Raceland-Worthington Schools “Where Every Child Counts” Raceland-Worthington Ind. Schools Volume 3, Issue 4 May 19, 2010 Inside This Issue Frank Melvin Sandra Loperfido Steve Burkhardt Michael Boyles Chuck Boyles Jerry Epling The Raceland-Worthington Board of Education continues to provide the forward looking vision necessary to improve our facilities; and a student oriented approach to every decision that they consider. The present board consists of the following members; chairman Steve Burkhardt (1991-present); vice chair Sandy Loperfido (19942004, 2007-present) Chuck Boyles (1995-present); Jerry Epling (2008-present); and Michael Boyles (2009-present). Each of these members is working together with a focus on what is best for our kids. The community is well served by their commitment through countless hours of service. The recent and ongoing renovations and additions at Campbell Elementary are a direct result of their foresight. This first phase will be completed for the start of school in August. A second phase to these renovations and additional is expected to begin this fall and will include the construction of a new kitchen and cafeteria complex. The completed project will provide our K-3 students with a modern educational environment that will meet the needs of our children for years to come and will continue to support the high expectations that our staff and parents expect. Summer Feeding 2 2010-11 Calendar 3 Rachel Bowling 3 6th Grade Science 5 WES Family Night 6 Furry Family Friends 7 21st Century Violinist 8 Campbell & Worthington Schools Receive Free Books By Denise Justice In February of this year Campbell and Worthington Schools received 1000 FREE paperback books. The books were donated by a web based book club called PaperBackSwap.com. .The schools were nominated in December and members of the book club donated their credits to provide the children of the 2 schools free books. If this was a monetary amount the book clubs patrons would have donated to our school approximately $4000 to $8000. The books reading levels are from Kindergarten through the sixth grade and are a wonderful free gift to the students as they leave the Family Nights at both schools. PaperBackSwap.com (PBS) is a free online book club where members swap books just for the cost of postage. People join PBS by posting on the PaperBackSwap.com website good condition books from their bookshelf that they are willing to share. Two startup credits are given by PBS to start the member’s swapping. Credits are earned by sending out books to other members. Any available paperback or hardcover book may be ordered for one credit, and audio books may be ordered for two credits. Complete information about the online book club is available at www.paperbackswap.com. Parent Focus-Chuck Adkins Chuck Adkins has become an integral part of the Raceland-Worthington HS softball program through his continued hard work and dedication. He is a Huntington native who now resides in Worthington with wife, Jana, and two children Chloe & Judd. Chloe (8th grade), is a 3 year starter on the softball team while Judd (3rd grade), shows similar athletic promise. Chuck played 3 years of college basketball at Alderson-Broaduss before finishing a Marketing degree at Marshall University. He has served as a volunteer coach in our youth leagues (both boys & girls) for several years and also at the high school in softball before becoming a paid assistant this season. Chuck spends countless hours performing all the routine maintenance on the field to go along with his coaching duties. Thanks for all you do to make things better for the Lady Rams softball program! Page 2 Raceland-Worthington Schools 2010-11 School Calendar Aug. 9-12 Teacher In-Service Aug. 13 Opening Day for Staff Aug. 16 First Day for Students Sept. 6 Labor Day-No School Oct. 11 No School Nov. 2 Election Day-No School RWHS Senior Rachel Bowling Awarded Diederich Scholarship Nov. 22-26 Thanksgiving Break Dec. 20-31 Christmas Break Jan. 17 No School Feb. 21 No School March 18 No School Apr. 4-8 Spring Break May 17 No School May 24 Last Day for Students May 25 Closing Day for Staff Overcoming Adversity-A True Winner at RWHS By Mickey Dixon Rachel Bowling knows the definition of overcoming adversity. In fact, that is just what she has done the past 5 years of her life. Rachel, a senior at Raceland-Worthington High School, along with her younger brother Greg, lost their father when Rachel was 14 years old and in 2007 lost their mother to cancer. Rachel and Greg now reside with their Aunt Glenda, who along with other family members has provided a strong support system for the 2 kids. The most impressive quality that Rachel possesses is her strong sense of character and how she has used that quality, despite all the obstacles she has faced, to move forward in life. She comes to school everyday with a positive attitude and with a giant smile on her face. She is a perfect example a student that could have been considered at- risk, yet she would not allow herself to become a victim of self-pity. On June 3, 2010 Rachel will be receiving her high school diploma. In addition, she found out on May 11, 2010 that she received the prestigious Diederich Scholarship. The Diederich recipient receives 12,000.00 dollars a year for 5 years to any college in the nation. The main components of the Diederich are character, and service to others, and to maintain a G.P.A. of 2.25 – 3.5. She was also voted 2010 Raceland-Worthington HS Prom Queen by fellow classmates. The faculty and Staff at Raceland – Worthington High School would like to express to Rachel what a pleasure it has been to have her as a student in our school district. Volume 3, Issue 4 Page 3 Summer Feeding @ RWHS Dates: June 7-July 16 Times: Breakfast 8:00-9:00 Lunch 11:00-1:00 Cost: Free to all school age children Location: Raceland-Worthington HS Helen Keeton & Faye Morrison Retire Helen has worked for the district for 29 years and has served as kitchen manager at Campbell Elementary for the past 22 years. She has two sons who both graduated from Raceland-Worthington HS, Ryan and Eric, before earning college degrees. She has been blessed with five grand children and can often be seen at activities in which they participate. She is married to Bob Keeton who is also a graduate of Raceland HS. Through the years Helen has enjoyed the interaction with the children and often refers to them as her own. Having served over 600,000 lunches, it’s easy to understand why she has such a close connection with the children. Helen has been a valued employee and will be missed! Good luck in retirement! Faye has been a member of the Raceland family for 22 years. She is married to Jack Morrison and has one daughter Jaclyn. She has also been blessed with one grand daughter, Maddison. Prior to coming to the district she worked for 12 years at 2nd National Bank. For the past 15 years she has been an integral part of the food service program, where her duties included monthly reporting, invoicing, and collections. Faye’s work has been greatly appreciated and her contributions will be missed! Good luck in retirement! Page 4 Raceland-Worthington Schools Raceland Tennis Coach Tom Collins facilitated the 3 rd Annual Spring Break Tennis trip for the Boys and Girls Tennis teams in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina March 27 – April 2. The team had 2 workouts daily while in Myrtle Beach and significant improvement could be seen by the end of the week. Raceland Tennis Girls Boys Hannah Floyd Mark Blackburn This is the second season the team has traveled to Myrtle Beach for spring break, having traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia for the first trip, where workouts were held at The College of William & Mary. Members of the team that attended this year were: Kyra Keeton, Jennifer Phillips, Zack Lemaster, John Kyle Valencourt and Chase Waddell. Kyra Keeton Bronson Bush Brooklyn Leslie J D Helms Micah Leslie Jacob Holbrook Alex Leunissen Zack Lemaster Carleigh Munn Luke Porter Jennifer Phillips Steven Short Congratulations to Kyra Keeton on signing a letter-of -intent to play tennis at Shawnee State University. She plans on studying English/Journalism. Amanda Tatsch John Kyle Valencourt Ryan Valencourt Chase Waddell 6th Grade Science Projects Contour Maps Mrs. Colegrove’s 6th grade science classes created contour maps by tracing potato slices from half of a potato onto paper. Students then compared the stacked potato slices to their tracing to make the connection between the 2-dimentional drawing and the 3-dimentional potato. Volume 3, Issue 4 Crystal Suckers Sixth grade science classes from Mrs. Colegrove’s room made sugar crystal suckers to wrap up their rocks and minerals unit. After 5 weeks of waiting and watching the crystals form, students enjoyed their sucker as a sweet afternoon treat. Page 5 WES Hosts Family Night Grade level teachers, in conjunction with support from district departments put on a spectacular Family Night at Worthington Elementary. Students and families alike enjoyed an evening of fun and excitement at Worthington’s first Family Night, on March 2nd. Everyone in attendance donned green leprechaun hats and participated in a whole range of activities designed to bring families together for a night out. The theme was based on St. Patrick’s Day and all activities, whether math, reading, or art-based, focused on some aspect of the holiday. Activities included were a Green Jelly Bean Estimation jar, a St. Patrick’s Day Glyph, Story Circle read aloud, St. Patrick Day Contractions, St. Patrick’s Day Art and more. Title I, Parent Involvement, 21st Century, Ameri-Corps, along with FRYSC coordinated the efforts with the help of the district math coordinator Denise Justice and reading specialist June Whitt. Students and their families are encouraged to participate in these scheduled events at Worthington and future programs are sure to be a success. (Pictured; Principal Jason McAllister) Updated Library Software By Janie Tolliver, DTC Over the past several months we have been upgrading and implementing our library management software at Campbell, Worthington and RWHS. Destiny Library Manager™ combines circulation, cataloging, searching, reporting and management in one centrally installed library software system. Students and faculty patrons access the system through any workstation with a supported web browser, through our district’s network and the Internet. They can also access this information at