School district to stop renting property
STAR-JOURNAL STAFF
The consensus of the USD 410 Board of Education Monday night was that the school district no longer wants to be in the rental business.
The garage of the rental property, which is used for storage, at 202 Madison Street was damaged almost two weeks ago in a fire. According to insurance estimates, the cost of repairs will be as much as $7,352.
Tenant Shelley Wiebe and her family, who rent the house, have been living with friends and relatives since the fire because the structure has been deemed not safe to live in.
Wiebe, who attended the meeting, told the board, "I'm basically homeless."
Superintendent Gordon Mohn proposed temporarily renting the home to Wiebe until the end of the school year, only if it is determined that the Wiebes are not at risk living in the house. At the end of the school year, the facility will be used only for storage.
According to Mohn, the school received a bid for $18,000 for equipment for the elementary kitchen. Along with the new equipment, Mohn predicted as much as $10,000 would be needed for plumbing and electrical updates in the old kitchen.
"Do we want to remodel the kitchen or begin a satellite kitchen?" Mohn asked the board.
The kitchen employees have visited Moundridge and Halstead, schools which have centralized kitchens. Mohn told the board he would have a solid proposal by the April meeting.
According to Mohn, the district's goal is to limit costs, not cut costs.
"If we had a fully operational kitchen at the elementary school, we'd have no reason for change," he said.
The board was presented a 2002-03 school calendar proposal. Under the new calendar, school would begin Aug. 12, 2002, for teachers and end May 23, 2003. Students would begin on Aug. 15. The new calendar includes 180 student contact days, mandated by the state, and 192 teacher contract days.
Teachers would have 11 teacher training and work days and one parent/teacher conference day. The training days would include technology training, study/discussion groups, school improvement activities, and building and/or district activities. Under the proposed calendar, there would be no more early release days.
After some discussion, Mohn said he would bring two calendar proposals to the board at the April meeting. The board usually votes on the calendar in April but may table it until the May meeting.
In other business:
— Debbie Geis, the board's Marion County Special Education Cooperative representative, reported that MCSEC has mandated that USD 410 pay the co-op to use special education teachers as they currently do in the middle school to teach some regular education classes.
— Baker's Bros. Printing was awarded the paper bid.
— Business manager Jerry Hinerman reported on the state insurance plan. The district must notify ESSDACK by Feb. 1, 2003, if it intends to change to the state plan.
— The floor of Robert C. Brown gymnasium will be repaired this summer. The floor will be sanded and the colors will be changed from the current red to maroon.
— The district is going to meet with a company out of Wichita to talk about a bid for a property/liability insurance proposal.
— All schools in the district are either beginning, in the middle of, or finishing state writing, math and reading assessments.
— Activities director Max Heinrichs reported that the track at Reimer Field will not be ready March 28 for the first middle school track meet.
— A contract was approved for Vaughn Jost as assistant track coach.
