SUPERINTENDENT - FRED HELMINK ASST. PRINCIPAL/ACTIVITIES DIR

JR./SR HIGH PRINCIPAL - JEFF VETTER ANDY IRWIN

JEFFERSON INTERMEDIATE PRINCIPAL CENTRAL ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL

JASON HIPPEN JEREMY CHRISTIANSEN

CALENDAR

EVENTS

MARCH 2

READ ACROSS AMERICA

MARCH 6

K-6 P/T CONFERENCES

4:00-8:00

MARCH 8

NO SCHOOL PREK-6

1:00 DISMISSAL 7-12

END OF 3RD QUARTER

MARCH 9

NO SCHOOL WINTER

BREAK

MARCH 13

3RD GRADE PROGRAM

7:00

MARCH 18

COPACABANA

MARCH 27

K ROUNDUP PARENT

MEETING 6:00

5TH GRADE PROGRAM 7:00

MARCH 30

NO SCHOOL KINDERGAR-

TEN ONLY

K ROUNDUP 9:00-11:30

Continued on page 2

FAIRBURYFAIRBURY PUBLIC SCHOOLSPUBLIC SCHOOLS

MARCH 2012

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Thoughts of a Superintendent From the Desk of Fred Helmink

As You Think, You Will Be? By Fred Helmink

My wife and I recently traveled to Houston

for a conference and had the opportunity to

listen to the best-selling author and pastor,

Joel Osteen, talk about having positive

thoughts and believing in yourself. If you

have ever listened to one of his motivation-

al talks or sermons, it will come as no sur-

prise that Joel believes “as you think, you

will be!” But what does that really mean?

You may not realize it, but you can choose

your thoughts. Nobody can make you

dwell on something. In his book, “Your

Best Life Now,” Osteen states that “your

mind is similar to a giant computer in that

your brain stores every thought you’ve ev-

er had.” That is encouraging when you are

trying to find your car keys, but it’s not

such good news when you consider the

amount of smut, foul language, and nega-

tive input with which we are inundated

every day of our lives.

If you start dwelling on negative or de-

structive thoughts, they will affect your

emotions, your attitudes, and if you contin-

ue to give it free reign of your mind, - it

Thoughts of a Superintendent, continued from page 1

will inevitably affect your actions. You will be much more prone to discourage-

ment and depression, and if you continue pondering that negative thought, it holds

the potential to sap the energy and strength right out of you.

I can assure you that it’s also unrealistic to ignore problems and live in denial, pre-

tending that nothing bad ever happens to us. As I have stated before, bad things

sometimes do happen to good kids, just as good things often happen to bad kids.

Tough times come to all of us. You can choose to either be filled with hope or

hopelessness. A lot of people say, “Well, as soon as my situation turns around, I’ll

cheer up. As soon as I get out of this mess, I’ll have a better attitude.” Unfortunate-

ly, that’s not going to happen. You have the process backward. As long as you har-

bor that poor, defeated outlook, you will continue to live a poor, defeated life.

The first place you must win the victory is in your own mind. If you don’t think

you can be successful, then you never will be. If you don’t think your situation will

turn around, it probably won’t. You can’t sit back passively and expect anything to

change for the better. As Osteen states, “When you think thoughts of failure, you

are destined to fail. When you think thoughts of mediocrity, you are destined to live

an average life. But when you think thoughts of victory, favor, faith, power and

strength, nothing can hold you back.” I share Joel Osteen’s ideas and thoughts with

regard to living our life to our fullest potential and turning our adversities into op-

portunities for growth. If we condition our mind to think positive, excellent

thoughts, we will be propelled toward greatness, increase, promotion and blessing.

As you think, you will be! Start today and rise above your obstacles and live in

health, abundance, and victory!

NAVIGATING THE STATE OF THE SCHOOL REPORT Jeremy Christiansen, Elementary Principal/Director of Curriculum & Learning

Each year in October the Nebraska Department of Education releases the State of

the Schools Report that includes information and data about Nebraska public

schools and student performance. The report

highlights the performance of students by dis-

trict and school building in reading, mathe-

matics, writing and science, as well as the per-

formance of groups of students, including race

and ethnicity, poverty, special education and

English Language Learners.

The report can be accessed online through the

Nebraska Department of Education’s website

at www.reportcard.education.ne.gov and will help parents in our community and

across the state to learn more about our education system and performance of our

students. Data can and should be an effective tool to improve student learning at all

levels. As educators, we continue to study this data and gaps in the performance of

groups of students to identify instructional strategies to help all students perform at

higher levels.

