Auditorium renovation project at HHS set into motion

A bid of $12,750 from Sterbenz Painting of Topeka to repaint the ceiling of the Holton High School auditorium was approved by the Holton school board here Monday evening and sets into motion a plan to eventually renovate the entirefacility.

Superintendent Dennis Stones, at the meeting, reported to the board that air vents at the auditorium have been cleaned. New stage curtains and valances are also planned in the project along with new window blinds or coverings, a new lighting system and new or refurbished seats.

Kidwell Painting of Topeka submitted a bid of $15,000 to re­paint the auditorium ceiling. Both paint bids included the application of primer and two coats of oil-based paint.

“Approving the ceiling paint bid moves the project forward and gets us started,” Stones said. He also said there is “some sentiment from community members” to help fund other parts of the renovation pro­ject.

“We will continue to get final bids on the curtains, lighting and sound system and look at doing some fundraising for the seats,” Stones said. “We will end up doing it in phases to offset the costs of the entire project.”

At the meeting, Stones also pro­vided the board with a preliminary report on year-end budget carryo­vers. He said he is hopeful that at the end of June, which is also the end of the school budget year, the district will be able to transfer $150,000 to $160,000 to its capital outlay fund. Most of the district's funds will be back to their normal beginning balances, he said.

“At one time during the year, however, we were budgeting $500,000 to capital outlay for next year. Then we were hoping to transfer $300,000, then $200,000 to capital outlay, but due to state funding reductions, that was not possible,” Stones said.

Stones also reported that school funding for next year from the state, through block grants, has been funded by the State Legisla­ture and that schools are expected to be held harmless as the governor works to trim $50 million more from state expenditures to balance the state budget.

The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) has relaxed its ruling regarding the transporting of student athletes during the summer months, it was reported, but the Holton school board approved a motion to keep the district's policy the same. The Holton district does not provide school buses and school bus drivers to transport students during the summer months.

Holton-based summer volleyball, football, wrestling and basketball players and teams travel out of town for some competitions in towns like Sabetha, Chanute, Topeka and Emporia, it was re­ported.

KSHSAA is now allowing school districts, without penalty, to decide whether to transport stu­dents to camps, summer leagues and any other school-related activi­ties while stipulating that the groups involved will not be cov­ered by the KSHSAA catastrophic insurance policy like they are dur­ing the school year.

HHS principal Rod Wittmer and assistant principal and athletic director Jason Schroeder discussed the topic with the board and noted there were some “team” camps out of town over the summer that will involve large groups of students. Wittmer said about half of the Big Seven League schools provide such sum­mer transportation and half do not.

School board members said they preferred that parents continue to be responsible to transport their kids to where they need to go dur­ing the summer months. Stones added that while the dis­trict's car insurance would cover such summer travel, he agreed with the board.

In other business, the school board:

• Noted the absence of board member Cindy Stavropoulos.

• Approved bills totaling $121,818.39.

• Approved June payroll in the amount of $2,854,656.23.

• Approved the resignation of Christine Adams as a para-profes­sional at Central.

• Approved the hiring of Cynthia Cummings (district media specialist), Jordan Krohn (special education para at Onaga High School) and Amanda Ross (special education para at Onaga Elemen­tary School).

• Approved a bid of $1,987.02 from Pur-O-Zone of Lawrence for 13 Waterhog Classic floor mats to be placed at the front doors of the schools. Southwest Paper of Wich­ita bid $2,533.31 for the floor mats.

• Approved a bid of $655.62 from Southwest Paper for a Viper shovelnose wet/dry vacuum. Pur-O-Zone bid $695 for the wet/dry vacuum. The district plans to pur­chase two of the vacuums from Southwest.

• Learned that auditor Jim Long of Lawrence will visit the Holton district office on Thursday to per­form a preliminary audit on the district's finances, a routine matter, to start financial planning for the upcoming new district budget.

• At 6:22 p.m. approved a mo­tion to meet in executive session for 15 minutes to discuss non-elected personnel with Debbie Hamlin, a former food service em­ployee in the district, along with Stones and Assistant Superinten­dent Joe Kelly.

• Returned to open session at 6:37 p.m.

• Approved a motion to enter into executive session for five min­utes to discuss non-elected person­nel with Stones and Kelly.

• Approved a motion to extend that executive session for five min­utes.

• Returned to open session at 6:46 p.m.

• Adjourned the meeting at 7:07 p.m.