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USD 273 School Board Meeting May 8

 

USD #273 School Board Meeting

 

Monday, May 8th, 20`17

 

By Terry Bailey

 

 

The School Board for USD #273 conducted their May meeting at the Board Office on Monday, May 8th. Four members were present which established a quorum so that decisions could be made. Jeff Travis began his Superintendent’s report to yielding the floor to about 12 members of the Beloit Elementary School’s “Robotic Team.”

 

The team was accompanied by their teacher/coaches Chris Adams and Christy Fouts. Fouts said each member has to pass high qualifying marks to be on the team. She said each student’s math and science achievement test scores were reviewed as well as their scores from the state assessments. Fouts also said that the group met once or twice a week either before or after school to learn the basics of robotics.

 

A recent competition was held in Hays. The schools in the completion were from 1A all the way up to 6A. Fouts said, “This was pretty challenging competition for the kids.” In the “line following” competition, the Beloit kids placed first. They not only had to build their robot, they had to write the program to tell the robot what to do.

 

Fouts and Adams said that they were proud of the success the kids had in the competition but even more proud of their behavior. They received numerous comments from other sponsors about how well behaved the Beloit students were.

 

The students and their sponsors thanked the Board for all the help they had given them so they could achieve their goals.

 

A representative from Leadership Mitchell County presented the Board with a check for $5,991.74 from a recent fundraising activity. The money will go for upgrades to the speaker system at Trojan Stadium.

 

The Board members signed a get well card to Joel Applegate, former elementary school principal.

Travis reminded the Board that the Legislature has resumed its “Veto Session” in Topeka. He said that very little is happening. The two major issues to be resolved are the Tax Plan to deal with the deficit and a School Finance Plan that will successfully fund public education in Kansas and will pass examination by the Supreme Court. Both of these issues are long standing and would appear to have no easy solution that all lawmakers will support.

 

Travis presented his technology “wish list” for the upcoming school year. This included 145 Chromebooks, 10 laptops, 2 projectors, and thirteen whiteboards. The total cost will not exceed $52,500.

 

Travis then gave the Board his recommendation on a vehicle purchase. He suggested they buy a 2017 Explorer from Beloit Auto and Truck Plaza for $36, 824. The Board accepted his recommendation.

 

The Board accepted a bid for a building at the Elementary School which is similar to a garage in appearance. The bid went to B&M Construction for a 30’ x 30’ x 10’ building in the amount of $31,540.

 

Brenda Garman was awarded the bid for painting to be completed at Beloit High. She plans to buy the paint from Ace Hardware and the Solomon Valley Building Center.

Brady Dean Elementary School Principal said three businesses were selected as “Friends of BES” for their generous assistance to the school. They were; The Sonic, Norah Rhoads, and Casey Seyfert and the high school.

 

Dean also said that the MCPC was awarded a block grant for the upcoming school year. They applied for a grant of $380,000 and were awarded $367,000.

Early information on the State Assessments indicate Beloit Elementary School did very well on the annual testing.

Dean said all open positions have been filled for the 2017-18 school year.

High School principal Casey Seyfert presented a bid for retiling to be done for two of the boys showers at his school. He also told the Board that the school is 44 years old and the plumbing in the building and particularly in the locker rooms has a great deal of buildup in the pipes and the water flow is almost totally blocked in some places. The Board approved a bid of $15,700 from Ritter Tile for the retiling work.

Bids were received from Cole Eberle and Stephanie Meyer for school pictures for next year. The bids were for individual student school pictures, class pictures, athletic pictures, and the Elementary School yearbook. Superintended Travis asked the two parties if they would be interested in splitting the work so that each person would get half the work rather than an all-or-none basis. He said, “I know I have put this out there all of a sudden. You might need time to think about how you feel about the idea. I would like for you to think about the proposal and we can make a decision next month.”

 

Brennan Eilert, BHS Counselor, was awarded a stipend of $3,500 for extra work incurred with the careers program.

 

The Board approved a pay raise of $300 to the base salary for certified personnel and a 1% raise for non-certified employees for the 2017-18 school year.

 

The food contract with OPA was extended for three years.

 

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA