The Great Bend USD 428 Board of Education on Thursday hired Lyles Lashley to coach cross country and track.
His appointment was approved by a vote of 5-1, with board member Lori Reneau voting “no.” Board member Chris Umphres was unable to attend the meeting.
Superintendent Brad Reed said he is close to filling vacant soccer coach position. The only other job vacancy at this time is for a speech pathologist.

Superintendent’s evaluation form
It was the second meeting of the day for Great Bend’s school board. Members met in the morning to approve end-of-year budget transfers. The evening meeting also included discussion about proposed changes to the superintendent’s evaluation form.
Board President Joyce Carter said the evaluation that the board uses now is “cumbersome.” Other board members agreed.
Evaluating the superintendent is part of board policy, and the actual policy is “choppy,” Carter said, noting it has been added to over the years. It needs to be rewritten.
Reed said the form he uses to evaluate principal is also cumbersome; it is 32 pages long and takes hours to complete. He’s looking at a new form that is 3.5 pages.
“When you evaluate a superintendent you’re evaluating the health of the district,” Reed said. “If the district is doing well then your superintendent is doing well.”
Board members had different ideas about what the evaluation should include, but agreed they want something more streamlined.
“This type of form is much easier to understand,” Carter said, holding up an example. “This is a great start.”
Reed will return to the board with a proposed form in the future.

Other personnel matters
The board also met in executive sessions for 35 minutes to discuss personnel matters, and for 15 minutes to discuss contract negotiations.
A meeting with Great Bend-National Education Association’s IBB team will take place today to discuss Interest-Based Bargaining. The only issue still on the table is teacher salaries.