Wellington School Board meeting report: 18 items discussed over three hour 22 minute meeting

November 22, 2024 Cueball

Sumner Newscow report — The following is the Wellington School Board meeting summary presented by communication specialist Russ Sturm

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November 11th, 2024 – 6 p.m. – Central Office.

Below you will find highlights from the November 11th, 2024 Board of Education Meeting. The complete agenda can be found at USD353.com. Please note that this is only a summary to provide a recap of each BOE meeting. Approved minutes posted by the Board Clerk can be found at USD353.com under the Board of Education tab.

Discussion Items

Education Spotlight: Lincoln Podcast

Lincoln fifth-grade teacher Ashley Shuck, Interventionist Brianna Young, and several Lincoln fifth-grade students were on hand to talk to the board about their video podcast.

Instead of announcements over the intercom system to begin the school day, Lincoln Elementary fifth graders record a short video podcast to be aired throughout the school.

The kids write the script, set up and put back the set, do the editing on CANVA, select the music, and do the recording which requires them to read from a teleprompter. They have learned so many skills during this project and it has been a big hit all throughout

the school. Before the students arrived at the BOE meeting, they prepared a podcast to record during the meeting. They also recruited board member Jessica Seeliger to take part in the recording.

The presentation was information only.

FFA National Competition

FFA Advisor Linda Chase was present to request permission for FFA members to travel to California in February for National Competition. This is the inaugural National Competition for Turf Grass. Along with instructor Ms. Chase, a team of four students plus

one alternate would make the trip. This competition will focus on golf courses and golf course management. Some of the team’s tasks would include determining the speed of the greens, identifying different types of grass by inspecting the blades and the seeds,

calibrating sprayers, and so on.

The FFA will hold fundraisers to pay for the majority of this trip but is requesting the BOE to finance Ms. Chase’s travel expenses and possibly a small stipend for the students. Ms. Chase said she would bring back a more detailed list

of her expenses to the board at the next meeting but requested the board to approve the permission to travel so they can start booking travel and hotel accommodations.

Robert White motioned to approve the FFA trip to California for the national turf grass competition. Pat Zeka seconded the motion. Motion carried 6-0.

WHS Baseball

WHS Baseball coach Ryan Jenkins was present to request permission to take some of the baseball team to spring training in Arizona. Jenkins also requested the use of three district vehicles for the trip. There would be 20 baseball players making the trip, including the juniors, seniors, and the rest of the varsity team. The team will do fundraising to pay for the trip but asked the board to consider helping pay for gas.

While there, they will attend Major League spring training camps and practices where the kids can interact with the MLB players and engage in numerous team-building activities.

Pat Zeka motioned to approve the baseball team to travel to Arizona for spring baseball training and the use of school vehicles. The motion died due to lack of a second. The board requested Mr. Jenkins to stay and to move this decision until after an executive session.

WRC Board Member

Betty Zeka has been appointed to another four-year term pending BOE approval.

Wellington Recreation Superintendent Cody White was present to answer questions.

Robert White motioned to approve Betty Zeka’s appointment to the Recreation Commission’s board. Sarah Lawrence seconded the motion. Motion carried 6-0.

Bond Architect

This continued the discussion with Echelon Architects on a possible bond project. Two companies responded to the CMAR request, which moved them to the interview phase. Simpson Construction and DCS were asked to submit their fee proposal to the Department of Administration for review and to go through their scoring process. The interviews will take place on November 21, and the board will decide which company to use in the December BOE meeting.

The board elected to have the Facilities Committee conduct the interviews and submit a recommendation to the BOE.

Top 10% Language

The BOE continued the discussion on this topic. WHS Principal John Nance was present to discuss this with the board. There was a question on how the Kansas All-Star scholarship fund money is divided. Every student who applies for these scholarships will receive a certain amount, the top 10 percent get a larger amount and valedictorians and salutatorians are rewarded with the largest scholarships. However, Wellington High School recognizes Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Summa Cum Laude instead.

Last year seven students graduated with one of these designations. Last year the high school took the amounts for the top ten percent, the salutatorian, and the valedictorian and combined those amounts to split between the seven lauds.

The board wanted to re-evaluate this process to ensure all deserving students received as much scholarship money as possible.

The board chose to table this discussion until closer to graduation so they had all the necessary information.

