MONDAY OCT 12 2020 USD 273 BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING

USD Board of Education

Monday, October 12, 2020

By Terry Bailey

The Unified School District number 273 held their October meeting at the High School Monday night. Having the Board members on the stage allowed for ample room for social distancing. All board members and guests wore masks.

Jeff Travis gave his Superintendents report to the Board. He announced that the Board members would participate in a planning session at 5:30 p.m. on November 9^th. The HVAC project at the North Campus in nearing completion. The work of the contractor is commendable. The Fall Appreciation day will be on Tuesday, October 27^th. There are lots of unknowns to work around with the pandemic around us.

Vickie Jackson gave a report for the PTO. This year’s fundraising activities netted $19,000. The Boxtops fundraiser is being conducted digitally. T-shirt sales are going on. The shirts will be sold for $1 over cost. She said Gray Drug will once again conduct their Pumpkin Patch of Dreams to provide classroom supplies to Beloit and St. Johns elementary schools. The Pizza Hut fundraiser will take place in the near future.

The report from the STUCO representative indicated that group has been very busy. Homecoming week was very busy with lots of activities. Most of the students participating in one or more of the activities. STUCO raised $4,500 and donated it to the Tammy Walker Cancer Center in Salina. The patio project is moving along well. Many of the clubs and organizations at the high school have contributed important items. STUCO members participated in delivering Meals On Wheels. To show their appreciation, STUCO presented $20 gift certificates to the custodians.

The Beloit Special Education Coop director, Karen Niemczyk gave the Board an update on the status of her department. She said they were making progress in filling some of the Spec Ed staff vacancies but they will not be able to fill all of the vacancies until next year. Niemczyk said that after analyzing Special Ed numbers across the Coop, they are high in all numbers. Simply put, more kids have been identified for entry into the Spec Ed program that the accepted number of 15%. She said they will review policies, practices and procedures in the process to insure the only kids who are in need of services and admitted into the program. Niemczyk said that the complications to the day to day operation of the Special Ed program will eventually cause some mandated activities and deadlines to not be achieved. The pandemic simply makes some things impossible to complete.

Brady Dean, Beloit Elementary principal, commented, “It is hard to believe we are already starting the second nine weeks. It has been very busy and hard to keep track of time.” He said that the fundraising went really well. He is applying for three grants that should provide supplemental funds.

Janet Porter, assistant elementary school principal, reported that the new program of referring kids to the office when they are found doing especially well has been met with success. There were 50 referrals this past month. She believes that rewarding positive behavior should reap good benefits.

Beloit Elementary School is serving lunch in two separated areas. KDG, 2^nd, 4^th, 5^th are eating in the multipurpose room. 1^st, 3^rd, and 6^th are eating in the new gym. This process had went well so far.

BES will observe National Bully Prevention Week from October 26^th through the 30^th. A spirit week will allow kids to dress up according to a daily spirit them. Weather permitting, a Boo to Bullying parade will take place on Friday the 30^th.

Casey Seyfert reported on the status of the Beloit Jr. Sr. High. The junior high kids will once again volunteer to help with the Isle of Lights should that display come to life this year. There has been some doubt about it opening with the pandemic. The Green House is nearing completion. There is lots of interest and activity at the high school for the upcoming school musical. Seyfert said there will be an all school assembly with a guest speaker. The topic will be Leaving Footprints with Social Media. Most people do not realize that once something is posted on social media it is there forever. Things a person might post when they are a freshman in high school are still out there years later when they are hoping to enter the labor market.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA