By Michelle Blanchette
Special to the Harvey County Now
BURRTON—Burrton High School sophomore Colton Robinson began the Nov. 14 board of education meeting by handing out items that he had 3D printed to the board members so that they could have a hands-on example of what he is proposing would be a good addition to the school.
“You can pretty much print anything that you want, no matter the size of it,” Robinson said. “There’s millions of ideas you can make.”
He showed them half of a submarine that you print in small files then combine in the end. The submarine can actually be submerged in water after it is completed. They can also print items that have movable parts.
“We plan on doing Burrton branded merchandise,” he said. “We hope that it will help improve how much kids learn here with technology and just how to improve life.”
The printers use plastic filament that can be purchased in bulk on Amazon. You can even make your own filament from plastic bottles if you have the right tools.
“One of their ideas in the future is to start back up or start a store and so this could be something that they also use to make those things,” Superintendent Kara Schwindt added.
Also during the meeting, seniors Cassie Dunlavy and Macy Boese gave an impressive PowerPoint presentation detailing their plans for the May senior trip. Seven seniors are planning to go to Frontier City on May 5 along with two sponsors.
They will stay the night at “The Tuxedo Farmhouse.” It has four bedrooms with 12 beds so everyone will get their own bed. They are still deciding whether to add an Aquarium trip or a Science Museum trip but had both figures included in their presentation.
Their proposal came in under budget with the funds they currently have which does not include some funds yet to be deposited. There would still be funds to fund their legacy. The board approved the outing with a 5-0 vote.
KAYS sponsor Kara Sorenson approached Principal Tyler Hoopes about doing a fundraiser for the military by having a Hat Week. Hats are not allowed to be worn in school normally but last week, “Each kid who wanted to wear a hat paid $10 for the week,” Hoopes said.
“We only had a few kids want to wear hats,” Sorenson said, “but we ended up raising $210 from donations.”
All of the money was donated to the Kansas Honor Flight. The Kansas Honor Flight is a volunteer organization comprised of 130 hubs that pays for veterans to visit their memorials in Washington D.C. They also try to educate Kansans about our past wars and the freedoms we get to enjoy today because of them.
Schwindt talked about her opinions on where the students currently are.
“What we are finding is we need more of the Fastbridge training and how teachers are looking at data.” Schwindt said. “We are going to be doing our second round of testing coming up in December. We are going to have them [her staff] present and teach the others about what they learned, what they can take back and then we will regroup kids at that point.”
Upcoming events:
• Nov. 17 MS Basketball home vs. Fairfield
• Nov. 21 MS and HS Music Concert at 7 p.m. It is free to the public.
• Nov. 30 Late start
• Dec. 3 Swirl 7-9 p.m., which is free this year
• Dec. 5 Week Bluebird Classic
Other items discussed:
• Vonda Brecheisen from Knudsen Monroe & Company LLC gave the yearly audit report.
• The first honor roll came out and Principal Hoopes was pleased with the results.
• Basketball started Monday for the high school. Boys had 13 or 14 and girls had 8 or 9. The first home game will be Dec. 2. They board is moving forward with hiring Jacob Sattler as head high school girls basketball coach and Michael Rimbey as assistant for high school boys basketball.
• A pet policy was discussed and voted on for teachers to have pets in their classroom. It was passed 5-0 but there are stipulations and it has to be approved by the principals.
• A hiring policy was discussed and voted on. One change is that there will be more people involved in the interview process. It will not just be one or two who have input on potential hires. Advertisements, applications, interviews, references, and a hiring to-do list was passed 5-0.
• Peyton Rimbey was granted early release next semester.
• The board discussed the Rec’s proposal of buying a Gaga Pit and placing it on the school property. Coach Terry Bruton was asked to do more research on the pits. Decisions need to be made on the placement of the pit. They can be up to 25 feet wide so you can place 20-25 players in it. The Rec is also wanting to place one at the park in town.
• “Jackie Stiles is a phenomenal athlete, I loved watching her,” Anthony Schmitt said. But because of the high cost for just one hour of talking, the board voted unanimously to deny the proposed invitation to have her come speak to the student body. There were some financial donors as of the Monday night’s meeting and the board said they would approve it if funds were raised in full.
