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Printable Version
Handbook Sections
Other Information
Unemployment Insurance Handbook for Employers (UCB-201-P)
Section 2 - Tax
PART 3 - Taxability of Wages
A. Definition of Wages
"Wages" means every form of payment directly or indirectly payable by an employing unit to an individual for personal services. This includes salaries, commissions, vacation pay, dismissal pay, bonuses, tips, certain fringe benefits, and payments in kind and any other similar advantage received from the employing unit, whether paid directly or indirectly. It may also include rent, housing and meals. Tips are only taxable to the extent declared in writing (accounted for) by the employee to the employer.
Wisconsin adopted the federal definition of wages for UI tax purposes as of January 1, 1993 with two exceptions:
- To determine initial coverage of an agricultural entity, only cash wages are considered. However, once covered, the employer must include all cash and non-cash payments for agricultural labor as wages.
- The value of employee achievement awards (that is compensation for services) is included as wages.
Report wages in the calendar quarter in which they are paid or constructively paid. Constructive payment occurs when your employee has the option of receiving payment but instead chooses to defer payment.
Casual Labor
Casual labor is a common term used in the employer community to describe workers performing a variety of services, usually on a temporary or part-time basis.
Workers hired for an hour, a day, a week, or for part-time services are typically employees. There is no provision in the law that excludes a worker from employment solely because he or she works less than full-time. The following types of workers have been referred to as casual laborers and are reportable for unemployment insurance purposes.
- Part-time worker
- Short-term worker
- Day laborer
- Student (unless working for an educational institution in which they are enrolled, work study program employment, and non-resident aliens working for any employer under specific visa types)
- Nonresident Alien (unless working under specific visa types)
- A worker on probation
- A worker in training
- A retiree collecting social security benefits
- A worker without a social security number
- Workers paid in cash
B. Fringe Benefits
1. Deferred Compensation
- 401(k) Salary Reduction Agreement amount.
- Discretionary Contribution. When your employee has an option to take a portion of the employer-paid contribution in cash, that portion, whether taken in cash or left in the fund, is considered to be constructively received.
- Compensation deferred under Nonqualified Plans
- Payments from non-qualified plans are taxable as of the later of the date the services are performed, or the date there is no substantial risk of forfeiture of the rights to such amount. Generally the amount deferred will be taxable when paid, unless it can be shown that there is no longer a substantial risk of forfeiture (i.e., the employer has set the deferred amount aside in a separate account or fund established in the workers name).
Not Taxable:
- Discretionary Contribution. This is an employer contribution to your employee's account out of company profits, when the amount is not available to your employee until separation.
- Payments made to a 401(a) qualified trust, except for payments made to or from a 401(a) trust which is administering the 401(k) plan.
2. Section 125(b) (Cafeteria Plans)
- Acceptance of cash payment (cash option) in lieu of participation in 125(b) plan is taxable.
- Unexpended amounts paid to employees at year-end are taxable.
- 401(k) Salary Reduction Agreement amount.
Not Taxable:
- Premium Only Plan. Your employee pays for particular benefits with pre-tax dollars through a salary reduction agreement. There is an option not to join the plan (cash option).
- Premium and Flexible Spending Account. You deduct pre-tax dollars through a salary reduction agreement to pay for employee selected benefits, based on your employee's estimate of charges. Any unexpended monies revert to you, the employer. There is an option not to join the plan (cash option).
- Cafeteria Plan. You provide your employee with a fixed amount to purchase benefits. Money expended for these benefits is treated as pre-tax. There is an option not to join (cash option).
3. Sickness or Disability Pay
- Sickness or accident disability payments may be made under a plan or system you established which makes provisions for your employees and their dependents generally or, perhaps less commonly, they may be made more informally or only to certain employees.
- Sickness or accident disability payments which are made to your employee or any of his/her dependents (directly or through a third-party payer) during the first six months starting after the last calendar month the employee worked for you, are reportable/taxable as wages for UI contribution purposes.
- Workers Compensation payments made to your employee or any of his/her dependents are not taxable for UI contribution purposes.
