2018-02-08
Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting – February 8, 2018
The meeting was called to order by Board President Cale Rieger in the administration office on the above date at 7:01 p.m. with all members present. Amanda Miller was present from The St. Francis Herald, to observe and take notes.
Mila Bandel made a motion to approve the agenda; the motion was seconded by Troy Hilt and carried.
The Board reviewed and discussed the items on the consent calendar. A motion was then made by Troy Hilt, seconded by Chris Hingst, and carried to approve the consent calendar, including the following items: a) The minutes of the regular Board meeting on January 11, 2018. b) A list of bills being paid on direct deposit slips numbering 0119001 – 0119075 and on checks numbering 11112-11124 on BANKWEST, and checks numbering 12693-12735 on First National Bank for a total of $389,243.67. c) The Cash Summary Report (including two transfers: $8,898.43 from Supplemental General Fund to the Career & Tech Education Fund, and $6,062.95 from the General Fund to the At-Risk Fund)¸ the Grade School Activity Fund Report, and the High School Activity Fund Report – all as of January 31, 2018.
No Audiences.
Under Committee Reports, Superintendent Schiltz reported that the hiring committee had interviewed three individuals for the advertised counseling position. Superintendent Schiltz reported that the faculty meet-and-confer committee had not requested a meeting at this time.
Under Old Business, Superintendent Schiltz reported the information available concerning school finance for next year from the Legislature. Superintendent Schiltz also discussed what went on with regard to Deputy Education Commissioner Mr. Dale Dennis last week.
Under New Business, Superintendent Schiltz presented a rough draft of the 2018-2019 school calendar. He reported that we are taking advisement from the KS MTSS team concerning needed professional development days for next year, so the calendar will likely look a bit different than in the past. We will wait until the March or April meeting to approve the calendar.
Under New Business, the Board received two resignations: 1) from Tiffani Graham, resigning from her position as grade school paraprofessional effective on February 20, 2018. 2) from Deborah Hilt, resigning from her position as grade school paraprofessional effective February 8, 2018. Mila Bandel made a motion to accept the two resignations; motion seconded by Chris Bracelin and carried.
Currently, we do not have any teaching openings for the 2018-2019 school year that we know of. The hiring committee will be making a recommendation concerning the K-12 counseling position later in the meeting.
At this time, Superintendent Schiltz requested a 45 minute executive session. Troy Hilt made the following motion: “Mr. President, I move that the board recess into executive session to discuss the performance of individual staff members in order to protect their privacy pursuant to the non-elected personnel exception under KOMA and that the open meeting shall resume at 8:30 P.M. in the board room.” Motion was seconded by Chris Bracelin and carried. Amanda Miller left the meeting. At 8:30 p.m., Chris Bracelin made a motion to extend the executive session until 8:45 p.m., seconded by Chris Hingst, and carried. At 8:45 p.m., Mila Bandel made a motion to extend the executive session until 9:15 p.m., motion seconded by Troy Hilt and carried. At 9:15 p.m., regular session resumed; Amanda Miller did not re-join the meeting.
The Board and administration had an initial discussion of staffing plans for 2018-2019. The Board was reminded that by law (K.S.A. 72-5411, as amended) a School Board must notify a teacher in writing on or before the third Friday in May (May 18th this year) if said teacher’s contract will not be renewed; and a teacher must notify the Board in writing on or before 14 days after the third Friday in May (June 1st this year) if (s)he is resigning from their teaching contract.
Contract offers and proposed reassignments (if any) for 2018-2019 can be acted-on at the regular meeting on April 12, 2018, or at the May 10, 2018, meeting if necessary.
Under New Business, as stated above, the hiring committee had interviewed three candidates for the counseling position and recommended Janell Pottorff for the position for the 2018-2019 school year. It was requested by the administration that Mrs. Pottorff be hired as a long-term substitute effective March 1, 2018. Doing so would allow her to substitute when needed, to get to know the students, and to begin developing the counseling program when not substituting. Chris Bracelin made a motion to hire Mrs. Pottorff as our counselor for the 2018-2019 school year and to hire her as a long-term substitute effective March 1, 2018, through May 22, 2018; motion was seconded by Danielle McAtee and carried.
Under new business, Superintendent Schiltz conducted an annual review of the St. Francis Educational Foundation Fund that was established by Mr. Werner three years ago. The procedures for spending money from the fund and making donations to the fund were reviewed. Donations can be made on-line at sfcommunityfoundation.org or through Carla Lampe, Treasurer of the Fund.
Also under new business, Superintendent Schiltz reported that for E-Rate purposes, we have to have a public hearing on what the school uses for “technology protection measures and an internet safety policy.” This board meeting will serve the purpose of a public hearing. Currently the school uses the Lightspeed Rocket filtering system district-wide. We also have board policies pertaining to computer use and CIPA, as well as a student acceptable use policy.
Next under New Business, Superintendent Schiltz discussed with the Board the renewal of the Northwest Kansas Educational Service Center Inter Local agreement to keep the service center in operation. The main purpose of the service center is to offer the member districts access to services that are required by law, but which individual districts could not afford to offer individually. A motion was made by Troy Hilt to join the NKESC by signing the Inter Local Agreement; motion was seconded by Chris Bracelin and carried.
Superintendent Schiltz reported that Cheylin’s Superintendent, Steve Raymer, had contacted him at the request of his board for the purposes of discussing the possibility of the two school districts sharing resources, staff, combining athletic programs, etc. A good discussion of the possibilities was held, but no decisions made.
Under miscellaneous, Superintendent Schiltz reported on the cutting down of trees behind the elementary school with volunteer personnel from the school. The Hansen Foundation provided a grant of $2,500 for the removal of the large cottonwood and stump grinding. He also discussed the possibility of having Gary Sechrist from KASB help the board set goals. It would be about a two hour session costing $650. Troy Hilt made a motion to contact Mr. Sechrist to set up a time for this workshop; motion seconded by Danielle McAtee; motion carried.
School-improvement process: Superintendent Schiltz reviewed the new progress on KESA and MTSS with the board.
The next scheduled Board meeting will be held on March 8, 2018, at 7:00 p.m.
At 10:05 p.m., Danielle McAtee moved that the meeting adjourn; the motion was seconded by Chris Hingst and carried.
