Renovations to HHS auditorium discussed
With uncertainty surrounding state funding for public schools in Kansas for the 2015-2016 school year, the Holton school board took a cautious approach to discussing some big projects for the district at Monday’s meeting.
Upgrades for the high school auditorium have been on the board’s radar for a couple of years now and it was tabled last summer to focus on renovations to the HHS football field with the intent of taking a serious look at that project this summer.
Superintendent Dennis Stones and HHS Principal Rod Wittmer are still in the process of getting some bids, but they presented a cost estimate for the auditorium project to the board at Monday’s meeting of nearly $200,000, coming in at a whopping $150,000 less than what they projected for the project last summer.
Part of that has to do with some of the upgrades being bid under projected costs, like a new curtain for the stage. After gathering information from other schools, Wittmer was expecting a stage curtain to be a $20,000 expense in this project.
While one bid received from a Wichita company came in around that range ($16,000), another bid from a Texas company was well below that at $4,209.
That is just one part of the project, though, and Wittmer noted he is still seeking bids for some major aspects, like lighting and sound.
Considering other items on the agenda, namely technology and textbook updates with projected purchase costs of about $500,000, some board members like Mike Ford and Bob Phillips wanted to take a wait-and-see approach with the auditorium project, especially taking into account the indecisiveness of the State Legislature.
On top of those costs, Ford questioned if the board would have enough funds in capital outlay to handle any emergency projects that might arise over the course of the school year if they were to move forward with the auditorium renovations.
Stones pointed out that the funds for those other projects have been accounted for and set aside to be carried over into the 2015-2016 budget for those purposes of purchasing textbooks and technology upgrades. He also noted that the district has limited spending since January and he believes it has worked out in their favor.
“If we didn’t need it, we didn’t buy it and we’re in much better financial shape today than even I thought,” Stones said.
There is a risk when it comes to state funding and the current unknowns, as Stones said the only certain funds for capital outlay next year could be the eight mills in the district’s budget authority (which would generate roughly $336,000), though he noted the district is planning on moving $350,000 from the general budget to capital outlay for next year.
Several board members did note they have been approached about the auditorium renovations and were asked if they could set up another donation project like the school did for the football locker rooms or the weight room, specifically in setting up something through the educational fund (as was done for the locker rooms).
With the potential loss of state aid general and capital outlay funding, Stones noted it may be wise to save for a rainy day because there could be a lot of rain coming if the government maintains its current trajectory.
At the same time, the HHS auditorium could be affected by that “rain” and Stones said it is already becoming a pressing issue.
“We barely got lucky to get through this year with our lighting,” Stones said.
For now, the board tabled any decisions on the auditorium renovations in order for Wittmer to get more bids and provide a more complete financial breakdown for the potential project at the next meeting on June 22.
Shortly after the discussion on renovations, the board dove deeply into another pressing financial matter regarding technology updates at the high school and middle school.
Technology director Tom Sextro lined out some potential plans to the board and noted that they were a collaborative effort between the technology committee, administrators and teachers in the district.
What Sextro recommended at the meeting stemmed from discussions with teachers about what worked best in the middle school and high school classrooms.
Considering the usage of programs like Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, etc.) and video-editing software at the high school, as well as feeder classes at the middle school, the recommendation all around was to stick with laptops.
The board then approved (7-0) scenario one as presented to renew the one-to-one initiative (300 laptops) at HHS and purchase three carts’ worth of laptops (90 computers) plus 24 desktops for a lab at HMS for a total of $389,112, which reportedly saves the district $74,131.76 compared to the old Apple lease.
Sextro noted this new lease also allows for the district to trade-in used equipment and recoup some of those costs and he also informed the board that the district has received almost $45,000 in E-Rate funding for next year and he is hoping it will work out next year as well to help get equipment into the new elementary building.
