The USD 273 Board of Education listened as Dr. Joseph Harrison, Superintendent, discussed the Superintendent Selection Process at their meeting last night. Since Dr. Harrison handed in his resignation the board has to start the process of finding a replacement to fill his position.
The Board held a Planning Session prior to last night's meeting and will meet again on December 5 to decide on three focus groups and start working toward this goal. The board discussed involving the Employee Council, the Parent Teacher Association and Site Council in the process. They decided to invite a community group to give their input as to what should be done.
The Board set December 3 as the date the applications for the job have to be turned in. They plan to get started working on this as soon as possible since by sometime in January they will need to know where they are going with this action.
Dr. Harrison also discussed the Kansas Educator Evaluation Protocol for District Leader or KEEP as it is known. This is a web-based system and USD 273 has been taking part in the pilot program of the new system. The board was working on trying to understand the process of how the evaluations will work so they can put the plan into action. He said they would be going over the first and second grade teacher's evaluation in Executive Session later last night and continue this process through the system in their upcoming meetings.
During his Superintendent Report, Dr. Harrison discussed board opportunities during the Kansas Association of School Board meeting November 30, December 1,and 2 in Topeka. The Board appointed Mike Riemann as their voting delegate to attend the Delegate Assembly session.
Superintendent Harrison gave the board an update on the energy saving project they hired Ennovate Corporation of Aurora, Colorado to do. The date for completion has been extended to December 1. The big holdup is because Ennovate and E.P.M are trying to get all the equipment at the Beloit Jr.-Sr. High School building working as it should. They set the final completion date as December 26.
Dr. Harrison told the board he and Karen Pahls, MC Early Learning Center Director, completed an application for the Kansas 21st Century Community Learning Centers Fall 2012 Grant Competition and sent it in today. This grant would provide annual grant awards to the program of $50,000 a year for five years.
The board was given a rough draft of the proposed calendar for the 2013-2014 school year to look over. Dr. Harrison will be talking to members of the Employee Council tomorrow and also wants to talk to Site Council members before a decision is made. They are having trouble getting everything to fit in where it usually does because of the way the day's of the months fall.
Seven members of the Beloit High Stuco attended the meeting to present board members $10 gift certificates to Plum Creek Restaurant as a thank you for all they do for the school. Owner Brett Wichers matched their money so each member received a $20 gift certificate.
During Administrative Reports, Karen Niemczyk, Special Education Coop Director provided information on the Kansas Integrated Accountability System they use. She said this system covers the process of Special Education in a nutshell. It explains how they are accountable for what they do. She feels lucky to live in Kansas because even in times of financial times the State goes above and beyond to provide what is required. They have to be 100 percent compliant in all their records or go through a special process of intervention or their Federal funding is taken away. She was happy to report they have always been 100 percent compliant.
Byron Marshall, BES Principal, said pumpkins were delivered to the school on October 15, sponsored by Farm Bureau Financial Services and the students loved it. He gave a special thanks to Jason Chancellor, Lindy Lindblad, Todd Clover, and Hoffers Produce for their donation to the kids.
BES Parent/Teacher Conferences were held with approximately 88 percent of parents in attendance. This compares to 92 percent last year and 93 the previous year. The Walking School Bus had a great month for walking and even walked in the Veteran's Day Parade. Mrs. Ellenz 6th Grade class held a mock election with the following results. 72 percent for Romney and 28 percent for Obama, Principal Marshall said.
A report from Daryl Moore, BJSHS Principal showed they had the best Parent Teacher Conference turn out they have had in the last four years. Mrs. McDowell took 11 students to the Fall Leadership Conference in Concordia. Three community members won awards. Mrs. Lois Emerson received the parent of the year award; Brad Mason received the Honorary Member of the Year Award for his service to the chapter. The Moser family received the family of the year award.
Winter sports practices have started with some Jr. High games already played.
The High School gave three performances of Calamity Jane this past week. The Pep Band traveled to the Sedgwick game with 38 students. The Band also marched in the Veterans Day parade. Beloit hosted the Silver Ring Thing on Sunday evening and it was well attended. The football team is preparing for the Sub-State Football Championship game this week and will play against Scott City at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Trojan Field.
Hunter Post, Student Council President, reported they made $1,300.50 from the Drive For Your School project hosted by the Beloit Auto Plaza. They finished their T-Shirt sale project and made $400 plus $1,000 in sponsorships. They are also working on a food drive for the local food bank and will include school wide competition from grades 7 through 12. They will be helping hand out Angel Tree Gifts on December 19, and continue the Student of the Month project with KVSV Radio.
Brenon Eilert reported the BES Parent Teacher Organization would be featured for the August page of the Men and Women of Mitchell County Calendar. They brought in over 11,000 box tops in their last drive and made roughly $1,100. The kindergarten class won and will be having a pizza party. PTO will be taking part in a Pizza Hut Fundraiser, Monday, November 19 from 3 p.m. to close. Proceeds from that night will be given to the Kindergarten and the 5th grade to split. They will be giving a Christmas Bonus to all certified staff again this year. Something special is being planned for the whole school but this will not be announced yet, she said.
Dr. Harrison gave an update on the new retractable bleacher project for the high school gym. The ones they have are made of heavy wood and are very hard to pull out. They plan to get bids from Hearthand and Huskey Company's. The cost would run around a quarter of a million dollars. Dr. Harrison will put this on the board agenda for December after he gets more information.
The board went into an Executive Session to discuss personnel after which the meeting adjourned.