The Beloit USD 273 Board of Education had many decisions on their plate at their August meeting held Monday night. Board President, Jason Johnson, called the Budget Hearing for the 2013-2014 USD 273 budget open for questions and statements relative to the district budget, open as the first item of business. No problems being raised, the budget was approved by an 8 to 0 vote and the hearing was adjourned.
During his report, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Travis reported they had a get together for teachers and staff and handed out bonuses and years of service awards. Doris Gasper, Board Secretary, received an award for 45 years of service to the Board of Education. Travis also discussed a new agreement between the Technical College and USD 273 to allow adults who do not have a diploma to allow them to receive one. They have twenty-five adults signed up to take these courses.
They will be revamping the District website and updating the information on it.
A long discussion was held about the District's Health Care Plan. Due to the district's heavy use of the service Blue/Cross and Blue/ Shield are increasing the employee's pay in amount. They also discussed adding a group stop loss gap. No such provision at the present time. Due to the short length of time available to make this decision the Board voted to go with the present decision since they have to have this decision before their next monthly meeting.
Jennifer Adolph gave reports for the Parent Teachers Organization and the Site Council. The PTO received $750 from Kate Kindscher's memorial money and Kate's Corner has been established in the corner of the library. They have purchased books and furniture for that area and have this project up and going. On Wednesday of this week they will be having a Kick Off Assembly and a fundraiser. This will be pretty much as in the past except they are hoping to add a photo booth for the older kids. Parents Night for the preschool children will be Tuesday August 13, at 6:30. Family Fun Night will be August 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. both events are sponsored by the PTO. The BES Parent Night will be August 22, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. for grades 1-6. Grandparents Day will be September 6.
Student Council President Cory True reported they had a lock-in on July 29, to plan their yearly activity projects. They also had a Back to School Bash in Chautauqua Park on August 3rd. Council members are to help new students learn their way around the school.
Byron Marshall, BES Principal, reported the number of students enrolled is subject to change but they had 241 high school students last year and have 251 students enrolled this year as of today. The total Jr. High enrollment is 106 and was 113 this year as of this date. The overall total student enrollment is 357 and was 354 last year at this time. This is the largest number of students since he has been at BES. The carpet is done and the library is put back together. File/Safe doorbells are installed and working. Parents need to ring the bell to gain admission to the building since every door will be locked during the school day.
Daryl Moore, BJSHS Principal reported they had 354 high school students enrolled last year and have 357 students enrolled right now. There are 106 Jr. High students enrolled right now and there were 113 students last year. This makes a total of 357 this year and 354 last year. This may all change before time for the final cut off count. The bleachers are completed and the gym floor has been refinished. They are not using the cameras yet but the door locks will be in place by the first day of school. They still have several juniors and seniors who have not picked up their iPads yet. He will not check these out without a parent being present to sign the contract. Yearbooks are in and look good.
Moore said they had a committee meeting of Administrators, Teachers and Board members and came up with a proposal for handling Service Learning Hours. Students at Beloit Jr.Sr. High School are required to do service learning hours for graduation at the rate of 10 hours per year or 40 hours required for graduation. The committee discussed different options to allow students to complete this requirement so as not to keep them from graduating their senior year. Later in the meeting the board approved the Service Learning Proposal as presented by the committee.
Casey Seifert, Activities Director, reported on Fall Activities. New football coaches Kevin Harris and Matt Thierolf have 34 boys out for Football. New Volleyball Coaches, Brandy Paul and Terri Engelbert have 43 high school students out for he sport and coach Rachel Engel has 30 some Jr. High students out at the present time.
New coach for the Cross Country Team is Renee Mason who has 12 boys and 11 girls out. There are 7 students out for the Junior High team. There are 15 to 20 out for Tennis with Mr. Kelly and Dwight Watson serving as coaches. There are eight out for high school Cheerleading with Natalie Koch as coach, Amber Williams will coach the Jr. High group. Tryouts will be on the August 19th. Nine girls are out for dance team and 64 members of the Pep Band with Kristy Vetters as leader.
Prior to this year there have been 168 initial total Impact Tests taken and another 51 were taken so far this year. Total tests taken including 18 retakes after the baseline test makes a total number of tests including retakes at 262. Their goal is to get a baseline for seventh, ninth and eleventh grade students tested, Seifert said.
Karen Pahls, reported one of the new security doors at their building didn't work Friday morning and this morning. File/Safe came and fixed it right away so she was very impressed with their prompt correction to the problem.
Vehicle bids were discussed and the district will purchase a 2012 Chevy Impala LS with no trade in for $13,000 from Beloit Motors. They will also purchase a 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan with a trade in for $16,889 and a 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan with trade in for $18,970 from Beloit Auto and Truck Center.
Salary Schedule and Supplemental Salary Schedules for the new custodial hires was cut from 50 hours to 40 hours but Principle Moore asked for this to be set at 45 hours at time and one-half for those five hours. The board approved this change while school is in session and cutting back to 40 hours during the summer. Any hour changes for more time would have to be approved before payment would be made.
The Board set a Planning Session to discuss the goals of the board for the year on Monday evening, August 26, at 6 p.m. with sandwiches to be furnished for the evening meal.
Contracts were offered to Lori Schmitt, Interrelated Classroom Teacher at Sylvan/Lucas Unified High School and Brittany Hagon, Lead Teacher, Early Learning Center. Resignations included: Hannah Horton, Lead Teacher, Early Learning Center, Cheyenne Cathy Pixler, A-la-Carte/Concession Stand at BJSHS. Julie Seyfert, Paraeducator at BJSHS and Angelica VanPelt, Paraeducator, BJSHS.
No executive meeting was necessary and the meeting was adjourned.