Other action taken by the board included:
*Approved (7-0) consent agenda items, including approval of minutes, bills and payroll, donations from Country Mart ($250) for each of the elementary schools and from the Golf Boosters ($407.56) for regional hotel rooms for Holton athletes and coaches, as well as the following personnel decisions.
*Approved the resignations of Mary Sullivan (para), Lana Sheldon (library para), Megan Geyser (IRC, RV), Erin Rarig (kindergarten teacher, Central), Sarah Abitz (IRC, RV), Nikki Heiman (IRC, Axtell), Tonya Collins (IRC, Wetmore) and Jennifer Harrington (assistant SPED director).
*Approved the hiring of Kimberly Markham (IRC, RV), Angie Suther (IRC, Axtell), Ricky Creek (IRC, Wetmore), Ronette Oestrich (IRC, RV), Stacey Gaskell (CAPS), Tara Ladusch (IRC, Colorado), Casey Harris (Kindergarten teacher, Colorado), Alyse Menghini (Third grade teacher, Central), Jill Schulz (Title One reading teacher, Colorado), James Tapley (HMS custodian), Sheriden Hanzlik (IRC para, JH), Laura Motto (food service, Colorado), Lynn Marsh (food service, HHS) and Theron Brey (food service, HMS)
*Approved the transfers of Sue Woltje (JHES to Wetmore), Melissa Green (OES to Wetmore) and Marie Nightingale (Wetmore to HHS), as well as the resignation of Gloria Meerpohl effective Dec. 18, 2015.
*Heard a report from maintenance director Mike Porter on summer projects around the district, but no action was taken in an effort to get more bids on some projects.
*Heard a short update from Noe Turrubiartes of Nabholz, who noted they have been able to get in only two full days of work since the last board meeting because of the rain.
Turrubiartes did note that excavation of the elevator pit and construction of the retaining wall is set to start this week and that despite the rain, the project is still on schedule, though any further delays could change that.
*Heard from athletic director Jason Schroeder regarding an opportunity to get a new baseball shed for the high school.
In regards to the leftover bleacher boards from the JV gym, Schroeder noted he was approached by a patron who offered to build a shed with those boards.
Board members expressed a desire to keep some of the boards but suggested looking into the pricing of the boards versus the price of a shed before making a decision and asked Schroeder to finalize those numbers before the next board meeting.
*Adopted (7-0) board policies BCAE, BCBF, BCBI, BCBJ, BDA, BDC and BH.
*Approved (7-0) ESY staff (Jill Blake, Julie Howard, Nancy Mann, Julie Marston, Mary Porter, Connor Strader, Karla Tanking and Louise Tanking) for summer 2015.
*Met in executive session for 45 minutes to discuss non-elected personnel with Stones, Assistant Superintendent Joe Kelly and Food Service Director Mike Adkins.
*Approved (6-0) a sick leave pool request from Sarah Degenhardt for nine days stemming from an accident in May 2015.
*Approved (6-0) letters of employment of returning classified employees and coaching staff as presented.
*Approved (6-0) the sports medicine services agreement with Holton Community Hospital with no changes made to the contract except for dates. Costs for services rendered as part of the contract included a $27 hourly rate plus travel mileage for provision of services at home sporting events and a flat $1,750 rate for sports medicine clinics to be paid by Sept. 15.
*Approved (6-0) purchase of a 2016 Ford Fusion from Foster Ford at a cost of $19,550 for SPED use as recommended by co-op board. Other bids received included a 2015 Ford Focus (Foster Ford) for $16,600 and a 2014 Chevy Malibu (Clark’s Chevrolet) for $18,500.
*Approved (6-0) principal’s student handbooks for the 2015-2016 school year.
*Approved (6-0) math textbook adoption for 2015-2016 school year, purchasing textbooks from McGraw Hill (K-5) for $79,515 and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (6-12) for $51,218.04.
*Met in executive session for 25 minutes to discuss teacher salary negotiations.
*Noted the presence of all board members.
*Adjourned meeting at 9:56 p.m.
