Monday October 12th usd 273 School Board Meeting

Beloit USD #273 School Board Meeting

Monday, October 12, 2015

By Terry Bailey

The Board of Education for Unified School District #273 conducted their meeting for the month of October on Monday evening, October 12.

In his report, Superintendent Jeff Travis told the Board that the new floor had been installed in the Elementary School Addition. The boards were being sanded on Monday and then the lines will be painted with the final finish applied. It will be ready for use on October 23. A fence will need to be constructed around the east side of the building to limit access to various valves. It will be a white plastic fence.

Travis said the auditors were on site last week. The district passed the audit with many positive comments.

A brief has been filed with the Kansas Supreme Court contesting the legality of the Block Grant funding for schools implemented by Governor Brownback.

The teacher category having the most vacancies around the state are Special Education, English, Physical Science, Elementary, and Math. It is virtually impossible for Dodge City to hire elementary teachers. Travis commented that Beloit pool of candidates for elementary teachers is very shallow.

Cassie Kopsa gave a Site Council report. She said they are reviewing their by-laws and goals for the site council to keep them up to date. Friends of Beloit Elementary School awards were given to Todd Catlin, Andrea Sloan, and the Methodist Church.

Director of the Beloit Area Special Education Coop Karen Niemczyk, began her report to the board noting that the IDEA file review went very well. There was one problem area noted. The implementation date is documented in two places on the IEP. In the review it was noted that it also need to be documented on a third and rather obscure place.

Niemczyk told the Board that the Boys Town Well-Managed Classroom training is progressing well. Four teachers have completed the Coaching/Counseling training and will be providing support to the teachers as they implement this model.

All Special ED staff will be participating in MANDT training. MANDT is a method of working with kids whose behavior is at or near the out-of-control level. There is a heavy emphasis on verbal methods of deescalating the situation with hands on restraint as the last resort.

Brady Dean, assistant principal at Beloit Elementary School and Executive Director of the Mitchell County Partnership for Children, said that the school marathon project will conclude this Friday, October 16^th. At that time the students participating in the project will have ran 26.2 miles since the beginning of school. The Grand Finale will take place at the track at Trojan Stadium at 8:30 a.m. that morning. Beloit Elementary students will join with students from St. John’s elementary to run one final lap to complete the Marathon.

The first nine weeks will end on Friday October 16^th. Parent teacher conferences will be held on Thursday, October 22^nd from 8 o’clock a.m. to 8 o’clock p.m.

On the MDPC side of his presentation, Dean said they would be closed on October 23rd for Staff Development training.

The Early Learning Center has 37 students in the North Building, 30 students in the South Building, and 29 students in the School Aged Program for a total of 96 students. This number involves 60 families.

Student Council President Colson Reiman updated the Board on the various activities in which they are involved. He said the Homecoming dance was one of the best ones in quite a while. Other activities include: selling lines on the football field as a fundraiser, a pumpkin decoration contest, a fundraiser for the Girard family, and the Thanksgiving Food Drive. The annual food drive will take place from November 16 through November 23. The goal for the food drive last year was 10,000 points. This year’s goal is very ambitious 13,000 points.

Beloit Jr. Sir High Principal Casey Seyfert reported on the activities at the school. One item particularly noteworthy was an impromptu concert performed by the 7^th and 8^th grade vocal students. Vocal music is a mandatory class for junior high students. Ms. Deal, the new vocal music teacher, has put great effort and energy into coxing all students into singing.

Parent conferences are scheduled to be held October 22 at the high school from 12:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.

The Board approved a new category designation for Special Education Paras. This designation will go to paras who work with those students who have greater needs.

The Board approved a new position at the Elementary School to be known as an Intervention Specialist. Because there is no elementary counselor a void exists in having someone to do intensive consoling with students in need of such attention. The position will be a four hour per day position to begin, with the possibility of expanding to a full time position. Once the position was created they then named Jennifer Eilert as the person hired for the job.

The meeting concluded with a 20 minute executive session for the purpose of discussing non-elected personnel.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA