Here is a brief look at what happened at Monday’s Great Bend USD 428 Board of Education meeting:
• Molly Brown, a teacher at Eisenhower Elementary School, and Dawn (Galusha) Szot, a special education teacher at Great Bend High School, were recognized as the USD 428 nominees for the 2024 Kansas Teachers of the Year competition. Later, in the personnel report, the board accepted Szot’s resignation; her husband has accepted a job elsewhere and she will be leaving at the end of the school year.
• This year’s selection for the Great Bend Reads Initiative was announced. Children will read “Zoey & Sassafras: Dragons and Marshmallows,” by Asia Citro. Librarians Holly Tittel and Rebecca Lehew made a presentation.
• Colleen Newman was chosen as the board representative on the Great Bend Recreation Commission’s board of directors, after Andrea Bauer’s term expires at the end of the year.
• A recommendation was made for the replacement of the synthetic turf and track at GBHS Memorial Stadium. The board authorized the administration to proceed with Hellas company, spending up to $2 million.
• At the October meeting, the high school and middle school math departments proposed Algebra I be removed as an accelerated course for eighth-grade students, with other interventions and math courses added for middle school students. Algebra I would be for incoming Freshman students. Calculus, College Algebra and other advanced math classes could still be taken in high school. The proposal was approved at this Second Reading.
• The BOE approved 2023-2024 computer/device purchases at the October meeting. However, the supplier can only fulfill 558 of the 850 ordered devices. The 292 replacement models are not the most current version but will be offered at a reduced rate, saving the district $40,456.00 off the original purchase order. This was approved Monday.
• The next GBHS Program of Studies was presented for a first reading, to be approved in December. Several courses that were given extra GPA weighting will lose that special designation if the program is approved as presented during the second reading in December.
• The district has an opportunity to have Willdan Performance Engineers conduct a feasibility study to investigate savings of various identified energy conservation measures (ECMs), district-wide operations, and comprehensive connect solutions for no charge. A memorandum of understand was approved.
• A medication policy was approved as a precautionary measure in the event of an emergency to save a student’s life. Naloxone may be administered by a school nurse as part of an emergency protocol, to reverse the effects of an opioid-related drug overdose.
