USD 490 eNews

CONGRATULATIONS to Grandview Kindergarten Teacher Tonya Cogan on being inducted into the Kansas Teachers' Hall of Fame class of 2025!

Visit our website to read more: https://www.usd490.org/article/2111290

Please help us say THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS to Volunteer, College & Career Coordinator Staci Rickard on being awarded the Quarter 3 USD 490 Award of Excellence! We appreciate the enthusiasm, dedication, and support she brings to #PartOfThePride!

Please help us say CONGRATULATIONS to our two KAKE Golden Apple recipients: 7th Grade ELA Teacher Gina Meyer at EMS and Music Teacher Taylor Bradley at Skelly! We have some AMAZING teachers as #PartOfThePride! Mrs. Meyer's interview aired Mar. 14 and Mrs. Bradley's aired Mar. 28.

Help us celebrate the amazing staff members we have as #PartOfThePride by letting someone know what a difference they have made for you, a student, or a family in our community.

It's easy:

• Visit our website and click on the image you want to send.

• Fill out the form that opens.

• Let the magic happen.

• 
  

During Teacher Appreciation Week on May 5-9, 2025, we will email the image you selected along with your note to the staff member you chose. These can be sent to ANY staff member in El Dorado Public Schools! If you want to recognize an entire building or department, please select the building principal's email and we will make sure your message is shared with everyone.

Thank you for helping us celebrate the dynamic people who are doing great things as #PartOfThePride!

The USD 490 Board of Education has approved a transition from our current crisis response plans to the “I Love U Guys” Standard Response Protocol (SRP) beginning in the 2025-2026 school year as we continually work to improve safety, communication, and consistency across all our schools.

The SRP is a simple, action-based approach designed to help students, staff, and first responders react quickly and effectively to any emergency. It organizes responses to any given situation into five clear actions:

1. Hold! - Stay in your classroom or area. Hallways must remain clear.

2. Secure! - Get inside. Lock outside doors.

3. Lockdown! - Locks, lights, out of sight.

4. Evacuate! - Move to a designated location.

5. Shelter! - Take safety measures based on the specific hazard (e.g., tornado, hazardous materials).

These responses provide a standardized vocabulary that students, staff, and first responders can all understand, making emergency situations easier to manage. The SRP is widely used across schools, businesses, and communities and is developed with input from safety experts and first responders.

Visit our website to read more: https://www.usd490.org/article/2084523

Partners In Education Foundation’s PIE Patrol distributed almost $8,500 by funding thirteen grants to the district’s schools on February 25th. This is the second of two grant award cycles for the school year, with the other one distributing over $25,700 last Fall semester. Earlier this school year PIE also distributed over $9,100 in annual program awards to various departments from over twenty endowed funds designed to specifically benefit a program or department. This brings the total classroom impact to over $43,300 this school year!

Visit our website to read more: https://www.usd490.org/article/2062345

Three USD 490 elementary students have had their artwork selected to represent each of our elementary schools in the Kansas Youth Art Month Exhibit at the Topeka Shawnee County Library from Feb. 25 through Mar. 29, 2025. One piece was featured on the Kansas Art Education Associatin and Kansas Art Teachers social media pages and included in a panel of Kansas youth art at the National Art Education Association convention.

Visit our website to read more: https://www.usd490.org/article/2057618

Seventh Grade ELA Teacher Gina Meyer and Skelly Music Teacher Taylor Bradley received KAKE Golden Apple awards on Mar. 5, 2025. Mrs. Meyer's interview aired Mar. 14. Mrs. Bradley's interview aired Mar. 28.

The El Dorado High School boys and girls wrestling teams competed at the state tournament on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1, 2025. Four of the six girls who competed placed in their respective weight classes. Visit our website to view individual results: https://www.usd490.org/article/2062191

EHS and Extend JAG-K students participated in a local CDC Feb. 10-13, 2025, where they won in several events. Ivy Howell won in Financial Literacy. Cole Lafferty and Elias Cole won in Business Plan. Kayla West won in Prepared Speaking. Chyann Stratmeyer won in Employability Skills. Max Miller won in Career Preparation Presentation. Elliot Savage qualified for regionals in Prepared Speaking. Kacey Milligan qualified in Career Preparation, and Serenity Belair qualified in Financial Literacy.

Visit our website to read more: https://www.usd490.org/article/2067005

El Dorado High School girls bowler Madison Busby placed ninth out of 74 bowlers at the state bowling competition in Wichita on Mar. 6, 2025. Her series score was 509.

Several El Dorado High School basketball players and wrestlers earned AVCTL Division IV honors and Wrestling Coach Wes Reynolds was named Coach of the Year. Visit our website to read more: https://www.usd490.org/article/2099221

El Dorado High School hosted its annual Community Service Day on Mar. 28, 2025, bringing students together to give back to the community and enjoy fun activities.

