Under Administrators’ reports, Keith Williams, Director of the Special Education Co-op, discussed a Target Improvement Grant he is applying for. He also said they have hired 5 new staff members, 4 are replacement staff plus one new position. They have filled more than 60 Para positions, mostly with returning staff. Williams feels the Special Education Department is in pretty good shape at this time as far as staffing is concerned.

Williams said, since Pawnee Mental Health is no longer associated with Beloit’s BAY School; they are looking into changing the BAY label. The school will be more flexible in their choice of students. They will be including something different this year by adding students who are at risk. They are considering changing the name to Alternative Learning Center (ALC), instead of the BAY School.

Williams has been mentoring a new special education director at Clay Center and they have approached him about working one day a week in their school system this year if the board approves it. This would let Karen Pahls take over this department a little more since Williams will be retiring soon.

Bryan Marshall, new Principal at Beloit Elementary told the board their summer school is finished. They are working on summer projects such as painting the Kindergarten room and repairing damage incurred when a pipe broke.

Marshall said the Parent Teachers Organization is working on getting bricks laid during baseball season. They have 25 ft. finished and have another work day scheduled Wednesday.

The Elementary enrollment has been moved back a week to mesh with the High School enrollment so parents with children in both schools can do it all in one day.

Marshall will be starting a workshop for Beginning Elementary Principals in the near future. He has met some of his staff and is looking forward to meeting more when they help him move from Sylvan Grove to Beloit this Wednesday.

Dr. Kelly Arnberger said summer school has been completed in his building. Seven students completed 1/ 2 a credit during that time toward graduation. The kitchen had a grease trap collapse and they are working on getting it repaired, getting the waxing done and have added new lighter paneling to the hallway by the office.

Dr. Arnberger said on July 28 the new computer system will be installed in the building. Baseball season is about over, he said. The cheerleaders, the Site Council and the Parent Teacher Organization will be having a Bratwurst stand at the Mitchell County Fair again this year. This is the best, easiest, fundraiser they have found and it is all over in three days, Arnberger said.

A scheduled executive session to discuss personnel matters was canceled and the meeting was adjourned.

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fees and Activity Fees for the coming year will not change.

The board established Petty Cash Accounts at $1,000 each for the Elementary School and the High School. A Petty Cash fund of $1,500 was approved for the District Board Office.

The board voted 7-0 the Early Payment request policy to give Dr. Harrison and Clerk Gasper authority to pay bills early to avoid interest fees. The made a resolution to Waive the GAAP Accounting Principles and continue using the present method for the coming year.

The school calendar that was adopted last spring will be in effect again this coming year. It allows for 1,116-hour calendar days. This gives them flexibility in the schedule in case of emergencies or bad weather days.

At this point Dr. Harrison told the board the Board inspection would be held on August 8th. They will be touring the Mitchell County Partnership for Children, the BAY School facilities, the Beloit Elementary School and the Beloit Jr./Sr. High School building ending up at the Country Club.

The board approved a resolution regarding School Building Activity Funds for both the elementary and the high school.

A contract with B & C Bus Company to provide student transportation service was approved. This is the 3rd year of a 5-year contract Dr. Harrison said. He explained how this process works. He said due to the cost of gas/diesel the school may have to schedule fewer activity trips and consolidate students on game busses to cut down on costs.

A contract for Linda Cox for Occupational Therapy Services and Renee Mason for Physical Therapy services for Special Education were approved.

The Board approved a measure to authorize the superintendent to dispose of surplus property in a timely manor instead of waiting until a large amount of things are gathered up, thus avoiding the need for extra storage space.

The Board approved Classified Contracts for 9 and 10-month employees.

The Bookkeeper/Secretary Job Description for the newly established position for the Mitchell County Partnership for Children Office was approved. This will be a part time 20-hour position.

Dr. Harrison passed out worksheets for the Board to look over for the preliminary 2008-2009 Budget. Harrison said he is estimating there will be 710 students in the system in the coming year. They were audited for 704.8 students so this will be an increase of 6 students. He said he would rather budget high than to have to re-publish the Budget to include more students.

Dr. Harrison estimates the General Fund will be 5.6 million. The LOB will be 30 percent of the General Fund making 1.6 million in the supplemental General Fund or a total of about 9 thousand in the General fund for next year.

The Board discussed whether to increase the mill levy to 7 mils. or stay at the present rate of 6 mils for Capitol Outlay Expenditures. 8 mils is the top amount they are allowed to ask for, Harrison said. After discussion the board decided to leave the mil levy at 6 mils. at the present time.

