The beginning of a new school year is nearing.

In Geary USD 475 officials report that the first day back at work for teachers will be August 6. The general session is scheduled August 8 from 8 – 11 a.m. The first full day of school for students in all grades, 1-12, will be August 12. The first day for Kindergarten students will be August 15, except for those attending Spring Valley. The Spring Valley Kindergarten program will have a half day the first week August 12 – 15 with no school for kindergarten students at Spring Valley on Friday, August 16.

The first day for the ECC program will be Monday, August 19.

The start  / end times for all USD 475 schools are listed below.

School	Type of Day	Grade	Time
Junction City High School	Full Day	9-12	8:30 AM – 3:35 PM
Middle Schools	Full Day	6-8	7:50 AM – 2:50 PM
Elementary Schools	Full Day	K-5	8:00 AM – 3:15 PM
Fort Riley Elementary	Full Day	K-5	7:45 AM – 3:00 PM
Seitz Elementary	Full Day	K-5	8:15 AM – 3:30 PM

Early Childhood Center

School	Type of Class	Time
Schedule A	AM Classes PM Classes	8:10 AM – 10:55 AM 11:35 AM – 3:05 PM
Schedule B	AM Classes PM Classes	8:00 AM – 10:45 AM 11:40 AM – 3:10 PM
Schedule C	AM Classes PM Classes	8:00 AM – 10:30 AM 11:10 AM – 3:10 PM
Schedule D	Full Day	8:00 AM – 3:10 PM

A check with Saint Xavier School revealed that all teachers all return to work on August 8. Some new teachers will report on August 7.

The first full day of school for students will be August 14.

The Geary County Sheriff’s Department and Junction City Fire Department have taken the initial steps to building a joint Public Service Dive Rescue and Recovery team.

According to a news release from Sheriff Daniel Jackson there was a SCUBA orientation assessment of prospective members of the team from both departments. That training will continue Thursday evening with another group of prospective members from both departments. After that assessment the potential team members will complete a swim assessment and then the most qualified candidates will be selected to be members of the team.

At that point those who are selected will obtain certifications in Open water and Advanced Open water diving followed by certifications as Public Safety Dive Rescue and Recovery divers.

The training and assessments conducted this week was provided by Jeff and Anita Freeborn of Flint Hills Scuba.

The Contract Manager at Risk Program authorized by the Kansas Legislature is being employed on the new Junction City High School project.

David Wild, Chief Operations Officer for USD 475, said the program provides the flexibility to allow bid extensions, split contract awards and other alternatives to the sealed or closed bid process. CMAR is being used to improve pricing for the construction of the new school.

“The pricing is now in. We have good solid competitive pricing on the project and this is the point of the CMAR process where we work through ok, what is it exactly that we really want, what are we willing to pay for, and we will begin to manage towards the control budget that we had established for the high school project.”

During initial proposal reviews the contractor, Hutton Construction, was able to reduce the overall pricing by more than three percent within the first two days and expects more reductions to come.

 

A delegation of health advocates from across the nation are pushing Congress for reliable, stable, long-term funding for health centers and other important health and workforce programs. That includes funding for center’s like Konza Prairie Community Health Center, with locations in both Junction City and Manhattan.

Staff and patients from health centers recently traveled to Washington D.C. to remind lawmakers that local community health centers need long-term and stable support now more than ever.

The nationwide network of locally-run health centers serve 28 million people in 11,000 communities and provide affordable primary health care all over the United States.  They are also responding to public health challenges, such as the opioid use epidemic, caring for veterans and responding to community needs after natural disasters.

“Health centers like Konza are at the core of a larger solution to healthcare challenges facing communities throughout the nation,” said Lee Wolf, CEO, Konza. “Long-term and robust funding for health centers is an investment in community health and the local economy.”

Health centers have compiled a record of success in cost-savings and illness prevention.

1. They save the health care system $24 billion annually.

2. They serve patients who are medically underserved and live in isolated and frontier communities where there are few if any providers.

3.   They are fighting the opioid use epidemic. Health centers provide medication assisted treatments to 65,000 patients in 2017 and are on course to triple urgently needed behavioral and mental health services.

 

 

4.  They are good for the economy, generating $54.6 billion in economic activity in low-income and underserved communities and employing over 220,000 people.

Konza officials noted that unless Congress acts now, a large portion of health center funding expires in September. Several bipartisan bills have been introduced in the House and Senate that provide long-term and stable funding for health centers as well as for critical workforce building programs. Konza is a not-for-profit community health center dedicated to providing affordable, quality, comprehensive healthcare for all.

 

 

There will be another opportunity to donate school supplies for needy children through the United Way coordinated Stuff the Bus collection program.

United Way Director Nicole Mahder said Stuff the Bus will be held at Walmart on East Chestnut Street from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday ( August 3 ). Overall school supply donations have been down this year compared to 2018 so a fourth collection day is being added to the schedule.

BY USD 475

Eisenhower Elementary	August 27, 2019	5:30 – 7:30 PM
Fort Riley Elementary	September 12, 2019	5:00 – 6:30 PM
Franklin Elementary	August 8, 2019	4:30 – 6:30 PM
Grandview Elementary	August 29, 2019	5:30 – 8:30 PM
Lincoln Elementary	August 14, 2019	4:30 – 6:30 PM
Milford Elementary	August 22, 2019	4:30 – 6:00 PM
Morris Hill Elementary	August 9, 2019	5:00 – 6:30 PM
Seitz Elementary	August 20, 2019, and September 9, 2019	4:00 – 5:30 PM
Sheridan Elementary	August 20, 2019	5:00 PM Session 1 6:00 PM Session 2
Spring Valley Elementary	August 26, 2019	4:30 PM Session 1 5:30 PM Session 2
Washington Elementary	August 29, 2019	3:30 – 6:30 PM
Ware Elementary	August 8, 2019	5:00 – 6:00 PM
Westwood Elementary	September 10, 2019	5:30 – 7:00 PM
FRMS	August 7, 2019	3:10 – 7:10
JCMS	August 7, 2019	3:30 – 7:30 PM

Correction to the story:

United Way initially reported that volunteers from six schools were participating in Stuff the Bus this year, down from the 10-12 range in 2018.

But United Way Director Nicole Mahder has now confirmed on Monday that in fact, more schools have had volunteers participating in the effort this year to obtain school supplies for needy children in USD 475 and Saint Xavier schools.

Mahder provided a list of the schools They included Lincoln, Milford, Fort Riley, Ware, Morris Hill, Spring Valley, Westwood, Seitz and Washington Elementary Schools.

School supplies will be delivered to all schools.

—-

Stuff the Bus donations of school supplies are down in Junction City this year compared to 2018.

United Way Director Nicole Mahder noted that one year ago more than 15,000 items were donated but as of Saturday afternoon the total was about 7,000. School supply items collected at two points on Saturday have not yet been calculated into the total.

Mahder said more items are needed, but she is unsure why the number of donations are down. “I’m not sure if it’s paydays falling, if our Saturdays are falling in between paydays or if it’s just people are struggling to make ends meet. Unfortunately it could be a multitude of things.”

Mahder noted that less schools have volunteers participating in the effort this year. “We only had six schools volunteer for Stuff the Bus. Last year we had between 10 and 12 schools. I’m not sure, maybe it’s just summertime, we’ve just had really low participation from teachers.”

The school supplies that are collected will be distributed to needy students in August. You can still make donations through August 4th at participating local businesses or at the United Way office at 139 East 8th Street.

There is some good news. Mahder confirmed that United Way only had about 100 backpacks filled with school supplies to give out last year but that number is up to 250. “So there are 250 backpacks that are going to go out to the community with basic supplies, crayons, paper, pencils so that is super super awesome.”

The Junction City Brigade hosted a get-together Sunday evening at Rathert Field to celebrate the baseball team’s Mid Plains League championship. It was an opportunity to say thank you to Coach Derek Francis, players and team officials for another good season.

For the second consecutive year and the fourth time in six years the Brigade captured the Cowdin Cup trophy that goes to the league champion. Junction City clinched the title Saturday evening in Belton, Missouri with a 5-2 win over the Midwest A’s in the second game of their best two out of three series, The Brigade also won the first game 5-1 Friday evening in Junction City.

Coach Derek Francis told the audience Sunday evening that this Brigade team never lost two games in a row all season. They finished with a final record of 28-6.

By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

The monthly retirement ceremony at Fort Riley is an opportunity to thank those members of the military for the time that they served. That’s one key point made by Junction City Commissioner and former 1st Infantry Division service member Phyllis Fitzgerald.

She said there is another factor as well.  It provides an opportunity to see how many of those attending the ceremony remain in Kansas and in the local communities. “And it gives us the opportunity to reach out to them and say we’re here for you. That is one of the highlights of going to the ceremony.”

Fitzgerald added a significant number of them remain in the local area. Many times the retiring Soldier has a job, their spouse has a job or they like the schools so they choose to stay in the area. Often Soldiers remain here as well because they enjoy the area and the  community.

The monthly retirement ceremony at Fort Riley was held Friday.

The U.S. Corps of Engineers has announced that the water release for Milford Lake was being reduced from 12,000 cubic feet per second to 8,000 cfs on Friday afternoon.

Releases will be further reduced to 3,000 cfs on Saturday, which will be slightly more than the inflow into the lake.’

The Corps is nearly out of Phase II releases for Milford Reservoir and they are entering Phase I releases in which different criteria apply for the gauge located downstream at Waverly, Missouri. The current lake elevation is 1163.69, which is 19.29 feet above normal conservation pool.