USD 273 BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING MONDAY AUG 8

Unified School District #273

Monday 8, 2016

By Terry Bailey

The Beloit Unified School District number 273 held their meeting for the month of August on Monday evening, August 8^th at the Board Office on North Independence Avenue.

A report from the Student Council president highlighted summer activities in which STUCO member participated. The highlight was the KSHSAA Student Council camp held at Emporia State. The STUCO members recently participated in a lock-in allowing them time for just themselves and the issues before them. Much planning and goal setting was accomplished.

The Student Council is spearheading the work to create a student patio on the west side of the school building just off the Art room exit. The end result will be the creation of a relaxing spot for students to congregate during their free time.

In his report, Superintend Jeff Travis reported that most of the summer improvement projects are fast coming to a conclusion so as to be ready for the first day of school. The custodians had worked exceptionally hard over the summer break to make the buildings more welcoming and inviting. He gave kudo’s to Darrell Kelly and Marilyn Goheen for their excellent work throughout the summer. Travis noted that the All Purpose room looked almost brand new with all the work performed there.

A representative from the GT Bus Company visited Beloit and examined the Special Education bus. Last year over 26,000 miles was driven. The bus company will replace that bus with a new one.

The owner of the bus company also visited Beloit. After all the numbers had been crunched and profit and loss were figured, the owner stated that they had made great profit on the Beloit bus contract. He presented the district with a check for $17,488. He figured that was the excess profit they had made. He said they had made a lot of money and wanted to give some of it back. He also presented a check to the Technical College in the amount of $2,500. This reflected savings realized by the bus company by having the Tech College perform maintenance on their vehicles.

Travis then reviewed the proposed budget for the upcoming year. He felt positive about the numbers. A public hearing on the budget is planned for August 23^rd at 7:30 a.m. Copies of the proposed budget were not furnished to the press for dissemination to the public.

The concept for armed police officer to be stationed in the school buildings has been put on hold. It appears that grant money will be necessary in order to fund this project. Applying for grants tends to be a multi-year project.

Travis is looking at purchasing portable bleachers to be used at the elementary school. Each set of bleachers can accommodate 15 people. He plans to buy 4 sets this year and 4 more again next year. One person can move the bleachers from place to place within the school building.

Jr. Sr. High Principal Casey Seyfert reported that the use of electronic devices greatly speeded up the enrollment process. Parent who had completed the on-line enrollment at home simply walked in, paid the fees and walked out taking about three minutes to get the job done.

Seyfert reviewed the work done at the Jr. Sr. High School over the summer.

Seyfert discussed the shortcomings of the current school marquee used to inform and announce upcoming activities at the school. He has investigated replacing the old marquee that has been in place since the school was built with a modem device. His goal is to find a way to purchase a “jumbo tron” LED type of device to inform the public about goings on at the school. Such a device is computer programmable with the use of a cell phone. He gave an example of an athlete or team winning a state championship being greeted by a sign proclaiming their victory when they arrived back in Beloit. Representatives from Apple Media were on hand with a demonstration model for the Board to inspect.

Board members were provided with color photos of various models with anticipated costs and benefits of each model. No information regarding specifications or cost was provided to the press for review.

Karen Niemczyk, Director of the Beloit Special Ed Cooperative, gave the Board a status update on her program. Niemczyk reported that they had a Social Worked recently retire. She replaced that person with two half time Social Workers. She has been attending Career Fairs at colleges to identify possible employees in the future. It is getting harder and harder to find qualified Special Ed personnel who are interested in relocating to rural Kansas.

She reported that the Special Ed budget will require a 10% increase to member districts. The Coop is expecting a 4% reduction in any Medicaid funds.

Travis called the Board Members attention to copies of the Salary and Supplemental Salary Schedule documents in their possession. With little discussion of the numbers on their sheets the Board voted to adopt the documents. Copies of these Salary Schedules and the numbers on them were not provided to the press for examination or dissemination.

A Cooperative Agreement for Junior High Wrestling with Rock Hills was approved for the upcoming school year.

A list of coach assignments and duties was submitted and approved with not discussion. No copies of this list of coaching assignments were provided to the press.

A ten minute executive session for the discussion of a confidential student matter was conducted.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA