York Dukes CRUSH the ACT in 2015

The York Dukes have a long history of performing very well on the ACT. This year is no different!

The ACT assessment has proven to be an indication of the extent of which students are prepared for college-level work. York Public Schools is VERY proud to announce that our 2015 ACT score profile has been released and our numbers are well above the state and national averages!

-- York Dukes had an average ACT English score of 22.6 while the state avg. was 21.1
-- York Dukes had an average ACT Math score of 22.0 while the state avg. was 21.0
-- York Dukes had an average ACT Reading score of 22.7 while the state avg. was 21.9
-- York Dukes had an average ACT Science score of 22.4 while the state avg. was 21.6
-- York Dukes had an average ACT Composite score of 22.5 while the state avg. was 21.5

** The “Composite” score serves as an “overall” score that summarizes your total score in all curricular areas

ACT research has shown that it is the rigor of coursework; rather than simply the number of core courses; that has the greatest impact on ACT performance and college readiness.

1) Students who take more advanced courses substantially increase their ACT scores.
2) York students that took Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry scored an average of 23.5 on the ACT Math test.
3) York students that took Biology, Chemistry, and Physics scored an average of 26.5 on the ACT Science test.

YPS Excels on State Assessments Again

York Public Schools is very proud to once again share some outstanding results of how our students did on Nebraska State Assessments (NeSA). We realize NeSA is is just a small snippet of what we do but we are excited with how well our district continues to do each year. We look forward to continuing to improve our curriculum and instruction initiatives. We will continue to work hard to provide our students with a top-notch educational experience with or without NeSA or any other accountability measure that comes our way. GO DUKES!

Please view our 2015 NeSA results by copying/pasting the link below into your browser of your choice.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kvtEs4C_sdKFGVqyERIMa-W7R5ey-9GCAF3JxOEaLYo/edit?usp=sharing

The Importance of School Activities

The first YHS "activity" of the school year will take place this Thursday evening, August 20, when the JV Softball Team takes on Aurora at home. It will be a double header, with game times at 6:00 and 7:30 P.M. These contests will launch a very busy and competitive fall activities schedule that will have many of us running around the state cheering on our favorite Dukes.

School activities, in my opinion, are extremely important for the culture of the school and the connection with the community. When I say "activities," I mean sports, fine arts, FFA, mock trial, FBLA, band, choir, cheerleaders, etc....ANY activity that requires a young person to interact and work with other young people in a "team" setting. Educational research shows that the students that are involved in the most activities typically do the best in the classroom as well.

Students learn so much when involved in school activities. They have to manage their time and stay organized. They have to deal with pressure and accountability. They have to interact with different personalities of teammates. They have to learn how to handle success and overcome failure. They have to learn that their behaviors and actions impact others.

We are fortunate that over 75% of our YHS students participate in at least one school activity. Many of our students participate in three or more. We hope to increase our student participation rate even higher. We truly see it as an important part of the educational experience.

We hope you get out and support YHS activities again this year. We've always been fortunate to have tremendous support at "home" and "away" activities. Our activity events bring thousands of visitors to town. They provide hundreds of hours of entertainment and excitement. They help mold our young people into great adults. We are fortunate to have so many dedicated and talented participants, sponsors, and coaches. GO DUKES!

FINDING A WAY to get Better

The YPS Board of Education approved my professional goals for 2015-16. I'm simply trying to find a way to get better. This is going to be a very important school year for us as we have multiple initiatives that we need to implement in a seamless fashion. It's an honor to work for YPS, its students, staff, parents, patrons, and school board.

Here are my goals for the upcoming year:

Communication/Visibility/Public Relations

• Communicate on a consistent basis and at a high level with all employees through face-to-face interaction, e-mail, memos, meetings, and other effective methods

• Be a visible presence in all YPS facilities on a regular basis
o Conduct walk-throughs in each classroom on at least a quarterly basis

• Be visible and approachable at school activities

• Make our staff and community aware of all the good things going on at YPS through guest columns to the newspaper, the use of social media, the YPS website, email, phone calls, handwritten notes, and other pertinent methods of communication

• Continue “Community Coffee” meetings each quarter to reach out to our patrons and heighten communication between the school system and community
o Will have two “Community Luncheons” and two “Coffees” this year in hopes of showcasing LunchTime Solutions over the lunch hour

• Use Twitter (York Duke Power,) Facebook, and the school website to showcase YPS
o 1,509 followers on Twitter in August 2015 compared to 1,199 followers in July 2014
o 1,545 “likes” on Facebook in August 2015 compared to 1,163 “likes” in July 2014

• Interact with local business leaders on a regular basis through service club meetings, luncheons, invitations to school activities, and special occasions

• Continue to strengthen the YPS/City of York working relationship

• Continue to strengthen and broaden working relationships with staff members

• Continue to communicate with patrons and statewide officials about ongoing school finance concerns as they relate to an over-reliance on local property taxes

Instructional Leadership

• Help enhance our new teacher mentoring offerings
o Follow-up professional leave day on September 25th

