Media Coverage Booklet 2024 by Toepka Public Schools

OUR FIVE PILLARS

Our Five Pillars support and guide our instructional vision for every student to be college and career ready when they complete high school. For each pillar, we have articulated professional outcomes that guide what we will accomplish to ensure students and staff are engaged, prepared and inspired!

COLLEGE AND CAREER PLACEMENT

Implement career pathways and prepare students for career and college placement opportunities.

Outcomes:

• Build an Innovative Project Based Career Academy (Topeka Center for Advanced Learning Careers)

• Offer 2 years of college courses in high school

• Implement career placement and internship programs

HIGHLY EFFECTIVE STAFF

Recruit, attract, develop and retain highly effective staff to carry out the district’s mission.

Outcomes:

• Implement innovative recruitment techniques (virtual hiring fairs)

• Implement a Teacher Academy training institute

• Integrate teaching and learning and professional development programs in Human Resources

• Implement a tuition based Preschool service for Teachers’ children

SCHOOL CLIMATE AND EQUITY

Create a safe and caring learning environment that includes a positive inclusive school culture and positive collaboration and communication throughout the school and community.

Outcomes:

• Student well-being: Implement school based clinics for dental services and health services for students

• Reduce poverty in Topeka by expanding supports for job placement, mental health and homelessness

• Implement a Parent Empowerment center to increase parent engagement

• Expand equity training for students, parents and staff (includes tiered interventions, trauma training and diversity and inclusion training.

• Expand student services support systems and implement an alternative school that serves general education students.

STUDENT LEARNING

All students will demonstrate academic growth and will have equitable access to academic opportunities.

Outcomes:

• State-level assessments: Meet or exceed state benchmark standards

• Subgroup achievement: Implement system for data utilization, interventions, data driven instruction

• ACT composite scores: Implement ACT tutoring and testing during the school day to expand participation

• Kindergarten readiness: Open a new early childhood center in 2018-19

DISTRICT FINANCE

Ensure efficient operations and accountability for responsible use of district resources.

Outcomes:

• Facilities plan: Construct a staff development center, an early childhood center and a career academy as services for students and families across the community.

• Balanced budget: Maintain a balanced budget and secure corporate sponsors and grants

‘The blessing is all mine’: USD 501 leader buys rent-free houses for teachers

By Stacey Saldanha-Olson Topeka Capital-Journal

Maria Lani Bagunas landed in the United States with six boxes and four pieces of luggage.

Her husband was back in Bahrain, where he was recovering from a stroke.

Lani Bagunas, who is from the Philippines, had taken a teaching job with Topeka USD 501. She didn’t know what to expect after her long journey.

What she found in Topeka was free room and board, thanks to her new boss, superintendent Tiffany Anderson.

“I’m really grateful for the support that I’m having right now,” Lani Bagunas said. “With a warm welcome and great support, I’m really thankful for that. I did not expect any.”

Anderson has purchased several houses in Topeka over the past seven years.

The houses have been used to help teachers needing transitional spaces to get back on their feet. More recently, Anderson has used the homes for Filipino teachers as they immigrate to the United States.

“It’s important to provide wraparound services to the whole family in ways that you can,” she said, “and if you don’t do that, you know who will.”

Anderson invests her own salary back into Topeka Public Schools

Anderson said she has invested about 20% of her salary into buying houses to use as transitional places for educators.

“This allows my salary to be recycled right back in the community,” she said.

Anderson said she wants to personally ensure the well-being of her staff.

“It makes a big difference psychological and mentally,” Lani Bagunas said. “I can only speak for myself. I really felt like I was welcome and I was secure. The security was that I will not be alone here in Topeka.

“So somebody will be with me, you know, the support system will be OK. It will be great.”

One house is used for staff members from the Philippines who are already here. They don’t pay rent but will eventually cover utilities.

Another property was previously used for a Ukrainian family and district staff or their families in need. A special education agency is renting the home for five years to support special needs young adults in need of affordable housing.

A third property is rented to a USD 501 parent for affordable housing as they save for home ownership.

The most recent property purchased is for additional faculty from the Philippines who will move to Topeka in mid-August. About 40 Filipino teachers are expected to join USD 501 this fall, said Pilar Mejía, direction of cultural innovation.

Topeka superintendent seeks housing savings for teachers

With the cost of living rising, Anderson said she has convinced multiple apartment complex providers into giving reduces rent rates for educators. According to Anderson:

• The Chalet offers an 8% discount for teachers.

• Raintree Apartments waives the application fee and gives a 10% discount on monthly rent.

• Kansan Towers offers reduced rent prices depending on the floor layout.

• Wheatfield Apartments waives the application and administrative fee, along with offering a $250 rent credit.

Anderson said she would like to find a way to provide ride-sharing services through the district for international teachers who don’t have driver’s licenses or vehicles.

Her efforts have resonated with international teachers.

“I am so thankful to the district and to the community that we have here, because my family and I fell in love with what we have here,” said Roy Tiongson, who is from the Philippines and taught in Qatar before coming to Topeka. “I want to make sure that I thank Dr. Anderson for all the deeds that she’s been doing for us, not only for the Filipino community, but also for the teachers in the district.

“This is the first time that I experienced a

superintendent that will take care of the teachers to be honest.”

Anderson also said she is in the early stages of seeing whether district’s school board would approve purchasing properties that can be used as transitional homes for international teachers and U.S. teachers in need of assistance.

“Places in rural areas — the school districts buy houses,” she said. “So, I’m buying houses and I have many of them. That’s not sustainable for me to keep buying houses. I have a number of mortgages now.”

The struggles that come with being an international educator

Within Topeka Public Schools, 27 countries and 39 languages are represented, according to the director of cultural innovation Pilar Mejía. As of this school year, Filipino educators will be the largest of any other nationality.

Out of all these countries represented, there are approximately 80 international teachers and 55 of them are new this year.

“The powerful thing is the families that come to 501 because they’re staff, but they’re also parents,” Anderson said. “So, it’s really diversifying our student population in addition to helping diversify our international staff.”

Anderson saw a need to support the international

You can read the full article at: https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/education/2024/08/11/topeka-superintendent-fulfills-housing-need-for-international-teachers/74633385007/

Topeka Public Schools USD 501 superintendent Tiffany Anderson walks out earlier this month after inspecting work being done on her latest house purchase. Anderson has purchased multiple houses around town to help accommodate teachers in Topeka [Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal]

How Topeka schools used wraparound services to put a student’s father to work

By Stacey Saldanha-Olson Topeka Capital-Journal

“I just admire the sacrifices that he made and the strengths that he has,” Pomeroy said. “John is an incredibly hard worker, and he was a hard worker before COVID and it’s just hard. It’s not because he didn’t want to work, he couldn’t work.”

While Garcia and his son Brody are housed and in a much better spot than they were before, they are still looking for ways to move forward, such as getting a car so they don’t have to ride the bus anymore.

What can Topeka USD 501 do students and families that are homeless?

Across schools in USD 501, teachers and staff keeps an eye out for signs of abuse, the need for an Individualized Education Program and homelessness.

How a child is determined to be homeless varies.

Jardine Elementary social worker Tauna Cornell said sometimes it’s as simple as a parent indicating they aren’t sure where they’ll sleep that night or that they are staying in multiple places throughout the week.

Other times it’s the children telling their teachers or counselors about their worries and fears. Cornell said it usually is a fears of having to go to a different school without their friends or worries about not having enough food.

“When I meet with kids, I talk about, like, let that be a parent worry or a mom worry or let’s just get you some lunch,” Cornell said. “And let’s just try to leave that today and focus on what we need to do at school. And understand that your parent will do the best they can for you.”

Once that identification is made, there are avenues the school and family can take depending on their needs. Sometimes it’s putting them in touch with Impact Avenues, a Topeka-based resource and casework hub for those who need various services.

Other times, it’s addressing other underlying issues that contribute to homelessness like food insecurity.

McKinney-Vento homeless coordinator Regina Franklin handles the needs in a big picture way, including applying for such grants as the one from the Kansas Department of Education.

She also helps coordinate such shared responsibilities as student transportation with other districts in Shawnee County.

In the grant Franklin applied for, she outlined the services the district gives to aid homeless students, including the partnership with Impact Avenues, food and clothing drives, and a partnership with the Boys and Girls club to offer after-school tutoring and child care.

How a partnership with USD 501 and Impact Avenues helped the Garcias Garcia said staying at TRM Ministries was difficult because of the rules and restrictions.

One example is when Garcia had COVID. He and

Brody were confined to their room because Brody wasn’t allowed to leave the room without his dad, even to go to school.

“So having to stay at the mission, going over there at the family side was definitely a challenge,” Garcia said. “If it was just me, I wouldn’t have done it. But obviously with him, I had to make those steps and knowing I was gonna get a lot of heat from a lot of people because they’re gonna look at that as, ‘What’d you do?’”

But every day, he would get up early, get ready with his son and they would take the bus 6.4 miles to Jardine. Garcia would then ride the bus back to the mission. Picking Brody up after school required the same routine.

Garcia said part of what kept him motivated to stick with the process was knowing there is a light at the end of the tunnel — and that he was doing it for his son.

Cornell and Jardine Elementary principal Angela Pomeroy helped get Garcia in touch with Impact Avenues.

“Being homeless can be very overwhelming,” Pomeroy said. “There’s a lot of services and places out there. Then Impact Avenues kind of serves as a hub for all those resources their parents are assigned if they join that program.”

Impact Avenues helps families get into housing, along with addressing other needs. To qualify for the housing program, participants have to be within

Shawnee County and have a child enrolled in one of the county’s school districts.

While going through the program, participants are required to complete an intake meeting, finish four hours of housing focus courses, do 12 months of case management and attend a Full Impact Day, senior program administrator Skyler Blakley said.

Opportunity for father occurred at son’s middle school

While working with Impact Avenues to go through its program and secure housing, Jardine was in need of custodians.

“I was desperate for custodial help and para help and we didn’t have enough,” said Pomeroy, who when reached out to Cornell, the school’s social worker. “I called Tauna, and I said, ‘Do you think he would want to work here?’”

Garcia began doing custodial work about a year and a half ago. Working at Jardine gives Garcia the opportunity to come work at the same place his son is headed and not worry about child care after Brody gets out of class.

While Garcia and his son Brody are housed and in

You can read the full article at: https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/local/2024/08/28/topeka-schools-helpedstudents-father-get-back-on-his-feet-with-job/74893305007/

John Garcia helps his son, 12-year-old Brody, hand off his damp umbrella after reaching his locker Aug. 13 at Jardine Middle School. [Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal]

Boots on the ground: Topeka superintendent meets families where they are

For Tiffany Anderson, engaging with the community in authentic, unstructured ways is essential to understanding and addressing learning barriers.

By Roger Riddell

When Tiffany Anderson became the first Black woman superintendent of the 13,000-student, 32-school Topeka Public Schools in Kansas in 2016, her reputation for challenging the status quo preceded her.

Her nearly 30-year career in public education had already included stints leading Virginia’s Montgomery County School District and Missouri’s Jennings School District — receiving national recognition for leading both districts to full accreditation.

In Topeka — the school district famously at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 ban on school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education — Anderson has continued to drive results. The district’s five high schools boast graduation rates at 90% or above, up from 60% to 78% when Anderson arrived. She has overseen an expansion of universal preschool and the launch of a district day care program for 2-year-olds.

But to top it all off, she still finds time to teach. This coming semester, Anderson will teach a grade 7-8 career exploration course twice a week.

We caught up with Anderson, who recently wrote a book titled “Building Parent Capacity in High-Poverty Schools,” to learn more about how approaching leadership with a “boots-on-the-ground” mentality and building relationships within the community are central to her success.

Editor’s note: The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

K-12 DIVE: You’ve been referred to as having made schools “work” for kids who are poor. Does that ever feel daunting to carry that sort of recognition?

TIFFANY ANDERSON: Oh, have mercy. First of all, I think all of us have the opportunity to work for the poor, right? We get a chance to be a blessing and a lesson every day.

I have the privilege of doing that through schools, and with schools being the center of the community, The Washington Post referring to me as that has led to a label being on me anywhere I go.

It’s wonderful, because people know I’m showing up and saying, “How do we advocate for the marginalized? How do we make schools work for the marginalized?” And then there’s no secret that that’s what I bring to the table — a different perspective in creative and innovative ways to approach most challenges, and to embrace saying “yes” first and figuring the rest out next.

So, it doesn’t feel daunting. I think it lends a level of opportunity to truly demonstrate advocacy unapologetically and serve those that have perhaps been forgotten. It allows me to come with an expectation that I am here to advocate as an ambassador of hope.

Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of Topeka Public Schools in Kansas, crosses students on the first day of school at Topeka High School in August 2023. [Permission granted by Topeka Public Schools]

What are the most easy-to-overlook elements in building connections with families? How important are those connections for the success you’ve seen with metrics like attendance?

ANDERSON: Often, we forget that parents are a child’s first teacher. And I say that throughout the book. With a lot of the language we use for educators and teachers, if you take out the word “teacher” and put “parent,” it still applies.

In the book, I talk about how you build parent efficacy. How do you ensure the parents know how to teach their children? I share strategies of how to do that, which include addressing attendance.

Part of addressing attendance for us is that if students are absent two days without a parent contact, we have a porch visit. Just because a state or a community or a school district has a policy of truancy that might be five or 10 days, it doesn’t mean that you have to wait five or 10 days to find out and to connect with families.

There are some strategies to connect families with schools in an authentic way, and to give them voice and agency that empowers them to be part of the school. There are things parents can do at home to continue to carry the lessons that we teach in the classrooms. And there are things that they can do through when children get to preschool or kindergarten that will give every student a running start.

If we as a school system meet parents where they are in the community, we literally can change the trajectory for children.

We have something called “Listening Tours.” Do you know what a listening tour is?

Would that be like town halls?

ANDERSON: Kind of, but with a twist. It’s showing up at the laundromat, the grocery store, the food truck, the library — places where parents congregate.

Just imagine you’re checking out your groceries, and your superintendent’s at the end of the grocery line. It’s kind of like the Girl Scouts when they’re bagging your groceries, but instead it’s your superintendent saying, “I just wanna listen. How’s it going? How’s your year going? What’s the biggest challenge you face? What are you hoping that we remove as a barrier for next year?”

Parents will talk differently to you often in the community and in unstructured ways, when you meet them where they are, than they will if you ask them to come to you and you formalize that structure.

A couple years ago, during a listening tour that we had at coffee shops and different restaurants, we learned that early childhood services for 2-year-olds in our community were very challenging. So we opened our first 2-year-old day care center, and we put it inside of our preschool academy, and we asked for a grant.

A year later, it was self-funding, and it’s a beautiful model of possibility. But that came directly from a listening tour.

Do you feel this approach has helped to prevent the backlash other school districts have seen where parents don’t fully understand what’s going on in schools, and where heated school board meetings come about as a result?

ANDERSON: Yeah. The more you have a relationship, the more parents trust you, and they’ll support you and work for you and understand some of

You can read the full article at: https://www.k12dive.com/news/Topeka-superintendent-Tiffany-Anderson-family-engagement-Lessons-In-Leadership/722344/

The

benefits of paid

internships stretch

far beyond a classroom. For students and communities, they can be crucial

By India Yarborough

The Capital-Journal

Completing internships before stepping into the workforce full time can be crucial for students, as such opportunities offer hands-on experience and help them determine whether a career is a good fit.

That has been the case for Allison Montague, a rising senior at Topeka High School.

This past school year, Montague completed a paid internship at Stormont Vail Hospital, where she served as a patient safety monitor and helped Stormont nurses with some of their daily tasks.

“I’m really excited about the exposure and getting different hospital experience,” said Montague, who wants to become a physical therapist after completing college.

And her Stormont internship helped solidify that decision, potentially giving her an advantage over peers who might enter college not knowing where they want to land.

Normally, you wouldn’t see high schoolers helping with patient care in a hospital setting, but thanks to a partnership between Stormont Vail and Topeka Unified School District 501, Montague and other high schoolers in the district have had the opportunity to do just that.

The Stormont Vail alliance is one of several official partnerships Topeka Public Schools has formed with area employers to offer local high-school students paid internship opportunities. Other partners include Advisors Excel and, as of last month, Hill’s Pet Nutrition.

USD 501 Superintendent Tiffany Anderson sees the paid internship program as “project-based learning at its best.” But the benefits of such partnerships stretch far beyond the classroom, as paid internships have the potential to improve student outcomes, promote career readiness and enhance the Topeka community’s local talent pipeline.

Paid internships prepare students for careers

“In order to feed the talent pipeline right here in Topeka and to keep Topeka a place — like under Momentum 2022 — where people want to work, live and play, we have to create opportunities for students,” Anderson said.

Thirty to 40 students from Topeka Public Schools and other districts in the area participate each school year in 501’s paid internship program, which is offered through the Topeka Center for Advanced Learning & Careers.

“This is all our students. It’s not a Topeka problem or a Topeka opportunity,” Anderson said. “If there’s an opportunity, a pathway, a program, an innovative system that you want to be part of, if we have it, it’s available and open to any student.”

Matthew Carmona, a rising senior at Jefferson West High School, is one such student from another area district who is taking advantage of the paid internship program.

Like Montague, Carmona interned this past school year at Stormont Vail, but since he has an interest in law enforcement, he worked in the hospital’s security

department.

“I love it,” Carmona said. “I think it’s really helped fuel my interest for this career field.”

And along the way, he has learned some helpful information about how best to go down that path.

“There’s a time period in law enforcement when it’s incredibly hard to get into the career, and that’s from when you’re 18 to when you’re 21,” Carmona said. “While I was interning at Stormont, I was talking to a bunch of people in the security department, and they were like, ‘The best way to fill that spot is to go and get your EMT certification.’

“So they’ve all walked me through that process, and now, I’m going to get my EMT certification next summer. ... I had never even considered it.”

Edwin Koc, director of research, public policy and legislative affairs for the National Association of Colleges and Employers, said gaining knowledge of a profession and getting work experience under one’s belt are key benefits of participating in internships.

“When we ask employers what’s the cutting-edge choice in terms of picking one individual over another in terms of their hiring decision,” Koc said, “the No. 1 factor is workplace experience.”

Though the association’s research focuses primarily on college students and their internships — which tend to be more common, as many college programs include internships in their graduation requirements — Koc indicated such opportunities, both paid and unpaid, have become critically important when it comes to landing jobs and negotiating a young adult’s starting salary.

“We’ve been tracking this for 10-12 years,” Koc said, “and what we see is that kids who have had internship experience tend to get jobs quicker. They have a higher offer rate. They have a higher acceptance rate. So they end up with a job sooner.

“In addition to that, when they’ve gone through an internship — especially when they’ve gone through a paid internship — they tend to get salary offers at a higher level, approximately $10,000 more, in terms of starting salary, than students who have not gone through an internship. From that perspective, it’s obviously a real advantage.”

Koc added that students who have been surveyed indicate internships contribute greatly to their career readiness, especially in four key areas: professionalism, communication skills, teamwork and critical thinking.

And he noted some of the lessons gleaned from college-level internship data may still be applicable at the high-school level.

“The value of gaining work knowledge, experience, that’ll translate to the high-school internship,” he said. “In terms of accessing jobs and the development of career opportunities ... I can’t really speak to that at the high-school level and how that will work. The real question there is who at the high-school level gets the internship, and will they continue on with further education or want to go directly into the workforce?” Early career exploration can improve student, community outcomes

Ann Bush, communications specialist for the Kansas State Department of Education, said early career exploration may prepare students for a variety

You can read the full article at: https://www.cjonline.com/story/business/2021/06/14/topeka-usd-501-paid-high-school-internships-partnerships-benefit-students-community-stormont-vail/7602416002/

Allison Montague, a rising senior at Topeka High School, talks about her experience as a paid intern at Stormont Vail Health, where she has served as a patient safety monitor. [Evert Nelson/ Special to The Capital-Journal]

Topeka USD 501’s College Prep Academy teaches students to embrace fears and do big things

By Rafael Garcia Topeka Capital-Journal

T’Ajahnae Ray was a little fearful, but she did it anyway.

Ray had walked onto Washburn University’s campus for her first day of college, even though she was technically still a high school junior.

She was a girl of two firsts, as a member of the first group of students to enroll in Topeka USD 501’s College Prep Academy five years ago, and the first to pilot a program where a select number of the academy’s students essentially start college two years early.

“I was lost. I think I walked into the wrong classroom twice,” Ray joked about her first day at Washburn. “It was so big. … I had a whole schedule across a huge campus with different buildings.”

But despite any fear she had about starting college early, Ray knew she had the support system of Kathleen Foster, the academy’s teacher, as well as that of superintendent Tiffany Anderson, her parents and her College Prep Academy peers.

“They got me through it,” Ray said. “It may be rough. There may be challenges. But you are able to get through it, as long as you know it’s OK to fail. You pick yourself up, figure it out and learn to do better next time.”

She also had an intense focus on scholarship and professionalism she cultivated during the past five years of classes through the academy, preparing her not only for classes at college but also life after school.

So she did it anyway.

College Prep Academy is designed to get Topeka students to college finish line

On Saturday, Ray and all but one of her peers who remained in College Prep Academy graduated with their high school degrees.

They are proof of the concept that such a program can work to improve college prospects for students who just need an extra nudge in one of the most diverse districts in Kansas.

College Prep Academy started five years ago, shortly after Anderson’s arrival to Topeka. To lead the program, she tapped Foster — a veteran educator who had worked with her while in Jennings, Missouri.

Although that initial cohort of 15 seventh-graders and 30 eighth-graders was the largest the academy ever admitted, cohorts have remained small in the five years since. Out of dozens of applicants and recommendations each year, the program only takes about 15 middle school students per year, Foster said, in a bid to keep class sizes low and personable.

The program specifically targets students who can excel at academically accelerated coursework but perhaps may not otherwise receive the support they need to get to college. Students must also have good attendance records and no reported disciplinary

referrals.

Throughout their school careers, the College Prep Academy instructors work with students to make sure they’re excelling academically.

“We monitor grades weekly,” Foster said. “In middle school, it was easier, since we had them with us, and in high school, we’ve had to be more proactive to check with them at their schools. We call them each week to figure out what supports they might need and make sure they do get those supports.”

Topeka’s College Prep Academy graduates set high professional standard

Beside the higher academic rigor, just as important for College Prep Academy students has been instilling in them a sense of confidence and voice in their capabilities, Foster said.

Even from middle school the academy focuses on establishing a sense of professionalism among the young teenage students, with eighth-graders receiving business cards to hand out at community events when introducing themselves to adults.

“We have students who came to us with no idea of their own capabilities,” Foster said. “They did not see

themselves for who we saw them as.”

Of the students who remained in Topeka USD 501, all but one of the original cohort graduated on Saturday, and many of them are on track to attend college — pursuing careers in fields like marine biology, nursing and psychology — or seek out other types of post-secondary education and training. Some already have job offers, too.

It’s a rugged dedication to improving and learning from failure that sets apart this year’s College Prep Academy graduates from other high school graduates, Foster said.

“We did not allow them to be shy or to be fearful,” Foster said. “And if they were afraid, we taught them to be afraid, but do it anyway. That’s what separates them from others.”

“It proves that students from our schools can reach their dreams,” Ray said. “They can do something with their lives. They can get a college education. They can go through these programs.

“They can be successful.”

Kathleen Foster is retiring from Topeka USD 501’s College Prep Academy this year after she helped start and develop the program. [Rafael Garcia/The Capital-Journal]

A Superstar in the making

Highland Park High School Sophomore Gets Admitted to Washburn University

By Linda Ditch Topeka Lifestyle

In 2018, USD 501 Topeka Public Schools began College Prep Academy with 43 seventh and eighth graders. That first group from Eisenhower and Chase Middle Schools followed a rigorous course of study, working two grade levels above the traditional curriculum with year-round academic opportunities. The goal was to see them graduate high school with 30 to 60 hours of college credit or an associate’s degree, and a clear plan for their future.

One of those original students, Highland Park High School’s T’ahjanae Ray, will spend her junior year also as a freshman at Washburn University. Ultimately, she will graduate with both her high school diploma and liberal arts associate’s degree at the same time. The district has secured community partner donations to provide a full scholarship for Ray, who has also secured scholarships to complete her bachelor’s degree.

“I’m ecstatic,” Ray says of attending college. “So excited and a little nervous just because I’m the first, so I have a lot of pressure on me just to make sure I’m doing everything right. I want to set an example, and I want to show other students they can do this too.”

“This is a superstar in the making,” says Dr. Alan Bearman, Dean of University Libraries and the Center for Student Success and Retention at Washburn. Schools all over America want students just like this. We’re going to help her live her dream, and she’s going to be a star.”

The TPS College Prep Academy was the brainchild of District superintendent Dr. Tiffany Anderson, who implemented this type of program in her previous school systems. What began with middle school students has not expanded to the elementary level with the creation of Early College Prep Academy at Lowman Hill Elementary.

“I’m so excited not only for T’ahjanae but

for all the students she represents,” Anderson says. “She’s demonstrating that working at the highest levels of rigor in middle school and high school can lead to college opportunities very early. College Prep Academy also closes that economic gap for families who simply may not be able to afford college expenses. We take care of almost two years of college.”

Ray feels prepared for university studies. She will major in political science at Washburn

while staying involved in theater and other extracurricular activities at HPHS. Her plans include obtaining a law degree to help women in need.

“College Prep Academy was hard, but I feel like it made me a better student because it made me take charge of my own learning,” Ray explains. “It really makes you understand who you are as a student and what you need to grow and be strong academically.”

How a unique Topeka program is welcoming immigrants and helping them thrive

By Janet Shamlian, Alicia Hastey CBS Evening News Eye on America

Topeka, Kansas — When Angelica Chernytska and her mother Larysa left war-torn Ukraine earlier this year, they never expected Topeka, Kansas, would quickly feel like home.

“I was overwhelmed, that is how I can describe my feelings,” Angelica told CBS News.

That’s because the people of this Midwestern city have created a modern-day welcome wagon.

“It’s very rewarding to see the children thrive in school, not afraid of sirens,” said Yana Ross, president of the nonprofit group Top City Promise.

Ross, who immigrated from Ukraine herself, started the volunteer group to help new immigrants, mostly Ukrainians so far, with almost all expenses for three months, including a place to live.

Larysa said she “was overwhelmed” to walk into a fully furnished apartment the day after she arrived in Topeka.

What is unique is how the group has partnered with the community to ensure the immigrants have more than just a roof over their heads. A Latter-day Saints church welcomes the newcomers to pick up free food, while a Catholic church stores donations that furnish the homes.

Topeka Public Schools has gone as far as hiring a director of cultural innovation, Dr. Pilar Mejía, who helps ease the transition for children.

“We need to strengthen our community from the ground up, and it starts with the children, and so we need to make sure that everybody feels like they’re important,” Mejía said. “They are seen, they are welcomed.”

Topeka Public Schools now has an international flair. In the district of almost 13,000, Ukrainian and Spanish are the most common languages after English. More than 200 refugees have benefitted from the program and the helping hand extends to all nationalities.

Lisbeth Amador came from Nicaragua with her husband and 6-year-old daughter Sury. The

couple have jobs, a car and a good school for Sury.

“I love it,” Amador says of her family’s new home. “…It’s different, my life here.”

The cost of welcoming a family can range anywhere from $300 to $10,000 depending on needs. Top City Promise relies on fundraising and

the big hearts of the people who call Topeka home.

“Community is what makes Topeka different, because of the desire of the Topeka community to help, to help them to be successful,” Ross said.

You can watch the video at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/topeka-kansas-program-welcomes-immigrants-helps-them-thrive/

[Photos from video]

70 years on, Topeka’s first Black female superintendent seeks to further the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education

By Janet Shamlian CBS Evening News

Topeka, Kansas — Home-delivered birthday gifts and cake aren’t generally part of a school curriculum, but Topeka Public Schools Superintendent Tiffany Anderson rarely sticks to a lesson plan when there’s a child in need.

“If we don’t do it, who will?” Anderson asks.

The district at the center of the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which outlawed racial segregation in schools, is now helmed by its first Black female superintendent. Friday marks the 70-year anniversary of that historic Supreme Court decision.

“I think, 70 years later, I live with the privilege to help their hopes and dreams come to life,” Anderson said of those who fought to overturn the “separate but equal” policy in schools. “I’m standing on their shoulders. If it were not for the plaintiffs of the Brown case.”

The district’s high school graduation rates have skyrocketed from about 70% to 91% during Anderson’s eight-year tenure. She also established morale boosting programs — like graduation ceremonies for students in a nearby state correctional facility.

She’s also revolutionized post high school opportunities for her students. Through a partnership with a local health center, students can take classes and get certified in things like phlebotomy, and they are even guaranteed jobs after they graduate.

In a district where 46% of students qualify for subsidized lunch, Anderson put washers and dryers in schools and opened food and clothing pantries.

[Photos from video]

“It’s not really hard to get people on board when they know that you care, and they know they can be part of something pretty incredible and transformational,” Anderson told CBS News.

Anderson speculates that fear could be the reason these changes aren’t taking place on a larger scale in the U.S.

“Fear can make you choose not to accept other people, fear can shut down systems in a way like nothing else can,” Anderson said.

Now, the historic district is transforming once again, this time opening its doors to refugees and migrants.

“Just because somebody doesn’t speak English doesn’t mean they’re less valuable to a community,” said Pilar Mejía, director of cultural innovation for

Topeka Public Schools.

Students from more than 40 countries have enrolled in the district.

“It would be tragic,” Mejía said of where some of these families would be without their help. “They might end up in either not being able to come, or stay in situations in their countries that are dire.”

Anderson says there is a throughline running from 1954 to today of families coming to the U.S. in search of what parents 70 years ago fought for.

“The connection is, they all are looking for a better and brighter future,” Anderson said. “They’re all hoping for something better for their lives. We’re dealing with families who want more for their children.”

You can watch the video at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brown-v-board-of-education-topeka-first-black-female-superintendent-tiffany-anderson-70-year-anniversary/

The School District That’s Enrolling Ukrainian Refugees—and Hiring Their Parents

By Denisa R. Superville Education Week

Over the last 12 months, Nataliia Mostova has gone from teaching in Dnipro, Ukraine, to working in a hotel in Bulgaria, to now serving as a paraprofessional at Jardine Elementary School in Topeka, Kan., where she’s helping young Ukrainian refugees get used a new life and school halfway around the world.

A year after Russia invaded Ukraine and displaced millions of Ukrainians, Mostova and her daughter, Mariia, a 4th grader at Jardine Elementary, and her son, Bohdan, who’s enrolled in kindergarten, feel safe in their new home.

But she is still often gripped with worry for her grandfather, who is still in Ukraine, and her husband Andrii, who is serving in the military. Her heart “is always aching for them [and] for the country,” Mostova said through a translator.

Mostova is one of eight adult refugees—most of them parents or relatives of Ukrainian children—who work in Topeka public schools, part of a concerted district effort to hire the family members of refugee students as employees and volunteers to help ease them into life in a new country. It’s also a way to help families gain financial stability and begin planning for the future.

Through early February, nearly 30 Ukrainian students had enrolled in the district, from kindergarten through high school. Their family members work as paraprofessionals, in food services, and in custodial services, according to the district.

“Economic stability and prosperity [are] a right—it’s not a gift,” said Tiffany Anderson, the superintendent. “It’s something that we all should see as a right that we all should be able to have as human beings. We should all be able to live and prosper.”

Expanding student and family supports

When Topeka created a new director of cultural innovation position last summer, Anderson and her team weren’t sure how the district would help meet the needs of students it hadn’t previously served in large numbers. Only five Ukrainian students had enrolled at the time, and the district did not have a Ukrainian- or Russian-speaking teacher on staff.

But the district already had a newcomer program, and Spanish is the primary second language in the district. Luckily, Anderson said, about 15 years ago the school system had a Ukrainian foreign exchange program, and it was able to get a retired Russian teacher to help out.

After connecting with Yana Ross, a risk manager who is leading the volunteer refugee taskforce in Topeka, the district realized it needed to create more supports to help students and their families gain a foothold.

One of the things it did was create a feeder pattern for Ukrainian students. The district’s newcomer program, for newly arrived immigrant students, is located at Jardine Middle School, so it made the

decision to enroll all incoming Ukrainian elementary students at Jardine Elementary, the feeder school attached to the middle school. High school students would go to Topeka High School, where the duallanguage program is based.

The feeder pattern allowed the district to use a single bus to pick up and drop off Ukrainian students— including high schoolers, who aren’t normally bused—so that students would also have a chance to socialize on their way to school. It also minimized the possibility that there would be only one Ukrainian student in a building, Anderson said.

“We knew that those schools could certainly sustain those families,” Anderson said. “That meant our social workers, our nurses, all of our staff members that were already present in [those] schools could wrap services around in a concentrated way, at that particular building.”

The feeder pattern also helped Ross to concentrate house hunting for refugee families near the schools, Anderson said.

Technology expansion during the pandemic, which made it easier for districts to provide hotspots and laptops to students, also allowed families to connect to their loved ones in Ukraine as soon as they settled.

“It was a huge, huge blessing,” Ross said.

Pilar Mejía, the director of cultural innovation, has served as a kind of liaison to families, helping to connect them with mental health supports and bus passes.

“We do that for every family,” Anderson said, but “when you come from Ukraine, you don’t know what

you don’t know. You don’t even know what to ask for. We just took a step back to say, ‘What are all the components that a person is going to need in order to go grocery shopping to get their child to school?’ And then wrapping those services around [them].”

The district initially started offering volunteer positions to family members because “we presumed that it would be scary in a new place to not see your family,” Anderson said.

(Until late last year, when Ukrainian refugees were allowed to start working immediately upon resettlement, there were long waits for work permits.)

Mejía’s job took on a human resources component, with periodic surveys of families about their skills, previous jobs, and interests.

“All these people who have arrived are highly intelligent, skilled, and educated,” Mejía said. “So that transition to a new country [into] jobs that might look very different from what they had before but that offer stability and dignity for their family has been also critical.”

“In our employment efforts, we are an all-inclusive district,” she said. “We want to make sure that language does not represent a barrier for anyone to be able to feel self-sufficient and stand on their own feet.”

Starting a new life

Mostova started working as a kindergarten paraprofessional in the English language learning department just before Christmas. While she provides translation services and in-class support for Ukrainian students, she also gets the opportunity to improve her English.

You can read the full article at: https://www.edweek.org/leadership/the-school-district-thats-enrolling-ukrainianrefugees-and-hiring-their-parents/2023/02

Nataliia Mostova points to molding pumpkins with Adrian Karmalita in a 2nd grade classroom at Jardine Elementary School in Topeka, Kan., last month. Mostova, a Ukrainian refugee, is working as a paraeducator in the district. – Evert Nelson for Education Week

Topeka USD 501 cultural innovation focused on Ukrainian students, bilingualism this year

By Rafael Garcia Topeka Capital-Journal

More than 30 Ukrainian refugee students are wrapping up their first full school year in Topeka USD 501, and by all accounts, the year has been successful.

Pilar Mejia, director of cultural innovation for the district, gave an update to the Topeka Board of Education on Thursday.

Several families have cycled through the district over the past year, and eight parents have even found employment through the district, as USD 501 looked for ways to support the families.

“They’re really happy, and they’re happy with the supports,” Mejia said. “They’re not as intensive as before… but it’s just wonderful to see how we have created this community of support and just growing in culture.”

While intensive, daily support for the families is no longer as necessary, Mejia said the district had learned lessons it could apply to working with future refugee families — from Ukraine or otherwise.

Much of Mejia’s work in her first year as cultural innovation director has been figuring out how to best need the culturally diverse needs of various students groups, such as the Ukrainian students and student speakers of other languages.

More Topeka USD 501 students recognized for bilingualism

Mejia also updated the board on the number of students who have earned the Seal of Biliteracy through the Kansas State Department of Education. To receive the seal, which is both an honor and certification of a student’s multilingual proficiency, students must score at least “proficient” on exams in both English and another language.

Compared to the 2021-22 school year, Topeka

USD 501 was able to practically triple the number of seniors who received the Seal of Biliteracy to 45, with students demonstrating proficiency in English, Spanish, French, Ukrainian, Tagalog and Swahili.

Underclassmen may also test and meet the requirements of the seal, but the award is not formally conferred until the students’ senior years.

Mejia credited the increase to focused awareness and testing campaigns at the district’s three main high schools. The district worked to identify all students who might be interested in the

seal — such as English-language learners, students who speak a language other than English at home, and students in world languages classes.

Students also have the ability to retest once per spring semester, and Mejia believes interest in the seal will continue to grow.

“It is a privilege and a huge honor to have something that confirms their bilingualism, their biliteracy or more,” Mejia said. “(It increases their) employability, pride and so many other benefits that come with that.”

Jardine third-graders Mykyla Yakunin, left, works with Artem Hutel to fill out questions about the legislative branch on a social studies worksheet Thursday afternoon in Katie Pipes’ class. Yakunin and Hutel are two of the more than 30 Ukrainian refugee students enrolled in Topeka USD 501. [Evert Nelson/The CapitalJournal]

How a migrant woman beat the odds to graduate from a Topeka high school

By Rafael Garcia Topeka Capital-Journal

Oh, how the nerves and anxiety felt in the pit of Yecytl “Yessy” Velazquez’s stomach.

She stood there, dressed in the red cap and gown, in front of her 5-year-old son Brandon Joel Velazquez, dreading the walk she would take across the stage to receive her high school diploma in front of a crowd of people.

Velazquez, 22, had never been very keen on being in front of large groups of people. She’d never been too keen on school, either.

But as she looked at Brandon, she knew that years of struggles to learn English, go back to school and finally earn her high diploma would all be worth it if it gave her son even a fraction of a better chance to live a better life.

Despite the odds stacked against her and her family, Velazquez earlier this month graduated from Topeka USD 501’s Avondale Academy, an alternative high school that allows students to take online classes and catch up or recover any credits they still need to receive a diploma.

The school has traditionally worked with students who have not found much success in more traditional school environments. They often fail to find it at Avondale, as well. But for students like Velazquez who can persevere through their individual challenges, Avondale, and other supporting programs, have the capacity to change life trajectories.

Yessy Velazquez went back to school with help of Migrant Education Program

Although born in Atlanta, Velazquez was mostly raised in Mexico. It was there that she grew disillusioned and disengaged with school, and she dropped out at 16, moved to Arizona and had her son there.

When she moved to Topeka, she began working at Reser’s Fine Foods. That’s where she learned about the Kansas Migrant Education Program and met Melanie Stuart-Campbell, an instructional specialists and advocate for the program, as well as a Topeka Board of Education member.

While the program does ostensibly work with migrants, Stuart-Campbell said that can be a misnomer. In reality, the program works with children and youths in families that work in agriculture-related fields, including Reser’s, and have often moved for that work.

When Velazquez’ son moved to Topeka with her, that’s when she realized she should get more serious about her studies. After a failed GED test attempt, Stuart-Campbell helped Velazquez enroll in the Migrant Education Program’s Portable Assisted Study Sequence program, which helps highly transitory migrant children earn and meet credit requirements that can apply to most high schools in participating

states.

Taking a look at Velazquez’s transcripts, StuartCampbell realized that she had already met quite a few graduation requirements. When she did as much as she could through the PASS program, Velazquez enrolled in Avondale Academy, where learning how to take classes online was a huge learning curve.

“Her dedication to her family, her education and her job is unwavering,” said Michelle Lucht, a virtual coordinator at Avondale. “It’s difficult to balance all three, and some students will try to pass classes very quickly with minimal effort when life gets busy. That’s not Yessy. She devoted 30 to 40 hours each week in class to make sure she understood the material, all while raising a child and working. … I think her dedication is extremely admirable, and her time management and self-advocacy skills are very high.”

Velazquez hopes to start a automotive shop by a woman and for women

Additionally, for the past semester, Velazquez has been taking automotive technology classes at Washburn Tech, with Avondale Academy helping pay for her tuition.

Velazquez was inspired to enroll after being ripped off on a car repair, and she wanted the independence to repair her own car whenever needed.

“Yessy can do anything she wants to do,” said Craig Carter, one of Velazquez’s teachers at Avondale. “She

has that drive and determination, and the sky is the limit for her.”

Velazquez is still working on finishing that associate’s degree, while she looks for grants and scholarships to help pay for it. She’s also working to raise enough money to pay for a lawyer to help her mother, Yolanda Suárez García, and her grandmother, Albina García Medina, immigrate to the U.S.

One day, she hopes to start her own business — an automotive shop aimed at female customers.

“I want to own my own shop, and to save up some money for my son — to show him that through hard work, he can also make a living for himself,” Velazquez said. “I don’t want him to have to struggle like I and so many others have. I want him to at least have these opportunities.”

Velazquez’s chief advocate and supporter, StuartCampbell, has already been among her first clients for oil changes. Over the years, Stuart-Campbell said she’s come to know Velazquez as one of the most fiercely driven and determined students she has ever worked with.

“I’ve been in this position seven years,” StuartCampbell said. “I’ve had many out of school youth, many of whom started with PASS. She’s the first one to get her diploma. She’s known across the state for her work, all while working and raising a child. She’s just so inspirational.”

