Derby - 6th Team Visit

Our Derby visit began at the Derby Recreation Commission. Superintendent Heather Bohaty joined us for breakfast. After breakfast we went to Derby High School. We visited their student run bank, their ceramics room, the airbrush class, and the production class. The instructor had created a soundproof room for recording. The Academic Hall of Fame is something every school should have! Their vending machines had little tv's on them - they were showing animals at the zoo when we walked by. 

Our next stop was Opportunity Project South, a pre-school for poverty and low-income families. It was full of incredible children's art, children eating family style, and beautiful classrooms. The school was started by a family who built the school and ran it for a few years, expecting the school to become self-supporting (which it is). The school even supports sending family members to college if they choose.

 Derby North Middle School was our next stop. They built solar panels with the help of Westar Energy that saves the school $200 per month in utilites. Students are able to see the data on kiosks in the lunchroom. We observed the classroom of Brent Wolf, who was a KTOY finalist last year. He told us about a medallion hunt he hosts, where students earn clues to it's location. His class also has a podcast titled "Apparent Podcast".

Tanglewood Elementary is an open concept school, with multiple classes in one room with moveable walls. Every grade takes a field trip to a different area college each year. The principal of this room had created a Zen Room for the staff with a treadmill, massage chair, tv for yoga, & a mini-fridge full of water. 

A quick stop at Derby Middle School allowed us to see their Girl Powered Robotics class, where the girls had qualified to compete at nationals.

We then headed to Derby Hills Elementary. This is a trauma-informed school, focusing on relationship building. If you watch the movie "Paper Tigers" it explains the belief system of this school. There was lots of flexible seating & an actual phone booth used to make positive phone calls home. Even their lost & found was impressive.

Wichita Visit - 5th Visit

Visiting Wichita started at the Administrative Center, enjoying breakfast with Superintendent Dr.Alicia Thompson and several school board members. We then traveled to Brooks Middle School a STEM Magnet School.

Dance, guitar, violin, art, band, theater - there were SO many electives! I really appreciated that students are given 2 electives per day and students are not allowed to be pulled from those classes.

Next we traveled to Gammon Elementary. Gammon focuses on The Leader in Me, with a focus on the 7 desirable character traits. Each student sets weekly goals and documents those goals and whether they achieve their goals or not and why. All students keep leadership notebooks. There was artwork EVERYWHERE! I may have this number wrong, but there is a flag for every country their students were from - 126 countries total! They had some interesting programs to help the non-English speaking students be successful.

On to SouthEast High - this brand new school was open this year and the hallway is 1/2 mile long~ We started by visiting their Buffalo Store, then went to visit several other classes. The FFA class had animals everywhere - really cool! I loved the wide hallways, huge windows, and inviting seating everywhere. They were even painting a Keeper of the Plains sculpture to be placed somewhere in the city.

Our last stop for the day was Christa McAuliffe Academy. This is a K-8 school that's been open for 6 years. They are an AVID school, and each student has an organizational binder that they were very proud to show off. Two adorable Asian kindergarten girls dressed in traditional clothing gifted us with paper fortune cookies and and good luck envelopes. The 4th grade put on quite the debate for us, arguing for or against trampolines. Their maturity in their discussions was impressive. We saw some students creating a walking tour website of their school, and ended the day with a violin symphony that was phenomenal!