Coronavirus-related staffing and procedures occupied much of the USD 108 Board of Education discussion Monday night during the board’s regular monthly meeting.
Present were Rod Stewart, Jill Hoover, Kevin Elliott, Rhonda Manley, Kelsie Beikmann and Brad Jones. Keelie Welch joined the meeting by Zoom.
The board voted 4-3 to hire teaching assistance for the fourth grade and a floating substitute teacher, leaving the length of the arrangement(s) up to administration. Voting yes were Stewart, Jones, Beikmann and Welch. Voting no were Manley, Elliott and Hoover.
What the fourth-grade arrangement looks like depends on who might be available. Fourth-grade enrollment stands at 31. Supt. Denise O’Dea said her preference would be to find a full-time teacher. Another option is to hire a teacher’s aide or to have a co-teaching arrangement first semester and split the class second semester.
“I guess what we are asking for is some flexibility,” she said.
O’Dea said COVID money could be used to pay for the full-time substitute.
“I don’t know what we can get honestly,” K-6 principal Amy Hoover said.
The floating substitute is not planned as a permanent position. Currently, the district pays $105 a day for substitutes, unless it is a long-term assignment.
A full-time substitute would be placed on the salary schedule.
Splitting the fourth grade would force rearrangement of room assignments in the elementary building. Another option would be to bring classes back to the district office building, but Hoover said she would not favor putting just one classroom there. Students lose an hour a day in instructional time from going back and forth for lunch, library and other services. Hoover said having all classes in the elementary building has built cohesiveness among teachers.
The floating substitute was proposed because there is a shortage of substitutes in the area. At least one regular substitute does not plan to return this year, Hoover said. Two are committed to share Scott Romeiser’s position for the first semester while he recovers from some health problems.
If any students are quarantined, they will need daily contact with a teacher and a fulltime sub could be a liaison between quarantined students and classroom teachers. The person also would be the first available on a day when a sub is needed.
“My biggest worry right now is fourth grade,” Hoover said.
7-12 Principal Brock Funke and Hoover gave updates on plans for opening school and preparing for COVID-related procedures and requirements.
The 7-12 schedule will look different this year. Students will have four 70-minute class periods, in addition to Tiger Time, study hall and the Explore program, which is USD 108’s new project-based learning component. Funke said the new schedule will help learning if the pandemic forces change in attendance. “If we have to go hybrid or go online, it is similar to what they had in the spring,” he said.
Funke said the Explore block would be important as the district moves forward with curriculum redesign. “For our kids, it’s gonna be really powerful,” he said. “It’s going to be something they choose. It’s going to be student driven.”
Students seem to be excited about the new schedule, Funke said. Counselor Teryl Goeckel has finished meetings with juniors and seniors and is wrapping up meetings with freshmen and sophomores.
Staff will be working on ideas for the 70-minute blocks to keep students engaged. “They are going to have to experiment. It’s not going to be lecture for 70 minutes,” Funke said.
COVID will force changes in assignments and grading. Papers will have to sit for a specified time before they can be graded.
Hoover said the elementary will proceed with competency-based grading in math this year.
Administrators said the plan for the start of school is a working document that will be continually updated. The principals gave the board their back-to-school documents which outlined protocol for entering and leaving the school, hand sanitizing, social distancing and lunch, as well as the disinfecting and sanitizing program for school buildings, technology devices and playground equipment. Information on remote learning requirements were distributed.
Lunch will be closed for all students until further notice. Times will be staggered to make sure there are no more than 80 students in the cafeteria at a time. Students will be asked to sit in an assigned seat each day, four to a table.
Vicki Enyart, SOAR and activities administrator, gave an update on Twin Valley League and Blue Valley League discussions on activities and athletics.
Underlying goals were kids first, having a united message and flexibility, Enyart said.
“At this point, we don’t know what KSHSAA (Kansas State High School Activities Association) is going to do,” she said.
Currently, indoor events will require masks and social distancing. Some schools may have to limit the size of a crowd in an indoor facility and use a ticketing procedure. The leagues also must recognize the guidelines for multiple county health departments.
Fans will be encouraged to buy Tiger passes or have the exact change for entry to an event. For football, fans will need to be on the grass behind the track or in the bleachers.
Another option is live stream viewing through the National Federation of High Schools Broadcast Program. Enyart said 10 of the 13 TVL schools have purchased the program. There is a $9.95 monthly subscription fee people can purchase. Enyart said details should be available soon.
One big concern for fall activities is scheduling officials, Enyart said. For volleyball, 194 KSHSAA officials have said they will not work this season. The number is more than 200 for football.
Students’ physical forms, COVID-19 questionnaire forms and concussion forms must be completed before students begin practice Aug. 17.
In other business, the board:
• Adopted the 2020-2021 budget following a public hearing. The mill levy will be 48.922 mills which includes 20 mills for the general fund, 20.922 mills for the supplemental general fund and eight mills for capital outlay. Because of an increase in enrollment, the district should be able to recapture some funds for the general fund by republishing the budget in the spring. USD 108 is currently up 16 students.
*Voted to buy a 47-passenger diesel bus from Midwest Transit for $89,198. The total cost for the district will be $68,229.75, once a federal grant has been applied and proof of destruction of an old bus has been submitted. With the purchase, all route buses will have been updated, with the oldest route bus being a 2017. Transportation Director Dan Ditmars reviewed the rest of the district fleet. He said the vans, suburbans and cars were showing some age.
• Heard an update on the high school roof project from Head Custodian Kenny Cook who said the insulation was down and the membrane covered the top of the roof. One rooftop unit needs to be insulated and two need to be hooked up. The crews are waiting on metal. He expects the work to be done in 10 to 12 days once the metal arrives. He reviewed other roof work and discussed some of the capital outlay expenses for the coming year.
• Decided to overlay the preschool parking lot at a cost of $29,962.50. Hall Brothers Inc., Marysville, will do the work. The board told Ditmars to get prices to replace a concrete pad at the bus barn but did not pursue overlay of the bus barn parking lot and the surrounding area.
• Voted to pay Hoover, Funke and Enyart for five days of work in July. Total approved was $5,038.75, plus employment taxes. This will be paid from SPARK funding. O’Dea said principals had been in the office almost every day since July 6. “I didn’t ask them to come in. They just knew they had to and they were there,” she said.
• Ratified the negotiated agreement with USD 108 teachers. The board approved a 4 percent increase for the base salary. A 4 percent increase for classified personnel and O’Dea and Hoover was approved. Funke and Enyart are in new positions and their salaries were set when they were hired. The unanimous votes followed executive sessions of 15 and 10 minutes that included the board and superintendent.
• Approved for first reading several policy updates from the Kansas Association of School Boards. Final action will be taken in September. O’Dea said many changes were based on updates in federal regulations, including Title IX.
• Approved the hiring of Tommy Tryon as an assistant football coach as part of the consent agenda.