BrandonInfo.com

Sioux Falls just built a new high school called the Career and Technical Education Adacemy. Thirty Brandon Valley students will take classes at this school, which will teach specialized courses in things like welding, architecture and surveying.

Brandon Valley officials say this is good, because BV is running out of room to teach these things. Now, the district can just pay a fee to the Sioux Falls School District and send the kids to the Academy. It might turn out bad, though. As Sioux Falls grows, they might have room only for Sioux Falls students in the future. Then, BV would lose an opportunity they might have become used to.

What do you think of the Academy? When I was young, there was a big push for all kids to go to college. Now, most of them do. Some say this leaves some of the trades short-handed.

A couple of the BV school board members said they wished they had a chance to go to a school like the Academy. True enough, when we were kids, they didn’t have nearly the opportunities that our children and grandchildren do. How did we turn out the way we did without all these specialized opportunities? Do we give our children too many opportunities?

Brandon Valley topped the 13 largest schools in the state in reading and match scores in the most recent STEP tests. The scores were particularly good at the middle school level.

Do you think these scores are an accurate view of how well a school is doing? Do you think it is a good idea to teach to the tests to improve scores? Some people might think that could leave a school lacking in other areas.

Do you find that your own children are doing as well as they could in reading, math and other subjects at Brandon Valley? What can we as parents do to help?

School starts next week. Are you ready?

I remember one year I brought my kids to the first day of school and discovered they were the only kids who didn’t have brand new shoes. I felt so bad, although I don’t know if the kids even noticed. Do you think your kids would?

Do you get brand new school supplies for your kids each year even if most of their crayons are still ok, or even if their book bag is still in good shape?

The Brandon Valley Community Education program is looking for instructors. Maybe you are qualified to teach a class on computers or setting up an aquarium or ice cream making. Have you ever considered teaching a class? Some are once a week for eight weeks, and other classes are a one-time deal.

Have you ever taken a BV community ed class? I’ve taken pottery, which I enjoyed very much, and I’ve taken a one-time coffee tasting class. Enjoyed that also. Learned cool stuff in both classes.

If you’ve taken a class, what did you take and what did you think about it? Do you think you will take any classes this fall? If not, do you at least read the course catalog when it comes in your mail?

The Brandon Valley School Board has decided that only juniors and seniors and their dates (high school graduates up to age 19 years) can attend the prom. This past spring, nine freshmen and 45 sophomores attended prom. Principal Gregg Talcott has said he isn’t comfortable having the younger kids attending prom with the older kids.

Are you comfortable with it? It could cut down on the number of kids who attend prom, but not necessarily, as each of the juniors and seniors is allowed to bring a date anyway. They just can’t pick their dates from among the freshmen and sophomores any more.

Brandon Valley was one of the few Eastern South Dakota Conference schools that allowed underclassmen to attend prom. This new decision will bring Brandon Valley more into line with the other conference schools.
Do you think the school board made the right decision?

The school board is considering letting high school science teachers use a Flexbook instead of a published textbook for their classes next year. A Flexbook is basically a text the teachers would create themselves, using materials from various sources. Presumably, they would use source material that is not copyrighted or else get the proper permissions to use the material.

The teachers and the high school principal say a Flexbook would allow the teachers to customize their curriculum so that it better fits Brandon Valley’s specific needs.

Do you think the school board should allow this? Right now, just the science department is asking because their class textbooks are scheduled to be replaced this year. Should other teachers be allowed to do this too when they’re texts are scheduled to be replaced?

Why or why not?

Some might say that it’s a waste of money to buy textbooks of which teachers and students can’t make full use. Others might say that it wouldn’t save the school any money anyway because the district would have to pay the teachers extra to create their own text.

What are your thoughts?

Brandon Valley has been asked to help found a Metro high school sports conference. It would consist of the Sioux Falls schools, plus Brandon Valley. If our school decides to join, we still would belong to the ESD Conference. Most Brandon Valley sports play Sioux Falls schools anyway, so dual conference membership wouldn’t add too many games to the schedule, according to school officials.

What do you think? Some might think that dual membership might just further crowd the schedules of students who are over committed in the first place. Some might think the extra conference might cost the school too much more money.

Others might say that eventually Brandon Valley will get too big for the ESD Conference and will have to join the Metro one anyway. They might say that playing Sioux Falls schools might actually save the district travel expenses.

What are your thoughts?

Test scores at Brandon Valley have shown that medium and high income students who had all-day kindergarten scored lower on tests later than their half-day kindergarten counterparts. The opposite was true of low income students, though. Those who had all-day kindergarten scored higher on test scores a couple years later than their half-day kindergarten counterparts.

What could cause this? Maybe more affluent kids are involved in so many outside activities that they get too tired being in school all day when they’re 5-6 years old.

Do you think there are benefits to all-day kindergarten? One benefit to parents might be that as long as their kids are in school, they don’t have to pay for daycare.

Maybe all-day kindergarten forces too much on children too soon. Maybe they should just get to be kids for another year.

What are your thoughts?

The Brandon Valley School District recently conducted a general satisfaction survey. The results will be released soon, and I am writing a story about the survey for the May 5 Brandon Valley Challenger.

Did you take the survey? If so, would you be willing to comment about your answers to the satisfaction questions? For example, for “I believe that students are safe at school,” did you put “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree” or “strongly disagree”? And why?