You can read the full article at: https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/education/2023/05/30/yessy-velazquez-topeka-avondale-academy-migrant-education-graduation/70235474007/

Yectyl Velazquez dons her red cap and gown she earned after graduating from Topeka USD 501’s Avondale Academy this month. [Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal]

Filipina teachers thrilled to join USD 501 & promote cultural diversity

By Tori Whalen WIBW

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - The USD 501 school district has some new teachers for the 20232024 school year, and both say they are excited to promote cultural diversity.

Shelamie Santillan and Missi May Flores will join USD 501 because the pair heard good things about 501’s cultural diversity. Both Flores and Santillan have a Filipina background.

“I can see that this is a diverse district. As a cultural exchange teacher, it is an opportunity for me to promote awareness of cultural diversity,” said Flores. “I think it will be good to introduce that at that early age.”

Cherryl Delacruz, a high school math teacher at College Prep Academy and secondary math consultant for the district, was acting as a mentor for the two teachers and told 13 NEWS Topeka Public Schools created a partnership with Filipino teachers in the Philippines to recruit them to teach in America and that is how Delacruz was recruited into Topeka Public Schools.

“About 15 years ago, I was only looking for ‘a greener pasture’ to help my family financially,” said Delacruz. “There was an opportunity that came because a lot of districts from the United States, I am talking about a lot, like plenty of districts went to the Philippines to recruit teachers in critical areas like science, math, and special education, and so I grabbed that opportunity, and when I started teaching here, this became home. I have had several chances to teach in other countries and go back to the Philippines, but Topeka became home for me.”

Delacruz said Santillan and Flores are highly qualified, outstanding teachers that underwent a licensing process to teach in Kansas. She had some advice to share with the new teachers: the transition will be challenging, yet an entire system of people is here to help.

“Transition is going to be a little difficult. However, we have tons of support and a system of support here at Topeka Public Schools,” said Delacruz. “School level, classroom level, district level; you have everything you need. Please reach out to your principal, your coaches, [and] your co-teachers, they are always going to be there, and to the district, they are always going to be there for you and to help you. Relationship building is essential in this profession. Building positive relationships with your students, teachers, families, and other staff members will take you a long way.”

According to Delacruz, USD 501 has approximately 30 Filipino teachers in the district.

The two teachers are initially from the Philippines, but both traveled from Minnesota after Flores previously taught at a Minnesota school during the 2022 - 2023 school year.

“When [Flores] applied here at Topeka Public Schools, I shared it with my friend ‘Shela’ [Shelamie], and she is also interested in knowing that it is a diverse district. I told her, ‘There are a

lot of Filipinos there,’ and we are so excited to be a part of the district, so then she applied as well, and then we moved here together,” said Flores.

Santillan said she would feel homesick. But she views joining the USD 501 district as an adventure, a chance to make new friends, learn new things, and see new places. Although Santillan wanted to ask the parents to help her out now and then, rest assured she will care for their children.

“Your children are in good hands,” said Santillan. “Your children are my children. Please know that I feel you. I have children too. So, I need your partnership with me. So, when I call you, please be there. So, when I am going to text you, please answer so that we have good communication for the development, for the welfare of your children. I will love them as my own.”

Santillan and Flores will teach a third-grade class at USD 501’s Ross Elementary for the upcoming year. The USD 501 2023 - 2024 school year starts the second week of August (August 8-9). Preschoolers’ first day of school will be Monday, August 17.

Photo from video (Tori Whalen/WIBW)

Topeka Public Schools gearing up for addition of 20 Ukrainian students

By Phil Anderson WIBW

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - More than 9 million people have fled Ukraine since war broke out in the country in late February.

Some children and their family members have landed in Topeka, where they will be attending school starting next month.

Topeka Public Schools officials said 20 students from Ukraine -- some as young as 3 years of age -- will be in the classroom starting in August.

“This is a unique transition for them, given the circumstances in their country,” said Pilar Mejia, director of cultural innovation for Topeka Unified School District 501. “The overall and overarching message that we picked up from the kids is excitement, newness and hope for all the families.”

The Ukrainian students will attend Jardine Elementary School and Jardine Middle School, both at 2600 S.W. 33rd; and Topeka High School, 800 S.W. 10th Ave.

Topeka Public Schools officials have conducted meetings with the children and their families and said they will continue to offer a variety of services in conjunction with other local organizations.

English-language classes have taken place at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.

Additionally, the Topeka Public Schools has organized get-togethers for the Ukrainian families to get to know each other.

Mejia said the families have arrived at Topeka at different times.

Some families are fluent in English. Others don’t speak English at all.

Translators will be provided for the Ukrainian students once school begins. Mejia said technology also will offer real-time translation for the Ukrainian students.

Mejia noted that the students arrived in

Topeka after enduring an extremely difficult situation in their home country, after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, when the ongoing war began.

“We are just elated to be able to provide this environment for them and for their children,” Mejia said. “It’s going to be an amazing experience for them, undoubtedly.”

Mejia said in spite of the difficulties they have endured, the youngsters from Ukraine are excited about starting their school careers in Topeka.

“Watching their conversations among each other, it’s just like bright-eyed and bushytailed children, waiting for the adventure that is to come,” Mejia said, “and they are ready to embrace it.”

Topeka Public Schools Superintendent Tiffany Anderson said a variety of services are being offered to the Ukrainian students and their families.

“We really look at it as being a partner in education with the Greater Topeka

Partnership, with the library and with all the other individuals who are supporting families from Ukraine,” Anderson said. “The level of trauma that some families have experienced is significant, and Topeka Public Schools is a leader in that area of trauma-training, so we’re able to wrap even those services around.

“And we saw some of that in our Ukraine welcome center. Students drew pictures and some of them drew pictures of bombs and things that they last saw. So really wrapping ourselves around these families with partners.”

Anderson said it was “incumbent upon all of us to work together -- we’re better together -- and step up in every way we can to help others right here within our community.”

The first day of classes for students in grades kindergarten through six and grade nine will be Aug. 10 in the Topeka Public Schools. Classes will start on Aug. 11 for all other students in the Topeka Public Schools.

You can watch the video at: https://www.wibw.com/2022/07/20/topeka-public-schools-gearing-up-addition-20-ukranian-students/

Photo from video by Phil Anderson/WIBW

Moving Toward District-Wide Wellness

A Kansas school district’s holistic approach is reshaping student mental healthcare.

By Kate Stoltzfus

ASCD BLOG

When leaders of Topeka Public Schools in Kansas first began to think about a new approach to mental health for students nearly a decade ago, they knew one thing for certain: being proactive was lifesaving.

Superintendent Tiffany Anderson and principal Joy Grimes had seen firsthand how waiting was a dangerous game. After a new student attempted to take their life in 2017 soon after arriving in the district, Anderson and Grimes began to wonder what they could do to catch red flags early on, “screening for mental health as we do for eye and ear exams,” says Anderson. At the time, it wasn’t uncommon for the district to have three to five suicides per year. The question sparked an overhaul in the leaders’ methods to identify and support students’ needs.

Young people’s mental health and wellness is a heightened concern, as the latest issue of EL highlights. The CDC has rung alarm bells about the growing number of children seeking help for mental health issues; nearly 15 percent of young people ages 5 to 17 received treatment in 2021. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has made youth mental health one of his primary concerns, citing the pandemic, social media, and loneliness as contributing factors to students’ stress and anxiety. Concerns are higher for specific groups of students, including for Black and Brown youth and gender-diverse students who report higher stress levels and fears around safety, belonging, and discrimination.

Anderson and Grimes—who lead their district’s Mental Health Committee as chair and co-chair, respectively—have solidified a comprehensive, traumainformed approach that is nationally recognized. Anderson, who has been central in developing the district’s resources, has received the 2023 Woman Superintendent in School Leadership award from the American Association of School Administrators and was one of USA Today’s 2022 Women of the Year. The work has grown into many channels, such as early detection of what issues students face, staff training, and wellness rooms. Topeka Public Schools serves roughly 13,000 students across 30 schools; since implementing new programming, all schools now have graduation rates above 90 percent and there haven’t been any suicides in six years.

“It doesn’t cost anything,” says Anderson, “and it’s been a gamechanger for us.”

For educators interested in replicating similar models in their own spaces, Anderson and Grimes share what they’ve learned over years of trying out initiatives.

1. Early Detection Using Mental Health Screeners

The first step of support begins before students walk in the door. During registration, caregivers of every

[Credit: VectorMine/Shutterstock]

new student fill out a mental health screener form with three questions on the district’s registration forms: Has your student experienced depression recently? Does your student have diagnosed mental health concerns?

Has a loved one close to your student died in the last two years?

The questions are inspired by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris’s research on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Schools can vary these questions based on their needs, Grimes says, but understanding students’ backgrounds up front, presented alongside a general physical health questionnaire, normalizes a holistic approach.

The answers go to each school’s mental health teams (made up of social workers, school counselors, school psychologists, and mental health liaisons), who follow up with families to offer tailored resources. The district has also partnered with the University of Kansas to help classroom teachers administer CI3T (Comprehensive Integrated 3 Tiered System of Support) screeners to students, which score students’ behavioral and social needs and are available online for free.

“We don’t hide the elephant in the room,” says Grimes. “You have to have that baseline, especially if you have a transient population. We’re going to talk about the challenges students are coming to us with and try to create interventions to help them through that.”

2. Looking at Individual Needs

The mental health committee Grimes and Anderson lead starts by doing a “needs index” for each school

You can read the full article at: https://ascd.org/blogs/moving-toward-district-wide-wellness

building that considers factors like spoken languages, special education, poverty rates, and free-and-reduced lunch numbers, as well as information from the screeners. Based on that, each school shapes a smaller mental health team of specialists.

Through a grant from the Kansas State Department of Education’s Mental Health Intervention program, the district funds mental health liaisons, case managers, and in-school therapists who come to schools to meet with students, “eliminating the barrier” of students having to travel for mental health services, Grimes says. “Students just have to get to school.”

To support staff in understanding and approaching trauma-informed care, the district has partnered with the Childhood Trauma Academy to offer courses in Neurosequential Model in Education (NME) training grounded in understanding brain development and student behavior, especially around ACEs. Educators and leaders experiment with resources, such as therapy dogs or sensory and therapy rooms for self-regulation.

The district also has seven alternative programs for students who need different school settings. Avondale Academy, for example, serves students who are coming out of the juvenile detention system with wraparound services, small enrollment, and a focus on behavior, academics, and attendance. “If one program doesn’t work, we look at another, so we’re not trying to push the round peg into the square hole,” says Grimes. “Instead, we build some square holes.”

3. Partnering with Community Support Grimes and Anderson credit success to tapping into as many local resources as possible. The leaders

Address trauma; raise achievement

By Michelle Healy

The early May heat wave that settled over Topeka was just another reminder that summer break was fast approaching. But the usual end-of-the-year routine was shattered when word spread that a kindergarten student had been critically injured at a weekend pool party.

Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of Topeka Unified School District 501, and her staff visited with the family at the hospital. When word arrived late Sunday of the student’s death, the district readied a mental health team (consisting of a psychologist, counselors, social workers, and key administrative and school staff) to assist students and the school community.

By early Monday, that team was supported by other school staff who would lead instruction in music and art therapy, meditation, journaling, and movement activities to help students begin to build the coping skills needed in the face of such a senseless tragedy.

There had to be “a level of sensitivity, but also a level of understanding about how do you support students” after such an incident, says Anderson.

That same focus on resiliency and coping skills is being infused throughout the district to assist students who experience trauma and adversity as a result of living in poverty.

Exposure to “adverse childhood experiences” (ACEs) can result in traumatic stress that impacts the mental health and brain development of children and adolescents. These experiences include crime, violence, homelessness, abuse, neglect, and parental death or incarceration.

For some children, chronic stress can spark disruptive and volatile classroom behavior. It can cause poor academic performance, social and emotional developmental delays, disengagement from family and school, and even poor health in adulthood.

Topeka is working to lower discipline problems, raise academic achievement, and build student resiliency by using a variety of trauma-informed strategies and interventions throughout its 28 schools. Those strategies include mental health training for all teachers, secretaries, custodians, and bus drivers; home visits for lengthy student absences; and conflict circles

and other restorative justice practices to prevent and de-escalate behavior issues.

In Topeka and other school districts around the country, “our mindset is beginning to change regarding how to teach children with trauma issues,” says Anderson, who helped spearhead trauma-informed initiatives as superintendent in Jennings, Missouri, a 3,000-student, high-poverty community outside of St. Louis. She also served as superintendent in Virginia’s Montgomery County Public Schools when the 2007 Virginia Tech mass shootings occurred nearby.

Key to being trauma-informed is “making sure that we’re building relationships in ways that are beyond just greeting kids when they come in the classroom, but really building relationships on a social-emotional level,” Anderson says. Schools need to “understand deeply what’s going on with our students and our families.”

Mental health and equity

In Topeka, where 77 percent of the district’s racially and ethnically diverse student population (39 percent white, 30 percent Hispanic, 19 percent black) is eligible for free or reduced-price meals, the school board began looking at trauma-informed care several years ago, says board member Peg McCarthy.

“We were really aware that we needed to think about ways that we could transform classroom practices that would respond to kids who had been traumatized and allow them to learn better,” she says.

With Topeka’s storied history in education and civil rights as the site of the segregation-ending Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court case, and its deep roots in mental health research, most notably as the original home of the Menninger Foundation, it is fitting that the public school system is emphasizing mental health as an issue important to equity and achievement.

It was district teachers who first expressed concern about the growing numbers of preschool and kindergarten-age students who were showing mental health needs and disruptive behavior, says McCarthy, a practicing psychologist. Students’ exposure was taking a toll on those teachers, a common result of secondary or indirect trauma, she adds. “I would say it was almost at a crisis level.”

At Pine Ridge Prep, “being trauma-informed is everything,” says Shanna McKenzie, lead principal for early education programs. Families served by the school, located in the Pine Ridge Housing Development in East Topeka, live well below the poverty line with an average household income of about $8,600 a year.

With that comes the “chronic stress and crises that come up every day” in the community, she adds. “Unless we address those stressors and those crisis issues, then we’re never going to get to the learning part. So, we really focus on making sure basic needs are met and crises are taken care of so that kids are available to learn.”

The 3- to 5-year-olds at the school display trauma in multiple ways, McKenzie says. “We’ve got everything from kids that show extreme explosive behaviors, running away out of the building, attention seeking, violent, throwing chairs, hitting other kids, yelling, screaming, cussing.

“But then we also have kiddos that we need to almost watch out more for” because they keep everything bottled up, she says. “They will internally shut down or stop talking.”

The school, a joint effort among the school district, the Topeka Housing Authority, and the United Way of Greater Topeka, is a prime example of the district’s use of community partnerships to help deliver trauma-informed services.

In a tiny room overflowing with papers and folders in a corner of Pine Ridge Prep, family services worker Heather Hayden makes check-in calls and schedules home visits to students’ families. Her job is to provide “a bridge between home and school,” she says, and assist families in accessing the social services (food, housing, clothing, medical and dental care) that will keep them and their children healthy and safe.

Recently that included accompanying one parent to a disability hearing and another to an adoption proceeding. “My job is to walk hand in hand with families, making sure their viewpoint is heard,” Hayden says.

Outside of Hayden’s office, the Pine Ridge classroom areas are in full swing as a small group of students practice writing letters on desks coated in shaving cream while another group listens and answers

Five Steps for Trauma-Informed Ed. Leadership

By Dr. Tiffany Anderson Education Week

Schools in high-poverty communities are more likely to serve families that have experienced trauma. Whether families deal with homelessness, lack of access to such basic resources as food and health care, or unsafe neighborhoods with high crime rates, these adverse experiences trigger toxic stress—which has an impact on a child’s developing brain. If children do not receive support to deal with this stress, they are more likely to experience long-term academic and social-development delays.

Students from low-income backgrounds have represented the majority population of public schools (51 percent) since 2013, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. School leaders must equip themselves with the skills to lead schools where many children have experienced trauma and be prepared to develop solutions.

When I began serving as the superintendent in Jennings, Mo., in 2012, the district—one of the lowest-performing in the state—was at risk for losing its provisional accreditation. We served more than 2,500 students who qualified for free lunch, and whose situations had an impact on their attendance and behavior. During my tenure, Jennings became nationally recognized for its work to serve students in poverty as the first trauma-informed school district in the county of St. Louis. Educators in our schools focused on services to reduce instability in students’ lives, and the district redirected funds in order to support these resources. By the time I left in 2016, the district had reached full accreditation status with a 95.4 percent four-year graduation rate and a 100 percent college- and career-placement rate.

Now, as the first African-American female superintendent to serve the Topeka, Kan., public schools and a 23-year educator who has spent a majority of that time as a school leader, I have learned that it’s possible to replicate effective systems of trauma support from one school district to another. There are several steps leaders should take to successfully build trauma-informed schools in their districts, including:

• Get to know the community and schools you serve.

Before setting a clear vision for working with trauma, leaders must understand the needs and feelings of the community. As a new superintendent, it’s important to understand what systems are already in place and build on existing work before identifying gaps that call for new initiatives. When I arrived in Topeka, the district’s principals and I held community meetings and made home visits, including one to the local shelter, to gain an understanding of our schools’ homeless families. I also held discussions with teachers to learn more about issues they faced in the classroom through an informal “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” hour. New leaders must be accessible to

staff and students to foster relationships that serve as an important support system.

• Build teacher and parent capacity for understanding the effects of trauma.

Understanding the stories of trauma behind student behavior empowers educators and school leaders to brainstorm solutions. One step is to ensure teachers and leaders make positive parent contact. For example, teachers in Topeka deliver difficultto-access school resources to students’ homes, and staff members make home visits for lengthy student absences. Educators across the district, including me, are in a yearlong mental-health training for the neurosequential model in education, or NME. This helps educators apply knowledge of brain development, trauma, and student behavior to the teaching process, and also supports the well-being of staff members. I also meet with principals and community agencies to examine best on-the-ground practices for dealing with trauma and learn ways to build resiliency in schools.

• Use data to drive interventions.

As schools in Topeka began to use data dashboards to look at student trends in academic performance, behavior, and absences, I set the tone that this utilization is for information and transformation, not judgment and evaluation. Schools should review students’ academic history and develop intervention plans that treat trauma and academic health in the most effective manner. Once a month, members of the central office meet with each principal to review adverse childhood experience, or ACE, indicators— such as poor attendance, discipline, and academics— for students who may be experiencing trauma.

• Engage community partnerships.

In Jennings, the district partnered with the local community to offer support services. Business leaders mentored individual students yearlong; mental-health agencies had offices in our schools; and local universities helped implement pediatric services in schools. To provide full-time support, the district also converted several buildings into a food pantry and homeless shelter for youths and opened schools on Saturdays or during the winter when services were normally closed.

• Make space and time for well-being.

While schools often feel they don’t have time for extra responsibilities that trauma-informed settings require, leaders can set goals and expectations for their schools. Educators play a critical role in helping children cope with adverse experiences. Staff members, including the principal, serve as support in separate well-being rooms, and peace corners designated in the classroom enable teachers to help children de-escalate their behavior. Some schools in the district, such as French Middle School, also utilize therapy animals with students and circle gatherings for educators. I serve as a support in classrooms and the lunchroom for ongoing opportunities to interact with students. Leaders must have high visibility in schools to identify ways they themselves can provide direct support.

School leaders must become trauma-informed leaders who can address the complex needs of young people entering schools. Through a systematic approach, which integrates trauma-informed practices within existing structures, school leaders can provide unique support to students and families—an approach that makes all the difference.

Science teacher Dianne Denmark quiets her 6th grade class during an animal-therapy session at French Middle School, in Topeka. [Dave Kaup/Education Week]

Opinion ‘Toxic stress’ in the classroom: How a public health approach could help

By Sheila Ohlsson Walker and Melissa Steel King WASHINGTON POST

Children living in poverty often are exposed to high levels of constant stress that can be debilitating, not only in terms of their physical health but also their ability to learn. So what are schools to do?

Below, two writers argue — in their own voices, first, and then together with one voice — that schools and health providers must join forces to make sure children are getting the help they need. Sheila Ohlsson Walker, who studies the intersection between stress and educational outcomes, is an assistant scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also is a board member with Turnaround for Children, a nonprofit that works to help highpoverty schools better serve their students, including by linking them with community mental health providers. Melissa Steel King is an associate partner at Bellwether Education Partners in Washington, D.C., who has years of experience in research and evaluation of educational programs. She began her career in the late 1990s as a teacher in New York City. Her husband, John King Jr., is U.S. Education Secretary. (Note: Bellwether’s past clients include two organizations mentioned in this piece: KIPP charter schools and Startup:Education, a grantmaking organization founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.)

— Emma Brown

King: It was only a few days into my first year of teaching when I found myself trying to coax Jonathan out of the classroom closet. A usually quiet first grader with sweet brown eyes, Jonathan had gotten into an argument with a classmate, thrown a desk-shoving fit, and fled into the closet, refusing to come out. These episodes became a regular occurrence over the next few weeks, and Jonathan struggled academically. Not until a chance conversation with his previous teacher did I learn the story behind his outbursts: At the age of 3, Jonathan and his older brother had been in their apartment when intruders broke in and shot and murdered both of their parents. The two boys hid in a closet until they were found more than 24 hours later.

I quickly understood that his ability to learn was fundamentally intertwined with his need to feel emotionally and physically safe. What I did not know is that neurobiological research by scientists like Sheila, whose work focuses on the intersection between nature and nurture, could have provided me with key insights into how to help Jonathan succeed.

Walker: Stories like Jonathan’s demonstrate the necessity for enhanced teacher training, and for closer partnerships between the fields of education and medicine — especially for our most vulnerable children.

Like many teachers, Melissa’s preparation for classroom instruction had not included material about trauma and its effect on a child’s developing brain. Accordingly, she was unaware that years of neurobiological research have put a name to the force that was driving her student’s behavior: toxic stress.

Stress is a necessary and important factor for enhancing motivation and performance. But it can

become harmful — and, at its worst, “toxic” — when circumstances force the biological stress response system to go into and remain in overdrive, like a gas pedal stuck in the floored position. As in Jonathan’s case, this overactive stress response can hinder healthy neural traffic patterns in the brain and derail the learning process.

In addition to interfering with learning, living with toxic stress can leave children like Jonathan more vulnerable to long-term issues with mental and physical health.

The Adverse Child Experiences (ACE) study, which surveyed middle-aged adults on traumatic events experienced before age 18, found that the higher the dose of adversity in childhood, the likelier it is that one will suffer from chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder later in life. Childhood adversity also increases vulnerability to psychiatric conditions such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) –all of which have profound implications for learning and life in and outside of the classroom.

King: When I began teaching in 1998, I did not have the skills I needed to address the consequences of the trauma that many students in our high-poverty, urban school community had experienced. It was through trial and error that I stumbled upon effective strategies for reaching my students: developing a common definition of a “safe classroom,” helping children identify their emotions, practicing conflict resolution skills, and creating a “peace corner” where overwrought students could regroup if needed. With help from a school counselor, I created clear and

consistent boundaries for my students, including Jonathan, and provided lots of positive reinforcement for any baby steps towards more productive behavior.

A big breakthrough for Jonathan came during a spring unit on “community helpers.” I was in the middle of reading aloud a book about firefighters when he raised his hand to share that “the fire trucks came” to help him the day he lost his parents.

It took incredible trust in me and his classmates to feel safe enough to reveal this deeply painful memory in class. In the days that followed, he shared more memories – and at the same time, I began seeing a dramatic improvement in his stunted reading and writing skills. By the end of the year, he had progressed enough to move out of a reading intervention class, and his academic and emotional journey were poignantly captured in a “Hope” poster on which he carefully sounded out the sentence: “I hope no more bad gois [guys] kill.”

Walker: How was Jonathan able to resume a positive developmental course despite the effects of toxic stress? When children have the right support –- including, always, a relationship with a safe, trusted adult — the very same biological and social mechanisms that can impair a child’s developing brain and immune system also can operate to build health and resilience.

Research in the field of epigenetics, the process by which our genes are expressed, demonstrates that the right support at the right time can act as a dimmer switch, turning on or off genes that can shape a child’s brain and health in positive ways. Good nutrition, exercise, and sleep, along with the healing power of a caring, consistent adult, can mitigate or even reverse

You can read the full article at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2016/06/06/toxic-stress-inthe-classroom-how-a-public-health-approach-could-help/

Tiffany Anderson, the superintendent of the 3,000-student Jennings school district, serves hot cocoa to students on their way to school. Anderson led a turnaround in high-poverty Jennings with the aid of wraparound services like a school-based health clinic and food pantry. [Photo by Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post]

Topeka USD 501 taking a unique approach to address its teacher shortage

By Denise Kahler

Kansas State Department of Education

Nine Topeka Unified School District 501 high school students recently signed letters of intent to pursue teaching careers. In addition to the letter of intent each student a signed contract, guaranteeing them a teaching job in the district when they graduate from college.

Topeka Center for Advanced Learning and Careers (TCALC), Topeka USD 501, held a graduation ceremony for the first time to honor these future teachers to coincide with Educators Rising National Signing Day. Educators Rising Kansas is a network of students, teachers and education leaders who are working together to recruit and prepare the next generation of highly skilled teachers.

Eight students signed with Washburn University, in Topeka, and one signed with Emporia State University, in Emporia. Representatives in attendance from Washburn offered the future Ichabods a $1,000 scholarship for their first year of school.

Not only did the students sign their letter of intent, but USD 501 also had employment contracts on hand, an initiative that was started

eight years ago. When students get to their sophomore or junior year, they can receive a contract that guarantees them a teaching job in the same district they grew up in.

“We’re letting them know well in advance we believe in them, we’re committed to them and this is where they belong,” said Dr. Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of Topeka USD 501.

Along with their contracts, the students received certificates for completing the Educators Rising program.

Teaching as a profession is one of several pathways TCALC offers. In their second semester, students can take a teaching internship course, giving them a chance to experience what it’s like to be at the front of a classroom.

Savannah Bailey, a Topeka High School senior and a future Emporia State University student, spent time her junior year helping teach at a middle school in Topeka USD 501. She decided she fit better in early education, so she helped teach preschool at Shaner Early Learning Academy last semester. This semester, she helped at Lowman Hill Elementary School.

“The main reason why I want to go into teaching is because I want to teach early education and get them ready for their future education,” Bailey said.

Ann McCain, a senior at Highland Park High School and a future Washburn University student, plans to teach high school art. She originally wanted to become an illustrator, but after hearing from teachers that she’s good at helping her classmates learn and keeping them focused, she decided to pursue teaching.

“I would like to be the teacher who is engaged and likes to teach their kids,” McCain said. “If you like teaching the subject and like helping kids learn about it, they not only learn from you, but they can teach you something in return that they looked up on their own time.”

Dr. Anderson said through the teaching as a profession pathway and the contracts offered, 15 former students have come back to the district so far.

“We’ve had a 100% success rate,” she said. “We believe it’s why our teacher shortage gap has declined for multiple years since we’ve started that process.”

[Provided By Topeka Public Schools]

Topeka USD 501’s next generation of teachers is already in the classrooms

By Rafael Garcia Topeka Capital-Journal

The Shaner Early Learning Academy staff couldn’t help but burst into tears and cheers as they were introduced to their newest preschool teacher earlier this year.

After the preschool center saw higher than expected enrollment, principal Regan Baxter needed to open another classroom. But who would lead it?

Baxter had just the person in mind, and she wouldn’t even be new to the academy.

Angelia Gay, a longtime paraprofessional in Topeka USD 501 schools who holds an emergency substitute license, was asked to step in and lead her own classroom this year after helping another teacher in the building.

It’s an informal part of Gay’s training as she participates in a partnership program between Washburn University and Topeka USD 501 to help paraprofessionals earn their teaching licenses.

As schools around the state and country look to new approaches to challenges in finding and hiring teacher candidates, districts like Topeka USD 501 are looking at some of the best talent they already have but who may not have full teaching credentials.

Washburn partnership is helping paraprofessionals get degrees

Gay is one of about 15 Topeka USD 501 this year taking classes through Washburn University’s Paraprofessional to Teacher Program, which aims to help the district “grow its own” set of future educators.

Paraprofessionals who have been with the district at least one year have the chance to enroll in teacher preparation classes at Washburn, while they continue working in the district in their current jobs or as longer-term substitute teachers.

While the program has been in place many years, the program has become much more convenient for paraprofessionals who participate with the university adjusting courses to be offered outside of school hours and increasing its financial aid offerings.

“It didn’t used to be that way,” said Nicole Johnson, human resource director of certified personnel for Topeka USD 501. “Our paras used to have to leave during the work day a few times a week. But Washburn has rearranged their class schedules and made them so much more accessible. They understand that young people

can’t just quit working.”

“It helps people get back to school who maybe couldn’t before because they did have families, and they need incomes,” Johnson added. “It’s been a game changer.”

Students in the Paraprofessional to Teacher program also receive credit for some of their practical experience of having already worked in a classroom — which is a boon for the prospective teachers in getting their degrees and licenses much faster.

Topeka USD 501 sees tremendous value investing in existing staff

Johnson said as schools explore new avenues to address teacher shortages, Topeka USD 501 has found some of its greatest assets are its existing paraprofessionals.

“There’s a crisis of young people going into teaching, and they only last one or two years,” Johnson said. “(You think) anyone can go to school and become a teacher, but that’s not true. The demands are intense. It’s a really tough job. But our paras have been walking the walk for many years. They know it, they see it and they’re hand-in-hand with our teachers, so when they make that commitment to go to school, they stay.

“They get that degree, and they won’t change professions.”

For Gay, the new preschool teacher, education always seemed like her end goal, especially since she’s from a family of career educators.

She found great value in her job as a paraprofessional at Shaner and other Topeka USD 501 schools, often doing much of the same work as the teachers she assisted.

“My goal as a para was always to support my teacher, and to make sure anything they needed was taken care of,” Gay said. “I was supporting my students, I was running small groups, I was de-escalating. I was still teaching, but under a different title. That’s where that experience comes from. I was getting to do that in a classroom already, but now I get to move up.”

While she imagines that she eventually would have found a way to earn her teaching degree, she knows it would not have been nearly as fast without the help of the partnership program. In addition to working at Shaner and studying at Washburn, Gay is a full-time mom at home, she said.

“(The program) made me feel like I could do this — not just the program, but the people,” she said. “I felt capable, like I could afford it, and that I could still be there for my family and work this job.”

Angela Gay, preschool teacher at Shaner Early Learning Academy, gives 4-year-old Harley Mark a book about polar bears to check out after Thursday’s naptime. [Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal]

Local schools to welcome state’s first apprentice teachers

By Sarah Motter WIBW

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - A Topeka TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Area schools will soon welcome the state’s first-ever teacher apprentices as Kansas launches a new pilot program to put educators on the fast track.

The Kansas State Department of Education says that 15 aspiring teachers will head to classrooms across the state with the help of the Kansas Registered Teacher Apprenticeship program, which kicked off on Tuesday, July 25. The apprentices have been sponsored by eight school districts and were introduced to the pilot program during a workshop held by the Dept.

Officials noted that the program combines endurance and training of a registered apprenticeship with specialized education for those who want to become teachers. During the 4-year program, the apprentices will work alongside an experienced educator as they serve in a real classroom while earning a bachelor’s degree in a teacher training program at an accredited university or college.

“This is an important step to alleviating the shortage of educators we have in Kansas,” said Kansas Commissioner of Education Dr. Randy Watson. “It is a win-win situation for individuals who want to pursue teaching as a career, school districts that have a shortage of educators and our students who deserve a quality teacher in every classroom. The Kansas State Board of Education and KSDE are pleased to partner with the Kansas Department of Commerce to offer this opportunity.”

KSDE indicated that a teacher apprentice will aid in lesson planning, curriculum development,

instruction delivery and student assessments under the guidance of a paid mentor teacher. The mentor teacher wills serve as a guide and role model throughout the program. This will allow the chance to see experienced educators in action and collaborate and learn from colleagues. Gradually, the apprentice will take on more responsibilities as they progress.

School districts set to participate in the pilot program include:

• Salina Unified School District 305.

• Wellington USD 353.

• Lyons USD 405.

• Dodge City USD 433.

• Auburn-Washburn USD 437.

• Tonganoxie USD 464.

• Topeka USD 501.

• Attica USD 511.

Officials noted that the program will ensure administrative processes are in place to open a statewide program for the next school year. Districts who participate in the program will be awarded grants to cover the college or university tuition for the apprentice, half of the apprentice’s wages and mentor teacher awards.

“This is historic for the state of Kansas,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce Mike Beene. “The registered teacher apprenticeship is a good way to engage existing talent in the state and keep them here.”

For more information about the registered teacher apprenticeship, click HERE.

File Photo (WIBW)

These Topeka students are top 10 in the nation for STEM teaching

By Rafael Garcia Topeka Capital-Journal

The first students Manaia Isaia and Ainsley Schimmel ever had were stuffed animals.

“I would line up my stuffed animals in a room, use my lamp like one of those old school projectors, say ‘OK, class,’ and hand out papers on the floor to all of my ‘students,’” Schimmel said with a laugh.

Isaia even remembers video-conferencing in a friend — before it was cool — to help teach her fuzzy friends as an elementary school student.

These were the two Topeka West students’ first brushes with the field of education, and each one’s memories played a role in piquing the students’ interest in the Teaching as a Profession pathway at the Topeka Center for Advanced Learning and Careers.

But never did Isaia or Schimmel ever imagine they’d have the chance to share that passion on a national stage.

The two students each qualified for and placed in the top 10 students for STEM lesson planning and delivery at the National Educators Rising conference this past weekend in Washington, D.C.

“They’re great kids, and this was their moment to shine on a national stage,” said Diane Kimsey, the students’ Teaching as a Profession teacher. Kimsey accompanied the pair to the four-day conference.

Manaia Isaia and Ainsley Schimmel’s teaching path to nationals

Before they walked into the ballroom packed with 2,000 high schoolers all set on becoming future educators, Kimsey took a second to let the two students get ready for the moment.

Over the course of the past year and under Kimsey’s wing, Isaia and Schimmel had become a part of a small family of TCALC students learning from and inspiring each other to be teachers.

Teaching, it turns out, is much, much more than speaking in front of a group of kids, although that’s a portion of it. Through the course of Kimsey’s class, the Teaching as a Profession students learned that a welldesigned and well-executed lesson can not only teach students — it can change their life trajectories.

The goal, then, is to do for future students what their teachers have done for them.

“I don’t remember everything I learned in elementary school, but I remember the teachers’ names that I connected with and made a difference like they made a difference in my life,” Schimmel said.

In preparing for the Educators Rising conference, Isaia and Schimmel, as well as their other classmates, prepared STEM lesson plans, using state education standards and presented those lessons to students at Meadows Elementary.

Isaia had students had students learn about potential and kinetic energy using a marshmallow catapult to save a princess, while Schimmel taught students about density by having them use a small rowboat to save a gummy worm.

In competition, panels of judges reviewed the

At the National Educators Rising future teachers conference, TCALC’s Ainsley Schimmel and Manaia Isaia placed eighth and ninth, respectively, in the nation for STEM lesson planning delivery. [Submitted/Diane Kimsey]

students’ lesson plans and recordings of lesson delivery, while also asking the students questions about their work. Isaia and Schimmel soared through regionals in November and placed first and second, respectively, at the state competition in February, qualifying them for nationals in June.

It was this journey the pair of students reflected on as Kimsey opened the door and showed them a ballroom full of students just as eager to teach as they were.

“Manaia and I kept looking at each other, thinking, ‘We’re in Washington, D.C., right now competing at nationals,” Schimmel said.

What it means to be a teacher

Beside competing, the students and Kimsey got to meet with high school students from all around the country and attend workshops on becoming effective teachers.

They also spent spare time touring landmarks around the country’s capital — experiences they hope can one day inform the way they teach.

“It stepped up my knowledge of what teaching can be,” Isaia said. “It was about seeing other people from around the country and learning about why they want to be teachers.”

Kimsey, who just wrapped up her first year leading one of the two Teaching as a Profession sections, and her counterpart Robin Dixon were also honored at the conference as being among of the top teacher leaders in the nation.

Tim Murrell, the retiring TCALC principal, said Kimsey and Dixon have been instrumental in building up the program.

“They are master teachers who have been able to come in and teach these kids what teaching is all about, from the ground level on up,” Murrell said.

“Without this pathway and without our teacher, we wouldn’t be learning about this profession, we wouldn’t be able to do what she’s done for us for other kids,” Schimmel said.

Leaving the conference left them inspired and even more passionate about one day becoming educators. It’s a changing and challenging profession, but it’s one that is ultimately about making a difference in students’ lives.

“You can’t teach a curriculum if your kids don’t feel like they belong — like they don’t have a place in your classroom,” Schimmel said.

As a graduate of the Teaching as a Profession pathway, Isaia already has a letter of intent-to-hire from the school district, once she transfers to Emporia State University and receives her teaching degree.

Schimmel still has a year left at Topeka West, but she’s already planning to meet Isaia at Emporia State one day. Both are ecstatic at the prospect of one day returning to teach at McCarter Elementary, the school they were both at when they had their first brushes with teaching as a calling.

“I never thought I’d want to stay in Topeka, but going to this conference made me realize how far

You can read the full article at: https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/education/2022/07/01/stem-teaching-topeka-manaia-isaia-ainsley-schimmel-place-educators-rising/7758821001/

This Topeka USD 501 school has an in-house program to grow the next generation of teachers

By Rafael Garcia Topeka Capital-Journal

For Gabriel Davis, there are few things that can compare to seeing a kid’s face light up when something finally clicks for them and he’s able to teach them something new.

It’s like a three-point buzzer beater to take the NBA Finals. It’s like Disneyland.

It’s joy.

“There’s something about teaching that just gives me joy,” the Highland Park High School junior said. “I love doing it, and I enjoy it so much.”

Davis and about a dozen other Topeka USD 501 juniors and seniors are part of the Teaching as a Profession pathway at the Topeka Center for Advanced Learning and Careers.

The pathway, as one of several career programs offered at the center since it opened in 2018, has churned out classes of new prospective teachers in the four school years since.

But even though they’re still students themselves, the Teaching as a Profession students are already finding a way to change younger students’ lives as future educators.

Ditching the textbooks

This year, students in Diane Kimsey’s and Robin Dixon’s Teaching as a Pathway classes have been busy, using the lessons in the class not only as an opportunity to learn about pedagogy but as a chance to teach others in the district.

In the fall, the TCALC future teachers led more than 3,000 of USD 501’s fourth-, fifth- and seventh-graders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics classes at the Kanza Education and Science Park.

Ainsley Schimmel, a junior at Topeka West, even had the chance to teach her 11-year-old sister.

“It was so cool seeing her answer these questions about subjects she didn’t learn from a textbook,” Schimmel said. “She learned them from an activity I got to lead and teach her.”

The future educators are also members of Educators Rising, an initiative of the National Education Association teacher’s union to develop teachers in U.S. high schools.

Through that organization, the students have participated in regional and state teaching competitions against other schools. They developed lesson plans, recorded themselves presenting those lessons to students at Meadows Elementary and compiled reflections on their lessons.

“In our lesson plans, we had to have our standards put in, our teaching directions, classroom management, materials — pretty much anything you think you might need to teach that lesson or have a substitute teach the lesson,” said Athena Stiles, a junior at Topeka High School.

Manaia Isaia, a senior at Topeka West, took first

place at the state competition earlier in March, with Schimmel taking second. Both will head to the national Educators Rising competition in Washington, D.C., in June with Kimsey, who also is a math consulting teacher for USD 501.

This semester, Kimsey’s class has also volunteered in giving STEM lessons at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center every Wednesday, leading children at the museum in activities teaching concepts like engineering and chemistry.

The class is also working on putting together interactive video field trips to places around the city and state as part of their unit on project-based learning. Those interactive videos will later be made available to students across the district.

And this week, the students will record themselves reading children’s books. They’ll then put QR codes of those videos in books at local elementary schools for students to use when they have trouble reading or comprehending books by themselves.

Mostly, the class has focused on learning how to teach beyond the textbook, instead opting for interactive lessons using objects like pencil catapults or higher tech robots that students can program to dance or follow instructions. Kimsey’s class has used lessons from a book called “Ditch That Textbook,” which prioritizes hands-on activities.

“It’s not about actually throwing away the textbook,

but it’s about learning how to apply it to something the kids can relate to — giving them a reason why they are learning and then giving them something they can put their hands on,” Kimsey said.

The next generation of teacher

Military kid. Dancer. Band geek. Classroom nerd. Clutch basketball and softball players. The students in Kimsey’s class are a motley crew of different backgrounds and Topeka high schools.

But that’s what sets them apart and makes them more effective educators, the students said, and having a wide range of perspectives in the Teaching as a Profession class has helped them tackle problems from several different angles.

“As one of those students with an IEP, having a comprehension disability has made me really struggle as a student,” said Emma Banka-Bayless, a senior at Topeka West. “I could never learn well growing up, so being able to learn from hands-on activities or from catapults or from watching a Sandlot video to teach about kinetic energy — it’s how I could’ve learned more easily.”

“It makes me so happy to see these kids are getting something I wasn’t able to have,” Banka-Bayless said.

Collectively, the Teaching as a Profession students will be the next generation of teacher not only in the sense that they’re next, but also that they’ll approach the job with an entirely different lens on what it means

You can read the full article at: https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/education/2022/03/27/tcalc-teaching-profession-students-educators-kansas-jobs/7141226001/

Highland Park junior Gabriel Davis helps Blake Little, 3, uncover a dinosaur toy hidden with a baking soda block Wednesday at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center. [Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal]

How increased state funding for special education will help two schools in Topeka USD 501

By Stacey Saldanha-Olson Topeka Capital-Journal

Schools across Kansas can now hire more education specialists and address the needs of special education programs.

In a bipartisan effort, Kansas legislators increased funding for special education by $75 million.

This extra funding will be used across the state to give resources to special education programs, including the Jardine schools, which has one of the largest special education programs in Topeka 501 Public Schools.

Roughly one in four students at Jardine Elementary and Middle School have an individualized education program, Jardine Elementary principal Angela Pomroy said. An IEP is a document outlining extra educational accommodations for a special education student.

IEPs can be applied for a large array of needs including behavioral, mental health and accommodations. When an IEP is created, a school is legally required by the federal government to provide the listed accommodations.

Jardine elementary and middle schools have struggled with funding

Between Jardine’s elementary and middle school, the special education program is one of the largest in the area, Pomroy said.

Jardine special education director Jennifer Harrington said the program’s largest hurdle is recruiting special education providers.

“We’re not only just competing with other school districts, we’re competing with the medical field as well,” Harrington said. “So in order for our students to have high-quality services, we have to be able to recruit and retain staff.”

Harrington said the medical field provides work year-round instead of nine and a half months like schools. Because of that, she said schools have to be more competitive with their salaries.

To fully function, the school needs psychologists, speech pathologists, social workers, physical therapists and other providers for special education, she said.

“Right now, I think it’s just the overall shortage of people even going into the field, which makes it even more challenging,” Harrington said.

Because Jardine has struggled to find special educators, some of the needed positions have been filled by contacting out services, which costs a lot more, Harrington said.

Special education teacher Meredith Royston said she feels and sees the restraints of lower funding.

“Our SPED population is pretty large, and we are in a large school,” Royston said. “I see that need from those gen-ed teachers on a daily basis, they just need

more help. Because I mean, they have 25 kids in a class. So, just even having an extra adult in there is very beneficial for them.”

Royston said it’s difficult to see students struggling.

“It hurts my heart a little bit,” Royston said. “My husband is also a teacher here. My child is in kindergarten in 501. So, it is a reflection in my life on a daily basis. So, I just I think that was more funding, we can do a whole lot better. We’re doing the best we can now.

“I definitely think that and there’s some really great things happening every day that I see from these teachers that put their heart and soul into into these kids every day. But I think we can still do better with more funding.”

Jardine provides care to private and parochial school youths with IEPs

Another added pressure to Jardine’s special education program is the amount of people they provide aid to, Pomroy said.

Harrington said they don’t provide care to only the students attending Jardine, but they provide care for any child in need of an IEP within their school boundaries.

Along with Jardine students, the program provides care for any private and parochial student in the area

and Shawnee County Juvenile Detention Center youths who have an IEP.

That increases the school’s count by an additional 190 youths a year.

Pomroy said because providing the care outlined in IEPs is required, sometimes the school had to take money out of the general fund to address special education needs.

With the added funding in the budget, some general fund money can return to its original purpose, including providing extra care or maintenance for the school as a whole, Pomroy said.

Legislature increased school funding overall and for special education

The increased funding was passed from Senate Bill 387. The House voted 115-2 and the Senate voted 35-2 on April 26. The bill provided $303 million in new school funding, including the $75 million for special education.

How the $75 million will be spent will be decided by the Kansas State Board of Education.

Topeka USD 501 leaders say they’re grateful for legislative action

Topeka Public Schools general director of instructional services Aarion Gray said superintendent Tiffany Anderson and several principals are writing

You can read the full article at: https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/education/2023/09/05/us-education-secretary-miguel-cardona-in-topeka-for-school-tour-kickoff/70739313007/

About one in four students have some kind of special needs that the school is legally required to provide by the state and federal government. [Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal]

Topeka’s TCALC should be model for improving teacher diversity, education secretary says

By Rafael Garcia Topeka Capital-Journal

It was years before Misael Hernandez ever had a teacher who had the same color of skin that he did.

So when the Hispanic student did find one in a teacher from a neighboring classroom, Hernandez was astounded at the level of familiarity and support that teacher was able to provide him, even if he wasn’t her direct student.

That kind of feeling of a classroom “family” is what Hernandez hopes to bring as a Hispanic future teacher.

“I don’t want other people to go through what I had to go through,” said Hernandez, a student in the Topeka Center for Advanced Learning and Careers’ Teaching as a Profession pathway.

Hernandez and several other students were part of a panel Tuesday that hosted U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona as he embarks on a multistate “Raise The Bar” tour of public schools.

The bus tour, which kicked off in Topeka, is meant to showcase various ways local schools are pushing themselves to boost student achievement.

Education secretary Miguel Cardona highlights teacher diversity in Topeka stop

In Topeka, Cardona focused on teacher diversity, and he toured TCALC and the Brown v. Board National Historical Park.

In Topeka USD 501, only about 10% of teachers are nonwhite, despite almost two in three district students being minorities. That’s not markedly different from national data, which shows that about 80% of teachers are white despite only 47% of U.S. students also being white.

To help address that gap, USD 501 has focused its efforts on a “grow your own” program that encourages students from the predominantly minority district to consider teaching as a career, and potentially return to work at the district.

The Teaching as a Profession pathway at TCALC puts together high school students from USD 501’s high schools to learn about pedagogy and get handson experience working with and teaching younger students.

The Teaching as a Profession pathway at TCALC puts together high school students from USD 501’s high schools to learn about pedagogy and get hands-

on experience working with and teaching younger students.

“Segregation didn’t end that day. We know that education is the great equalizer, and education will combat ignorance. Your stories and your experiences and why you want to get into the profession is a direct reflection of what Brown v. Board was trying to do.”

Lack of teacher respect can be barrier to increased diversity

Students on the panel, as well as teachers on a separate panel, told Cardona that some of the barriers they face or faced in getting into education included lack of current diversity in teaching, poor pay or even a negative perception of teaching as a profession.

Ainsley Sha-Win Schimmel, a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and a recent TCALC graduate, told Cardona that school leaders often emphasize putting students first in all contexts

But that can come at the expense of considering the experiences and needs of teachers, the future educator said, especially as educators deal with second-hand trauma in working with students who were deeply affected by the pandemic.

“The people in front of the desk are just as important as the people behind,” Sha-Win Schimmel said.

TCALC’s Teaching as a Profession program can be national model, secretary says

Speaking to reporters after the panels, Cardona said he was impressed by the program and wants to see more schools around the country emulate it.

He lauded the students’ enthusiasm and understanding in entering a profession that often seems under political attack.

“There are folks who are trying to make a name for themselves by trying to divide public education or attack and critique it,” he said. “We’re here trying to raise the bar, and we do that by lifting up the stories of students who are in programs to become teachers and lifting up the stories of teachers who got into the profession.”

Part of increasing respect for teachers has to involve increasing pay, he said. At average salaries of $40,130 for starting teachers and $54,988 across all teachers, Kansas ranks Nos. 34 and 35, respectively, for teacher salary in the country, according to data collected by the National Education Association.

Topeka USD 501 superintendent Tiffany Anderson added her support for policy makers to increase support for teacher diversity by expanding programs that help pay for college tuition and funding to raise teacher salaries.

“I still believe that the teaching profession should be the highest paid profession there is,” Anderson said, “because it is the one profession that saves lives year

You can read the full article at: https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/education/2023/09/05/us-education-secretary-miguel-cardona-in-topeka-for-school-tour-kickoff/70739313007/

College prep students at TCALC welcome in Miguel Cardona, U.S. secretary of education, to their classroom Tuesday to show what they’re learning. [Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal]

Topeka USD 501 working to reduce number of students ‘below grade level’

By Rafael Garcia Topeka Capital-Journal

Kansas state assessment scores are out, at least to schools, and in Topeka USD 501, signs of progress also still show a high amount of students who are scoring at levels considered below grade level.

The Topeka Board of Education on Thursday heard a presentation on the preliminary English language arts and math scores for students who took the annual test in April.

Compared to the past few years of COVID-era learning, many schools — especially elementary schools that had already been among the lowest performing in Topeka — saw positive movement in reducing the numbers of students scoring below grade level.

What do levels mean on Kansas state assessments?

In Kansas, schools are legally required to give annual state assessments in English language arts and math to third through eighth grades, as well as 10th grade.

Students’ raw scores on the assessments are then turned into a scale score that ranges between 220 and 380. This range is further divided into four category ranges, which differ across grade levels and subjects.

Students who score in the level 1 ranges show “a limited ability to understand and use the skills and knowledge needed for postsecondary readiness.” That’s compared to levels 2, 3 and 4, which indicate basic, effective and excellent abilities, respectively.

Kansas State Department of Education officials have cautioned against using the state assessment categories as indicators of students being above or below grade level.

In Topeka USD 501’s presentation Thursday, officials defined level 1 as being “below grade level” and grouped levels 2, 3 and 4 as simply being “on or above grade level.”

Data is still preliminary and subject to change. Full results, including at the statewide level, aren’t usually released to the general public until later in the fall.

What Topeka USD 501’s 2023 state assessment scores say

More than a third of students at Randolph, Meadows, Lowman Hill, State Street, Scott, Jardine and Quincy Elementary schools scored “below grade level” on the English language arts assessment. Half or more of students at Williams, Highland Park Central and Ross elementary schools scored “below” grade level.

Scores on the math assessments were relatively better, with most elementary schools having fewer students score at level 1, at least compared to the

Topeka USD 501 is focusing its efforts on getting more students to score above the level 1, considered to be “below grade level,” on the state assessments. [Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal]

English language arts scores.

At the secondary level, most middle and high schools had at least half of students score “below grade level” on the assessments.

Some Topeka USD 501 schools had fewer students ‘below grade level’

USD 501 officials said the results more or less lined up with expectations. They pointed out the context that many of the lower performing schools also have disproportionate numbers of low-income and special education students, who face additional challenges in achieving academic success.

What has been promising, though, is seeing lower percentages of students who score in the level 1 category at certain schools, particularly the schools with higher numbers of at-risk students, on one assessment or the other.

District officials credited that movement to focused intervention efforts for struggling students. Those efforts include scaffolded instruction, in which lessons are easy to understand for students of all levels of ability and understanding, and smallgroup instruction.

As far as the high school scores, district leaders also said that many students stop taking the assessments as seriously, and that’s been the case for years. Students who otherwise are straight-A students and score well on ACT and AP classes

often fail their state assessments, largely because of a lack of effort.

How Kansas state assessment scores are used

As assessments meant to be used more at the classroom, building and district levels, the assessment scores by themselves have little bearing on any one student’s learning.

But Topeka USD 501 leaders and teachers combine those scores with other data sets collected throughout the year to figure out what students’ needs are and how to respond to those needs.

Those responses may include the scaffolded or small-group instruction strategies, or maybe focused training and professional development for teachers.

How to check your Topeka USD 501 student’s state assessment scores

Although school- and district-wide datasets aren’t available until later in the fall, parents may already access their individual students’ state assessment scores and reports, which include parent guides to understanding and interpreting the results.

Parents may register to see those reports and results at parentportal.kiteaai.org, using the email address provided to Topeka USD 501 when the student was registered.

CapFed Best News: USD 501 will bring lunch to student homes if needed

By Linda Ditch

Special to The Capital-Journal

Just two days after Topeka Unified School District 501 began its mobile lunch and distribution program, superintendent Tiffany Anderson said Thursday the district already had distributed meals to about 3,000 students.

Anderson anticipates that number will climb to nearly 4,000 by the end of the week as board members and school staff also are delivering the lunch-breakfast combo bags to homes of families who need that service.

“Our children are everything to us in Topeka Public Schools, and the first thing we thought of was how are we going to feed our kids that aren’t in our buildings because so many people need that,” said board of education member Sue Bolley, who was at Chase Middle School on Thursday to help distribute meals. “And the need is going to grow as people are laid off.

“So I’m hoping all of our area food pantries are gearing up to help feed our city. It just means everything to make sure our children are fed and to comfort our families.”

Topeka Public Schools Food Service will provide grab-and-go meals for breakfast and lunch until March 27. Meal distribution will occur from 11 a.m. to noon each weekday. Next week, educational enrichment packs will be included with the meals.

Then, starting March 30, the district’s school bus drivers will drop off meals and instructional materials at students’ designated bus stops.

Anderson delivered meals to Debbie Cruz’s family on Thursday. Cruz has stagefour cancer and isn’t able to bring her grandchildren, whom she is raising, to pick up meals. The family was also adopted by the district office at Christmas.

“That level of support not only lets kids know we’re here to support them and love on them, but we haven’t forgotten that there are some really critical needs our families are struggling with, especially families that have recently become unemployed because their businesses have closed down or their hours have been reduced,” Anderson said.

The meals are free for children ages 1-18. For now, distribution sites include:

• Highland Park High School, 2424 S.E. California Ave.

• St. David’s Episcopal Church, 3916 S.W. 17th St.

• Lowman Hill Elementary, 1101 S.W. Garfield Ave.

• Meadows Elementary School, 201 S.W. Clay St.

• Ross Elementary School, 1400 S.E. 34th St.

• Quincy Elementary School, 1500 N.E. Quincy St.

• Pine Ridge Prep, 1110 S.E. Highland Ave.

• French Middle School, 5257 S.W. 33rd St.

• Landon Middle School, 731 S.W. Fairlawn Road

• Robinson Middle School, 1125 S.W. 14th St.

• Jardine Middle School, 2600 S.W. 33rd St.

• Shaner Early Learning Academy, 1600 S.W. 34th St.

