
  first days of school. But I think over these past few
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  years, some of the most exciting back to school moments I've seen
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  is seeing those elementary students walk into that
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  modernized building for that first time and just seeing the
• 8:55
  looks on their faces and just how proud they are of how their
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  school environment looks. Yeah truly the the modernization
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  creates such a more welcoming learning environment for our
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  students and staff. And so it's it's pretty
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  priceless to see the reactions and smiles on students, families
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  and Staffs face when they see the building for the first time
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  after the modernization project is complete.
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  You know these this project would not be possible if it was
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  not for the fiscal responsibility of our Board of
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  Education district leadership the highly.
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  Content, skilled technology, safety and facilities teams that
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  we have on board here at Scottsville Public Schools as we
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  are able to complete a significant amount of the work
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  in house. Yeah, and we talked about that
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  in our episode last spring with Mr. Binky as we were heading
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  into this project. But yeah, that's just a great
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  reminder. You know, if you, if you see any
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  of those folks out in the community, you know, be sure to
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  give them a thank you. Because it was amazing the
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  amount of work that our own staff have been able to achieve
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  while still preparing the whole rest of the district to get
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  ready for back to school. And now on to #2.
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  We have a new food service provider Sodexo is going to be
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  partnering with us this year, our new food service provider.
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  Last spring, we had a bidding process to select our food
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  service management company. And as a result of that a number
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  of staff members throughout the district went and visited some
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  schools and you know ate some meals and talked to students and
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  and staff members and other districts.
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  And and as part of that bidding process on Sodexo is who we
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  wound up awarding our bid to. So I think this will be in some
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  ways things will change and in some things won't change like
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  the amount of different options that you have at the high
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  school, the middle school and the two choices at the
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  elementary school. Those things will will stay the
• 11:00
  same and you can still pay for your meals online through the
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  infinite campus parent portal. But we're hoping to see, you
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  know maybe some new things as well some new meals that are
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  going to be bringing to us. Also, they have an app so
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  families if you if you would like to use your mobile device
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  as your main function to get that menu and nutrition
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  information, you should download Cidex are So Happy app and and
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  just a week here right around the time school starts.
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  You'll be able to find Scott's bluff in there and you'll be
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  able to get all of our menus regardless of your building as
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  well as that nutrition information.
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  So that's available in the App Store, the Google Play Store,
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  and also as an Alexis skill. Yeah.
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  We're looking forward to partnering with Sodexo as our
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  new food service provider and seeing what great things they
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  can do for this very essential part of the day for our students
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  as our food service management company, all indications from
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  initial meetings and correspondence and.
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  Other schools we've talked to, it's been a very favorable
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  relationship for the district and we would expect much of the
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  same here as customer public schools.
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  Yeah, I would agree these last week or so here, they've been
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  really busy here in our buildings putting up new
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  signage, training staff, working on all sorts of things.
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  So I think it'll be really exciting to see what they can do
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  for us. And then last but not least, you
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  want to give us that number one. Number one thing that we want to
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  make our families aware about aware of for the 2324 school
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  year, they are the new elementary playgrounds at
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  Lincoln Heights, Westmore and Lake Minitaire.
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  As many of you know, Longfellow and Roosevelt received their new
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  playgrounds in the summer of 2022, and so we were able to
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  complete that project here in summer of 2023 at Lincoln
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  Heights, Westmore and Lake Minitaire.
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  Another one of those things, it was an absolute joy to see and
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  that was the the reactions and the responses from students as
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  they saw the new playground equipment at Longfell and
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  Roosevelt. And we look forward to seeing
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  those same reactions at Lincoln Heights, Westmore and Lake
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  Minitaire. I'd like to provide a special
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  thank you to the Scottsville Public Schools Foundation and
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  the sponsors for helping to make this project possible.
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  Yeah. And those sponsors include
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  Platte Valley Bank, Oregon Trail Community Foundation and the
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  Flea Spa Family Foundation along with a whole lot of other
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  individual community members and students.
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  So we had the place wrong fun run that took place this spring.
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  So for all of the kids who went out and, you know, raised a
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  little money and, you know, had a good time running at that
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  event, this is the culmination of that.
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  And they get to see those brand new playgrounds at every
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  elementary. I think, you know, one of the
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  coolest things about those playgrounds is how
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  individualized they are to each school.
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  They are the same, I think the same manufacturer, but every
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  school kind of adapted their own playground to kind of meet, you
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  know, meet the needs and and the likes and the wants of their own
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  individual school. Yeah, each school had their own.
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  Autonomy in in making those decisions as they could consider
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  the size of their playground, existing equipment areas that
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  they thought they could enhance their their playgrounds for
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  their students And so each one it is uniquely different and the
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  new playground at Westmore has some increased accessibility for
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  students with disabilities and so we're we're looking forward
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  to providing that opportunity at the Westmore community.
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  That's fabulous. I really think that every single
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  elementary student is going to really enjoy taking advantage of
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  these when they come back for our first day and throughout the
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  rest of the school year. So there are five things I hope
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  all of our students and families are all ready to come back and
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  join us for the new year. If you're looking for any
• 15:07
  information as far as those orientations or even our new
• 15:11
  handbooks are already published, all of that information is
• 15:14
  available out there on our district website at svps.net.
• 15:19
  Our schools are staffed right now, so if you need help with
• 15:22
  anything, go ahead and give your local school a call.
• 15:26
  We're we're here to help any families out with anything they
• 15:29
  need right now. Yeah.
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  We encourage that collaboration as we know that's what's going
• 15:34
  to create the best learning situation for our students.
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  And so we're here to answer any questions you have and to serve
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  you and to meet the needs that you have as families.
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  And so we look forward to another great year highlighted
• 15:48
  by many achievements and successes of our students.
• 15:52
  All right. Well, thank you so much for
• 15:54
  kicking off another season of this podcast and getting ready.
• 15:59
  Even though it's a super busy time for us right now, I'm glad
• 16:03
  you're on the show. Yes, Thank you for having me
• 16:05
  again. It's certainly my honor to be
• 16:08
  the guest on episode one of season 2, all right?
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  And I have planned to have a whole lot of different kind of
• 16:15
  fun activities and student guests on this year for everyone
• 16:18
  to hear. So thank you and we will see you
• 16:21
  next episode.