WMS Gym Divider

The BOE requested information on a gym dividing curtain for WMS. Quotes for the dividers were presented to the board. Many times, when two volleyball matches are being played at the same time at the middle school gym, matches will be interrupted because a volleyball from one match is hit into the other. However, hanging a divider would be very difficult and costly due to the gym’s construction. Only two proposals were received, and both companies expressed their thoughts about the difficulty of the project.

Activities Director Elly Johnson expressed concern about the divider and the size of the gym. She felt that play would be stopped more often because of a ball being hit into the divider and then have to do a replay because it could have been a playable ball.

No action was taken.

SPED Tuition Waiver

A request to increase the amount on the waiver for SPED tuition was presented to the board. The district follows the common educational practice of paying for books and tuition for individuals willing to get certified in Special Education. This practice has been in place for a long time in education because finding employees to work in Special Education has always been difficult. This year, USD 353 had a situation where a staff member’s tuition was higher than our waiver amount. Over the past few years, tuition increases have risen and now are above our approved waiver.

Pat Zeka moved to approve an increase in the waiver amount. Andrea Kreifels seconded the motion, which carried 6-0.

Community Groups Use of School Facilities and Facility Rental Form Policy

KG of the board’s master policy manual was discussed due to a discrepancy in policy and practice. Currently, the principals are in charge of deciding to rent their school’s facilities, and the decision only comes to the board if someone requests to waive the rental fee.

The policy in the handbook does not reflect that and states that the board will make the decision. Also, the policy states that rental agreements and fees will be approved by the board every year. The current rental fee agreement was updated and approved in 2023.

Zeka motioned to change the policy to say that the building Principals will approve the use of the buildings unless they request a waiver of fees, in which case it must come to the board. The motion died due to the lack of a second.

The board requested that the district change the policy language and bring it back to the next board meeting.

Sportsmanship

The board discussed the district’s sportsmanship policies. The district has been dealing with unsportsmanlike behavior occasionally over the last few years. After incidents

continued this year, a practice was put into place regarding unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and the consequences associated with those penalties.

The board requested to move this item to after an executive session.

Elementary Enrollment

The BOE requested that a work session date be set for this subject. The district proposed November 18 as a possible date.

The BOE has scheduled a work session for Monday, December 2 at 6 p.m. at Central Office.

Community Center/Locker Room

A BOE Member requested to discuss this topic. The board discussed the progress of this project and talked about community donations. They also discussed the interior decor and what the building will be named. Mr. Hatfield said he would reach out to the committee with these questions and possibly set up a meeting in the future.

This was for discussion only and no action taken

Finals Policy

BOE members requested to discuss this topic. Principal Nance was present to discuss the Finals Policy with the board. Currently, the high school has a policy that will exempt students from taking final exams providing that they meet the criteria outlined in the handbook. Some of the board members felt that the criteria were not clear and were a little confusing. Mr. Nance and a committee at the high school reviewed the policy and came up with two alternatives for the board to review. One suggestion cleared up language and slightly changed the criteria for students to be exempt from taking finals.

The other proposal presented made taking final exams mandatory.

The board requested that Mr. Nance change some language in the Finals Exemption policy and bring it back to the December meeting for action.

Administrative Reports

Board Members had an opportunity to give comments

Executive Session

Student Matters

•Robert White motioned to go into executive session for 15 minutes and to include Superintendent Adam Hatfield and Elly Johnson to discuss student matters.

Regular meeting to resume at 8:58 p.m. in the boardroom. Zeka seconded the motion. Motion carried 6-0.

No action was taken after an executive session.

•Jessica Seeliger motioned to approve the baseball team to travel to Arizona for spring training and the use of three district vehicles. Zeka seconded the motion. Motion carried 5-1.

Non-Elected Personnel

White motioned to go into executive session for 15 minutes and to include Superintendent Adam Hatfield, Darcy Bacon, and Elly Johnson to discuss non-elected personnel. The regular meeting was to resume at 9:14 p.m. in the boardroom.

Seeliger seconded the motion. Motion carried 6-0. No action was taken in executive session

Sportsmanship (This item was moved from Discussion Items earlier in the meeting)

The board discussed the district’s sportsmanship policies.

White motioned to approve the updated policy that was implemented by Mr. Hatfield. Jessica Seeliger seconded the motion. Motion carried 6-0

Consent Agenda

Approve the Minutes of the October 14th Meeting.

Approve Payroll and Bills

Payroll: $1,230,155.19

Bills: $645,352.57

Personnel

Approve New Hires

Dana Meeker – Teacher’s Aide – WHS