Category: News

Fremont Public Schools Meets with Buffett Early Childhood Institute & Fund

Looking at opportunities to expand education and services

Fremont, Neb. – (Jan. 16, 2020) Fremont Public Schools is continually looking for ways to better serve our families in the community and provide needed education and services. On January 15, Fremont Public Schools met for two hours with the Buffett Early Childhood Institute and the Buffett Early Childhood Fund to discuss early childhood education and care in Fremont. 

The District shared with representatives of the two organizations information related to our community, the school district and programming currently in place. Fremont Public Schools currently offers Sixpence programming for birth to age three and half day preschool for four-year-olds in all elementary schools. The District also provides special education services to young people with identified disabilities beginning at birth, this service is both home based and center based. 

The District serves approximately 250 birth to age four children with educational/developmental programming. “Area schools are able to provide coverage for families from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. We’re not there yet but we are currently looking at ways to partner with community organizations to meet this need,” said Brad Dahl, Associate Superintendent for Fremont Public Schools. “Working together is the best way to ensure the entire community will benefit from increased programming.”

Dr. Samuel Meisels, founding executive director of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute stated, “Fremont has many wonderful resources for young children and families. There are many committed staff at Fremont Public Schools that can help expand resources to more children in the community.”

Topics of discussion included early childhood needs the Fremont community has, what Fremont is doing well, resources the Buffett Early Childhood Institute can connect Fremont to and possible next steps to improve and increase early childhood education in the community. “The discussion today validated much of where our emphasis has been and highlighted the need for additional programming for children and families, stated Heather Beekman, assistant special education director. “Fremont has a lot of momentum to create continuity and increased educational opportunities for children as they transition from childcare, to preschool to elementary school,” said Mark Shepard, Superintendent of Fremont Public Schools. “It represents an identified need which has the potential to move the needle for our children, families and our community.”

Mark Shepard and Sam Meisels chatting

Mark Shepard giving presentation

group of people listening to presentation

Fremont Public Schools Evidence Based Analysis Bump-Up

Six Schools Improve Classification

 

Fremont, Neb. – (Nov. 27, 2019) The Nebraska Department of Education has released the final 2019 AQuESTT classifications. Several Fremont Public Schools improved their classification through an Evidence Based Analysis (EBA) Review. School principals collect and submit additional information that shows the great things that are happening every day in the classroom. Only a finite number of schools in each category are allowed to increase their rating.

 

The State of Nebraska Accountability System (AQuESTT) preliminary designations are weighted heavily on a single State test given in grades 3-8 and the ACT for students in grade 11. The evidence based analysis allows school buildings to provide additional quantifiable evidence based on the six identified tenets outlined in rule. “The EBA adjustment recognizes the hard work and student growth that we are experiencing in our classrooms instead of simply tying the results to our student demographics and experiences,” stated Mark Shepard, Superintendent of Schools. “We as a District continue to outperform our identified risk factors.”

 

“Fremont Public Schools is proud of the work that is happening in our classrooms every day to meet students where they are in their current understanding to get them where they need to be” stated Kate Heineman, FPS Executive Director of Teaching and Learning. “Our programming is designed to meet the needs of our students and families. Teachers adapt lessons within the programming allowing each student to grow in their learning.”

 

Six of our nine schools eligible for EBA review received a higher final classification. The final classifications for schools within the District are as follows:

 

Fremont High School – Great

Fremont Middle School – Good

Johnson Crossing Academic Center – Good

Bell Field Elementary – Great

Clarmar Elementary – Good

Grant Elementary – Good

Howard Elementary – Great

Linden Elementary – Good

Milliken Park Elementary – Good

Washington Elementary – Good

 

“Fremont Public Schools are a great example of how the AQuESTT system should work,” said Nebraska Commissioner of Education Matthew Blomstedt. “Using tools like the Evidence-based analysis, schools are able to showcase improvement with the unique and individual ways they are serving their students. Schools, like those in Fremont, prove how hard they are working for every student, every day.”

 

“We have a great school system that our students, parents and staff should be proud of. We strive everyday to provide our students with opportunities to position them well in the future” Shepard concluded.

 

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The mission statement of the Fremont Public Schools is to produce creative, adaptable, productive citizens committed to lifelong learning.

 

The Fremont High School journalism department took home two Cornhusker Awards, for both the Rustler news-magazine and the Black & Gold yearbook, at the Nebraska High School Press Association Convention in Lincoln on Monday.
The Cornhusker is the top award a high school publication can win in the state of Nebraska.  Fremont and Millard West were the only high schools in the entire state to win two Cornhusker Awards this year (for print media).  In addition to winning Cornhuskers, the Rustler also won Golden Kernel Awards for photography and story writing, while the Black & Gold also won a Golden Kernel Award for photography.
In this photo are seniors Olivia Wright (left) and Sarah Prall (right).  Wright served as the assistant editor of the Rustler last year and is currently the Editor-In-Chief of the school news-magazine this year. Prall served as the assistant editor of the Black & Gold last year and is currently the Editor-In-Chief of the yearbook this year.
two girls holding journalism awards

Johnson Crossing Teacher Receives Donors Choose Grant

Guy Whitman has taught Social Studies for the past 23 year years. This school year he decided to try something different and is now a 6th Grade Language Arts teacher. In anticipation of his move, Whitman needed some new books for his new classroom. He wrote a grant via Donors Choose for educators for the purchase of several popular novels that he could use with his students for literature enrichment in his classroom. After the grant was completed and uploaded to Donors Choose it was seen by a representative from the Bill Gates Foundation. Whitman was able to purchase over $700.00 worth of brand new novels for his students and last week they began their first literature unit to utilize them.

