A new program being used in USD 428 schools is bringing school leaders and teachers together to observe and discuss classroom instruction in a strategic and collaborative manner. Learning Walks are a brief classroom visit utilizing a researched-based tool that provides principals and teachers opportunities to reflect on what students are learning, learning strategies, student interaction with the content, and student engagement. With training and support, teachers visit classrooms to gather data related to the focus of inquiry. Jessica Geist is a 6th grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary. She says the visits not only benefit teachers, but the children in the classroom.

Jessica Geist Audio

As for the benefit for teachers, Geist says it is an opportunity to see the different ways on how the same curriculum is being taught by teachers in other classrooms.

Jessica Geist Audio

After the visits, facilitators guide teacher teams through the critical process of debriefing what they have seen and heard. This results in a set of findings based on evidence – findings that guide the school in developing a vision for instructional practices whereby they identify needs for their own professional development.

Barton County sent a request for insurance proposals in September and received a few bids back by the deadline of November 14. The proposal is for the 2019 general insurance for the county, excluding health insurance.

Barton County Commissioner Alicia Straub noted it was nice to receive bids from Kansas County Association Multiline Pool (KCAMP), Kansas Workers Risk Cooperative (KWORC), Travelers Insurance Company, and EMC Insurance.

Alicia Straub Audio

Commissioners approved the $260,332.46 proposal from EMC Insurance. The cost is to be payed from the General Fund Insurance budget and the Employee Benefits Workers Compensation Fund. The Commissioners later amended the motion to vaguely award the bid to EMC without an amount because County Administrator Phil Hathcock said the cost might change if the County adds or subtracts equipment.

BOOKED: Noah Cox of Colorado Springs, CO on GBMC warrants for failure to appear, bond set at $1,000 C/S and $500 C/S.

BOOKED: Verbin Paxman on McPherson Municipal Court warrant for failure to appear, bond is $500 C/S.

BOOKED: Verbin Paxman on Harvey County District Court warrant for failure to appear, no bond.

BOOKED: Amanda Rigby on case for possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia, bond is set at $10,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Gregory Carey of Hoisington on HPD case for possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia, bond of $10,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Dakota Gray of Great Bend on BTDC warrant for interference with LEO, bond set at $5,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Edgar Armendariz of Great Bend on BTDC warrant for failure to appear, bond set at $500 cash only.

BOOKED: Nick Hicks of Hoisington on BTDC case for possession of methamphetamine, interference with law enforcement, possession of drug paraphernalia, bond set at $10,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Marissa Hoisington on Great Bend on BTDC warrant for cultivate hallucinogenics, possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, drug tax stamp, drug paraphernalia, bond set at $300,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Annalise Moore of Great Bend on Barton County District Court case for aggravated battery, possession of marijuana, and possession of paraphernalia, bond was set at $20,000 C/S.

RELEASED: Joshua Kelly on BCDC case for serve sentence.

RELEASED: Alexandra Dirrenn of Great Bend on BTDC case for serve sentence.

RELEASED: Noah Cox of Colorado Springs, CO on GBMC warrants for failure to appear, bond set at $1,000 and $500 C/S. Released by order of the court.

RELEASED: Derek Nease on BCDC case, released to probation.

RELEASED: Edgar Armendariz of Great Bend on BTDC warrant for failure to appear, posted bond amount of $500 cash bond by defendant.

The Barton County Republican Committee met Monday night at the Barton County Courthouse and elected 37-year old Levi Morris to fill out the remaining two years of former County Attorney Amy Mellor’s term in office. Morris was the only candidate for the position that Mellor resigned from last Friday.

Morris graduated from the Washburn University School of Law in the Spring of 2011 and was admitted to the Kansas bar later that year. In the spring of 2013, he joined the Barton County Attorney’s Office where he was responsible for prosecuting Felony and Misdemeanor criminal cases, child in need of care cases and juvenile offenders. In 2015, Morris returned to private practice in Lyons and currently has an office in Great Bend as well.

Morris took plenty of questions from those in attendance at Monday night’s meeting including questions about how cases have been prosecuted by the current County Attorney’s Office. He says new sentencing guidelines in many ways dictate the way cases can be prosecuted.

Morris Audio

Morris was also asked if he was going to fire Doug Matthews, the former Barton County Attorney who is now a prosecutor in the county attorney’s office. Matthews decided not to seek another term in office in 2016 but was then hired by Amy Mellor after she had won the election.