Dr. Harrison told the board the bill passed by the Kansas Legislature is not keeping up with the School Finance Law. He said this would be a pretty important topic for them to visit about in Election year.

Beloit USD 273 Board of Education - July 14, 2008

Reported by Charlene Watson

The first item on last night’s agenda at the Beloit USD 273 Board of Education held in the District Office was the Election of Officers for the 2008-2009 School Year. The board voted unanimously to re-elect Carry Benson as Board President and Greg Shamburg as Vice President for the coming year.

Under the consent agenda section on personnel, the board accepted contracts for Diana Boley as Interrelated Classroom Teacher at Lincoln Elementary grades 3 through 6, Connie Hafliger as Secretary of the Beloit Elementary School, and Kari Marshall as Unified Studies and Proctor Online German Teacher at Beloit Jr./Sr. High School.

Murray McGee, Community Development Director, gave a presentation to the board on Neighborhood Revitalization Renewal Tax Rebate Program. After discussion by the board and answers to questions by McGee, the board voted 7 to 0 to be a part of this program. They will have a hearing on the subject at the next meeting along with the 2008-2009 Budget Hearing and take action on the resolution in August.

Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph Harrison, gave an update on the progress being made at the Trojan Track. He said they got a surprise when they removed the east end of the present track. They found two old storm drains underneath the track. These have been covered and the storm drains were moved into the infield.

Harrison said the Board needed to approve a change order for $12,200 to construct two new storm drains. He said they were leaving 2 other concrete storm drains in place. The four storm drains will drain everything to the west. The Board approved the change order to pay Hall Brothers $12,200, by a 7 to 0 vote.

The following Board of Education Appointments for 2008-2009 were approved:

Clerk of the Board – Doris Gasper; Deputy Clerk of Board – Julie Parker; District Treasurer- Tiffany Schroeder; Board Attorney – Harry Gantenbein; KASB Governmental Relations Network representative – Kerry Benson.

Board of Education Designations for 2008-2009 were approved as follows:

The Board voted to keep the date, time and place of meetings the same as in the past. Depositories of District Funds will be in the Guaranty State Bank & Trust, First National Bank and Central National Bank. The official newspaper will be the Beloit Call. Truant officers will be Kelly Arnberger, Byron Marshall and Keith Williams. Several other departmental designations were also made.

The board approved agreements to participate in the School Breakfast Program and the School lunch Program and approved the establishment of meal prices for the coming school year as follows: K through 6 - Breakfast $1.10 and lunch $2.00. 7 through 12 - Breakfast $1.30 and lunch $2.20. Adults Breakfast $1.60 and lunch $2.70. All milk prices were raised from 0.35 cents to 0.40.

Dr. Harrison said they would have to watch all expenses but especially the food service prices. He said they wouldn’t be able to give the students everything they have in the past. Several Board members said they would rather have better quality food even if they had to raise the prices. Harrison said they would have to study the issue and decide what the best course of action will be.

Mileage reimbursement rates were raised from 47 cents per mile to 50.5 cents per mile. These rates will be raised automatically when the State rate is raised, Harrison said. Drivers Education

June 9, 2008

The USD 273 Board of Education made the decision last night to accept bids received to from McConnell and Associates to install a rubberized track and Hall Brothers of Marysville to prepare the asphalt base on a new track at Trojan Field at an overall cost of $267,000. Although the two companies offered to work under one contract, it was determined it would be more economical for the district to keep the contracts separate. The board has been discussing this issue for the past two years.

Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joe Harrison provided the board with samples of two rubberized surfaces. The higher priced product would have more rubberized coating than the cheaper one. After discussing the choices, the board voted to go with the more expensive surface, in the hope it will last longer. It will cost $50,000 more than the cheaper one

Board member Rick Vetter voiced concern about spending this much money on the project no more than the track is used. He reminded the other board members the companies involved give no guarantee as to how long it will last.

Greg Shamburg agreed with Vetter but said the Trojan Field is a big part of the Beloit Relays and Football tradition in Beloit and something needs to be done before the track deteriorates any further. He said the cost isn’t likely to get any cheaper in the future and might cost more in the long run to wait.

George Poulton, Athletic Director, told the board there are four track meets scheduled to be held at the track this next year beside the Beloit meets. He felt that with these improvements in the track, Beloit would have a good chance of hosting the district track meet. Southern Cloud, St. John’s, Jewell and Hastings also use the field for track meets during the year.

