Wellington school board expects a decrease in mill levy on Monday; school enrollment discussed
by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Wellington taxpayers should expect to see a small decrease in its bill come December – at least as far as USD 353 is concerned.
Wellington assistant Superintendent Adam Hatfield said the USD 353 budget, which has been published, will have a 2.78 mill decrease. A mill levy is the “tax rate” that is applied to the assessed value of a property. One mill is one dollar per $1,000 dollars of assessed value.
Hatfield said the state per pupil aid slightly increased. The capital outlay funding is the same, and federal funding for such programs as reduced lunch and special education has decreased slightly.
The budget will be officially approved this next Monday in a special meeting.
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It wasn’t a total disaster
Jen Kern, Director of Curriculum and Technology at USD 353, said the online enrollment implemented last week had plenty of hiccups, but overall it wasn’t the total disaster that many other schools have experienced.
“We have a few things to clean up,” Kern said. “But overall it was successful. The first year is always going to be the most trying.”
Wellington is not alone as this is a growing trend throughout the state. Kern said many parents were irritated with the learning curve. However, she said many other parents liked the schedules and information right there at their fingertips.
They will continue with online enrollment in 2019. Board member Angie Ratcliff at the end of the meeting, complimented the USD 353 for the work they accomplished initiating the USD 353 enrollment.
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Employment changes
The following resignations were approved:
•LeeAnna Heller-para at Lincoln
•Devini Harn –para at IKE
•Amy O’Connor Kansas Reading Roadmaps Coordinator
•Chris Torres-para at Roosevelt.
The new personnel hired Monday:
•Catherine Cranmer, WHS Girls’ Asst. Basketball
•Austin Treft ,WHS Asst. Football
•Rick Phelps, WMS Boys Asst. Tennis
•Dusti Irey, Para at WMS
•Ryan Jenkins, Asst. Football at WHS.
The following transfers were made:
•Kelly Adams, Eisenhower Principal to KRR coordinator;
•Cherity Elder from 4th grade teacher to Principal of Eisenhowr;
•Barbara Morgan SPED at IKE
•Josiah Barkley-para at IKE.
In other news:
•The board approved the Section 504 handbook; the student and teachers handbooks;
•A Ford Transit commuter van was purchased for $23,769 from Koehn Motors, replacing two USD 353 vehicles sold during the previous school year;
•The emergency operations plan was approved which will include 12 drills: three for tornadoes, four for fires, and five crisis drills.
•The board held two executive sessions, one for teacher contract negotiations and one for non-elected personnel.