• Work towards increased academic opportunities for all students

• Continue to work with First Five Nebraska, Buffett Foundation, and others to pursue expanded birth-to-five programming



• Help manage PreK-12th grade School Improvement Plan and Initiatives
o Continue to help expand professional development opportunities for all staff and make sure our professional development plans tie directly to our school improvement goals

• Help improve student achievement scores on local, state, and national assessments
o Percentage of students that met/exceeded proficiency on NeSA-Math tests have increased from 67% in 2011 to 77% in 2013 to 84% in 2015

o Percentage of students that met/exceeded proficiency on NeSA-Reading tests have increased from 69% in 2010 to 82% in 2013 to 87% in 2015

• Continue to help emphasize technology integration across the curriculum to enhance learning with actual lesson objectives as opposed to “just a new, neat app”

• Continue to work with state leaders about our local concerns on the amount of instructional time lost due to what we see as excessive assessment/ranking requirements

• Help ensure that our “instructional model” game plan is highly effective for our students and staff and helps improve our school district

• Help ensure our new work certification programming venture with NCTA, Reinke, and CVA is the game-changer we think it will be

Financial Leadership

• Make sure we end each fiscal year with more money received than spent

• Communicate effectively with board, staff, and community about our budget and how we’re doing throughout the year in regards to receipts and disbursements

• Make sure YPS pursues at least two $10,000+ grants each semester

• Grow Depreciation and Building Fund accounts

• Build up cash reserve so we can better handle state aid fluctuations
o Cash reserve had a negative balance of -$995,591 in 2009
o Cash reserve had improved to a positive balance of $491,041 in 2012
o Cash reserve will grow to over $900,000+ as we enter 2015-16


District-Wide Leadership

• For all employees, be a role model that exhibits honesty/integrity, a strong work ethic, high expectations for self and others, and enthusiasm

• Challenge, support and assist administrative team in their continued efforts to lead their buildings and departments forward

• Continue to solicit input from others as often as possible

• Work on comprehensive post-graduate survey to report how YPS students are doing after high school graduation

• Continue to help YPS broaden its “legislative footprint” through STANCE and active involvement at the State Capitol

August 13th - Back to School Celebration

BACK TO SCHOOL CELEBRATION and COMMUNITY PEP RALLY
Thursday, August 13th – 5:00 to 8:00 PM at East Hill Park

Please plan to join us in East Hill Park on Thursday, August 13th as we celebrate the beginning of another awesome school year for York Public Schools, St. Joseph’s, Emmanuel-Faith, and Epworth Village. Come enjoy the bounce houses and photo booth, sign up for various booster clubs, purchase an activity pass, buy some York Duke apparel, devour some delicious food, and enjoy a fun evening in East Hill Park!

5:00-6:50 will be our “Back to School Celebration”
o The Farmers’ Market vendors will be on site to sell their delicious goodies
o We will also have bounce houses and an awesome photo booth
o Local vendors that have indicated they will be on site include:
 Kirby's School of Dance & Kirtsey Dancewear & Gifts
 Urgent Care of York
 Advocare
 York Promotional Products
 Kilgore Memorial Library
 Simply Styled Salon & Boutique
 Perfectly Posh lotions, soaps, and scrubs
 York Printing
 Epworth Village
 York County Head Start & PLAY
 York Public Schools Foundation
 York TeamMates Mentoring Program
 YHS Wrestling
 York Chamber of Commerce
 YHS Band, Fine Arts, and Athletics Booster Clubs
 YHS Flag Squad
 York Youth Soccer Association
 Let’s Move York
 York Medical Clinic - "Your York based Healthcare Providers"
 York High School will be selling activity passes and York Duke clothing

7:00-8:00 PM will be the “Community Pep Rally” inside at the Levitt Football Stadium
o We will formally dedicate the Hub Foster Press Box and Locker Room addition and recognize students from YES, YMS, Head Start & PLAY, Epworth, St. Joseph’s, and Emmanuel-Faith.
o YHS fall sports and activity teams will also be recognized with the help of the YHS Band and Cheerleading squad.

REAL Numbers about School Spending and Property Taxes

York Public Schools continues to work hard to prepare for an outstanding 2015-16 school year. This commentary is meant to provide our patrons with an update on what our new fiscal year will most likely look like. We have board meetings on August 10th and 24th at 7:00 PM where we will be discussing the budget and tax request for 2015-16. On Monday, September 14th, our school board will host budget and tax request hearings before formally considering and voting on the new budget and tax request. As always, patrons are invited and encouraged to attend.

Around the state there continues to be some false chatter about how public school districts overspend, overtax, and under-deliver. Over the past few months, various spokespersons, lobbyists, and organizations have intentionally singled out school districts as a major culprit for our state’s over-reliance on property taxes. I, for one, am tired of the rhetoric and the scare tactics. Public schools aren’t the problem. We have state mandated spending lids and levy lids that we have to operate within all the while being flexible enough to meet the needs of our ever-changing student demographics. We even get audited annually and are more than happy to deal with any level of accountability that comes our way.

