Inside: Remember key events and milestones from the past year
The Weekender December 31, 2015 - January 2, 2016
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ISIL Amid change, 257 finds its groove top AP Superintendent: Switch to grade-level attendance centers beneficial for Iola story of 2015 By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
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ducators, parents and probably more than a few students entered the 201516 school year with some trepidation. For the first time in its history, USD 257 had done away with the traditional neighborhood school concept in favor of grade-level attendance centers. All of the district’s kindergartners and preschoolers were designated to attend McKinley Elementary School, regardless of where they lived. Firstand second-graders were sent to Jefferson Elementary. Third- and fourthgraders to Lincoln Elementary. The fifth-graders, meanwhile, were dispatched to the third floor of Iola Middle School, the most controversial measure. But while others worried and fretted, Jack Koehn remained optimistic. As superintendent of schools, he was confident that both students and teachers would adapt quickly to their new environs. So far, so good. “From my perspective — from what I’ve seen on my desk — it’s been nothing but positive,” Koehn said. “From the beginning, the move went faster and better than originally planned.” Koehn spoke this week during a wide-ranging conversation about a number of topics, including an ongoing push for career technical education programs, traffic safety and balancing the district’s budget.
Jack Koehn “I’m sure there are teachers who prefer the old way,” he said. “But there are just as many who have embraced having all of the grades together.” Early fears about moving fifth-graders to Iola Middle School’s third floor were quickly assuaged. In fact, the fifth- and sixth-grade classes assimilated quickly, and in so doing, freed up much-needed space at Iola’s three elementary schools. “Just look at the dynamics,” Koehn explained. “You didn’t have enough
rooms at the elementaries for all of the things you had to do, but you had extra space at the middle school because of overall student population trends. The third floor at the middle school, we really weren’t using a lot. “I told the board at the start, that the fifth- and sixth-grade move was going to be the biggest positive out of this whole thing,” he continued. “That age group is so unique. With Brad (Crusinbery, principal for grades 5 and 6) it’s gone very well.” Still, it’s not perfect, he admits. Each of the buildings still has myriad maintenance and traffic safety issues. Accessibility to second-floor classrooms remains problematic. Lincoln needs a new fire alarm system (price: $12,000), while keeping water from seeping in through cracks in the foundations of several buildings has become the stuff of legend. “We’re still fighting those things,” he said “We’ve been fighting them for decades.” Parking and traffic safety around each of the elementaries and IMS remain a problem. See SUPERINTENDENT | Page A6
Attendance centers
Koehn credits the teachers and support staff — custodians, paras, bus drivers, et al — for the successful conversion. “There were a lot of people who put in a lot of hours to make the move happen, teachers especially,” Koehn said. “It wouldn’t have gone as well as it did, had they not bought into the process. We got off to a good start from the beginning.” Consolidating specific grades in one building has created both educational and operational efficiencies, Koehn contends.
NEW YORK (AP) — The far-flung attacks claimed by Islamic State militants and the intensifying global effort to crush them added up to a grim, gripping yearlong saga that was voted the top news story of 2015, according to The Associated Press’ annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors. The No. 2 story was the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that led to legalization of same-sex marriage in all 50 states. But several of the other stories among the Top 10 reflected the impact of the Islamic State, while another group of major stories related to the series of mass shootings in the United States. Among the 100 voters casting ballots, first-place votes were spread among 17 different stories. The Islamic State entry received 37 first-place votes and samesex marriage 13. The No. 3 story — the deadly attacks in Paris in January and November — received 14 firstplace votes. A year ago, the top story in AP’s poll was the police killings of unarmed blacks in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere — and the investigations and protests that ensued. In this year’s poll, a similar entry, with more instances of blacks dying in encounters with police, placed fifth. The first AP top-stories poll was conducted in 1936, when editors chose the abdication of Britain’s King Edward VIII. Here are 2015’s top 10 stories, in order: 1: ISLAMIC STATE: A multinational coalition intensified ground and air attacks against Islamic See 2015 | Page A3
Proposed drug cost savings measures rankles lawmakers By JIM MCLEAN KHI News Service
A legislative oversight committee has approved a controversial set of draft recommendations aimed at reducing the cost of drugs provided to Kansas Medicaid recipients. The joint committee that oversees the state’s privatized Medicaid program known as KanCare this week tentatively approved recommendations that direct the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to develop policies aimed at slowing a steady increase in the $3 billion program’s pharmacy costs.
The most controversial of the recommendations calls for withholding expensive hepatitis C drugs from KanCare recipients who don’t follow treatment requirements, such as patients who fail to take all their pills or consume nonprescription drugs or alcohol during treatment. Sen. Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican, said Kansas taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for repeated treatments when patients knowingly engage in behaviors that undermine the effectiveness of their medications. “I know it is pretty strong language,” Denning said.
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 45
“But if we have patients that are abusing an $80,000 drug, then there have to be consequences.” Hepatitis C is a liver infection caused by a virus spread through the exchange of blood or other bodily fluids. The wholesale cost of a standard 12-week treatment for hepatitis C can range from $84,000 to $94,000 depending on the drug. Through the first four months of the fiscal year, KanCare has spent approximately $3.1 million on hepatitis C treatments, according KDHE documents. Democrats on the commitSee KANCARE | Page A3
Sen. Jim Denning, R-Overland Park
Live life the way that you want to live it every day. If you do that, you don’t need resolutions. — Tom Ford, American designer 75 Cents
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