Amanda
Pettygrove's kindergarten class at Exeter-Milligan has been learning about
Kings and Queens. Students learn about the royal family and their duties.
Along with facts about kings and queens, students enjoy listening to stories
that include royalty. Pictured are Bentley Ring and Addyson Zoubek with their
crowns.
03/09/2014
It was an intense
competition at the Cornhusker Council Prairie Winds District Pinewood Derby on
Saturday, March 9th at the Seward High School Gym as just .40 of a second
separated the car speeds from first place to sixteenth place.
Cub Scouts from the
nine counties that make up the district gathered to see who took top honors in
both speed and show. In order to be eligible to attend the district
event, scouts had to place in the top three in their pack pinewood derby for
race or show.
For the show portion
of the events scouts were interviewed individually on the techniques and tools
they used to make their cars.
Tyler Due, Pack 218 in Exeter, took the top
honors in the wolf competition. For show Ben Bartu out of Pack 218 in
Exeter was at the top of the Webelo category and Mikey Bartu was at the top of
the Wolf category.
Exeter-Milligan Boys Basketball team head to the state
Tournament. The Timberwolves, ranked #5 (22-3) will face High Plains #4
(25-1) tonight at Lincoln East High School at 7 p.m. The one loss of the
High Plains came from Exeter-Milligan during CRC tournament.
Science Stuff by Matt
Nicholas, E-M Science Instructor
This week in 8th grade
Earth Science, we are studying the theory of plate tectonics. Plate Tectonics
is a combination of the ideas of continental drift and seafloor spreading. Together
these ideas help us understand the processes inside the earth that shape
what we see on the map. We will be demonstrating how tectonic plates interact with
each other by using graham crackers as crustal plates and frosting as magma. We
will be investigating how mountains and volcanoes are formed as well as other
geologic features.
Each of Mr. Brian Murphy's classes at Exeter-Milligan watches
and discusses the news daily. The eight grade American History class is
learning about events leading up to the Civil War. In high
school American History class, we are finishing the unit covering World War II.
Currently, students in World Geography are learning about Central America.
In Post World War II History, students are learning about the 1980s and
the fall of the Soviet Union.
Exeter-Milligan and Friend school
board members joined together in the Exeter gym for the fourth in a series of joint
public meetings presenting information on a possible consolidation of the two
districts.
All the information presented during
the meeting is available for public viewing on the websites for both districts.
After the meetings were officially
opened by respective board presidents, EM Superintendent Paul Sheffield and FPS
Superintendent Derek Anderson shared a power point presentation starting with
the history of consolidation discussion and co-oping between the two districts.
They also presented the fact that both
districts have seen a drastic decline in enrollment. It was noted that in 2002-2003 EM had an
enrollment of 321 and FPS was at 354.
Right now, the two districts together would be at 354. “We have seen a steady decline; 58% for EM
and 40% for Friend,” explained Sheffield.
Currently the proposal plans for the
Kindergarten to fifth grade to be educated in the Exeter building and sixth
through twelfth grades will be in Friend with the sixth through eighth grade
using the Friend elementary area. There would be preschool in both locations.
There was no discussion of any
additional construction to either site but Sheffield noted that it was his
recommendation to the board that the Exeter high school building be torn down.
“If we aren’t going to use the high school let’s tear it down. Let’s don’t let it become a tag factory or
nursing home.”
The EM district is also in the process
of transferring ownership of the Milligan school to the village of
Milligan. Along with the building the
district would transfer a finite amount of funds from the EM building fund to
be used to maintain the building.
On the Friend side of things, Anderson
talked about their indebtedness, “The constituents of Friend would continue to
pay for that. EM would not pay for
that. A new building fund will be
created for the consolidated district.”
The property valuation for the new
district would be at $1.2 billion dollars.
The proposal provides that the first
school board in the new district would be made up of six members, three from
the EM district and three from the Friend district. EM would have two elected
with four year terms and one with a two year term while Friend would have two
with two year terms and one with a four year term.
After that, there would be no
requirement that board members are from a certain district.
As they presented the advantages for
combining, Anderson talked of the collaboration of the teachers and the
additional academic offers.
There are no plans to remove any
teacher positions, only an administrative position, a superintendent would be
cut. EM’s Sheffield has made it clear he plans to retire.
The only questions that were answered
were those that had been submitted in advance. Notecards were provided to the
public if patrons had additional questions to submit.
The
meeting was opened for public comment and just three stepped up to the
microphone.
Allison
Petersen who along with husband, Robbie, opted their kids into the district
from Fillmore Central, expressed their support, “ (we) see
a significant benefit for our students if we consolidate. I believe there will
be a huge benefit and boost to the arts in our schools. I am also excited to
see more classroom and teacher collaboration. Our own children are looking
forward to joining with the Friend students in the classroom as they have
enjoyed being teammates with them in the sports coop. To be perfectly honest,
their biggest concern is school lunch.”
Taylor Kahlandt
emphasized the advantages to having a separate middle school and seeing a boost
for both academic and arts in the consolidation. She thanked the board for being pro-active.
Kelly Rischling also
thanked the board and addressed the concern of a parent about busing, as she
has three children who often choose to ride the bus over riding with mom to
Exeter from Milligan.
Both boards will meet for their regular
monthly meeting on March 18 and then both will vote on consolidation in their April
meeting. They noted that public comment
will be allowed at both meetings.
