Trio win groceries from Kiwanis raffle

By Staff, 11/18/21 2:36 PM

PRESCOTT – Three lucky people had their names drawn for groceries at the regular meeting of the Prescott Kiwanis Club Thursday.

The meeting was held at Casa Carlos, with Carlos Zacharias pulling three names from the hopper. Justin Vershay took home first prize, $300 in groceries, with Liz Hill being second and getting $200 in groceries. Nevada County Sheriff Danny Martin won $100 worth of groceries for being third. Overall, around $1,500 in tickets were sold. The money for the groceries was donated by Zacharias.

Robert Poole, superintendent of the Prescott School District, was the club’s speaker. He provided a mixed bag of news for the club members. Poole started off by saying the district is having the same problem as other districts, losing students and having problems finding teachers. He said 897 are currently enrolled in K-12, as the district is “bleeding kids” annually. Poole pointed out this isn’t just a local issue, but is a problem across the south part of the state with only the central and northwest area seeing growth in student population..

Unless something changes, he told the club members, he doesn’t see anything changing.

In addition, he said, the PSD has had to deal with the Covid situation, which hurt academic progress last year. But, he continued, there are signs of progress. Prescott Elementary School was named a PLC model school and recognized nationally, and growth is also being seen at Prescott High School. Next year, he said, the district plans to expand its preschool program to include three-year-old children in an effort to teach them to read sooner. He said the program worked well with four-year-olds.

The Wolves, he added, are 11-0 and in the second round of the AAA state playoffs. The team will face Bismarck Friday night at Cummings Stadium. Next year, he pointed out the district will be reclassified and could be in a different conference. Gurdon and Magnet Cove will both be moving up to AAA status from AA.

The district purchased seven new air conditioned school buses using ESSER money, he said.

Poole told the club the new PES will be ready in May and students will be moving from the old PES building in August for the 2022-23 school year. Most of the old facility will be torn down and used for parking, but some will be used for preschool. The science buildings will be left alone as they’re still in good shape.

He closed saying the district plans to add 30 minutes to the preschool day next year, which means the school day for preschoolers will be from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.