- Sickness or accident disability payments provided by a third party insurer, but financed by employer and employee premiums, are taxable only for the portion financed by employer-paid premiums. (Employer payments on behalf of employees using employee pre-tax dollars are considered employer payments.)
4. Employee Portion of FICA Taxes
- If the employer pays the employee portion of FICA taxes, it is taxable unless its for domestic service in a private home or agricultural labor.
5. Payment in Kind
Compensation paid in any form is taxable wages (unless specifically excluded, such as expense reimbursements or employee moving expenses). Some common types of payment in kind are; housing, meals, merchandise discounts, transportation, employee contest prizes, personal use of a company car and club memberships. This list is not all-inclusive.
The tax status of the following types of payment in kind changed effective January 1, 1993.
Meals and lodging may be nontaxable, but the following criteria must be met:
- It is furnished on behalf of the employer.
- It is for the convenience of the employer.
- It is on the employer's premises.
- Your employee is required to accept it as a condition of employment (lodging only).
Despite this general rule, all in-kind payments for agricultural labor remain taxable.
6. Value of Room and Meals
DWD 101 states for purposes of s.108.02(26) (wages), the employer shall value lodging and meals at the actual value or, if the actual value is not available, the employer shall make a reasonable estimate of the value.
If the actual value or reasonable estimate is not available, the department shall value lodging and meals as follows:
|(1) Lodging
|$105.00 per week
|or $15.00 per day;
|(2) Meals
|$86.00 per week,
|$12.30 per day or
|$4.10 per meal.
Updated: September 27, 2018
Content Contact: UI Tax


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hile vacationing in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt learned the terrible news that President William McKinley was not expected to survive bullet wounds incurred days earlier during an assassination attempt in Buffalo, New York. By the time Roosevelt had completed the exhausting 15-hour journey to Buffalo, President McKinley had indeed succumbed to his injuries. Deeply saddened over McKinley's tragic death, yet knowing that the country must not be long without a leader, Roosevelt arrived at the home of his friend Ansley Wilcox. Here, in the library of this stately Greek Revival house, Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States.
In his haste to reach Buffalo, Roosevelt had not taken time to gather any formal attire. Just prior to the inauguration ceremony, he borrowed a long frock coat, trousers, waistcoat, four-in-hand tie, and patent leather shoes. Tension and sadness filled the room as Roosevelt raised his right hand and recited the oath taken by every U.S. President. Though shrouded in shock and sadness at the time, Roosevelt's 1901 inauguration marked a turning point in the role of the presidency, launching a dramatic change in national policy and propelling the United States into the realm of world affairs. The house where the inauguration took place has been restored and is open to the public as Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site.
About This Lesson
Getting Started: Inquiry Question
Setting the Stage: Historical Context
Locating the Site: Maps
Determining the Facts: Readings
Visual Evidence: Images
Putting It All Together: Activities
How the National Register
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
This lesson is based on Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site, one of the thousands of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
In many types of public health emergencies, the safest thing to do is
simply to stay indoors. If the air is unsafe because of an incident involving
hazardous chemicals, radiation, or an aerosol release of a biological agent,
local authorities may advise you to "shelter in place," which limits your
exposure to the outside air.
To shelter in place:
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Last Revised:
April 22, 2011
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Christine Hahn, MD - Epidemiology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


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St. Luke's to sell to national Catholic system
The St. Luke's Episcopal Health System will transfer its hospitals to a national nonprofit Catholic health system under an agreement approved Friday.
In a major surprise, St. Luke's board of directors approved a deal Friday with Catholic Health Initiatives, the nation's second largest faith-based health system. The Colorado-headquartered system operates 78 hospitals in 17 states, Texas not among them.
Catholic Health Initiatives will continue the St. Luke's name and contribute more than $2 billion as part of the deal – $1 billion to create a new Episcopal Health Foundation focusing on the unmet health needs of the area's underserved population and $1 billion for future investment in the health system.
"We are humbled to be able to preserve the legacy of St. Luke's while also expanding the diocesan commitment to health care," said the Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.
