USD 377 BOARD HIGHLIGHTS

Unified School District #377 Board of Education

306 Main Street, Effingham, KS 66023  

BOARD HIGHLIGHTS - REGULAR SESSION MEETING

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017 BOARD MEETING, 6:30 PM

PRESENTATIONS

Alicia Kerwood, Mercedez Albright, and Noah Gregory - Band Trip 2018

Action: Board approved the Mrs. Kerwood’s request to take the Band trip on an educational trip to Colorado in the Spring of 2018.

CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS

• Approved Minutes from March 13, 2017

• Approved Reports, Bills & Claims in the amount of $309,014.86
• Approved Treasurer's Report
• Accepted Gifts & Grants

• $20.00 from Becky O’Brien to FFA – Kansas Livestock Wildfire Relief Fund
• $384.52 from the Dessert Bar Free Will Donation at the Spring Play to Drama Club
• From the PTO:

• Tumblers for all the teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week - not to exceed $15.00 per tumbler.
• Snacks for the other staff members (snack, pop, water) for Teacher Appreciation Week
• Meals for Parent/Teacher Conference in March
• $300.00 to the library for the purchase of William Allen White Award book.

• Miscellaneous Donations from OPAA valued at $441.30
• Silicon Valley Community Foundation Grant – $3,000 towards the school’s farm gardens from Annie’s Garden Grants out of California.

• Accepted Keystone Correspondences

ACTION ITEMS

Reduction in Student Contact Days.

• The USD 377 Board approved the recommendation to reduce the number of student contact days for the current school year by three days.

• The last day for students grades PK-11 will be May 19th, which will be a full day of school.

• May 22, 23, and 24, will be teacher professional development days to review assessment data, finalize all KESA work, and work on curriculum for 2017-2018.

ACCES/PTO Outdoor Learning Center Project. Approved the the low bid from Mill Iron V, Ryan Vessar, to cover the ACCES/PTO Outdoor Learning Center at a total cost of $9,438.  Total cost of the entire project will end up being $19,308.  The ACCES PTO donated $12,000 to the project.

Note - There were questions about the metal gauging upgrades per the quote from Mill Iron V.  To clarify, the quote includes a metal framing upgrade from 14ga to 12ga and a metal sheeting upgrade for the roof from 29ga to 26ga. Pricing includes delivery and installation. Install timeline is somewhere between 4-6 weeks

Student Trips Approved

• G9-12 Choirs to State Large Group contest at Atchison MS on 04/13/17
• HS Band ( to include select G8 students) to State Large Group Atchison MS on 04/13/17
• G11 and G12 students to the Atchison County Youth Leadership Workshop (Benedictine College) on 04/18/2017
• 8th Grade College Visit to Highland Community College on 04/18/2017
• 7th Grade College Visit to Benedictine for a College Visit on 04/21/2017  
• Select HS Band and vocal students to compete at the State Solo/Ensemble Festival, SE Saline HS, Gypsum, KS on 04/29/17
• Yearbook - 3 editors to go to Herff-Jones plant to pick up Yearbooks on 05/08/2017    

Personnel Recommendations Approved

•  Separations/Resignations/Retirements

• John Flores, JSH PE and coach - effective at the end of the school year
• Carol Oliver, HS Language Arts  - effective at the end of the school year
• Deb Taliaferro, HS Secretary/KIDS Coordinator - effective April 7, 2017
• Marci Feldkamp, JSH Library Aide - effective at the end of the school year

• Certified Contracts extended

• Amanda Fleetwood - HS Language Arts contract to include a Title IIA Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers stipend (TBD), plus benefits

• Contract amendments

• Dalton Minor, JSH Business teacher salary raise commensurate with that of a first year teacher - wage to $23.98/hr. This pay rate is contingent on Dalton’s continued success in his T2T program, which will be in continuous review each semester of his employment.

• Classified Contracts

• Chaz Donaldson - student part time custodial worker
• Tobin Warriner - substitute custodian/maintenance worker, compensation set at $8.50/hr
• Brandon Cummings - full time custodian conditional offer. Compensation $8.50/hr raised to $9.00/hr upon successful completion of a 60 day probationary period.

Other Notes from the meeting

• Item 7.01 May Board Meeting Date was removed from the agenda. It was incorrectly communicated that the May Board meeting would be held on May 15, which was incorrect. Because the Board’s regular monthly meeting date was established by resolution to be held on the 2nd Monday of each month (resolution passed the July Organizational meeting), there was no action to be taken.

• Item 8.01 Elementary Title I School-Wide Improvement Plan was tabled until May.

