The USD 413 Board of Education on Dec. 3, recognized several student accomplishments and heard updates on professional development, curriculum planning, and district facility projects. Board member Brianna Leroy was absent.
Chanute High School Athletic Director Nick Nothern was tasked with presenting numerous student athletes and coaches who earned postseason awards for CHS. The SEK league selected four coaches at CHS as their coach of the year in their respective sports: Head Coach Jory Murry (volleyball), Head Coach Jeff Smith (girls tennis), Trevor Ewert (girls golf), and Brett Rinehart (boys cross country).
The following athletes earned postseason honors during the fall sports season: Volleyball: Josey Henson and Presley Henson, First Team All-SEK (unanimous); Kiley Dillow and Addy Hughes, Second Team All-SEK.
Soccer: Keaton Baker and Lawrence Chaney, First Team All-SEK; Sam Wheeler, Jarrett Cleaver, and Daniel Stanley, Second Team All-SEK.
Football: Kris Harding, First Team All-SEK quarterback; Brady Alonzo, Peyton Anderson, and Karter Naff, First Team All-SEK offensive line; Alonzo and Braddox Bancroft, First Team All-SEK defensive line; Asher Love, First Team All-SEK linebacker; Kemper Manly, Second Team All-SEK linebacker.
Tennis: Ella Guernsey, SEK champion, First Team All-SEK, 11th place state medalist; Sarah Uhner, Second Team All-SEK; J.J. Smoot and Leah Burnett, Second Team All-SEK and state qualifiers.
Cross country: Laney Hillmon, SEK champion, All-SEK, state qualifier; Jarynn Hockett, All-SEK; Tucker Applegate, SEK champion, All-SEK, state qualifier, All-State (eighth), Academic All-State; Easton Colborn, All-SEK, state qualifier, All-State (11th); Mason Greve and Thien Ma, state qualifiers; Jaron Powers, All-SEK, state qualifier, All-State (10th), Academic All-State; Tyler Rowden, All-SEK, state qualifier; Joshua Schoenhofer, honorable mention All-SEK, state qualifier.
Golf: SEK and sub-state runner-up; state qualifiers Maddie Kepley, Delaney Hastings, Rainey Carter, Layla Reinecke, and Lovie Cosby.
Unified bowling: Regional runner-up; state qualifiers Thomas Shook, Mila Westbrook, Nathan Womack, and Drake Friederich.
The board unanimously approved the consent agenda, with Superintendent Matt Koester highlighting an anonymous $1,000 donation specifically earmarked for lunch debt for high school seniors.
Chanute Elementary School Principal Brooke Wire and Tiffany Oldham, an instructional specialist with Greenbush, presented on a professional development initiative they have been working on at CES to improve literacy rates. The program they are using is called LETRS — Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling. The state of Kansas will require districts to implement additional professional development for literacy by 2028. Wire noted that the district undertook LETRS training not because of the mandate but because of the instructional impact.
“It’s not until you see the actual application and student growth that you understand the importance,” she said.
Oldham said that they are working on integrating the LETRS program into other district curriculum efforts and that it has been a very collaborative process because there are so many teachers knowledgeable about the training. Oldham noted that she was collecting early data on the efficiency of the program but that it would be an ongoing process.
Assistant superintendent Dr. Heather Burris lauded the initiative of the CES teachers.
“Their enthusiasm is really remarkable,” she said.
Wire said that it was CES reading specialist teachers who initiated the program at CES beginning in 2023. In 2024, they added two additional cohorts to the training. USD will serve as a host site for training other districts this year. Wire said that compared to other districts, she felt that USD 413 has an impressive professional development program.
“We are in a really good place,” she said.
The LETRS program is intensive, requiring about 65 annual hours of additional training to maintain the certification. Koester said that the district is compensating teachers for their time with extra duty pay in the total amount of approximately $180,000.
“It’s an investment in our teachers,” he said.“It would be unfair to ask them to do 130 hours on their own time.”
Koester reported that construction on the new agricultural science building at CHS was nearing completion, and he expects that it should be complete in the new year. He also noted that he had recorded three episodes of the district’s “School Matters” podcast with an expected release date of January 15th for the first episode.
Director of Teaching and Learning Tyler Applegate noted that the district’s “Ed Camp” professional development day would be taking place and that the Southeast school district would be joining them. He reminded the board that at the next meeting, he would be presenting a potential calendar for the 2026-2027 school year.
Burris reported that USD 413 took advantage of a national early childhood education taking place in Kansas City, which is why the Chanute Early Learning Center had a longer Thanksgiving break than the rest of the district. They were able to take eight teachers to the conference. She acknowledged that it created a childcare challenge to have that many teachers gone.
“I want to thank the parents who made it possible to do what’s best for the kids,” she said.Board President Cassie Cleaver thanked Landon Wolken for his two years of service on the board, as it was his last meeting. Wolken, the youngest member of the board, shared that he had not run for reelection because of his commitments to college and an internship, but it was a difficult decision.
“It has truly been an honor to serve,” Wolken said. “I am incredibly proud of how far we’ve come together. It is one of the things I love about Chanute, our focus is on community, and kids, and our shared values.”
In unfinished and new business, USD 413 had a very detailed discussion regarding potential solar improvements to the district. More about this will be included in an upcoming edition of the Chanute Tribune.
