Board looks at 5-year plan
By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)
Originally published 08:49 p.m., July 8, 2009
Updated 11:51 a.m., July 9, 2009
School board members elected new leaders as their first order of business Wednesday night at Mary Herbert Education Center, 1700 W. Seventh Ave.
Mike Crouch won the presidency on a 4-3 vote and Grant Riles was elected vice president on a 5-2 vote. They assumed their offices immediately.
Crouch and Angie Schreiber had been nominated for president; Riles and Glen Strickland were nominated for vice president.
Assistant Superintendent of Business Rob Scheib talked to board members about a five-year capital improvement plan created by consultant G. Kent Stewart of Manhattan. Stewart’s plan is a companion piece to an energy study that is nearing completion for the district. He made numerous recommendations about enhancing each building owned by the district.
“We want our patrons to feel good when they walk in every one of our buildings,” Scheib said. “Hopefully, by the end (of the five years), whenever anyone walked into our schools they’d say, ‘Wow, what a good district,’” Scheib said.
Scheib condensed the recommendations made for each year and drew questions about district priorities from board member Mike Helbert.
“We’ve spent so much money on Village, I’m kind of wondering why the improvements at Village would be ahead of William Allen White,” Helbert said. “How did we come to that conclusion?”
Scheib said that the study was intact as Stewart had devised it, with the exception of Walnut. Work on that building already has been pushed back for Village and other projects. Walnut was moved up to begin in the first year and finish in the second of the five-year plan.
“It seems like we’re shorting William Allen White,” Helbert responded, asking whether details of the five-year plan could be adjusted later to move WAW higher on the schedule.
“That would be something that would be discussed at that time, as we move along,” Scheib said.
Riles mentioned that he had been surprised that other buildings needed maintenance.
“His eye-opener to me was the transportation department,” Riles said. “I guess I didn’t realize there were that many needs there. We always focus on the schools because the kids are there.”
More than half of the district’s buildings are 45 years old, Scheib told the board.
Member Brent Windsor said that the CIP assessment seemed to reflect routine maintenance or upkeep that routinely needs to be done, rather than repairing problems that had been ignored and turned serious.
“I think that’s kudos to our staff for taking good care of our buildings,” Windsor said.
The board approved accepting a $250,000 matching grant from the W.S. and E.C. Jones Trust to purchase interactive whiteboards for many district classrooms.
The Jones money will purchase 70 whiteboards and the district will purchase 63. The Timmerman Elementary School PTO has purchased seven whiteboards for that school, and those will be counted as part of the school district’s matching obligation.
The interactive whiteboards come with digital projector, sound system, integration and shipping. Electricity and wall or ceiling preparation will be provided by the school district. The cost per whiteboard will be $3,555 per classroom. The company also submitted a bid of $3,016 for an interactive whiteboard that can be purchased without a projector.
The board also made its annual appointments for the coming year:
Clerk, Norma Stinnett; deputy clerk, Karen Flood; clerk pro tem, Theresa Davidson; treasurer, Robert Scheib; deputy treasurer, Marie Hazlett; school attorney, Tammy Somogye; truancy officers, all principals, assistant principals, and Diane Jensen and Elizabeth McCoy.
Capital Federal Savings, CoreFirst Bank & Trust, ESB Financial, First Community Bank, Lyon County State Bank, Credit Union of Emporia and Emporia State Federal Credit Union all were named depositories of school funds.
The district’s checking-account business will be done through CoreFirst Bank & Trust during the 2009-10 school term.
Scheib also was appointed hearing officer for meal applications and will be food service representative. Karen Yeager will be the district’s representative to the Kansas Public Employees Retiremet System and The Emporia Gazette will be the district’s official newspaper.
The board again approved a home rule resolution that will allow the district to make decisions or take actions that are not specifically mentioned in the law, Superintendent John Heim said; home rule will not allow the local board to make decisions or take actions that violate the law.
Comments
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Posted by karmadog (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 4:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mr. Helbert's questions about why Village was placed ahead of WAW elementary either went unanswered or the reporter missed the information. The article makes no sense when stating that the firm, Stewart, presented it [the report] complete. Further, the article shifts focus away from WAW to Walnut. Again, when Mr. Helbert brings the question back to WAW, Mr Scheib redirects to an evasive remark of visiting those issues, "as we move along."
When thinking about this vague response, the number of students lost at WAW with the Tyson cutbacks, and Dr. Hiem's editorial last week about hiring a consultant (ESU) to look at efficiency in the district, I can come to only one conclusion: WAW will close in the following school year. Consultants are always brought in when an unpleasant decision needs a scape goat. The district administrators seem to know what will be best financially for the district as a whole. And, they should know best, we've hired them as experts to care for and grow our schools. I'd say that Dr. Hiem knows we have one too many elementary schools.
If you have a student at WAW and would like to preserve your elementary building, I'd start organizing now or this will happen before you know what's happened.
Posted by methusla (anonymous) on July 10, 2009 at 11:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
karmadog
Its all about location, location, location and not needs or fairness.
Those places and people located in certain areas will always be of first priority and thats the way of life in Emporia and always has been !
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