home or the public library thru a supported web browser allowing 24/7 access to information about our library materials. Destiny Library Manager is an easy-to-use, web-based library automation and management solution that offers: Integrated circulation, cataloging, searching, reporting and library management to help each library in our district work more efficiently and powerful district-wide management including searching, interlibrary loan, holds, reporting, and system administration. This software also allowed us to combine all 3 schools software into one database package that is located on one server instead of each school have separate servers and databases to maintain. The link can be found on our district webpage at www.raceland.kyschools.us or by typing http:// destiny.raceland.kyschools.us in address bar of your internet browser. Page 6 Raceland-Worthington Schools A Service Project for Animals Mrs. Johnda Curry’s third grade class adopted, Nine Lives, an animal shelter in our community last month. We received a Learning Service Grant with the help of Ms. Jujuana Hieneman that supported the project. First, the students conducted a penny drive. All students from Campbell Elementary were able to vote with pennies for their favorite pets. Thirteen pets were chosen after a week of voting on animals that were pets of Mrs. Curry’s students. The top thirteen animals were photographed by Maxwell photography and featured in a class calendar. The calendar sale was a huge success. We even had to reorder! All proceeds and money were given to the shelter to help support the needy animals. The Nine Lives shelter located in Westwood, KY is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the welfare of all cats. Aries Yearbook Sale Don’t forget to order your 2010 Aries Yearbook! You can purchase it online at the school’s website (click on the ORDER YEARBOOK ONLINE button at the RWHS page) or send the $46 payment to school with your student. We’ll be selling yearbooks at the high school during lunches in the cafeteria during the first week of May for those who do not wish to purchase online. The online purchase button will be available through the end of May. Don’t forget to reserve your copy! Our staff of eight students is working diligently to produce an excellent annual with this year’s theme of INTENSE. Volume 3, Issue 4 Dates to Remember May 19 Senior Breakfast @ Greenbo May 21 Senior Trip to Kings Island May 27 Campbell Track & Field Day May 28 Worthington Track & Field Day June 1 3rd Grade Promotion (Cultural Arts Center) Senior Awards Day (9 AM) RWHS Underclass Awards (1 PM) June 3 WES Awards Day (9 AM) WES Picnic (11:30 AM) RWHS Picnic (11:15 AM) LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! June 4 Last Day for Teachers June 14-17 Donnie Tyndall Camp June 15-16 Andre Rison Football Camp June 23-24 Prep Skills Basketball Shooting Camp July 5-8 Raceland Lady Rams Youth Basketball Camp July 12-13 Raceland Youth Football Camp Page 7 Raceland-Worthington Ind. Schools 600 Rams Blvd. Raceland, KY. 41169 Address Service Requested Non-Profit Permit #5 Russell, KY Our students have just completed the process of taking the state exams. All of our students, teachers, administrators and support staff have been working toward this event to demonstrate our student’s mastery of the content. This assessment will give us a point of reference to be analyzed and used in the continuing learning progression. Campbell Elementary is continuing to improve on their reading scores school-wide. We are very proud of the staff’s commitment to the goal of striving for 100 percent of their students reading at grade level when they exit the third grade. Worthington Elementary is continuing to advance toward their goals. A focus on improving the reading and math scores can be seen with the emphasis on these subjects. A snapshot of data indicates that reading scores are improving with the continued dedication of our staff. Raceland-Worthington High School is graduating students that area business leaders continue to expect will possess the attitudes, skills and persistence necessary to be great employees. Our graduation rates are among the best in the state with the majority of our students attending higher education institutions. Thank you for allowing me to be your superintendent, and I would only ask that you continue to give your tremendous support to our student centered community schools. Go Rams! 21st Century The 21st Century After School Program is ending the year with a Spring Fling, THURSDAY, MAY 6th, 4:00-5:30 at the Raceland City Park. The entire community is invited. Our AmeriCorps members have worked hard to organize this family event. Our 21st Century students will be showing off their various talents on stage. There will also be inflatables, the Smoke Machine, games, prizes and food! We hope to see everyone there! Survivor Summer Program begins June 7-July 2nd. There are many events already scheduled and in place for an awesome summer program. You will want your child to be a part of all these fun, learning experiences. BE SURE TO SIGN UP NOW WHILE THERE IS STILL ROOM. CONTACT NUMBERS: 922-3429 & 836-0715. Instructor Kathleen Chamis, pictured on left, with Worthington 21st Century Violinists