The selection of a Catholic Health Initiatives is a defeat for the two Texas Medical Center systems that were among the three finalists - the Methodist and Memorial Hermann systems. Conventional wisdom had one of them prevailing.
The transaction is expected to be completed early this summer, subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals, according to a medical center press release.
Catholic Health Initiatives is the most affluent of the three finalists, boasting more than $15 billion in assets and annual revenues of more than $10.7 billion. The full name of Catholic Health Initiatives' latest acquistion will be St. Luke's Health System.
It is unclear whether the Texas Heart Institute, considered the St. Luke's system's greatest asset, will be part of the deal. It is affiliated with but not owned or governed by St. Luke's, and a spokesman said last week it is "weighing its options about what's in our best interests."
The sale ends years of St. Luke's considering big deals but not pulling the trigger on any. In an email to employees early in the process, David Fine, CEO of St. Lukes, noted that St. Luke's has explored transactions six times in the past 15 years, always concluding it was best off standing pat.
Catholic Health Initiatives is coming off a failed attempt to partner with another system. In early April, it announced its deal with Washington state-based system PeaceHealth to create a joint venture of 16 hospitals in Washington, Oregon and Alaska had fallen through.
Besides its hospitals, Catholic Health Initiatives operates 40 long-term care, assisted- and residential-living facilities; two community health-services organizations; two accredited nursing colleges; and a number of home health agencies.
Catholic Health Institute's website says that in fiscal year 2012 it provided more than $715 million in charity care and community benefit, including services for the poor, free clinics, education and research.
A spokesman for Catholic Health Initiatives said the system follows Church ethical and religious directives prohibiting contraception, abortion, sterilization, IVF fertility treatments and the use of embryonic stem cells in research.
However, the system was in the news earlier this year for arguing in a defense to a wrongful death lawsuit that unborn fetuses should not be classed as persons.


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Join Sommelier Erica Archer for a wine education course beautifully paired with an evening of sailing on Casco Bay. Taste wines from a variety of regions, discuss wine styles, grape varieties, and trends. Gain a comprehensive knowledge of wine to bring your appreciation to the next level. Tickets for wine sail events are available at winewiseevents.com or by calling 207.619.4630 only.
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: August 4WINE SAIL
Later Event: August 7SUNSET SAIL


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Computer Science major
(Guatemala City, Guatemala)
Joseph Quigley already has a game in the iPhone App Store and an internship with a major software developer. And that's as a sophomore in college.
Although much of the credit for his achievements is due to his passion for computer science, Joseph also applauds the training and assistance he received in ACU's SITC program, particularly in the field of digital entertainment.
"ACU not only provided me with a device to test and develop on, through the mobile learning initiative, but I was able to apply what I had recently learned in my classes. This allowed me to create a better product," he said. His first iPhone game, Open Fire Gold, is an arcade-like military shoot-'em-up.
The SITC program attracted Joseph to ACU during his process of comparing colleges. He found in the program both a strong commitment to academic excellence and a dedication to living out the principles of faith.
Merging faith and career
"I was completely blown away by the SITC faculty. They were genuinely interested in me and excited to see what I had learned and worked on," he said. "They were concerned with how computer science students can use their knowledge and abilities for Christ in their career. The fact that several of them have been and continually go on mission trips to other countries almost every year is a perfect example of how they put their beliefs into practice."
Joseph put what he'd learned into practice when he started an internship with Milsoft Utility Solutions, which develops software for use in the electric utility industry. As a web developer, he has experienced the challenges and rewards of combining computer science with a business model.
"Within my first month of work I learned how much CS students need to understand company business practices and their company's customer expectations," he said. "I've also learned that in order to compete in the job market, we must be able to learn quickly and have a strong foundation in computing principles."
One of Joseph's main interests is digital entertainment. For him, digital media is a way to explore new applications of computer science while expressing himself as an artist and a Christian.
"I'm fascinated by digital media. I've always wanted to invent, create and explore, and I can do all of those within a single game project," he said. "Digital entertainment is a relatively new way for artists to express themselves, and it is leading the way we as a culture live and interact with the world. As Christians we should be aware of the direction culture is moving so that we can best reach out, engage and witness to it. Being involved in the DET field is an excellent way to do that."