I would have to be able to use your name in my story. No matter what your answers are, you have a right to your opinion and your reasons behind it. My story could appear to be one sided if no parents comment for it. Won’t you please contact me at 331-2376 or apthiele@argusleader.com?

Thank you.

Alica P. Thiele

Brandon Valley Challenger reporter

I didn’t make it to the middle school wax museum, but after seeing the pictures and reading the story, I wish I could have been there. Did you go? What did you think of it?

Students portrayed a wide variety historical figures such as cartoonist Charles Schultz, movie star Marilyn Monroe, conquerer Alexander the Great, Hawaiian royalty Queen Liliuokalani and basketball legen Wilt Chamberlain. I think if I had to portray a historical figure, I might choose gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. She was known as the Queen of Gospel and sang at Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral. What a great, powerful voice she had. Or I might portray Whistler’s Mother, mostly because I’d get to sit down the whole evening. It’d be hard to remain motionless standing as a wax museum statue, waiting for someone to drop coins into my bucket to activate me. Hard on the knees, I’d think.

What historical figure would you portray?

Do you plan to attend the band supper this Saturday? I do. Will take some photos for the paper and this Web site.

For six years, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I played in the band during the band supper, which was called the turkey supper back then. I played clarinet all through school. Many, many years later, my brother turned my clarinet into a lamp. I use it every day.

Do you have memories of band suppers past?

A couple of prom events will raise money to give to others.

Ticket sales to Dancing With The Staff, on Thursday, will go to Brandon Valley teachers Diane and Troy Sturgeon, who are adopting a baby boy from China. The money will help defray their travel expenses to China.

Celebration United Methodist Church is holding a dinner for students on Saturday before prom. Ticket sales from that event will go toward youth activities at the church.

Another activity, the after-prom party, isn’t being held this year.
Some people might think that these activities help students help others as they celebrate themselves. Others might think that prom should be all about the students who attend. In which camp are you, or do you have some other take on the whole prom thing?

Because of snow days this winter, the school year will have to be extended. If days are just tacked on to the end of the year, the last day would end up being Tuesday, June 1, the day after the Memorial Day holiday. There’s a pretty good chance not a lot of learning would get done that day, so the school board is looking at other options.

Which of these options, if any, do you prefer? Why? Which options, if any, are you against? Why?
Increasing the school day by a few minutes each day until the extra day’s worth of time is absorbed. Superintendent Dave Pappone has said that not much extra learning would happen this way either, so he has recommended against this option.

Increasing the school day the length of one period each day until all the periods are taken care of. So, the first day, Period 1 would be held twice. The next day, Period 2 would be held twice, and so on. It wouldn’t be as easy as adding the time onto the end of each day, though, because that would interfere too much with after-school activities. Instead, the time would have to be added onto the beginning and the end of each day, and the whole day’s schedule would have to be reworked to accommodate.

Forgiving the day altogether. The kids would just have one day less school for the 2009-2010 school year, but the teachers all would still get paid for that day, even though they wouldn’t have to work it.

Having a day of school on a Saturday.
Maybe you have other ideas the school administration hasn’t thought of yet. If so, what are they?

If the school district does sanction soccer, the school teams would play on city fields. The golf teams already golf at the city course, the cross country runners have their meets at McHardy Park, which is a city park, and the tennis teams play on city courts.

As far as I know, the school doesn’t pay rent to the city for using the city facilities for school sports. Some people might say the city gets the short end of that stick by not getting reimbursed for the cost of maintenance that school sports cause. Others might say the city and school should work together and it’s all for the kids anyway, so what’s the difference.

What are your thoughts?

The South Dakota High School Activities Association says soccer can be a sanctioned school sport starting in 2011, but individual school districts will decide whether their schools will offer it. Brandon Valley hasn’t decided yet and probably won’t decide until next year.

Brandon Valley already sponsors soccer even though it isn’t sanctioned. And Brandon has a very active club soccer program, with fields the city has built over the last couple of years.

School officials have said it would cost the district about $40,000. That doesn’t seem like much in a budget that tops $10 million. On the other hand, these are hard times. Do you think sanctioning soccer is a good idea? Do you think Brandon Valley should do it?

The school district is saving money by using real silverware and plates instead of styrofoam in the schools.

Except at Valley Springs Elementary. There’s no dishwasher there, so they’re still using disposable.

What do you think of this cost savings to the district? How about at Valley Springs? Would a dishwasher pay for itself eventually?

The Brandon Valley School District will spend $7,335 this year for a service that lets the school call your home to tell you if school is called off for the day or other school-related information. Do you think this is a good value?

Instead of having to listen to the radio on snowy days, you’ll just get a recorded message that school is canceled for the day. The district can use the service for other things too, like reminding parents that conferences are coming up or that standardized tests will be given on a certain day. Once you start thinking about it, thee are hundreds of things about which the school could call. (”Hello, this is the school. Tonight at 6:30 p.m., the school board will be voting on the coming year’s budget.” “Hello, this is the school. Please remember to vote at Tuesday’s bond election.)

The school can even target subgroups. (”Hello, this is the school. Please remember that all grade school students must turn in their book fees by Friday.”)

Are you excited that you will have these convenient reminders, or do you fear that the school will be calling you with all kinds of notices about which you don’t care? Or do you feel somewhere in between?

About what kinds of things would you like the school to call you? What kind of notices are important to you?