The vast amount and differing forms of performance and demographic data provid-

ed on the State of the School Report can at times be confusing. An example may

be found in the NeSA-Reading achievement data that was recently reported in our

school district’s Annual Report. The graphic displayed our students’ Average

Scale Scores by grade in comparison with the statewide averages. This form of the

data was included to highlight the promising improvement that our students as an

overall group made in consecutive years in the area of Reading. Additional data

could also have been included specific to the Percentage of Students Meeting or

Exceeding Standards showing that our local students at several grade levels contin-

ue to lag behind the achievement of their peers across the state.

Parents and patrons interested in learning more about the varying forms of achieve-

ment data are encouraged to access this information using the State of the Schools

Report. We also encourage parents to visit with their child’s teachers and princi-

pals who are most knowledgeable and familiar with the performance of individual

students. As always, our school district welcomes comments and suggestions as

we continue our efforts of continuous improvement of teaching and learning.

FAIRBURY HIGH SCHOOL HOSTS

BIG EVENT HEALTH CAREER DAY

Fairbury High School in conjunction with Southeast Community College and Jef-

ferson Community Health Center hosted a Big Event Health Career Day on

Wednesday, February 15th for all area students interested in a health career. Thirty

students from Fairbury, Diller-Odell, Meridian, Thayer Central, and Southern were

in attendance. The day started with a short speech from Dr. Randy Nelson who is

the director of the Career Academies through Southeast Community College about

the importance of attending such events as this and the benefit of the Career Acade-

mies. Gary Mitchell, pharmacist at JCHC, was the keynote speaker and presented

information on where health careers are headed in the future. Two breakout ses-

sions included Greg Cromer, Husker Rehab/JCHC Physical Therapist who dis-

cussed the pros/cons, education needed, and several other items important for stu-

dents to know when making career decisions. Dr. Jess Novotny, who is an internist,

was the second breakout session and she discussed many of the same topics that

Greg discussed in his session. A short tour of JCHC was then taken showing stu-

dents all the different areas of the hospital. Ending the day, was a panel discussion

where people that had either finished their medical degrees, were in the process of

getting their degree, or were just beginning to get their degree discussed their advice

for students entering this area. Shalyse Ahl, going to Clarkson College to major in

nursing to start with, and Jordan Lofing, going to UNK to major in Radiology Tech-

nology and was accepted to the KHOP program, were two FHS students that were

part of the panel and shared their tips for preparing yourself for medical careers.

The day was informative for many students and for a few even helped in deciding if

the health field was something they were still interested in pursuing. Many thanks

to JCHC for letting the students tour the facility, to Greg Cromer and Gary Mitchell

for their willingness to talk to our young people about the health field and more im-

portantly to Lana Likens for coordinating a majority of this event.

BOYS BASKETBALL PARENT NIGHT

ELEMENTARY MUSIC CONCERT

With phase one of the Jefferson construction project completed, the renovation of

several rooms is now underway as part of phase two of the project. Mr. Hippen is

now in his new office and the new classrooms are being utilized for 5th grade and

a temporary space for the media center. Once the renovation is complete by the

end of the current school year, phase three will begin with the parking lot and the

circle drive entrance to the north of the addition. Stay tuned for more pictures and

information in the coming months.

NEBRASKA SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATION Andy Irwin, Assitant Principal & Activities Director

The Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) is the governing body for Ath-

letics and Activities in our State. The Association covers all aspects of athletics and

activities for our young men and women that attend all schools.

A large part of the policies set forth by the NSAA deal with sportsmanship. The

NSAA produces a sportsmanship manual every year that must be followed by ad-

ministration, coaches, players, and fans.

According to the NSAA there are 6 fundamentals of Sportsmanship. The 4th funda-

mental is as follows; Exhibit respect for the officials. The officials of any contest

are impartial arbitrators who are trained and who perform to the best of their ability.

Mistakes by all those involved in the contests are part of the game. We should not

rationalize our own poor or unsuccessful performance or behavior by placing re-

sponsibility on an official. The rule of good sportsmanship is to accept and abide by

the decision made. This value is critical for students to learn for later applications.

Under the guidelines set forth by the NSAA, an administrator can remove a fan for

booing or heckling an official’s decision. A fan can also be removed for criticizing

officials in any way; displaying temper with an official’s call.

Fans should not harass athletes, coaches, officials, and other spectators. However at

any game that one might attend, there is an alarming amount of animosity towards

officials. Obviously there are people who don’t agree with the rules set forth by the

NSAA or possibly don’t feel that the rules apply to them.

There are 1,045 NSAA registered basketball officials. For most basketball games at

Fairbury Jr./Sr. High School registered officials are hired. Any varsity event at

Fairbury has registered officials as a requirement.

The state of Nebraska’s population is 1,842,641 according to the 2011 census bu-

reau. That means that .0005% of the population is a registered basketball official.

Although the percentage is small, there are always people in the stands that are criti-

cal of the officials in a belligerent way.

If you feel the need to criticize the officials ask yourself these questions.

1. Am I a registered official?

2. Have I ever officiated a game?

3. Have I read the current National Federation of State High School Association

rules for basketball?

If you can answer yes to at least one of the questions above then I would encourage

you to go to the NSAA website and take the steps necessary to become a registered

official. At Fairbury we are in need of officials, we would have plenty of opportu-

nities for you.

If you can’t say yes to any of the questions, then just enjoy the game with out critiz-

ing the officials.

JEFFERSON INTERMEDIATE

County Spelling Bee – The 5th and 6th grade Jefferson Intermediate spelling team

took six of the ten top spots during the County Spelling Bee on February 13th!! 9th

place - Isaac Robertson, 6th place – Michaela Buchli, 4th place – Marshall York, 3rd

place – Jayson Klaumann, 2nd place – Jacob Johnson, 1st place – Evie Schwab. Out-

standing showing for our team!!! Congratulations to coach Sheri Christiansen and

the entire 5th and 6th grade spelling team!!

Conferences – Our second semester elementary parent/teacher conferences are

coming up quickly. Conferences are scheduled to run from 4:00 – 8:00 PM on

Tuesday, March 6th and from 1:00 – 8:00 PM on Thursday, March 8th.

Building Update – With the new addition now complete, crew workers have

moved into the building and began the renovation process in a few classrooms. If

you have not visited Jefferson second semester, you will see Mrs. Zabokrtsky’s

classroom and part of the old library are now joined together to form one big room.

This will eventually be the new library space. The old administrative office is also

now one big room giving us an additional classroom space. The old west doors

have now been framed for walls and a window. The renovation process will most

likely take until the end of the school year to complete.

Music Programs – Please mark your calendars for two upcoming elementary musi-

cals in the month of March. Third grade students from Jefferson have their annual

performance on Tuesday, March 13th beginning at 7:00 PM at the Fairbury Junior/

Senior High School. Fifth grade students will perform on Tuesday, March 27th at

7:00 PM. This performance is also at the high school.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT CONFERENCE

SATURDAY, MARCH 31ST

The region’s annual Southeast Nebraska Parent Involvement Conference will be

held on Saturday, March 31st at the Fairbury Jr/Sr High School (8:30 am – 2:00

pm).

This conference has been designed specifically for parents of preschool and elemen-

tary-age children and includes a keynote presentation by Nancy Sharp Wagner, Ne-

braska author of numerous books for children. In addition, there will be a wide va-

riety of topical breakout sessions focused on parenting strategies, tips for helping

children succeed in school, health and nutrition, bullying awareness and prevention

and many others!

There are no costs for families to attend as this conference is sponsored by ten local-

area school districts in collaboration with Educational Service Unit #5 in Beatrice.

All registered participants receive a complimentary lunch, a certficate of attendance,

complimentary childcare and chances at winning great door prizes donated by nu-

merous area businesses, organizations and individuals.

To register, please contact Jeremy Christiansen (jchristiansen@fairburyjeffs.org or

402-729-2418) to receive a registration form. Information and registration forms

are also available on the school district’s website at www.fairburyjeffs.org.

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Attendance Policy Discussions By Jeff Vetter, FHS Principal

A hot topic in educational circles in the State

of Nebraska deals with the student attendance.

The Commissioner of the Nebraska Depart-

ment of Education (NDE), Dr. Roger Breed,

has directed his staff to collect data on the

number of students who miss a significant

number of days of school. Essentially every

school district in the State of Nebraska must

submit data each month on attendance that

reflects the number of students (no names or

identifiers are used) who miss 2 days per

month. This statistic has a cumulative aspect

to it, so that even though a student may have

only missed one day in August, if they have

now accumulated 6 absences by the end of

October (average of 2 absences per month) they would become a part of

the reported number in October. Although there are certainly exceptions

to the rule, the data clearly reflects that students who miss more school

generally have poorer academic performance. This attendance data is then

compared to school district achievement on various state tests and as

might be expected, there is a significant correlation between poor attend-

ance and poor achievement scores. As is generally the case, there are out-

liers, those situations where a small portion of the evidence does not nec-

essarily match up with the bulk of evidence.

We did discuss our attendance policy at our last Parent Advisory meeting

and there was discussion that would support setting a specific number of

days as the maximum that a student could miss per term, prior to losing

credit, regardless of the reasons for the absences as well as some very

credible discussion as to why setting a “magic” number may not be the

best policy. All indicators would appear to suggest that there will come a

time when attendance criteria will be set by the state or federal govern-

ment, but for the time being we will continue to discuss the topic locally

and try to set a policy that is fair and equitable.