Monday, November 28, 2011

Great things going on within York Public Schools...

1) YES students and Mr. Badura were selected to present at the NASB Annual Conference in LaVista. Our students showed board members from across the state the exciting world of QAR codes, Edmodo, and other engaging technology integration initiatives. Way to go Dukes!

2) The York One-Act Team's play "Camp Chaos" took First Place at the Conference Contest hosted by York on Saturday, November 19. There were nine schools performing at the contest: Aurora, Central City, Crete, G.I. Northwest, Holdrege, Lakeview, Schuyler, Seward and York. Many actors received awards for their individual performances, including Sarah Bailey, Connor Mogul, Cassie Sikes, and Liz Fillman.

The One-Act will compete in Districts on December 2. The winner of the District competition will go on to perform at the State Competition in Kearney on December 9.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Interesting Facts and Numbers about York Public Schools

Here are some interesting facts and figures for you as they pertain to York Public Schools. All data is taken from the 2010-11 school year.

1) 134,525 student lunches were served

2) $1.26 was the tax levy for district patrons

3) $1,650,936 worth of scholarship money was earned by the Class of 2011

4) 468 college credits were earned in YHS classes by YHS students

5) Our activity buses traveled 51,613 miles

6) 64.4% of our teachers have their Masters' Degree

7) 18.6 years is the average amount of experience for our faculty

8) 78.6% of our students were proficient on the Statewide Reading Test (state averages was 71.9%)

GO DUKES!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

YHS Bond issue passes by wide margin

We had 1,610 voters voice their opinion on the $12.535 million bond issue for renovations and additions to York High School. The bond passed by a margin of 69% to 31% with 1,104 "yes" votes compared to 506 "no" votes.

Now that the bond issue has been approved, the project can move forward. Construction will address security and indoor air quality deficiencies, create a new classroom wing which will house band, vocal and instrumental music and art, a new secondary gym and a new district storage and administrative facility building on the existing high school site, upgrade technology infrastructure, and address many other issues.

The financing package calls for a 20-year repayment with bonds maturing each year from 2013 to 2031 with an estimated levy increase of 9.7 cents per $100 of taxable valuation.

We'd like to thank all of the people that took the time to vote with a special thanks to the active and retired military personnel that protect our right to vote. The bond issue committee of Jim Hoffmann, Annie Redfern, Mark Way, Amie Kopcho, Lisa Riley, and Angie and Allan Zumpfe really worked hard. They were supported by many other volunteers that helped with yard signs, building tours and much more. We know there were/are strong feelings on both sides of this issue and we hope that everyone can work together for the benefit of the York Duke community as we move forward with these construction plans.

We have a lot of responsibility and pressure to make sure that this project is done with the best interests of our students in mind. We will continue to re-work our budget to ensure that we are able to maintain our facilities over the coming years within our existing budget and levy parameters.

The board of education will look to interview construction companies in January with a construction manager to be hired in February. Tentative plans call for construction to begin in May, 2012, and end in October, 2013.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Mock Trial @ York High School

On Tuesday, November 1st, the YHS Mock Trial team competed in its first event of the season. The team traveled to the Lancaster County courthouse in Lincoln to argue their case against the Norris Titans. The judge found in favor of the Dukes case starting the season off with a victory for the York team.

Mock Trial is a competitive event for high school students sponsored by the Nebraska State Bar Foundation. It assists high school students interested in law to acquire valuable knowledge and skills. Participants role play a court room case. They play the parts of lawyers, witnesses and defendants before a real life judge.

The team looks forward to a great season. Last year's team qualified for state and ended their season with an 8th place finish in the state competition. This years state competition will be December 6th and 7th in Omaha.

Good luck to the Dukes!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Grade Level Buddies

Every Tuesday morning York High School students from Mrs. Kohouts' speech class go to York Elementary to help the first graders become better readers and writers. Together they have read a story about a bird and created a bird feeder for birds that come to the tree by YES. Animal habitats were researched and dioramas were made to show their chosen animals habitat. These dioramas are on displayed in the YES media center. These lucky first graders look forward to their "older" friends coming each week. They are building good friendships.

Go Dukes!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Diversity Awareness at York High School

Eleven students from YHS attended a diversity leadership conference at Central Community College in Grand Island on October 17th. This conference aimed at developing leadership and a sense of community among students of diverse backgrounds. The conference had a profound influence on the students attending.

The key-note speaker for the event was a young man from Rwanda who had survived this atrocities of genocide and civil warfare in his native country. After many members of his family were killed, he escaped to the United States where he has rebuilt his life. His life story, while tragic, was an emotional testament to human triumph through endurance and perseverance.

After this inspiring key-note speech, the students attended various sessions on setting educational goals, preparing for college and various fields of employment. One of the highlights of the day was watching YHS Senior, Beatriz Martinez, receive the Youth Leadership Diversity Conference Educational Scholarship.

The students came back to school, excited about the possibility of starting a diversity club at YHS. At the conference, they learned what such clubs at other schools were doing to promote tolerance and put an end to prejudice. YHS students attending were: Carlos Grijalva, Kassie Munoz, Efrain Chavez, Fernando Sanchez, Alex Reyes, Andrea Grijalva, Norma Chavez, Beatriz Martinez, Itzel Cervantes, Barbara Young, and Susana Enriquez.