A Season of Gratitude and Achievement at USD 417

We are in the season of giving thanks, and as I write our November spotlight, we at USD 417 have much to be thankful for. First and foremost are our students and families, whom we show up every day to serve. Next, we are grateful for those who have chosen to make education their profession and USD 417 the place they will make an impact. We have talented individuals in all aspects of our district, and without them, we could not accomplish what we do. Third is our Board of Education. They dedicate countless hours behind the scenes, working to make the best decisions for our students, district, and community. They are engaged and care deeply about the success of USD 417 and everyone who makes it up. Last but certainly not least is our community, whose support for our students and staff is evident when you show up to events and serve on committees.

We see community support in many ways, but one recent example truly stood out. Our Council Grove Rotary Club made the generous decision to donate a turkey to each family in USD 417—over 400 turkeys in all. We cannot thank them enough for this awesome gesture of support. It's just another example of the many reasons we have to be thankful.

Looking back on November, we had many activities and events taking place. Our all-school play, directed by Mrs. Davis, was once again a huge success. If you attended, you enjoyed plenty of laughs, and we are fortunate to have such talented students. We also watched students compete in a robotics competition at Wichita State University. While they just came up short of qualifying to advance, they had an excellent showing. A new development was a group of students who, along with Mrs. Schroder, competed in a cybersecurity competition. This was the first time we've had students compete in this event, and without any practice, these four students performed very well.

Our cheer and dance teams represented USD 417 with excellence at the state competition in November. We are thrilled to announce that our dance team won the state championship, and our cheer team earned state runner-up honors. We are extremely proud of our spirit squad and appreciate Coach Reddick for all of her time and effort, as well as everyone else who has supported these two teams in achieving this tremendous success.

As we move into winter, our sports and activities season is in full swing. We currently have high school Scholars Bowl, basketball, and wrestling, along with junior high basketball all taking place. Our junior high teams are off to great starts, and our high school sports are preparing to begin competition once we return from Thanksgiving break. We look forward to seeing our students compete and represent USD 417 with pride.

At our elementary level, we had two excellent Veterans Day assemblies. Students and staff did an outstanding job recognizing and celebrating our veterans. We also saw the return of the PTO Carnival, which was a huge success for students and families.

In all our buildings, we are approaching the winter concert season, and we encourage everyone to come out, support, and enjoy our talented students as they sing and play to get everyone in the holiday spirit. We also continue working on improving and growing our academic success. One change this year is that our winter Fastbridge testing will take place in December when we return from Thanksgiving break, rather than in the January window when we have typically administered this assessment. Please encourage and support your students in giving their best effort as we continue to grow and progress.

As I finish our November spotlight, I want to update you on our facilities work, which continues to move forward. Anytime you discuss the future of school facilities and bond elections, there will be disagreements, and people will have their own ideas about what should and should not be done. That's a positive thing—disagreements don't have to be threatening or ugly; they can be civil and productive. Since we started these conversations when I began in the district in July 2024, the focus has been on answering this question: What is the best way forward in providing more modern learning environments for our students and staff? How do we ensure we are addressing the needs of the next 25 to 50 years, not just the next 10 years? 

Another critical part of this conversation has been the safety and security of our buildings and how we continue to improve in that area. After many discussions, assembling a steering committee, and hosting a community meeting, the information gathered from all these efforts has helped guide the Board of Education in their decisions while keeping the number one question at the forefront: What is best for students? While we may disagree on the answer to that question, we are excited to continue providing facts and information over the coming months as we approach the bond vote. 

We are excited to show you what learning spaces could look like for our current and future students and staff. We are excited about the opportunity to create spaces at all levels that support student and staff learning and get people excited about being in our facilities. If families are deciding where to send their children to school, we want them to choose Morris County because they see we are investing in every way for the future of our district and communities. 

Another part of our work is helping to address our community's daycare shortage. Our current partnership with Building Blocks Daycare provides a valuable service to our community and allows businesses and other groups to have daycare options for their employees and potential employees. Unfortunately, the need continues to grow and Building Blocks has a waiting list. One part of this bond work will be creating an Early Childhood Center in the current annex building on the CGES campus. The goal will be to increase the number of spaces Building Blocks can currently offer so that we can help continue to address, as much as we can, the growing daycare need in our community. This Early Childhood Center also allows us to partner and help support our youngest learners as they prepare to enter our educational system. We know that when a strong early childhood experience is present it gives those kids the opportunity to be more successful. 

Tyson Eslinger 

Superintendent of Schools 

USD 417 Morris County 

#ForwardTogether417