Morris Audio

Morris’ name will now be submitted to Governor Jeff Collyer who will have seven days to sign off on the election of Morris to the County Attorney’s position.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Three carnival workers have been charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a couple at a Kansas fair whose bodies were found days later in shallow graves in a national forest in Arkansas.

The Kansas Attorney General said 52-year-old Kimberly Younger, of McIntosh, Florida; 54-year-old Michael Fowler Jr., of Sarasota, Florida; and 35-year-old Rusty Frasier, of Aransas Pass, Texas, are jailed on $1 million bond in Arkansas, where they also face charges.

Capital murder carries a sentence of execution or life imprisonment.

Alfred “Sonny” Carpenter and Pauline Carpenter of Wichita had been selling crafts, jewelry, purses and other handmade items at the fair in Barton County, Kansas, in July when they were killed. Investigators believe the carnival workers used the couple’s recreational vehicle to drive the bodies 320 miles (515 kilometers) to Van Buren, Arkansas. Their bodies were found buried in shallow graves next to a creek outside the small community of Natural Dam in the Ozark National Forest.

Police in Arkansas have said Younger texted the other suspects posing as a carnival mafia boss named Frank Zaitchik and ordered them to kill the Carpenters and dispose of the bodies. Fowler told investigators that he believed this was an initiation into the carnival mafia, so he shot the couple and Frasier stabbed Alfred Carpenter.

Asked whether a carnival mafia even exists, Van Buren police spokesman Jonathan Wear said in an email that this was something Younger “definitely made up.”

When told that the order to kill had come from Younger, not Zaitchik, Fowler said she had “suckered” him in and that he had thrown his life away, according to police reports.

Fowler is also charged in Kansas with theft, while Younger faces charges in that state of conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation and theft.

A spokeswoman in the Kansas Attorney General’s office didn’t immediately respond to questions about whether the suspects have attorneys who can speak on their behalf.

Two others — 38-year-old Christine Tenney, of Santa Fe, Texas, and 31-year-old Thomas Drake, of Van Buren, Arkansas — are charged with obstructing apprehension. All five are awaiting extradition to Kansas.

Younger, Fowler, Frasier and Tenney have pleaded not guilty in Arkansas to charges that include abuse of a corpse.

ELLSWORTH COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects on numerous charges after a  high-speed chase through four Kansas counties.

Just after midnight Sunday, authorities attempted to stop a reported stolen 2018 Hyundai passenger vehicle eastbound on Interstate 70 just east of the Kansas 156 exit in Ellsworth County, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

The driver later identified as 37-year-old Kevin Frye of Colorado refused to stop. The chase at speeds of 100 miles per hour continued into Saline County. The driver left Interstate 70 at the Hedville, Culver exit and continued eastbound on Crawford until he decided to travel northbound on Interstate 135 through Ottawa and into Cloud County.

The vehicle finally pulled over in an alley in Concordia. The KHP arrested Frye and a passenger 32-year-old Candias Chavez. She was wanted for an escape from the Denver County Jail. A second passenger in the Hyundai was detained for questioning and he was released, according to the KHP.

The suspects are being held for warrants from Colorado and requested charges that include felony flee and attempted to elude law enforcement, possession of stolen property, possession of personal use marijuana and a number of additional traffic violations, according to the KHP.

Not only did Kans For Kids Fighting Cancer decide to assist a family in Ellinwood recently, but last week the nonprofit organization voted to expand their outreach program into Pawnee County.

Kans For Kids helps families with children fighting cancer by providing financial and other assistance.

Co-founder Debbie Reif says the Kans For Kids Board of Directors found out about a boy in Larned that has stage-four cancer and now their reach includes Barton, Russell, Rice, and Pawnee counties.

Debbie Reif Audio

With Pawnee County being another outreach program, money raised in those counties is earmarked for the children with cancer in those counties and Kans For Kids will match up to $2,000 each year.

Reif noted 18-year old Anna Fisher was diagnosed with liver cancer last month. Fisher is a 2018 graduate from Ellinwood High School and was attending Wichita State University this fall until she became ill. A fund has been established for Fisher at the First Kansas Bank locations in Barton County.

Debbie Reif Audio

Fisher has already undergone surgery in Kansas City and will be traveling to Houston, Texas for further treatment. Reif expected to receive more information on the Larned boy soon.