Fremont Public Schools Honored with Member of the Month

Fremont Public Schools was recently honored with the Member of the Month award by the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce. The Member of the Month award is presented to an organization that has demonstrated a great impact on the Fremont community. Fremont Public Schools was honored for their service and volunteerism during the March Flood of 2019. Fremont Public Schools opened the Middle School as a shelter for those displaced by the flood. Over 200 Fremont Public Schools staff and students volunteered their time to help staff the shelter and help others in the community in other ways, including sand bagging. Fremont Public Schools is proud of its students and staff for lending a hand when our community needed it the most.

Fremont Public Schools was honored at the Fremont Area Chamber’s September Board of Directors meeting with a plaque and video.

FPS looks towards technology updates

Several buildings in the Fremont Public Schools district will receive cabling and wireless upgrades this year with help from the Federal eRate program.

These upgrades are expected to last for years.

The infrastructure being updated provides the foundation on which computers and other technological devices communicate with each other and access the internet.

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7th Grade Outdoor Day

Today 7th graders at Fremont Middle School spent the day outside at Johnson Lake for their annual Outdoor Day. 7th graders worked in their teams to accomplish tasks pertaining to the outdoors in core subjects. During their math time, students counted paces around the walking path of Johnson Lake to calculate the total distance. During science, students studied made leaf rubs to study leaf veins and identified trees. Students wrote used poetry to describe the outdoors and how it makes them feel. Students created a map of Johnson Lake as a part of their social studies curriculum. The day is put together by science teacher, Alisa Beam. She works with Nebraska Game and Parks and the Lower Platte NRD to set up several presentations with students. Beam says, “Outdoor day is all about getting kids outside and exposing them to a variety of aspects of the world around them. They get many hands-on experiences such as riding on a tractor to plant trees, flying a drone, feeling furs from Nebraska Game and Parks. My favorite part is getting to see students fish for the first time and how excited they get when they catch their first fish! I also love hearing the stories from students about putting the worm on their hook for the first time or taking the fish off the hook and how many they caught! It is a great experience many of the students have never done before and one they will always remember!”

Fremont Schools Partner for Community Radio Project

FPS, Trinity & Bergan have new radio communication systems

Fremont, Neb. – (August 1, 2019) Fremont Public Schools is pleased to announce the completion of a new two-way communication radio system connecting Fremont Public Schools, Archbishop Bergan Catholic Schools and Trinity Lutheran Schools. The project aims to improve communication between school buildings, school districts and first responders in the event of an emergency. 

This project was designed, specified, procured and implemented by Kevin Kavan and Cliff Huss.  Kavan serves as coordinator of district security and Huss is the director of information services for Fremont Public Schools. “We are excited to be involved in a project of this magnitude. It fully integrates all school buildings in the city of Fremont with safety and security communications as well as daily building communications” stated Kevin Kavan. “This project is an example of collaboration between public and private partners and exemplifies the community’s commitment to keeping our schools and families safe,” said Cliff Huss of the project. The new communications system incorporates a direct radio link to the Fremont/Dodge County 911 Call Center, which can be utilized in emergency situations.

All of the Fremont Public Schools elementary school buildings, Archbishop Bergan Catholic Schools and Trinity Lutheran Schools will be receiving a new base station and handheld radios. Johnson Crossing Academic Center, Fremont Middle School and Fremont High School will have new base stations and reprogrammed hand-held radios. Administrators from FPS, Trinity and Bergan recently attended a training session with First Wireless and Fremont/Dodge County 911 Call Center to become familiar with the new radio system.

The majority of the $101,296.53 cost for the project was funded by grants from the Fremont Area Community Foundation, the Fremont Public School Foundation and the Willis Foundation.  Archbishop Bergan Catholic Schools and Trinity Lutheran Schools were 100 percent grant funded, with the total cost for FPS being $24,988.44. “Several events of this past school year highlighted the importance of communication beyond cell phones and telephones. The insertion of grant proceeds from these great community-minded foundations allowed this project to move from concept to reality,” stated Kavan.

For the past 16 years, groups of local kids have spent a week out of their summer trying their hand at becoming inventors.

This year, another 80 little inventors are spending a week immersing themselves in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) curriculum with a specific focus on invention at Camp Invention being held at Clarmar Elementary School.

Camp Invention is a nationwide summer camp program sponsored by the National Inventors Hall of Fame that uses hands-on lesson and activities to promote STEM learning.

Continue reading here.

At the beginning of the school year, all of the Bell Field Elementary teachers were to create a project for the kids that represented their passion outside of school. Miss Wiese’s passion is to introduce careers to students at a young age. She believes there’s a lot of stress about going to college but sometimes college is not for everyone. She doesn’t want students to feel like they are being frowned upon for going to a trade school or a career instead of taking the college route. “I think that some of the basic skills of fixing things or doing stuff with your hands are overlooked and are important for life in general,” she states. This week the third-grade classes are going to Fremont High School to create marker boards in the industrial technology department with Mr. Cunnings. When the students get to the high school they get to pin together a wood frame, nail the frame and sand down rough edges. They get to see why sanding is important and see a power tool to cut wood. When students are finished they will go back to their classrooms at Bell Field and paint their projects.