Shows
BV UnmutedBV Unmuted: Personal Electronic DevicesOur #BVUnmuted series continues with a focus with an update on the district's personal electronic device policy. Blue Valley Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan is joined by Blue Valley North Principal Dr. Tyson Ostroski, Executive Director of School Administration Scott Roberts and Blue Valley North Social Studies Teacher Jeff Breedlove.#BVTogether
2025-04-0820 minBV UnmutedBV Unmuted: Bond 2023 UpdateOur #BVUnmuted series continues with a focus with an update on the approved 2023 Bond. Blue Valley Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan is joined by Executive Director of Operations Jake Slobodnik, Director of Safety and Security Dan Carney, and Senior Coordinator of Digital Resources Liz Chopp.#BVTogether
2025-03-0318 minBV UnmutedBV Unmuted: The Impact of EducatorsOur #BVUnmuted series continues with a focus on the impact of our teachers in the Blue Valley Schools. Blue Valley Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan is joined by three Blue Valley Schools students, Caroline, Arianna and Maverick to discuss the positive impact that our teachers have on their students.
2025-02-0321 minBV UnmutedBV Unmuted: Legislative PrioritiesOur #BVUnmuted series continues with a focus on the Blue Valley legislative priorities. Blue Valley Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan is joined by School Board President Gina Knapp, Vice President Jan Kessinger, and Chief Financial Officer Jeremy McFadden to discuss these priorities in the upcoming legislative session.#BVTogether
2025-01-0623 minBV UnmutedBV Unmuted: Why Attendance MattersOur #BVUnmuted series continues with a focus on school attendance. Blue Valley Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan is joined by principals Leah Vomhof, Stacey Sperry and Dr. Cory Cox to discuss the why attendance matters.#BVTogether
2024-11-0521 minBV UnmutedBV Unmuted: Updated Graduation RequirementsOur #BVUnmuted podcast series continues with a focus on updated graduation requirements across the district! 🎧🎓📚 Join host Dr. Tonya Merrigan along with guests Scott Roberts (Exec. Director of School Admin) and Dr. Anne Kastelic (Asst. Principal, BVSW) as the group talks through some of the changes and how they will positively impact students in the future. #ChampionsOfLearning
2024-01-1112 minBV UnmutedBVUnmuted: Academic Success in Blue ValleyJoin host Dr. Tonya Merrigan as our #BVUnmuted series continues with a focus on academic success in Blue Valley!Guests Kelly Ott and Adam Wade from Academic Services discuss what success looks like in classrooms at the elementary, middle and high school levels.#ChampionsOfLearning
2023-11-0725 minBV UnmutedBV Unmuted: Blue Valley Educational FoundationJoin host Dr. Tonya Merrigan as she talks with Susan Tideman (Executive Director) and Lisa Austin (Communications Manager) from the Blue Valley Educational Foundation.Hear about some of BVEF's upcoming events, exciting fundraisers and learn how you can make an impact on our schools, staff members and community.#BVTogether
2023-03-2312 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - Snow Days: Behind the Scenes"One of the things that I hope people are hearing is how much planning and thought goes in to decisions around inclement weather... safety is really what we're looking at. We know it's an inconvenience if we have to cancel school, but if it's not safe to come to school because of the weather, we're going to cancel every single time." - Dr. Tonya Merrigan, Superintendent You might have heard the saying "If you don't like the weather in Kansas, wait a few minutes." The unpredictability of the KC climate can keep us here at Blue Valley u...
2023-01-1309 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - Building Culture and Community"When you walk in to Leawood Elementary, you're going to see so many familiar faces because it's our parents who have stepped up and are in here helping us day after day." - Jenny Hayes, principal at Leawood ElementaryIt's one thing to build a school building, but it's an entirely different task to build a school community and culture. In our first BV Unmuted podcast of the 2022-23 school year, Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan asks three of our rockstar principals - Leawood Elementary's Jenny Hayes, Oxford Middle's Courtney Domoney, and Blue Valley Southwest's Dr. Tyler Alexander...
2022-10-1314 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - Moving On Up"I'm looking forward to meeting my new teachers and classmates... and I'm also looking forward to my elective classes and joining clubs in middle school." - Amber Gao, 5th grade student For many students, the end of the school year is also the end of an era. Our 5th grade and 8th grade kiddos will be moving up to middle school and high school, while our 12th graders will be moving on to new adventures outside of the district. In our final episode of the BV unmuted 2021-22 season, Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan chats with 5th grader A...
2022-06-0210 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - More Than A Game"I think the lifeblood of our school system is the athletics and activities side of things... it's an important aspect of the development of our kids. It's learning how to work with others and have big wins or big defeats because that's life. We're teaching them life lessons on a daily basis." - Anthony Orrick, head football coach at BVSW. Athletics and activities provide opportunities to nearly 75 percent of the entire student population in Blue Valley high schools and thousands of middle school students each year. In this episode of BV unmuted, Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan "huddles" w...
2022-04-1917 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - The Heart Of The Arts"I think with all of the arts, it's learning to perform and to handle performance anxiety, which is a natural anxiety to have... that's normal. So normalizing that anxiety and having a professional who knows how to help you with that and coach you through that. That's an amazing skill to have because we all face that in life." - Janelle Brower, Performing Arts Coordinator In this episode of BV unmuted, Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan talks all things "arts" with Speech and Drama teacher Reed Uthe, Debate teacher and coach Ryan McFarland, as well as Performing Arts...