Dr. Harrison discussed the changes that would be made to the track and what will be covered in the contract. One concern of the board was that no upkeep or preventative maintenance services would be included in the quoted cost. The board discussed other options but made the decision to approve the better track surface.

The plan includes adding a lane on the outside of the track with a wider outside curve and curb. Dr. Harrison showed the board the changes in the position of the other field events that would make better use of the available space.

Superintendent Harrison reminded the board the cost of the track project would deplete the one million dollars in capitol outlay they have on hand, until such time that it could be built up again. However, if needed he said the board could dip into the $230 thousand dollar contingency reserve fund. Harrison will set up a pre-construction meeting with Fargo and the Hall Bros next Monday. No definite time schedule has been set up yet, but is hoped the field will be finished by the time football practice starts in September. If not, this should not interfere with having football practice at the field, Harrison said.

Dr. Harrison introduced Byron Marshall, the new Beloit Elementary School Principal, and welcomed him to the faculty.

In his Superintendent’s report Harrison said he would be attending two retreats for Superintendents in the next few weeks. The first is the KASA retreat in Lawrence. He will also be attending a retreat in Colorado Springs from June 18 through the 20th. On June 24, he and the board secretary, Doris Gasper, will be setting up the budget workshop for the 2008-09 school year. The necessary information has been sent to Blue Cross so they should have an answer back to them in August. He reminded the board of the organizational meeting planned for July.

Due to increased food and milk costs, Harrison said, he is recommending a raise in the price of school meals and milk. He recommended a 10-cent raise in the cost of school lunches and an increase of 5 cents for milk. This won’t cover the added expense, Harrison said but it will at least be an attempt to try to catch up on expenses.

Harrison said while most schools have a textbook charge Beloit schools do not. This may be something the board will have to consider if the cost margin keeps getting narrower. Beloit schools have always prided themselves in coming out in the black but it was much closer at the end of the school year than in the past. He feels some charges will have to be raised to cover the added costs.

Under Administrator reports Dr. Kelly Arnberger turned the floor over to George Poulton, Athletic Director who explained the Athletic departments budget. He said the totals do not reflect a true view of the budget since there are still expenses to be paid out of it to end the school year.

Some of the goals Poulton has for the coming year include improved coaching skills and sending coaches and student athletics to leadership camp. He wants to work to have the athletes work together better as a team. He wants to look at raising the price of season tickets in the future.

Poulton wants to pay a Doctor come to the high school to give health checkups for athletes at the first of school. He feels parents have enough expenses without having to pay full price to have examinations that only take about 20 minutes apiece to do. Then they would only charge the students a minimum fee for the exam.

The large amount in the Music Department fund was discussed. Pouton explained this covers the band, orchestra, and chorus funds. They have worked at school events to earn money to add to the fund. This is to pay for such things as trips taken during the

year, royalties for music purchases and instrument replacement as needed. The band also hopes to purchase new band uniforms in the not so far future.

Keith Williams, Director of the Special Education Coop reported they have been conducting staff interviews to fill two positions in Lincoln and one in the Mankato school system. They have verbal agreements but no contracts have been signed yet.

They held two Linda Mood workshops her and had 24 people attend it. This reading workshop will be used throughout the Coop. In July, they will be working on filling the Para-educator positions and formalizing the Special Ed. Budget for the coming year with Dr. Harrison.

Dr. Kelly Arnberger, Principal of Beloit High Jr/Sr. High School turned his report over to George Poulton, Athletic Director who outlined expenses for the Athletic Department for the past year. Poulton said although the budget at the end of May looked good but he reminded the board that there are still expenses to come out of that figure.

He is still looking for two coaches to fill empty positions and some sponsor openings have yet to be filled. Poulton said his goals for this coming year are to improve the skills of coaches and student athletes by having them attending leadership camps.

He also hopes to build on the athlete’s ability to work together as a team more than they have in the past year.

Poulton said, with all the rising costs the board might have to look at raising the price of activity tickets in the future. He wants to schedule a Doctor come to the high school to give student athletes physicals at the first of school. He feels the parents have enough expenses with all the raising costs; and this would relieve them of the cost of setting up an appointment with a doctor to do a twenty-minute physical exam. The school would pay the doctor to do the exams and the students would be charged a small fee to cover the expense.

There was a question as to why the Music Department’s balance is so high. Poulton explained they have been adding to their balance by working at various school functions. This money is used to fund trips for the band, orchestra, and chorus during the school year. It is also used to pay music royalties and replace instruments as needed. They also hope to purchase new band uniforms in the near future.