He sees digital entertainment as a field that has a huge potential impact on businesses and on culture. And he'd like to be a part of those myriad possibilities.
Tip of the iceberg
"We're only touching the tip of the iceberg as far as digital entertainment on mobile technology is concerned. We're going to see smaller, more powerful and more immersive devices that are going to change the way we are entertained," he said. "3-D and virtual reality devices like the Xbox Kinect, Playstation Move are going to be at the forefront of the digital entertainment world within the next two or three years, and they'll be in our pockets – not in our living rooms."
He believes ACU has already trained him to combine his interest in digital entertainment with a solid base in computing principles and an ethical background rooted in love for Christ. Joseph finds that combination demonstrated on a daily basis in the actions and lives of his professors and fellow students.
"Two things set ACU apart," he said, "the caring spirits and patience of faculty who are interested in being a positive influence and career role-model to students, and students who care about their community, who have a heart for justice and who minister to those who are hurting or in need."
With that foundation to support him in his career goals, Joseph is confident he can find a way to explore his goals as a digital artist while developing his computing skills even further.
"One of the best things about being a computer science major are the myriad of career concentrations available," he said. "ACU has prepared me to combine my faith with my career, and helped train me to act responsibly, professionally and ethically in the workplace."
Learn more about the School of Information Technology and Computing at ACU


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Twelve patients died in a recent fire at Sinying Hospital in Greater Tainan. An important thing to notice in connection with this fire is that it made it clear that there are serious problems with current emergency evacuation procedures for patients at the hospital.
The government and the hospital must have a detailed plan in place for an evacuation. If there is no such plan, problems can easily arise and people could die.
Not long ago, National Cheng Kung University Hospital invited an expert on emergency medical radiation treatment to give a lecture. According to this expert, a large number of vehicles were urgently mobilized to carry out the emergency evacuation of 800 gravely ill patients and elderly people from local hospitals after the nuclear disaster at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant following the Tohoku earthquake on March 11 last year.
The result of the evacuation effort was that almost 100 patients died during the evacuation, although no immediate deaths occurred as a result of radiation. This is a clear signal that the emergency evacuation of elderly people or gravely ill patients is an issue that must be addressed head-on.
Questions to be addressed include whether there is an emergency evacuation or response mechanism catering for elderly people or gravely ill patients in place and which agency should be in charge of this mechanism.
Strictly speaking, hospitals should have the necessary emergency response plans in place and if a particular hospital is a direct victim of a disaster, the situation should be handled by other connected hospitals or through a single integration mechanism.
In theory, the handling of this kind of disaster should be directed by the Department of Health (DOH). However, judging from media reports, the evacuation and rescue efforts at Sinying Hospital were actually led by the fire department, although mobilization of emergency vehicles was restricted by a host of factors.
During the rescue effort in Tainan, the fire department experienced a problem of too few ambulances. Although more ambulances later arrived from Yunlin and Chiayi counties, it appears the current system makes it impossible, or at least difficult, for the fire department to include hospital ambulances in their mobilization efforts.
There are currently six emergency operations centers (EOC) under the DOH, and Tainan falls under the southern one, which is mainly in charge of Yunlin and Chiayi counties and Greater Tainan. In theory, the EOC should integrate medical resources throughout the Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan region and engage in emergency medical treatment.
However, this framework is experiencing a lack of funds and shortages in manpower, and one could argue that it has no powers nor any responsibilities, and that it is unable to play the role required of it.
When a major disaster occurs, an EOC may not receive information immediately. Normally, first-hand disaster information will be made available to the national or local disaster response centers. In addition, the EOCs have poor organizational structures.
This situation makes it impossible, or at least very difficult, for the EOCs to fulfill their intended role.
Yang Yung-nane is a professor of political science and director of the Graduate Institute of Political Economy at National Cheng Kung University.