2021-12-0214 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - Accelerated Learning: Slowing Down To Catch Up"This is a year, if you will, of recovery. There may be times that our curriculum calls for certain skills to be taught. But we may realize... that our students aren't quite ready for that content. We're trying to communicate the need to slow down and back up." - Dr. Katie Collier, Deputy Superintendent. Sometimes, it's important to slow down before you speed up. This is especially important in addressing the needs of Blue Valley students as they recover from the effects of the pandemic. In this episode of BV unmuted, Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan visits with...
2021-10-2615 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - #ZeroReasonsWhy In Blue Valley And Beyond"Quite frankly, I've worked in this community for 30 years and I've never seen anything like it - people coming together, for a common cause, led by students." - Tim DeWeese, Director of Johnson County Mental Health Center. Our 2021-22 season of BV unmuted starts off with one of the most important topics out there - student mental health. Blue Valley seniors and #ZeroReasonsWhy members Anna Hamilton and Esha Parikh join Director of Johnson County Mental Health Center Tim DeWeese and Blue Valley Schools Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan. They discuss the importance of storytelling and community mobilization campaigns...
2021-09-2015 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - Ready For Normal: Students Reflect On A School Year Like No Other"I'm excited to get everybody back for sporting events and all that stuff. I'm really excited to get back to the normalcy of school. I feel like everyone deserves to have that high school experience." - Gage Roach, junior at Blue Valley West. We close out our third season of the Blue Valley Schools podcast with a look back at a school year unlike any other. Three BV high school students - BVNW senior Emma Johnson, BVW junior Gage Roach, and BVSW senior Karthik Sathish - join Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan in an honest conversation about their...
2021-05-1718 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - Learning Mode Selections: Deadline Nov. 16, 2020"We need to ensure staffing needs are met, we need to look at master schedules, and we're going to go hand-by-hand through all of our student's schedules to make sure things are right. In order to get all of that done and still give our staff a winter break, we need time to get that accomplished." - Kelly Ott, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Innovation The deadline is quickly approaching for families and students to change their learning mode selection for second semester. In this episode of BV unmuted, Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan joins Director of Curriculum...
2020-11-1110 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - Screen Time Sanity: Parenting In A Digital World"We don't need to be perfect. Every moment isn't going to be Instagram-able. What is it that we can do so that when our head hits the pillow at the end of the day, we as parents can say 'Hey - that was hard, but we did it.' " - Tracy Foster, Co-Founder of START In this episode of BV unmuted, Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan invites our District Coordinator of Student Support Services Tara Walrod, along with START co-founders Krista Boan and Tracy Foster, to talk about helping our kids manage their screen time in a year...
2020-10-2919 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - Social-Emotional Learning While Social-Distancing"Trust your gut. We are facing so many changes and there are so many different ways that our kids are under stress. If you, as a parent, just have that sense that something doesn't feel quite right, please reach out to us." - Karen Mulligan, Social Worker Manager The challenges of this upcoming school year are unprecedented - and while that may feel like an understatement, it is simply accurate. In this episode of BV Unmuted, Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan visits with District Coordinator of Student Support Services Tara Walrod, Social Worker Manager Karen Mulligan, and School...
2020-09-0418 minBV UnmutedBV unmuted - Return To Learn: Planning In A Pandemic"This is a pandemic. I've never been a superintendent before, but I've certainly never been a superintendent in a pandemic. I've never been an educator in a pandemic. It's going to take all of us - working together - to ensure that we have a safe, sound and sincere quality of education for our Blue Valley students." - Dr. Tonya Merrigan, Blue Valley Schools Superintendent In our inaugural episode of BV unmuted, Superintendent Dr. Tonya Merrigan joins a team of Blue Valley educators on the front lines of making sure our students can return to...
2020-07-3128 minBV UnmutedToddcast² - COVID-19: The Present, Our Progress, and a Plan for the Future (Season 2, Episode 13)"If we're going to be ready for students in August, we need to get back to some semblance of normal - but the new normal is going to look very different." - Dr. Tonya Merrigan, Incoming Superintendent For our team here at Blue Valley Schools, it feels like a lifetime since we shared our last podcast with you and, in some ways, it has been. Some things will be the same after the COVID-19 pandemic passes and some things will change. But one thing that will never waver is our commitment to the health and wellbeing of o...
2020-05-1938 minBV UnmutedToddcast² - Strategic Planning (Season 2, Episode 1)"We already have a strategic plan and it's called 'Vision 2020.' Guess what? It's 2020 next year! So it's time for us to take a fresh look at our future and what we want to do here at Blue Valley." - Dr. Tonya Merrigan, Incoming Superintendent In our season premier of Toddcast², we talk about our journey to reimagine learning and change the world with the help of our entire Blue Valley community. This strategic planning process will ensure that our energies and resources are being invested in those things we value most - our students and their ed...
2019-08-2616 minBV UnmutedToddcast² , Episode 8: Meet The Incoming Superintendent"I know that this is a gift... there are not many people who get an opportunity to work along side someone for a whole year knowing that you'll eventually take that position over... I absolutely cherish and appreciate that." - Dr. Tonya Merrigan, Incoming Blue Valley Superintendent In Dr. Merrigan's words, she bleeds Blue Valley blue. Since joining the district in 1999, Tonya has served in many different capacities, from school counselor to Deputy Superintendent. Soon, in the 2020-21 school year, she will embrace her newest role as Superintendent of Blue Valley Schools. In this episode of Toddcast², Dr...
2019-05-0620 min