Promotion nets $6,240 for band, other clubs

Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Sponsors of McCook Senior High school clubs accept the $6,240 ceremonial check presented by Chris Wagner, far left, of Wagner Ford, to Donita Priebe, MHS band instructor. The check is from an Oct. 15 test drive program sponsored by Ford's "Drive 4UR School" at Wagner Ford. The band received the most votes by test drivers and will get $3,000. Also shown is MHS Superintendent Grant Norgaard, far left and far right, Chandler, Annette and Garrett Wagner. (Lorri Surghrou/McCook Daily Gazette)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The McCook High School band will have some extra money in its account for band uniforms, thanks to Wagner Ford in McCook and the Ford Motor Co.

The McCook School Board of Education received with gratitude the $6,240 check from the "Ford Drive 4UR School" program and Wagner Ford in McCook, at is regular meeting Monday night.

Eleven school organizations at MHS will share the funds from a test drive program at Wagner Ford Oct. 15. Ford Motor Co. donated $6,000 as part of the "Ford Drive 4UR School," when at least 300 cars were test driven at Wagner Ford.

Those who test drove a car were able to vote and donate funds for their favorite school organization, with MHS band coming out on top.

The band will receive $3,000, which band instructor Donita Priebe said will go to build up the band uniform account.

With a large junior high band coming up, Priebe said more uniforms will be needed soon.

"The numbers are growing so fast, so I plan on getting some quotes for some uniforms in January," she said. Priebe added that the band also needs some larger uniforms. The drumline didn't have uniforms last year because there weren't enough large ones to go around, she said.

Other school organizations that will receive funds, according to number of votes, include: MHS Student Council, $1,500; MHS Class of 2014, $1,000; MHS FFA, $250; MHS National Honor Society, $250.

Total donations from the jars totaled $240 and each club received $40. This included the MHS Art Club, Bison Athletics, MHS N.O.R.E., MHA Math Club, MHS Computer Club and MHS FBLA.

In addition to the check, the McCook School Board voted unanimously on other items, including the recognition of the McCook Education Association as the negotiating body for teachers in the 2014-15 year and the district's technology plan.

Superintendent Grant Norgaard also updated the board at Monday's meeting about the "Common Core" federal guidelines concerning student assessments.

All states have adopted the "Common Core" standards except for five states, one being Nebraska, Norgaard said. Now, Nebraska uses assessments from the Nebraska State Accountability (NeSa) and Norgaard said that sooner rather than later, Nebraska will have to adopt the federal guidelines.

It won't involve huge changes but it will mean a few changes in curriculum, Norgaard said.

Board President Tom Bredvick noted the constantly evolving way of testing students and said that in the eight years he and fellow board member Diane Lyons have been on the board, there have been at least two changes in assessment procedures, starting with the STARS testing, now with NeSa and sometime in the future, Common Core.

Local assessments done with the criteria reference testing allows for data to be compare locally, Norgaard said, but it takes at least five years of testing to compare scores across the state and nationwide.

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