LARNED — The Larned USD 495 school board finalized personnel decisions for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school year in a recent meeting of the board of education. The following are approved minutes from the May 9 meeting.
Jay Haremza, USD 495 board president, called the regular meeting to order. Attending were board members Marcia Giessel, Jay Haremza, Brenda Hagerman, Sharon Arnold, June Barger, Sharon Lessard, Jon Flint, superintendent, Phil Martin, board attorney, Bonnie Carlson, treasurer, Joyce Simpson, clerk.
Personnel
Approval passed the nomination for the 2010-2011 school year — Linda Bolt, LHS/LMS assistant custodian.
Approval passed the following nominations for the 2011-2012 school year — Suzanne Hye, TRI/Kinsley teacher; Gina Conrad, LMS teacher; Kevin Brown, LHS, head boys basketball; Kris Waldren, Westside extra class; Kris Waldren, Westside, ½ extra class.
Approval passed to accept the following separations for the 2010-2011 school year — Kevin Kneisley, district technology; Daimon Otten, district maintenance; and Bethine Wetzel, para/TRI/LHS.
Approval passed for the following separations for the 2011-2012 school year — Rick Blosser, LHS assistant principal; Nancy Blackwell, Tri Teacher; Courtney Howard, LMS teacher; Kay Dooley, Phinney tutor; Bob Sallee, Southside bus driver; Al Troyer, LHS, head boys basketball.
Approval passed for the following transfers for the 2011-2012 school year — Jean Simmons, finance director/district office from LHS secretary; Karol Foster LHS teacher from Phinney teacher; Jennie Erway Northside teacher from LHS teacher; Wilena Peterson, TRI/Offerle teacher from TRI/ECHC teacher; Gwen Lehman, district office/LHS district technology from LHS/LMS librarian.
Friday/Saturday School
Larned High School Principal Troy Langdon and Derek Reinhardt, Larned Middle School principal, and Rusty Wrinkle, assistant LMS principal, presented information to the board about their proposal to handle ISS students and still be able to keep those students in class.
Their idea was to have the students make up their ISS time outside of the school day to hopefully make them think more about their actions during school.
This type of program is being done in some other districts and Mr. Wrinkle had contacted some of those schools to see how the program was working. Information was handed out on some of the contacts that had been made.
The administrators proposed to have two different days outside school time in order to be more flexible for the parents and not take students out of classes.
These days would be covered by a certified teacher or teachers depending on how many students would be in the class. Having at least two teachers who would be willing to cover the classes would also make it more flexible for the teachers.
There would be some type of supplement or stipend given to the certified teachers.
After questions and discussion followed by the board members, the board approved the Friday/Saturday School.
Special Education
Margo Buscher, Tri-County Special Education Cooperative, reports she had spent some money this year on technology. The students can use the Live scribe pens to take notes in class giving them the opportunity review class information.
I-Pads were purchased for the non-communicative students who are now able to communicate. Other uses have also been found for the i-Pads. I-Pods were purchased for the younger students to reinforce skills they have been taught in math and reading.
Buscher informed the board that she will have a lead paraprofessional in each building in 2011-2012 to train new paras, deal with grapevine news that sometimes gets started, and to disseminate information. A 10-day ‘Boot Camp’ that will help students prepare for school will start Aug. 1. Each session will last three hours.
Maintenance
Daryl Gobin, maintenance director, reports his crew is busy with mowing for the summer and track meets. Gobin reported that the Best Locks that were put on earlier had a recall on those locks. Best Locks will pay the district $600 for Gobin’s time to replace the locks.
Gobin said that the window project was on hold since the materials could not be received in time to get the windows done over the summer. He will put the bids out for a later time, so the materials can be on hand for the summer time frame. One of those who had put in a bid had informed Gobin that the work would take a couple of weeks.
Transportation
Richard Fairchild, transportation director, made a trip to Bonner Springs to inspect and bring back a new bus. The inspection was done by the Kansas Highway Patrol after Fairchild got it back to Larned. The school bus two-way radios will need to be updated because they are taking up too much band width.
Fairchild reports that he has requested Nex-tech let him know what bus business radios are now outdated. He is checking on possible cooperative purchasing with the city and county and other school districts.
Technology
Stan Higgins, technology director, reports he will attend ESSDACK for a workshop on how to manage technology equipment. Since more and more things are being done with technological equipment there needs to be a way to manage the equipment for the teachers as well as the students.
Higgins reported that some of the laptops had been sold through Carr Auction. Higgins said he is sending laptops to Carr’s as he gets them ready and they decide when to sell them.
Curriculum
Jennifer Anderson, director of curriculum, reports administrators have gone through more education with the walk-through program on the i-Pads.
An example of the information from a walk through was passed out to the board. Anderson said that the administrator can give immediate information to the teacher from the walk-through, data from the different walk-throughs can be viewed to see how many times a classroom has been checked, and the times of the day a classroom is checked.
Expectations for teaching should be shared with the staff. Anderson said that districts that have used this type of information will give the teachers more insight as the results from the walk-through can be immediately e-mailed to the teacher.