Superintendent's Scoop

Good things are happening!

October 25, 2016

By Superintendent Gary Pflueger I have enjoyed writing this edition of the “Supt Scoop” to our community. Good things are happening! And yes, challenges will keep us striving for ways to improve. I’ll begin with the best news — Bonners Ferry was awarded the “High Five” grant sponsored by Blue Cross of Idaho. This will bring up to $250,000 into our community and be dedicated to our youth. I look forward to working with Mayor David Sims, Gary Aitkens Jr., Dennis Weed and the community as we measure the best opportunities for our children. This is wonderful and exciting on many levels! On another level of progress, the Boundary County School District is the main reason a fiber optic connection is headed north, though this news is tentative at this point. We have met with Fat Beam, a company out of Coeur d’Alene. The School Board will look into this partnership, as well as other business items at our next meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, November 7, at the District Office. The future is coming, like it or not; let’s make sure we are controlling our own destiny. Last week, a Board of Trustee’s advisory committee, the Executive Council, met to discuss policy and procedures. Of course, student safety is always primary on our minds. To assist and improve instruction we will begin to offer specific and specialized training for our substitute teacher core. With the four day week, there is no time to waste in the classroom. The days of busy work and “baby sitting” are over. I look forward to assisting all our employees and students in becoming more productive. As information is king, another improvement which will help all of us is the new district-wide calendar. Go to our web-site at www.bcsd101.com. The new item we created is on the right hand side of the main page. It is a daily calendar of upcoming events in all Boundary County Schools. I am proud to acknowledge you will see very few, if any, school events on a Wednesday evening after 6 p.m. A promise I intend to keep! This site is also a great location to keep up on your child’s academic growth. Just get your PowerSchool login from the teacher or school secretaries to track your child’s progress and attendance. Now to address the challenges. I talked with Nurse Moore over the weekend. Head lice are having a banner year. Karen and our volunteers are having a hard time keeping up; it is a real head scratcher! At school we have educated our students in proper etiquette: keep hats, heads and clothing to self; though it is hard to stop hugs and group selfies. We give out RID shampoo and other supplies geared toward control of further spreading. However, unless infested homes take special steps to eradicate the lice, they will continue to catch a ride back into our schools. If we can get enough help, we will complete a district-wide check and maybe get on top of it (so to speak)! Let us know what you can do! Finally, BCSD participates annually in a Free & Reduced Lunch Program. Whether or not your child eats hot lunch, we still benefit from the completed forms being turned in. Financial support through the lunch forms comes into our schools in many ways. All information is confidential. Contact Tammy Schneider or the school secretaries for more info. Thanks for helping! Congrats to all of our fall season athletes! Thanks for the efforts in and out of the classroom! Upcoming Events: 11/3 End 1st Quarter 11/6 End daylight savings time “Fall Back” 11/20 FREE Community Thanksgiving Supper 3 to 7 p.m., BCMS cafeteria. Sponsored by the Ministerial Association and BCSD.