Monday Sept 14 USD 273 Board Of Education Meeting

Beloit USD #273

September 14, 2015

By Terry Bailey

The USD #273 Board of Education conducted its monthly meeting on September 14, 2015. The meeting was held at the School District office on North Independence Avenue and was called to order promptly at 6:30 p.m. by Board President, Jason Johnson.

In his report, Superintendent Jeff Travis said that the head count for all students pre-school through 12^th grade was at 817 students. He suggested that the number may change a bit up or down when the official student count is conducted on September 20^th.

Travis said there would be no school on September 28^th because of a teacher in service that day.

The maple flooring and underlayment was delivered Monday for the gym floor in the building addition at the Elementary School. The maple boards will need to acclimate for five weeks before they can be installed. The curtains have been installed in the building and are functional.

Travis summed up the activity by saying, “We are starting to see movement again to complete the building.”

Cassie Kopsa, representing the Site Council, provided a list of people to be considered as officers. They were: Cassie Kopsa - Chairperson, Darcy Offutt – Vice Chairperson, Donna Eck – Secretary, and Amanda Schwerman – new member. The Board approved all names as presented.

Tara Pruitt gave the Board a report on the activities of the P.T.O. They are heavily involved in a number of supporting activities. They served meals to over 500 people at the Family Fun night. Pruitt wanted to thank all the people that donated meat, money and their time to help.

The P.T.O. conducted Grandparents Day at the Elementary School last Friday. 352 grandparents came to school that day to spend an hour and a half with their grandchildren.

The box top collection activity started on September 14 and will continue through October 16.

The annual PTO shirt sales will be starting soon. Three designs will be given to the 6^th grade for its decision on the official design of the 2015 T shirt. Pruitt pointed out that this year will be the 60^th anniversary of the Beloit Elementary school building.

Beloit High School STUCO president Colson Reiman told the Board about all the activities at the school since the beginning of the school year. Fall Homecoming is fast approaching. The football game will be against Republic County on Friday, September 25th. The crowning of the queen will be at 6:30 p.m. before the game and the dance will follow the game at 9:30 p.m.

Cassie Kopsa reported for the Site Council that Friends of BES Awards had been given to Kristi Arasmith and to the NCK Aware organization.

Karen Niemczyk, Director of the Beloit Special Education Cooperative, reviewed the updated Special Ed referral process. She said it was not uncommon to receive a referral of a student for Special Ed placement and after the testing was completed, for the student to not meet the requirements for placement in the program.

She reminded the Board that before a student is referred for Special Ed placement a wide array of modifications and interventions must be applied in the general education classroom. Making the student successful in the regular classroom must be attempted before a referral is done.

Niemczyk reviewed the new Emergency Safety Intervention policy for the Board. The Policy must be followed carefully for students who are at risk of hurting others or themselves. This very detailed, step by step process must be followed to preserve the safety of all involved.

Brady Dean, Executive Director of the Mitchell County Partnership for Children, reported that the new expansion has been open for about a month now and is running smoothly.

He said one of the goals of MPCC is for all students to be ready for kindergarten when they move on.

Dean said that at the Elementary School the staff training in the Boy’s Town model is going well. Two staff will be attending further training to allow them to train other teachers. There is a school wide effort to teach and reinforce the 16 Boys Town prosocial skills.

Casey Seyfert gave the Board an update on the activities at the Jr. Sr High School. There are 141 students enrolled at the Jr. High this year compared to 137 last years. The high school has 237 students this year compared to 231 last year.

On Friday, September 11, a safety assembly was conducted by Providence K-9s. The Providence dogs demonstrated their ability to “sniff out” a variety of contraband items. Providence dogs are very different from police K-9 “drug” dogs in that they are very gentle and non-aggressive. The dogs and their handlers will make several unannounced visits to the school throughout the school year.

Seyfert said that the school lunches have been very well received so far this school year.

School pictures will be taken on September 23^rd.

Tryouts for the school play took place last week. The play, Harvey, will take place on November 12 and run through the 15^th.

The fall sports season has gotten off to a great start. Junior high cross country has 13 runners on the team. Junior High volley has 41 girls out for the teams. Junior high football has 20 eighth graders and 15 seventh graders.

High School cross country as 16 members on the team. Twenty-two kids are out for tennis.

The High School volleyball team as 35 members and has an impressive 8-1 record and has played several 5A and 6A teams.

The football team has 28 members and is off to a 2-0 start.

Meeting adjourned.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA