By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The USD 428 Board of Education heard from a host of educators and students during a luncheon Wednesday at Eisenhower Elementary School in Great Bend. Principal Abby Jonas said the school continues to grow even as the end of the year draws near.
"We are currently at 283 students this year at Eisenhower," she said. "We've gained three in just the last three weeks, so we've been trying to get a game-plan for translating."
All three new students are English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students. Jonas reported class sizes are good for students with 18-24 kids in each room. Kindergarten classes are the smallest they have been in years, but the fourth-grade rooms each have 27 students. As in other schools around the district, the Capturing Kids' Hearts program continues to make a positive impact. Each month, a different character trait is celebrated. In March, that trait was courage.
"Any time a staff member in the building sees a kiddo doing something, they go ahead and fill it out and send it off to the office," Jonas said. "They get their picture taken and a brag tag. They're entered into a drawing."
The board also heard from kindergarten artists and writers, green thumbs in the first grade, fifth-grade poets and robotics students, and sixth graders who recently wrapped up a postcard pen pal project.