Upcoming Board Items

• Future action item - Food Service Management Contract Recommendation for 2017-2018

• April 21, 2017 4:00 pm is the Deadline for Offerors to Submit Proposals to the district
• The week of April 24 - 28, 2017 a FSMC Evaluation Committee will review and score Proposals. In the process of establishing a FSMC review committee who will evaluate all proposals and submit a recommendation to the board. The board has the authority to enter into a FSMC with any of the Offerors who submit a proposal that meets the requirements of the RFP. The review process is designed to ensure RFP compliance, evaluate the benefits of each proposal, and provide feedback to the board.
• May 1, 2017 Contract Negotiations Begin, if applicable.
• May 8, 2017 Award of Contract by the Board

• Future action item - Elementary Title I School-Wide Improvement Plan approval

• The Elementary Title I School-Wide Improvement Plan has been revised and reviewed with the Elementary Site Council. Mr. Snyder will make a formal presentation at the May meeting, at which time the Board will be asked to adopt the plan as amended.

• Future action item - Certified Contract recommendations will be made at the May meeting to fill our two teaching vacancies at the JSH, which are JH Language Arts and HS Spanish.

• Future action item - Supplemental contracts for the 2017-2018 school year. We will try to fill as many of the 2017-2018 supplemental contracts as possible at the May meeting.

• Future action item - Parents as Teachers (PAT) Contract for 2017-2018. Currently, we contract with Keystone for 4 PAT units at a cost of $16,500 (1st unit - $6,000 and $3,500 for each additional unit) . One PAT unit provides services to 7 families. The new contract year begins July 1, 2017.

• Future action item - Health Insurance Consulting.  A formal presentation will be made at the May meeting to enter into an agreement with a consulting agency - CBIZ or KASB - to work with the district insurance committee on health insurance plan options. Our current contract with the state runs out at the end of the 2017 calendar year. We have until September 31st to determine if we want to remain in the state plan or choose another option. This is our 6th year in the state plan. If we renewed with the state, the contract would be for three more years, starting January 1, 2018.

• Future action item - IPAD Phase-out Plan. The administration will make a formal proposal to the Board in May to phase out all iPads over the next two fiscal years and replace them with Chromebooks. Chromebooks are about ⅓ the cost of an iPad and require far less technical support than the iPads. Additionally,  Chromebooks align better with the Google Suite applications used throughout the district. Currently, the competitive bid for chromebooks is $220 per device. The recommendation will include establishment of a $75 purchase fee to seniors who would like to keep their iPad.

• Future action item - Juvenile Justice System Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  SB 367 was enacted by the 2016 Kansas Legislature with the goal of reducing the number of referrals to the state’s juvenile justice system. The law, which takes effect July 1, 2017, requires school superintendents to work with local law enforcement, courts, and district and county attorneys to develop and submit a MOU establishing clear guidelines for when and how school-based behaviors are referred to law enforcement or the juvenile justice system. Mr. Wiseman is working with Atchison County Sheriff Jack Laurie on the MOU details that will need to be signed off on by County officials.

• Future action item - KASB Membership renewal.

• Discussion item - bus bids.  We are in the process of soliciting bids for two regular route buses. Bus specifications have been updated and will go out to vendors the latter part of this week. As a reminder, we have bus lease purchase payments of $87,475.30 for the current school year and $57,523.04 to be paid out next year. We have no more bus lease purchase payments after FY 2018.  Going forward, the recommendation will be to rotate out buses on a 12-year cycle by a 2-1-1 purchase timeline. In other words, FY17 - 2 buses, FY18 - 1 bus, FY19 - 1 bus, and starting over with the purchase of two buses in FY20.

• Progress report on completion of the ACCES/PTO Outdoor Learning Center. The expected timeline for completion.
• Legislative Update and status of the new school finance plan
• KESA Progress, Updates, and reports to the state
• Keystone Budget projections and assessment projections for 2017-2018
• School and District Site Council Reports end of the year reports to the Board
• Summer maintenance projects and list of top priorities recommended by Mr. Coder
• Summer hiring recommendations - at this time we have four student workers interested in continuing to work through the summer
• EOY budget report
• Independent Auditor proposals for 2017-2018
• CBIZ General Liability and Worker’s Compensation proposals for 2017-2018
• LWLA update
• District Wellness Committee Update
• Curriculum Recommendations
• ACCHS Job Shadow policy recommendations will be incorporated into the USD 377 Parent/Student HB.
• Negotiations report

• KASB review and analysis of USD 377 Negotiated Agreement

• Meet and confer report
• Summer School proposals
• Future action item - Policy and handbook updates. All handbooks will need to be updated in preparation for the 2017-2018 school year.

• Personnel HB
• Transportation HB
• Parent/Student HB 2017-2018
• Substitute HB
• Safety HB
• Emergency Operations Plan updates
• Building level staff HBs