text: ATLANTA, Oct. 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chart Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLS) has scheduled a conference call for Thursday, October 26, 2017, at 9:30 a.m. ET to discuss its third quarter 2017 financial results. Chart plans to issue its earnings release on October 26 th, prior to the call. The call will be broadcast live over the Internet with Bill Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Jill Evanko, Chief Financial Officer, participating in the broadcast. This webcast can be accessed through the Company's website, www.chartindustries.com. Participants may also join the conference call by dialing (877) 312-9395 in the U.S. or (970) 315-0456 from outside the U.S. Please log in or dial in five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled start time. If you are unable to listen to the live webcast, a replay will be archived on the Company's website, www.chartindustries.com approximately one hour after the call concludes. You may also listen to a recorded replay of the conference call by dialing (855) 859-2056 in the U.S. or (404) 537-3406 outside the U.S. and entering Conference ID 93113662. The telephone replay will be available beginning 1:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, October 26, 2017 until 1:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, November 2, 2017. Chart is a leading independent global manufacturer of highly engineered equipment for the industrial gas, energy, and biomedical industries. The majority of Chart's products are used throughout the liquid gas supply chain for purification, liquefaction, distribution, storage and end-use applications. Chart has domestic operations located across the United States and an international presence in Asia, Australia, Europe and South America. For more information visit: http://www.chartindustries.com. For more information, click here: http://ir.chartindustries.com/, or Contact: Jill EvankoChief Financial firstname.lastname@example.com


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October 19, 2011
Double the excellence: Nuclear engineering program, associate dean win national continuing education awards
Submitted by Communications and Marketing
A Kansas State University continuing education administrator and a nuclear engineering education program the university helps lead are national award winners from the Association for Continuing Higher Education.
The awards were presented at the association's annual conference, Oct. 13-15, Orlando, Fla.
A. David Stewart, associate dean in K-State's Division of Continuing Education, won the 2011 Outstanding Leadership Award. This is the association's highest national award, recognizing an individual who has made extraordinary contributions in leadership, theory and practice in continuing higher education on a national and international level.
Stewart has served in the division for more than 15 years and has assisted with the creation of an internal grant funding process, assisted academic units with the development of distance education programs, overseen the division's marketing and communications unit and served as the division's face with education programs with the corporate sector and the U.S. Army post at Fort Riley. He currently serves as the central region representative to the University Professional and Continuing Education Association board of directors, a commissioner on the International Affairs Commission and is past chair of the association region. He also serves as the university's institutional representative to the Association for Continuing Higher Education. Stewart has been a frequent presenter at concurrent sessions at regional and national continuing education conferences.
The Big 12 Engineering Consortium's nuclear engineering program won the Association's Distinguished Credit Program Award, the second continuing education award it has received since its launch this year. Mo Hosni, professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering at K-State, accepted the award on behalf of the program.
The consortium was founded in 2007 as a means to increase access to engineering courses in high demand areas for Big 12 engineering students. The consortium's 15-credit, fully online nuclear engineering minor program was developed in response to growing industry needs. It is available to working professionals who already have an engineering bachelor's degree and who wish to expand their knowledge and training in the nuclear area.
Learn more about K-State's award-winning distance education programs at http://www.dce.k-state.edu.


text:
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3 Item(s)
Items 1-3 of 3 total
No one can beat your ethnic look in a stylish Bollywood saree online. Reveal your Bollywood ethnic style by getting the designer Bollywood sarees in India from Makemyorders.com and slay all envious eyes from your awesome look. We bring you all kinds of Bollywood sarees in fresh designs, colors, prints and patterns which your pocket can afford easily. So, what are you waiting for? go and check out the latest one from our collection of Bollywood sarees online.


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1. Our Friday Bible study group decided to watch David Platt's Secret Church on the cross during this week prior to Easter. It has been so good and meaningful. Also time consuming (4+ hours of sermons were a lot to take in over the past 3 days). Brian and Camden watched the final hour with me last night, and Camden's ability to digest and evaluate tough topics never ceases to amaze me. I'm looking forward to the discussion this morning, and Brian and I have decided we're going to start watching them as a family. Just not all in 3 days!
2. So I met with Dr. C Wednesday, and it is true that my scan showed exactly no growth/shrinkage. She still considers this a win - in her words, "growth was considerable back in November." Okay, then.
There is a slight complication with one of my lungs that they're keeping an eye on that could be related to either pneumonia (which I don't have) or the trial drug (yikes!). My day at the hospital was quite long, and I didn't get home until after 7. I actually rested much of the day yesterday and felt well, which was awesome. Sometimes that can be an indication that days 2-4 will be tough, but I'm hopeful this will just be an easier round. Who knows!
3. Brian and the kids are out of school today so we went to the library and park and then grabbed 1/2 price Sonic ice cream on the way home last night. It's either a sign of how busy we've been or that the kids are getting older and not asking for park trips because this is the first time we've been since September-ish.
4. After several more tries, I managed to wear my new false eyelashes. They feel conspicuous and very fake (which they are, of course!), but they also make me feel a little more like myself. My long eyelashes have always been a small source of vanity for me I'm sorry to admit. However, I'm already conspicuous with my bald head, no eyelashes, and no eyebrows so I guess these glamour lashes are not more conspicuous than that! I have already gone to the drugstore for a less conspicuous set to try.
I was not feeling well on Monday and went to work with minimal make-up (specifically on my eyes/brows), and received way too many sad looks for me to ever try that again.
5. We've been doing a little cooking/baking these days and have found several new recipes that are going to stay in rotation. Honey glazed sugar snap peas were a delightful change of pace for a veggie side. This Mexican quinoa salad is awesome. I've taken it to 2 potlucks in the last couple of weeks, and it has been a big hit. I can see making this in the summer months and eating it for lunch every day. I made this lemon almond pudding cake for a friend who visited at lunch last week and I'm planning to make this Magnolia Lemon Pie next week for company. Camden and I both LOVE lemon, and spring seems to be the right time to pull out all the lemon desserts. In other food news, I just wanted to mention for memory-keeping purposes that our church (and Lindsey who is organizing it all) has been so gracious to us by providing meals every week. It has shortened my grocery trips as well as removed much of the stress involved in planning meals and then cooking after a long day at work or the hospital.


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After awhile I learned how to use multiple class files instead of having a huge singular file and now I'm trying to figure out how to keep organized with all my class files. I've looked up packages and read the official tutorial, although a few of the words threw me off I managed to figure out a few things. My question is, am I using packages properly?
File structure:
thing Folder
-> enemy Folder
-> functions Folder
-> player Folder
-> skills Folder
Thing Folder is the main folder and then all the others are within the thing folder.
For Creature.java within the enemy folder the first line is "package thing.enemy;", all of the other .java files in the other folders are similarly named; they all start with Thing then they go to the next folder and sometimes even one after that so some files have "package thing.skills.cooking;".
When I want to use, for example, Rolls.java from the functions folder I'd write "import thing.functions.Rolls;" in the class that I want to use Rolls in.
Is this how to properly use packages or am I doing something wrong?


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Healthy Kids Colo. Survey shows improvement in Summit schools
summit daily news
Summit High School principal Drew Adkins and Summit Middle School principal Joel Rivera had good news to report at the Summit school district Board of Education meeting Tuesday night.
The Healthy Kids Colorado Survey conducted for the 2012-13 school year demonstrated successful trends among middle school and high school students in the areas of healthy living choices and physical, emotional and behavioral health.
The survey is administered at both state and local levels. It is not required on the local level, however many school districts utilize the survey in order to gather statistics and information about health and behavior issues affecting their students. Data from the program can help a school pinpoint problem areas and improve its environment, monitor how the health behaviors of the students change over time and bring funding to the school in the form of grants.
More than 600 students, between grades 7 and 12, took the survey in Summit County.
"We do value the survey," Adkins said, explaining that in the past the survey results had helped form plans and programs to improve students' health-related decisions and the environment of the school.
The high school, for example, offers the Reconnecting Youth program, taught by Robin Albert, director of Youth and Family Services for Summit County.
"They're really directed at giving life skills to kids who are struggling with academics or maybe with home issues or drugs or alcohol," Albert said. "It's mostly to keep kids attending school, so you really pull them in, and then you teach them to make healthier decisions."
The survey asks students about their experience with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. In the Reconnecting Youth class, Albert worked with the students in researching various drugs, helping them understand the effect of the substances and ways to make healthy decisions regarding them.
Self-esteem and confidence are also key points of focus, Albert said.
"You take the kids where they are at and you build on their strengths. Then you bring in the challenges that they're facing and how can we improve strengths."
Adkins also described further efforts at the high school to improve the atmosphere of the school, particularly focused on increasing relationships between students and teachers. Students are constantly being recognized for various positive behaviors, anything from doing well on a test or increasing a grade level to helping out a classmate. Teachers will forward emails to other staff members, mentioning students who have done a good job and encouraging their colleagues to recognize the student for it when they see them next.
"I really think that the culture, through the work of the staff, has changed at Summit High School, in that it is a culture of positivity and success," Adkins said, adding that "kids are getting high fives in the hallway."
One of the successes pinpointed by the recent survey is the decrease in depression among students. Reports of depression dropped from 27 percent in the previous year's survey to 20 percent this year. Reports of suicidal thoughts dropped from 17 percent to 13 percent.
"The biggest highlight, I think, just shows how the school district and the community rallied around the depression rates, and we really made a big hit on that in two years," Albert said. "I think that's a big jump, and it's something we can be proud of as a community and how we rallied around that issue."
Overall, Adkins, Rivera and Albert agreed that the results of this year's survey were highly positive.
"There were probably only four areas that I highlighted where we weren't better than state averages, which again is a huge success," Adkins told the board of education.
By further studying the results of the survey, Adkins, Rivera and their staffs can further pinpoint the most important issues that their students need addressed and formulate programs around those needs.
"We're moving in the right direction," said Summit School District superintendent Heidi Pace.
Start a dialogue, stay on topic and be civil.
If you don't follow the rules, your comment may be deleted.


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The Evolution of Business Service Management
Internet Business Services are thriving. Each day there are more plus much more consumers logging on now cost-effective to help keep business services online.
To operate an internet business Service you will need less operating costs as you do not need an actual store and you'll will have specific niche companies or items that may have unsuccessful when they were in the traditional business setting. On the top of this, Internet Business Services enables the liberty to be able to work everywhere – work, on the road, in your house…everywhere!
That being mentioned, its not all Business Internet Services prosper. You might still sink a lot of money for your business and possess it flop. There's homework involved for that internet entrepreneur as is available to look into the business you are considering as there is lots competition available that could be infeasible to go mind in your thoughts getting a business or possibly in business you haven't any chance in turning an earnings it.
Use concrete data to guide since the first step toward your web business Services. Likely the main factor total that require thinking about could be the interest in the internet Business Service you have to create.
This can be a scenario: You are considering a web-based Service Business to promote contacts inside the Philippines. What is the average gross margin on purchase? Which are the cost points that require thinking about? Will there be enough volume with regards to population census to assist the need? If you cannot get enough traffic there's you don't have to maintain that business.
Be very careful regarding your competitors. Who're other Internet and non-Internet Business Providers that concentrate on the identical need? There can be handful of competing Internet Companies within your niche, however when there's inadequate traffic to begin with, you are better to locate another niche
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What's driving this evolution to BSM and it is related IT management paradigms? Executive Consultant Troy DuMoulin of Pink Elephant, an ITIL occasions and talking to firm, explains, "The eye in ITIL, the evolution of legislation like SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002), and also the curiosity about standards is symptomatic of something a lot more rudimentary. At the bottom of this growing concentrate on formalization and legislation is really a growing understanding of exposure and dependency the business is wearing IT. Before, It had been seen as enabler, supportive and yet in some way separated in the business processes themselves. However there's a realization that there's no true separation between your business process and also the underlying IT services and systems."
Information technology has become so vital to business today – so ubiquitous in every aspect – that most businesses literally cannot function without it anymore. Even simple manual tasks like filling a car with gas or cashing a check now require the support of an IT system.
This heightened reliance on IT has placed companies at a crossroads. They are compelled to address this new dependency by putting processes and technology in place to ensure IT does its job serving the business effectively. So the move to BSM can be seen as a natural reaction to the new way IT interacts with and enables business.
"BSM is a way for a company to agree on what the business expectations are, and manage the IT performance to those agreed upon expectations," clarifies Brian Childers, a consultant who also serves on the Board of Directors for itSMF USA, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting best practices in IT services management. "Once we understand the expectations, we can build the processes to suit the expectations, and manage against them."
Vendors are responding rapidly to these new service management imperatives. Leading software providers – like HP, BMC, Mercury and Managed Objects – are already introducing new BSM-versions of their popular tools to help revolutionize the way IT managers gauge technology performance and leverage that knowledge to meet business needs. And new kinds of automated, self-learning software from companies like Netuitive, are making it easier than ever for managers to cut across their technology silos and tie together their existing management tools.
"Over the years – especially during the frenetic IT build-out of the late 1990s – companies cobbled together a mishmash of systems within their IT organizations," adds Tony Gilbert, vice president at Netuitive. "The result now is a heterogeneous set of components in the IT environment, and individual departmental silos for managing each one. The right set of BSM tools makes it possible to tie together all of these pieces of technology across an enterprise and to monitor IT from the perspective of the service it delivers."
BSM tools help IT groups see technology in terms of how it impacts their business services, and zero-in on the cause of a particular performance issue that is affecting that service — a capability companies do not have when they manage IT solely through technology silos. The new BSM tools can also enable a company to prioritize resources based on the relative importance of multiple business services. For example, a brokerage firm could manage online trading or online banking services holistically instead of piecemeal within silos: the server group, the database group, the application group.
More Than Just Technology
But completely changing a management approach is not easy. "For the last 20 years our industry has been focused on managing technology. Management of IT has been by domains, such as mainframes, networks and databases. But those domains don't truly live in isolation." Pink Elephant's DuMoulin continues, "A basic premise is that there is a business requirement for IT to understand how any given IT component relates to another and how these devices support or potentially disable a business process. When you understand IT from this perspective you see that you cannot manage by technology or device. You need to understand the relationship between those devices, and how they relate to IT services, and ultimately how IT services are consumed by business."
The people factor remains an issue, too. For many organizations, BSM often requires a corporate culture change. IT personnel must learn that they don't just manage boxes and applications, but actually provide services that the business consumes in order to survive and thrive. Most experts agree that the tools are out there, and are necessary, but they go hand in hand with changing processes and changing the way companies perceive the value of IT.
"Some people believe that it doesn't matter what technology you use as long as you have the right processes in place," comments Ken Wendle, the ITSM Solution Lead at HP. "But I have always said that IT service management is a combination of people and process, enabled by the right technology, all working in synergy with each other. It is about the intelligent blending of technology to enable and enforce the right processes, which then will allow an organization to execute around business priorities."
"I have seen companies that put the right processes in place, and trained the right people, but then created process silos," HP's Wendle also notes. "But ITSM is about cutting across the technology silos, not just creating another set of process silos on top of them. ITSM is about taking a holistic approach."
The BSM Evolution Continues
Where is BSM going from here? "One of the missing ingredients today is the enrollment of the business community," itSMF's Childers believes. "They need to understand what BSM is and why they would want to support it. I think the better job everyone does with bringing the business side onboard, the faster BSM will progress."
"I don't think companies have gained all the benefits of technology that they could," HP's Wendle agrees. "The business people need to understand and appreciate what IT can do to help the business side of the organization."
Clearly there is work to be done, but the adoption of ITSM and the BSM tools that support it continues to gain momentum as more companies realize this is a prerequisite for success in a new world where business and IT have become one.
"The prediction is that over the next five years, ITSM will be as impactful as ERP systems were, or maybe more," itSMF's Childers concludes. "I don't think ITSM is going away, because it makes too much sense." And innovative BSM vendors will continue to develop new tools to help.
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