• Chase Middle School, 2250 N.E. State St.

A number of faith-based organizations have sent volunteers to help distribute meals. In conjunction with the district’s meal plan, volunteer organizations continue to distribute backpacks of snacks to students.

“In times of adversity and challenge, it gives us all an opportunity to be our better selves and to demonstrate how we can beat any challenge by working collectively. This is a great example of that,” Anderson said.

Topeka USD 501 offers a COVID-19 helpline, 785-GET-HELP (785-438-4357), that parents can call to inquire about general questions and needs. The district’s website, topekapublicschools.net, also has information, as do its Facebook and Instagram pages.

Topeka USD 501 board member Sue Bolley, right, places lunch items on a table while Tiffany Anderson, left, talks with Woaini, a USD 501 student, during a home food delivery Thursday morning. Anderson and Bolley were out delivering food while other school sites provided drivethrough services to get school lunches into the hands of hungry students. [Evert Nelson/Special to The Capital-Journal]

Topeka USD 501 to offer daily ‘micro school’ option for elementary students

By Rafael Garcia

The Capital-Journal

Topeka Unified School District will enroll elementary school families who had opted into the district’s hybrid learning option into a new five-day-a-week “micro school” learning model, superintendent Tiffany Anderson told The Topeka Capital-Journal on Thursday morning.

Under the model, the district’s elementary school students will attend in-person classes five days a week in classrooms that will be limited to 15 students or fewer. That will help limit each student’s exposure to 15 people maximum, Anderson said.

Families will still have the option to enroll in both completely remote learning and the hybrid learning model as earlier presented, although Anderson said she expects most families will prefer the micro school model.

The district will also continue to follow its reopening timeline, with the first day of school, Sept. 9, online for all students and in-person activities being phased back in as pandemic conditions and county health orders allow.

Anderson said the district had been looking specifically at East Topeka, where she said the pandemic has taken a stronger toll than on other neighborhoods in the city. More of the district’s lower-income households are in East Topeka, and many of the parents there are also service workers who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Additionally, district staff members were concerned that continued remote and hybrid learning options could cause students who already face other issues to fall behind their peers.

“We know that prisons are built based around the literacy level around third or fourth grade, and the longer we wait to have our early learners back and engaged in an instructional environment like school in a rigorous way, the more likely we may contribute to an academic gap that we may not be able to rebound from,” Anderson said. “Particularly for the young learners who may have had exceptionality — free or reduced lunch students who may

have had even less exposure to preschool and quality child care at the early levels.”

After looking at parent feedback, as well as the needs of students who might not have reliable access to internet, Anderson said, she and district staff began looking at the possibility of hosting micro classrooms at Quincy Elementary. Many of the school’s students come from the Topeka Rescue Mission, and Anderson said she worried those students wouldn’t have reliable access to internet for classwork.

The school’s staff eagerly bought into the plan, and district administrators later decided to expand the learning model to all elementary schools. The micro classroom model will also help teachers who might have their own children who would otherwise need child care during the school day. However, Anderson cautioned that COVID-19 spread could still force schools to send students home to quarantine, and she advised parents to keep backup child care plans.

To implement micro classrooms, Anderson

said the district will have to use more of its certified support staff — people like instructional coaches with teaching licenses but who typically don’t teach students directly — as regular day-to-day teachers. In theory, the learning model requires more classrooms, but Anderson said schools will use spaces like gyms and libraries to serve as additional classrooms, with the added benefit that the larger spaces will allow for social distancing.

Although the district is referring to the learning model as micro classrooms, Anderson said the plan is more of a modified version of what a traditional micro classroom school would look like. She said the model is also an opportunity to look at what teaching and learning in smaller settings could look like not only in a pandemic but afterward.

The district will release additional information on micro schools and broader reopening plans later Thursday and at the board of education’s evening meeting, Anderson said.

Superintendent Tiffany Anderson outlined a new five-day-a-week “micro school” learning model for elementary students during the pandemic. [Evert Nelson/Special to The Capital-Journal]

Schools must go beyond slavery, civil rights

in teaching

race and equity, USD 501 superintendent says

By Rafael Garcia

The Capital-Journal

As students return to school this fall, they are coming back not only in the context of a pandemic but that of a society grappling with the social justice issues, and Topeka Unified School District 501 superintendent Tiffany Anderson said schools need to teach students how to approach conversations on race and equity.

Anderson, who also co-chairs Gov. Laura Kelly’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice, spoke on the topic on The Topeka Capital-Journal’s Teaching Topeka podcast. She said discussions on racial equity must begin on the foundation that opportunity gaps exist not only in Kansas but across the nation, based on the color of a person’s skin.

“We know that race is a social construct, but because of the color of your skin or how you appear, there are injustices that may take place and are viewed quite publicly,” she said. “Whether it’s the disproportionate number of people in prison or the treatment of people of color by the police on camera, there are other inequities based on race that we can back up with data that we know to be true, regarding a pattern of inequity solely based on this social construct of race.”

Tackling those issues and creating strong justice requires society to look at patterns and trends of inequities, and schools are one of the best places to look at those patterns, since other issues are often tied to education, or lack of access to quality versions of it, she said.

Most of the nation’s incarcerated population are people who didn’t graduate from high school, she said. That is particularly a problem when there is a disproportionate amount of people of color, particularly men, who are in prison.

Anderson said schools also have an “incredible opportunity to have courageous conversations about the things students see,” since all citizens have to go through school at some point. For that reason, schools are uniquely situated to play a role in created an informed, socially conscious generation, she said.

“Students are not colorblind, and I don’t want them to be,” she said. “I want them to be color conscious, because our color brings something into the classroom, our history. Schools can place a role in understanding race as a social construct, understanding ethnicity — which is different — but also understanding our differences and how that makes us collectively better as individuals in the community.”

The education field also has an opportunity to be a great “disruptor” of the status quo, Anderson said. Before arriving at USD 501, Anderson was the superintendent of Jennings Public Schools, near and during the Ferguson protests in 2016, and she led community social justice reforms in the wake of those protests.

This summer’s protests have been different, she said, and there has been a bigger groundswell of support for social justice movements and conversations on racial equity. More people, who may have previously been hesitant to approach the topic, have been willing to at least talk about it this year, and that is something that

has carried over into the schools, she said.

Anderson said recent protests have brought more light to Black history, specifically things students may never have learned about in school. One example is the 1921 Black Wall Street Massacre in Tulsa, a riot that killed dozens of people and destroyed a neighborhood that was considered the wealthiest Black community at the time.

In USD 501, teachers use a revamped curriculum to make sure students learn about racial equity starting in kindergarten, in an age-appropriate way.

“In Kansas, if you follow the state’s curriculum, it would be possible that you’d be interpreting history from the lens of slavery in Kansas as the first introduction for students, which is unfortunate, because that should not be the first introduction for students,” Anderson said. “But if that is the first introduction for students in upper elementary and middle school grades, then students might form this impression, an inaccurate impression, that slavery is where all things started.”

While topics like Black Lives Matter have taken a political undertone, Anderson said any movement on racial equity has to be political, since any legislation to protect people of color will ultimately require political movement.

Social justice work is never over, Anderson said, but the current national climate has been promising in that it has given people a new perspective on the issue. In addition to overhauling curricula to make sure students are introduced to these concepts early in their school careers, Anderson said schools have to take an “unapologetic look” at systems that might promote the

school-to-prison pipeline.

Anderson said societies build prisons based on the number of students who haven’t mastered literacy skills by third or fourth grade. That is one of the reasons Anderson requires that any new principals in USD 501 visit the local prisons and juvenile detention centers and look at student data on ethnicity, free/ reduced lunch status and other patterns.

“Systemic racism is held up by the legs of oppressive attitudes, mindsets, biases and discrimination,” she said. “We have to break down those legs and move those, so that this table is level, and we level the playing field for everyone. Until we’re able to do that, we’re going to be in this place for a long time.

“Just the fact that I’m the first Black female superintendent in Topeka Public Schools, and one of five in the state of Kansas, and there’s almost 400 superintendents in Kansas, one has to ask themselves, what’s the system that prevented more people of color from being in (superintendents) in Kansas?”

And while lasting social justice might take years to achieve, Anderson said schools are playing their part by training the next generation of leaders. Their voices will be key in effecting change, she said.

“Voiceless people are overlooked, and individuals without hope feed systems of injustice, so our young people have the opportunity to not only be heard but to really make sustainable changes that will generations to come,” Anderson said.

Listen to the full interview online in the third episode of Teaching Topeka, The Capital-Journal’s new podcast series exploring education topics during the pandemic.

Topeka Unified School District 501 Tiffany Anderson, who serves as co-chair of Gov. Laura Kelly’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice, discussed how Kansas educators can bring that topic into classrooms on the Topeka Capital-journal’s Teaching and Topeka podcast. [Rafael Garcia/Special to The Capital-Journal]

Schools use home visits, calls to convince parents to choose in-person classes in fall

By Hannah Natanson WASHINGTON POST

As the school year ends and summer approaches, the persuasion campaign to convince families to choose inperson learning this fall is on with a vengeance.

In Florida, the superintendent of the state’s largest district is knocking on doors to talk up the benefits of face-to-face instruction. In Topeka, Kan., school officials are traveling around neighborhoods hosting mobile vaccination clinics, where they deliver shots alongside reminders about the effectiveness of inperson schooling. In Virginia, a principal visited the homes of 50 of her remote learners to assuage their fears about in-person schooling next semester.

And in the San Antonio Independent School District, Superintendent Pedro Martinez has for weeks sent out every available member of his staff, from social workers to central office personnel, to chat with the roughly 20 percent of families who indicated they’d like to remain virtual next school year. San Antonio will offer remote learning in the 2020-2021 school year — unlike some states and districts, which are ditching that option entirely — but Martinez is hoping he can convince most families to forgo it.

The all-out effort, which has stretched into evenings and weekends, is exhausting.

“My teachers are tired, there’s just no question about it,” Martinez said. He asked his staff to rest for the second half of June, so they could recuperate before the start of summer school in mid-July. Martinez views summer programming, targeted to students who have struggled most, as one of his best remaining chances to reel in reluctant families.

School districts nationwide have promised they will offer five days a week of in-person learning next year, representing a long-awaited return to normalcy. They’ve spent months blocking out unconventional classroom spaces and developing detailed guidelines so students and teachers can reenter school buildings safely in the fall at full, pre-pandemic capacities.

Many districts also brought back large portions of their student bodies over the course of the semester. Nationally, the percentage of fourth-graders and eighth-graders learning online-only had fallen to about 25 percent by April, down from a high of roughly 50 percent in January, federal data show.

But resistance to in-person learning is hard to eradicate, school officials say, especially in low-income households and among families of color, who have been disproportionately devastated by the pandemic. For some, the death of a parent or sudden unemployment forced students to take jobs they can neither give up nor balance with a regular school schedule. In other households, parents fear for immunocompromised children or family members. And there is general, continuing fear of the virus, as vaccines remain unavailable for very young children.

“In previous decades, the doors open and you expect students to show up,” said Alberto M. Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. “This is the opposite.”

The stakes, school leaders and education advocates

say, could not be higher. It’s clear the pandemic slowed academic progress across the board and widened equity gaps in education. In-person learning is seen by most as the best way to start making up for some of these discrepancies.

Moreover, another divide is starting to emerge: As grades come out for this semester, many school districts are noticing that remote learners lagged behind their in-person peers.

In Northern Virginia’s Fairfax County, West Springfield Elementary Principal Kelly Sheers said she is certain “we can provide the best learning in person” — and she has set a goal of returning 100 percent of her 565 students to physical classrooms next fall.

That’s why, when she learned some families were feeling hesitant, she started phoning parents.

Sheers also spent a day driving through leafy neighborhoods to visit the homes of dozens of her roughly 150 remaining remote learners. In every case, the parents had already selected in-person instruction for the fall — but she wanted to make extra-sure of their intentions.

At home after home, Sheers gave out brightly colored sunglasses. She praised child after child for their hard work during a difficult year, saying she was proud of them. And she ended every visit with the same message.

“We’re excited to see you back in person next year,” she said. “Five days!”

Building ‘relationships and trust’

Tiffany Anderson’s strategy to get as many of her roughly 13,200 students back into classrooms as she could, over the past year, followed what she calls the

“wraparound” approach. The superintendent for Topeka Public Schools Unified District No. 501 asked all her principals to establish direct contact with every single family they serve. She mandated that two unexplained absences in a row trigger a home visit, including for remote learners.

And she sent employees out to community hubs — grocery stores, laundromats, “wherever families go to get their needs served” — to explain the district’s fall plans and argue for the advantages of in-person instruction.

Now, she is merging this effort with the push for vaccination.

Her strategy appears to be working. As of January, she had returned 70 percent of her families. Over the course of the past semester, she returned 20 percent more, equivalent to about 3,000 students. Anderson is hoping for a 98 or 99 percent return rate this August — although she will offer virtual options for any family that chooses it.

“We have a mobile vaccination clinic, and we take it to the parking lot, and while we’re there we talk to everyone about the return to school,” Anderson said. “Without relationships and trust, you can’t do anything.”

Dr. Tiffany Anderson

In Connecticut’s East Hartford Public Schools, Superintendent Nathan Quesnel is taking a different

You can read the full article at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/schools-in-person-learningoutreach/2021/07/03/4cb7e512-c9f2-11eb-a11b-6c6191ccd599_story.html

Henry Ellison, 5, poses for a selfie with his principal at West Springfield Elementary School, Kelly Sheers, as she conducts home visits in June in Fairfax County, Va. [Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post]

Keith Tatum, Board President

Dr. Randall Schumacher, Board Vice President

Dr. Ashley Beason, Board Member

Sue Bolley, Board Member

Dr. C. Richard Bonebrake, Board Member

Lalo Muñoz, Board Member

Lisa Schmitt, Board Member

Dr. Tiffany Anderson, Superintendent of Schools