Visit our website to read more: https://www.usd490.org/article/2114729

Three El Dorado Middle School students competed in the Patriot League Math Relays in Haysville on Feb. 27, 2025. Each of them competed in three events with Sam Schafer finishing in first place in the Geometry and Statistics/Probability events and fifth in Functions.

Preston Fielden placed fourth in The Number System, sixth in Expressions/Equations and Geometry.

Vaneza Mendoza placed seventh in Functions and also competed in Statistics/Probability, Expressions/Equations.

The El Dorado Middle School boys wrestling team placed sixth in the Patriot League North wrestling tournament in Dec. 2025. Visit our website to see individual results: https://www.usd490.org/article/2063905

El Dorado Middle School orchestra students performed at the Patriot League Orchestra Festival on Mar. 5, 2025, at the USD 490 Performing Arts Center. The seventh and eighth grade orchestra earned a I rating from each of the three judges for a composite I (Outstanding).

The middle school vocalists performed at the Patriot League Vocal Music Festival at Newman University on Mar. 7, 2025. The seventh and eighth grade choir earned a I rating.

The middle school band performed at the Patriot League Band Festival at Circle on Mar. 12, 2025. The seventh and eighth grade band received a I rating.

Visit our website to view solo and small ensemble scores: https://www.usd490.org/article/2097562

Mr. Luehrs' 7th-grade Pre-Algebra students put their math skills to the test with a real-world project. They took on the challenge of installing tile around a pool and adding a tarp covering—calculating area, perimeter, and even El Dorado city sales tax. Students got creative by naming their own businesses, setting reasonable labor costs, and submitting mock bids on an invoice template. The competition was on to see which group's bid would be accepted!

To celebrate Read Across America Day (Mar. 2 annually), Blackmore students participated in a school-wide Dr. Suess themed BINGO game on Mar. 3, 2025. Visit Blackmore's Facebook page to view a video.

Blackmore kindergarten learned about garden plants from KSU Research and Extension today. They guessed what was in the mystery bucket (a potato), read "Tops and Bottoms" and talked about which parts of plants we eat (root, leaves, seeds, flower, fruit, or stem).

Visit our Facebook page to view more photos.

Grandview Kindergarten recited the Pledge of Allegiance before the City Commission meeting in both English and Spanish on Mar. 3, 2025. Visit the District Facebook page to view a video: https://www.facebook.com/eldorado.schools/videos/1584337752268451

Fifth grade book buddies helped preschoolers measure various items with different manipulatives on Mar. 10, 2025. Our big kids do such a great job with our littles! Visit Grandview's Facebook page to view photos.

Grandview classes enjoyed a variety of activities as they celebrated Read Across America Day with Dr. Seuss week Mar. 3-7, 2025. Visit Grandview's Facebook page to view a video.

Grandview students have a new GaGa ball pit thanks to their PTO for purchasing it and to maintenance for assembling it on Mar. 13, 2025. View a video on Grandview's Facebook page.

Grandview 5th grade put their engineering skills to the test in their annual Egg Drop. Some eggs survived, some didn’t, but the creativity and learning were unstoppable. THANK YOU to El Dorado Fire Department for providing the height and wrangling runaway eggs!

Visit our Facebook page to view more photos.

Mar. 25, 2025 was a very memorable day for Grandview's kindergartners. They traveled to Commerce Bank to meet Mr. Utech and all of his wonderful staff. The students are starting an adventure learning all about the importance of money, savings, wants and needs. They went to the bank to take out a loan for a project they are doing in the classroom. Each child had to bring their own collateral in a paper bag, sign their name as a promise that they will pay back the loan, and then they all got to go into the vault and see where their collateral will be safely stored until the loan is paid in full. These Kinders are learning some important and valuable life lessons. A big thank you to Mr. Utech and his staff at Commerce Bank for helping provide this awesome learning experience for our students!

Visit Grandview's Facebook page to view a video.

Skelly second through fifth grade students recited poems in the Poetry Café on Mar. 5, 2025. This annual event is held at Skelly Elementary each spring and allows students to build confidence, practice public speaking, and explore the beauty of language.

Visit our website to read more: https://www.usd490.org/article/2068755

Skelly students, staff, and families were invited to paint kindness rocks during Parent-Teacher conferences on Feb. 27, 2025. Visit Skelly's Facebook page to view photos.

Students in Mrs. Adams and Mr. Tullis' class prepared and delivered a basket with encouraging notes and snacks to the SBA Cancer Center on Mar. 4, 2025. Visit Skelly's Facebook page to read more.

