News Briefs: State testing, park renovations, supply chain issues

East

East’s accreditation — official approval of East’s academic ability by the state — depends on student performance on the Kansas state assessments that began on March 29.

For the past five years, the district has tested students on science, math and English. Students were not tested in the 2019-20 school year, due to online school and COVID-19. 

The number of students scoring a one — indicating limited ability — on state assessments increased by 3.54% after the gap year, according to the Kansas State Department of Education. 

SMSD is in their fourth year of the accreditation cycle, meaning that the district must present state assessment scores and Xello data to the state in order to assess whether the district should be fully accredited.

If full accreditation isn’t achieved, staff from the state will be sent to East to evaluate what changes need to be made to reach that threshold, according to Associate Principal Kristoffer Barikmo.

“In the final year, that team [of administrators] makes a recommendation to the State Board of Education to accredit a district, to provisionally accredit district or to put a district on an improvement plan,” Barikmo said.

This is SMSD’s first five-year accreditation cycle. The state started assigning Xello coursework during SMSD’s first year of the accreditation cycle.

“The individual plan of study, which is Xello, is relatively new and this year is the first time we’re going to be accountable for it,” Associate Principal Jeff Storey said.

Student completion of both state assessments and Xello are needed for SMSD to maintain accreditation and be recognized as a district that maintains a high level of educational standards, according to Storey.

The last day to take makeup assessments is April 29.

Local

Strang Park on 9879 W. 88th Terr. is set to reopen after construction this summer with the first all-accessible playground in Overland Park.

The total construction cost is $3 million, according to Project Manager Mike Burton. The park improvements include a new shelter, athletic courts, an all-accessible playground, walking trails, a reconstructed parking lot and a restroom building. 

A main component of the all-accessible playground, the 26-foot-tall Super Netplex tower, was designed by Paralympic athlete Jill Moore White and playground manufacturer, Landscape Structures Inc. The rest of the playground will include elevated climbing nets, post and deck platforms and a sensory tunnel. 

“It has a really interesting rubber belt that [people with disabilities] can climb up themselves and that allows them to access the play structure and the large slides,” Burton said.

Construction on the new playground and 90% of the walking paths is complete, according to Burton. 

The team hopes to finish up the shelter, restroom building, athletic courts and parking lot ahead of schedule, aiming to complete construction prior to the end of July.  

National

Due to COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War, businesses across the nation are suffering from supply chain issues. 

Container ships unloading goods such as appliances, automobiles and food products are spending an average of seven days at port. This is a 21% increase from the start of the pandemic, according to CNN.

Local businesses are experiencing a shortage of food and supplies, according to sophomore and Tavern at Mission Farms employee Margot Beaver.

“At Tavern [at Mission Farms], a lot of our food, mostly seafood, but some other stuff that has to do with the appetizers, has been taking a really long time to ship, so it’s not available for customers,” Beaver said.

Supply shortages have also disrupted the availability of particular ice cream flavors and materials at coffee and ice cream shop Fairway Creamery, according to sophomore Johanna Ward.

“We’re constantly out of paper cups and plastic cups,” Ward said. “We’re out of soft serve a lot of time. There’s a lot of flavors that we’re missing, a lot of just regular toppings and stuff like that.”

These disruptions in the supply chain are causing an increase in prices globally, according to CNN. It’s unknown when prices will return to normal.