Keith Williams, Director of the Special Education Coop, reported he and Karen Pahls have been doing staff interviews to fill two positions open in Lincoln and one position in the Mankato school system. They have verbal agreements but no signed contracts yet.

They have held two workshops on the Linda Mood reading systems and had 24 people attend. This reading system will be used throughout the entire Coop. In July they will be working to fill the Para-educator positions and will be formalizing their budget for next year with Dr. Harrison.

In other business the board approved an employee contract through the Smoky Hill Educational Center. The employee would not be an actual employee of this district although they would be doing teaching for the Special Ed Coop. This district would pay the Smokey Hill for educational support service and they in turn would pay the employee.

The board approved extended summer schedule contracts for teachers in the Special Education Department.

The board also renewed the contract with the STAY (Support for Student and Teachers,) an organization that works with discipline problems in Special Education children. Keith Williams said it is felt that since the department is entering into a new phase with the BAY School because they will not have the support of Pawnee Mental Health, this will help them through this period of transition.

A contract with Web-kids program was also approved. This is a program teachers use to set up planned Educational Programs for individual students.

A contract was approved as recommended by Dr. Harrison for 12-month employees.

As recommended by Dr. Harrison, the board approved a policy amendment dealing with placement of experienced teachers who are hired on the salary schedule at a salary their experience deserves.

Contracts approved by the board  for the Special Education department included Barbara Morgan as an Interrelated Classroom Teacher in Lincoln and Jessica Wagner as Interrelated Classroom teacher at Rock Hills.

 Resignations approved were for Amanda Paxson and as Teachers Aide for MCELC  and Amber Kronmiller as the Lead Teacher for MCELC.

The board voted to give Superintendent Harrison and board clerk Doris Gasper the authority to transfer funds left in the General Fund into other funds to be used next year. If this money is left in the General fund, the State will consider this as left over funds and cut the money available to the District for the coming year accordingly. Approving this action allows the transfer of funds to balance the books without calling a special board meeting at the end of June to do so.

No executive session to discuss personnel matters was necessary and the board adjourned the meeting.

Kari has been teaching part time in the second grade while they lived in Sylvan. She is also a qualified Special Education teacher and has applied for a job at BES.

In an interview with KVSV Thursday noon, Marshall said, he is looking forward to living in Beloit and being a part of the school system here. “New challenges are always fun for me. I will enjoy the challenge of meeting new students and new parents and staff.”

“Beloit has a great school system. I am very impressed with it. I am not planning on standing the world on end and making a lot of changes because the school already has a lot going for it as it is. I hope to be a positive addition to the system,” Marshall said.

“I try to have a positive attitude about things and I certainly do not plan on sitting on the sideline. I am a person who is a doer. I like to be a part of things,” he said. “I plan to be active the community and am looking forward to being more active in my church. I also hope to spend more time with my family than I have been able to in the past few years,” Marshall said.

“I already have friends in the area since we have been coming to the Church of Christ at 12th and Walnut for the past two years and now, we won’t have to drive so far to get there,” he said.

“Actually, I heard about the Principal’s job at Beloit Elementary through our church friends. They encouraged me to apply for the position and now I am glad I did,” he said. “I am a people person and am looking forward to meeting everyone as time goes on.”

New Principal at BES - Special Meeting Friday, May 23

The USD 273 Board Of Education held a special meeting Friday, May 23, and took action to approve a contract for Byron Marshall as the new Principal at the Beloit Elementary School. Marshall will begin his new job on July 1. Between now and July 1, he hopes to get his family moved from Sylvan Grove and situated in a new home in Beloit.

A native of Chanute, Marshall graduated from Chanute High School going on to get his degree in Math and Education at Pittsburg State Teachers College. Marshall began his career in education in Caney, KS. where he taught for 3 years. He taught at Troy, Ks. for 7 years and also served as the coach.

After teaching and coaching at McLouth, Ks. for one year, Marshall attended Benedictine College at Atchison, KS. where he earned a Masters Degree in Education/Administration.

The last 3 years, Marshall has been the Principal at Sylvan Grove Unified, at Sylvan Grove, KS. While there, he also taught mathematics, served as Athletic Director, and ran an on-line virtual school.

Marshall and his wife Kari have two children. Hanna, is seven and will be in the third grade. Their son, Matthew, is six and will be in kindergarten at BES this next year.