In honor of Epilepsy Awareness Day, Skelly learned from former Skelly Panther and current staff member Niomi Ndirangu what different kinds of seizures look like and what they can do to help others.

Many students across the district showed up and wore purple in support of seizure awareness on Mar. 26, 2025,, and the students (and staff!) with the most purple received a Seize Your Future water bottle.

View more photos on Skelly's Facebook page.

For more information about the Seize Your Future foundation, you may click this link below:

https://seizeyourfuturefoundation.com

With the increasing popularity and accessibility of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the USD 490 Board of Education has approved a policy for AI use in school. This new policy and an Acceptable Use Scale for AI in Classrooms can be found on our website under Staff Resources, Parent Resources, or Student Resources. A teacher's guide is also available on the Staff Resources page.

The Did you know? series is a statewide communication campaign designed to help inform the public about things they might not have known about public school opportunities, funding, and impact.

Complete online enrollment by April 18 to be entered into a drawing to win some great prizes from local businesses.

Completing enrollment early helps us prepare for the fall by making sure we have adequate staffing and allows us to better estimate how many non-resident students we will have the capacity to accommodate. Non-resident forms for both new and returning students are available online and should be returned to the District Office (124 W. Central Ave.) or emailed to Sheila Hogoboom at shogoboom@usd490.org.

Find more information about enrollment on our website: https://www.usd490.org/o/usd-490/page/enrollment-info

Applications for the El Dorado Virtual School opened March 24. Students applying for the virtual school must complete online enrollment at whichever building would be their traditional school in addition to filling out the virtual school application.

Find out more about El Dorado Virtual School on our website: https://www.usd490.org/page/el-dorado-virtual-school

Applications for Extend are OPEN! The application deadline is Apr. 21. Apply online: https://forms.gle/HHNkWVyPwE2Ghk7W8

For more information about the program, visit our website: https://www.usd490.org/o/ehs/page/extend-campus

Preschool applications for the 2025-2026 school year are now being accepted!

Visit our website to learn more about USD 490's preschool programs or to download a preschool application: https://www.usd490.org/page/preschool-programs

Our next ESL Family Night will be Monday, April 14, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center located at 500 West Central Avenue. There will be a guest speaker from Wichita State University's Office of Hispanic Serving Initiatives.

Visit the KanCare website to learn more about available family or child medical plans and check your eligibility: https://cssp.kees.ks.gov/apspssp/

USD 490's COVID grant provides FREE at-home COVID test kits for all #PartOfThePride families. You do not have to be sick or sign up to receive these at-home test kits. Just ask your child's school nurse, call Toshia Stephenson at 316-322-4850 or email nltillman@usd490.org and she can send some home for you.

This year's district theme is "Take the Lead." To celebrate this theme, we asked our student leadership teams to tell us who they believe are inspirational, unique, or interesting leaders. Their answers will be featured the first and third Tuesday of each month.

This is the district's new unified communication platform. Please download the app to keep connected with what is going on in your child's school.

Apple:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/parentsquare/id908126679

Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/detailsid=com.parentsquare.psapp&pcampaignid=web_share

The 1-page calendar for the 2025-2026 school year was approved by the USD 490 Board of Education on Jan. 13, 2025. It is linked below, and is also available on our district website: https://www.usd490.org/page/district-calendars

Mark your calendars and save the dates for USD 490 summer athletic opportunities! We will send more info. and detailed schedules as the summer gets closer, but want to give families some general dates to keep in mind as vacation plans are being made. #PartOfThePride

April 4 National School Librarian Day; BE Family Night at 6:30 p.m.; Wear Blue for child abuse prevention

April 6 EHS Band BBQ & Jazz Concert, 5:30 p.m.

April 9 Purple Up! wear purple for military kids

April 10 Kindergarten Kickoff, 6:00 p.m.

April 14 GE Spring Concert at PAC, 7:00 p.m.

April 15 Fifth Grade Parent Meeting at EMS, 6:00 p.m.; SE Spring Concert at PAC, 7:00 p.m.

April 17 BE Spring Concert at PAC, 7:00 p.m.

April 18 No School; Deadline to complete online enrollment and be entered to win prizes

April 21 No School; Staff Development; Extend application closes
April 21-25 National Volunteer Week

April 22 Earth Day

April 23 Administrative Professionals Day

April 25 GE PTO Family Fun Night, 6:00 p.m.

April 27 NHS Induction Ceremony at EHS, 6:00 p.m.

Email: usd490@usd490.org
Website: www.usd490.org
Location: 124 West Central Avenue, El Dorado, KS, USA
Phone: (316) 322-4800
Facebook: facebook.com/eldorado.schools
X/Twitter: @eldoradousd490