Board of Education Minutes
August 19, 2019
UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 467
WICHITA COUNTY
LEOTI, KANSAS
Meeting Time and Place
1. The Board of Education of Unified School District #467, Wichita County, Kansas met in regular session at 7:00 p.m., Monday, August 19, 2019 in Leoti.
People Present
2. Members present were: Brian Gerstberger, Jason Koehn, Jim Myers, Tammy Simons, Farrin Watt, Brandon Whalen, and Josh Young.
Also present were: Superintendent, Keith Higgins; Clerk, Tammy Mason; WCJSHS Principal, Delbert Schmidt; WCES Principal, Lori Maxwell; and Guests: Nate Brown, Sara Brown, Julie Conard, Leslie Niswonger, Stephanie Thelen-West, and Ann Wiles.
Approved Consent Agenda
1. Jim Myers called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. After the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag, he thanked everyone for a great start to the school year with district inservice, teacher sneak peek, greeters on the first two days of school, and the Jr./Sr. high school “air” band. Brian Gerstberger motioned and Farrin Watt seconded to approve the consent agenda, consisting of:
A. Agenda for the meeting.
B. Minutes of the July 29, 2019 regular meeting and August 7, 2019 special meeting.
C. Payments of the bills and payrolls.
D. Personnel Actions: None.
E. Approve WCJSHS fundraisers for 2019-20.
F. Accept a donation from the Wichita County Knights of Columbus Council 2930 for $2,854.30 to the district Special Education program.
G. Accept a donation from St. Anthony’s parish for $250.00 to the WCJSHS vocal music department in honor of Father Meinrad’s 25th Ordination anniversary.
Motion passed 7-0.
Budget Hearing
2. Superintendent Higgins has not received any inquiries into the published 2019-2020 budget. There were no questions or comments from the audience. Brandon Whalen motioned and Brian Gerstberger seconded to approve the 2019-2020 budget as published in the paper. Motioned passed 7-0.
Request for Paying Cost of Endorsements
3. Stephanie Thelen-West asked the Board to approve paying the cost of $60.00 for adding the ESL and Chemistry endorsement to her teaching license. The Board will discuss the matter.
WCES Principal’s Report
4. Ms. Maxwell, WCES Principal, presented updates on the grade school. The current enrollment is 235 students. Sneak Peek was on August 14th and 15th, it was well attended. In-service time in the building was productive. Support services, ELL and Title I are set to begin August 26 after DIBELS testing is completed. Study Island, AR/STAR and DIBELS have up-to-date rosters. The AR upgrade has some glitches to work on and the Lexia rosters were completed this afternoon. The ASQ testing for kindergarten is almost complete. ASQ for preschool has not yet been administered. They are holding SIT meetings this week to get everyone familiar with past interventions.
5. After Mr. Schmidt thanked the Board for greeting students the first two days of school, he presented the updates on the Jr./Sr. high school. There are seven new students with a total of one hundred sixty seven, which is an increase from last year. The following numbers are out for sports as of today: high school football-27, high school volleyball-15, junior high football-16, junior high volleyball-25, and Jr/Sr. high cross country-13. Chromebooks were handed out today to staff and students. Two students did not sign the drug policy. Mrs. West and Mr. Schmidt are working on the early out on Wednesdays and how this will affect “Rescue Seminar”. Julie Conard presented her information on the combined STUCO/NHS Leadership conference to be held at Camp Christy.
Superintendent’s Report
6. Mr. Higgins, Superintendent, gave an update on the district enrollment. The enrollment is slightly down from last year, but new students are enrolling daily,so it may increase within the next couple of weeks. He has spoken with Clark Simpson about the roof and water heater replacements, they are working on getting bonding and the best dates to proceed as some work will require shutting off utilities to the schools, etc. The new district website should be functioning soon. They need to get someone from the district trained on the new website. Ms. Maxwell volunteered. Discussion was held on the interest rates for the savings and checking accounts within the district. Mr. Higgins will check into what options are currently available.
KESA
7. Julie Conard spoke about a conference she attended this summer through the State Department of Education regarding partnering KESA and Redesign. She suggested the school using the Family Engagement Survey. They presented the survey at enrollment and have gotten about 80 responses. She is hoping to engage more responses during parent/teacher conferences and throughout the school year. The results so far show that the community is mostly confident with our school system and some areas to improve on that the district is currently working towards.
Strategic Plan
8. Mr. Higgins presented more candidates for the Strategic Plan committee for the district. Community involvement is very important and the Board would like at least twenty members. Mr. Higgins will invite the community members listed to be on the Strategic Plan committee.
Executive Session for Personnel
9. Brian Gerstberger motioned and Tammy Simons seconded to enter into executive session with Mr. Higgins, Mr. Schmidt, and Ms. Maxwell present to discuss matters adversely or favorably affecting nonelected certified and classified staff pursuant to nonelected personnel exception under KOMA. The matters affecting the non-elected certified and classified staff members is their performance and employment. The Board will return to open session in the district board room at 7:57 p.m.
10. The regular meeting resumed at 7:57 p.m. No action was taken.
Executive Session for Personnel
11. Farrin Watt motioned and Brandon Whalen seconded to enter into executive session with Mr. Higgins present to discuss matters adversely or favorably affecting non-elected certified and classified staff pursuant to non-elected personnel exception under KOMA. The matters affecting the non-elected certified and classified staff members is their performance and employment. The Board will return to open session in the district board room at 8:43 p.m. Nate Brown, Sara Brown, Julie Conard, Leslie Niswonger, Stephanie Thelen-West, and Ann Wiles left the meeting at 7:58 p.m.
12. The regular board meeting resumed at 8:43 p.m. No action was taken.
Allowing Twelve Cheerleaders to Away Games
13. Discussion was held on allowing twelve cheerleaders to attend away games. It will remain as it is currently.
Adjournment
14. Jim Myers officially adjourned the meeting at 8:45 p.m.
__________________________ Jim Myers, President
__________________________ Tammy Mason, Clerk of the Board