A look at REAL numbers from 2014-15 and 2015-16 pertaining to school district tax requests, total revenue, and total spending
• State Aid for York Public Schools drops from $2,214,816 in 2014-15 to just $1,560,659 for 2015-16
o A decrease of $654,157
• Our general fund tax request is projected to increase from $10,049,495 in 2014-15 to $10,600,000 for 2015-16
o An increase of $550,506 that is a direct result of the $654,157 state aid loss
• Our TOTAL revenue looks to slightly increase from $15,500,000 in 2014-15 to $15,650,000 for 2015-16
o That’s right; the total increase in projected revenue for YPS is just $150,000 (.009%) for 2015-16 despite our property tax request increasing 5.5%.
• We are projecting to spend $15,300,000 during the 2014-15 fiscal year that ends on August 31st and $15,500,000 in 2015-16.
o This is a spending increase of just $200,000 (1.3%)

A look at REAL numbers over the past SEVEN YEARS from 2008-09 through 2015-16 Projections
• York Public School’s general fund property tax request will have grown from $7,067,000 to $10,600,000 over the past seven years for an increase of 50%.
o However, our TOTAL REVENUE will have only grown from $13,907,668 to $15,650,000; which is just 12.5% or an average annual growth of only 1.79%.
• We spent $13,813,663 in 2008-09 and are projected to spend $15,500,000 in 2015-16.
o This is just a 12.2% increase over seven years for an average annual growth of only 1.74%.
o Of this increased spending over the past seven years, $300,000 of it is for grant funded additions to early childhood programming and after-school offerings.
 If we wouldn’t have added $300,000 worth of grant funded programming, our total spending would’ve only increased 10% over seven years.

We think our numbers in York speak for themselves. We don’t feel like any business that increases their spending by only 1.7% annually should be classified as an “over spender.” If we’re over-taxing it is only because we have no other sources of revenue to work with. Our current system of school funding doesn’t seem to work that well right now for Nebraska.

We don’t feel we are “under-delivering” either. Over the past seven years, we’ve seen close to a 10% increase in the number of students we serve, and the percentage of our children living in poverty has moved to 45%. Despite this, our school system has been able to increase academic offerings and improve student achievement. We are now offering a game-changing “work certification” program through the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture where our students can earn a diploma and work certification in irrigation technology, diversified agriculture, or chemical application thanks to unique partnerships with Reinke and Central Valley Ag. The percentage of our students that are proficient on state assessments has escalated each year. Our students have some of the best scores in Nebraska on local, state, and national assessments.

We’re very proud to serve the students and patrons of York. We’re always a ‘work in progress’ and looking to get better. Our district-wide theme for 2015-16 is “Find a Way” and that’s what we’re going to continue to do. We’re going to “find a way” to get better for our students and our patrons. We’re going to find a way to keep making a difference!

Go Dukes,

Mike Lucas
mike.lucas@yorkdukes.org
402-362-6655 ext. 4

Meaningful Communication is Important

One of the main things a superintendent has to focus on is communication. Here in York, we try to be as open and accessible as possible. Below is a recent response to a "Wonder Line" question that came into the York News-Times. Anonymous formats like the Wonder Line are certainly not our favorite mode of communication.

Please feel free to contact me directly with any concerns you may have. We take a lot of pride in servant leadership in support of our students, staff, parents, and patrons.

Q: I am wondering why the marquee signs at the middle and high schools are still running messages when school is not in session. How much is it costing the taxpayer to have these signs running during summer vacation?

York Public Schools doesn't have a summer vacation. Our marquee signs run 12 months a year because we're busy 12 months a year. We have numerous things going on throughout the summer. We have six weeks of summer school programming, drivers' education, enrichment camps, athletic camps, free lunch programs, board meetings, special education programming, early childhood offerings, and art academies to name just a few.

We are not sure of the exact utility costs just for the marquee signs to run in June and July. Our bill isn't broken down to that detail. So far, this fiscal year, we've spent $246,835 on utilities throughout YPS. This compares favorably to the $267,118 spent through this portion of last year's fiscal calendar. We began an intensive energy efficiency initiative in June 2009 and we now use, on average, 14% less KWH each month than we used to. Our utility costs have gone down as a result.

All in all, we're extremely proud that our overall spending has averaged LESS than a 1.6% annual increase in the past six years as well.

I much prefer one-on-one or small group conversations with those that have concerns as opposed to an anonymous format like the Wonderline that allows this question to give the perception that YPS isn't fiscally responsible when our expenditure data shows that our cost-per-pupil spending is extremely efficient and in the lowest 15% in the state.

My cell number is 402-366-6491. My office number is 402-362-6655 ext. 4. My email is mike.lucas@yorkdukes.org. My home address is 1622 North Delaware Avenue. I'd love to visit with you any time.

Go Dukes,
Mike Lucas