USD 410 school board honors retirees at monthly meeting years ago
Staff writer
Unified School District 410 board of education recognized five employees Monday night who have retired from the district.
Four retirees present and receiving plaques were Priscilla Unruh, Arlene Pankratz, Gloria Winter, and Dave Clark. June Suderman was not present.
Unruh retired from the library after 21 years with the school district. Pankratz was a bus driver and custodian for 33 years. Winter retired after 29 years and has taken a teaching position with Marion County Special Education Cooperative. Clark retired as the middle school and high school vocal music teacher after 24 years.
"I've had some tremendous colleagues to work with," said Clark. "I hope the kids learned something from me. I hope they learned a passion for music. After 24 years, I'm grateful for the opportunities."
Clark told the board he wanted to leave while the choice was still his, and was glad to retire after one of the best years he and his students had ever had.
Brent Barkman was re-elected president. Rod Koons is vice president.
In other appointments, Debbie Geis will continue serving as MCSEC representative, Eddie Weber is the alternate; Mark Rooker, TEEN reprsentative; Koons, chief negotiator and Dale Klassen, assistant negotiator; Gary Andrews, professional development council; and Barkman, KASB government relations representative.
Hillsboro Elementary School principal Evan Yoder told the board eight or nine teachers will go to Peabody next week for a training workshop for a new reading curriculum.
Approximately 30 teachers from around the county will participate in the workshop.
Hillsboro Middle School principal Corey Burton, said individuals interested in participating in site council should contact him.
Activities director Max Heinrichs said 32 middle school and high school girls were involved in volleyball camps, which took place in the high school gym.
Heinrichs said an HRC gymnastics class was getting ready to begin, followed by the MAYB basketball tournaments, and football camp. He said none of these activities will disturb upcoming work on the high school gym floor.
High school principal Dale Honeck told the board freshman orientation will be Aug. 5.
Honeck said English teacher Michelle Melton had been participating in educational tech workshops in preparation for taking over the reading program. He also said approximately nine high school teachers had taken a differentiation workshop. The workshop teaches them how to work with different types of high school student personalities.
Maura Wiebe addressed the board regarding the "Teach to the Future" class. She said when this class is over, there would be 31 people in the district trained. Wiebe invited the board to a technology showcase July 22 in the technology presentation room.
In other board business, Dan Pauley, a representative for Marion County attended the board meeting to answer questions regarding a request from Marion County for USD 410 to participate in a Neighborhood Revitalization Plan.
According to Pauley, participation in the plan is voluntary, and the county initiated the revitalization plan to encourage growth. He said the plan would exempt all new construction, and improvements to existing buildings in the county would be exempt from property tax on the growth in assessed value due to the improvements.
Mohn told the board he would bring more information on the plan to the August meeting. The board took no action on this matter.
The board discussed meal prices in the district. According to information provided by Mohn, Hillsboro's meal prices are substantially higher than the state average. Although meal prices are high, revenue generated is still supplemented by the district.
The board transferred approximately $26,000 from the general fund to the food service fund in order to compensate for the excess in expenditures.
"Our lunch prices are among the highest in the state," said Mohn. "They're the highest in the county. I think if we go any higher, we'll just be too far out of line."
The board discussed concerns about the condition of bleachers at the elementary school field. Tabor College also has concerns about bleachers at Reimer Field.
Tabor has found and ordered a set of portable bleachers, and suggested USD 410 purchase a set. The bleachers then could be shared between Reimer Field and the HES field.
The bleachers are manufactured by Century Industries in Sellerburg, Ind. They seat 300 people at a cost of $37,939.
The board authorized the solicitation of bids for a bleacher system with similar specifications.
In other business, the board:
— Approved renewal of the district's membership in the Kansas Association of School Boards and participation in that organization's legal assistance fund.
— Reviewed the board policy GBD-hiring but took no action.
— Received a letter of resignation from Becky Carlson who has served as elementary school physical education teacher and coach since 1983. The board accepted Carlson's resignation.
— Approved contracts for Melissa Stenfors to serve as elementary school physical education and health instructor and a supplemental contract to serve as head girls' basketball and assistant high school volleyball coach.
— Approved issuing contracts to Carol Flaming to serve as a kitchen assistant, and Janet Whisenhunt, who will be a library aide at Wiebe Media Center.
— Increased substitute teacher pay and pay for paraprofessionals. Substitutes' pay increased to $85 per day for one to 10 days. And to $141.67 per day after 11 days, retroactive to the beginning day of substitution. The hourly rate for paraprofessionals was set at $6.90 an hour.
— Heard new TEEN director Chris Moddelmog will have offices in Hillsboro. Mohn said that they had done some rearranging at the central office to make room for him.
— Heard middle school and high school activities funds had been merged, and Donna Dalke will oversee the fund.
Mohn updated the board on school finance in Kansas, and how it will affect the district. The decisions made last week by the legislature will amount to an estimated increase of approximately $210,000 in the adjusted general fund. This change is due to increase in the district's at-risk weighting.
According to Mohn this increase would put the district within approximately $8,000 of the amount at which the board agreed they would re-open negotiations with teachers.
Mohn recommended the board wait until the August meeting to see what the actual dollar amounts would be before making a decision about re-opening negotiations.
