Royal Valley awards bid for greenhouse construction
A bid for the construction of a greenhouse at Royal Valley High School was awarded Monday evening to Shirley Construction of Topeka at a total cost of $169,232.
During the board of education’s meeting, Maria Kutina of HTK Architects of Topeka outlined the three bids submitted for the greenhouse, which will measure 30 feet by 48 feet.
The other two bids included $190,600 submitted by Kelley Construction of Topeka and $174,600 submitted by Midwest Masonry of Olathe.
Shirley Construction’s bid includes a $162,775 base bid plus $4,457 for benches, $1,455 for irrigation and $545 for a receiving stoop.
The greenhouse will be located behind the high school and elementary school in Hoyt.
“What we’re really building is a science lab that’s specific to our vocational ag program,” said Superintendent John Rundle.
Rundle said that bids for the greenhouse were a little higher than expected, but noted that the district has received a $10,000 grant from America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education, which is sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, for the new facility.
Rundle said that the district has worked with Kelley Construction in the past on several projects including the new wrestling and weight rooms at the high school, as well as a previous addition to the elementary school.
After approving Shirley Construction’s bid, board members reviewed bids for the purchase of 440 Google Chromebooks in order to implement the district’s new technology plan after the first of the year.
The board accepted the low bid submitted by CDW-G of Vernon Hills, Ill. for 440 Chromebooks at a cost of $139,986.
The other bids were $150,223 submitted by Network Computer Solutions of Manhattan and $150,779 submitted by Technology Connection of Kansas City.
In other business, the board:
* Approved consent items.
* Approved a student trip request from Connie Peters to allow the Native American Singers and Dancers to compete in the Battle of the Plains competition in Bartlesville, Okla. Jan. 16-18. The expenses for this trip are paid with Title VII grant funds. A total of 75 students attended the competition last year.
* Approved a trip request from Bailey Marable, high school art teacher, who is planning a trip with art club members to Colorado this spring. The trip will cost about $600 per student.
* Received superintendent evaluation documents.
* Reviewed the Kansas Association of School Boards delegate assembly legislative committee report.
* Approved several regalia purchases for the Native American Singers and Dancers. The items totaled $400 and will be paid for by Impact Aid funds.
* Received academic quarterly progress monitoring reports from Susan Pfrang, director of curriculum and instruction.
* Heard a report from Pfrang on the Nov. 3 staff development day. The day was planned and presented by staff members and Greenbush members to help teachers transition to working more with mobile devices. The next staff development day is in January.
* Received a report on parent-teacher conferences. At the elementary school, 83 percent of parents attended the conferences, it was noted. The middle school had a 57 percent turnout, and the high school had a 30 percent turnout.
Jim Holloman, RVHS principal, noted that parents have access to their student’s grades and test scores through PowerSchool and that more and more parents are emailing teachers with any concerns.
“Face to face conferences are not seen as a necessity for many high school parents,” Holloman said.
* Received a budget update from Rundle and discussed student weightings and full-time equivalency.
For 2013, RV had an FTE of 917.4 students. For the 2014-2015 school year, the actual FTE is 872.5, but the district is able to use 917.4 for the budget.
For next year, however, unless the district has a jump in enrollment, a three-year average of FTE will be used to determine what number will be used for the budget, Rundle said.
Estimating that the district has an FTE next year of 875, Rundle said that the three-year average used for budget purposes would be near 888 students.
Multiplying 888 by the base state aid per pupil of $3,852, Rundle said that the district could potentially lose $111,000 out of its general fund next year because of the drop in enrollment numbers.
“This also means we’d lose some funding out of our LOB (local option budget) because the LOB is 30 percent of our general fund,” Rundle said.
Rundle said that administrators and board members need to keep the potential decrease in mind throughout the year, and administrators have already discussed options on absorbing or reassigning staff positions due to some retirements at the end of the year.
* Received a preliminary draft calendar for the district for 2015-2016 school year.
* Approved the Jackson County hazard mitigation plan.
* Accepted the early retirement notice from Kenneth Holthaus, RVHS social studies teacher, who plans to retire at the end of the school year.
* Declared a Ford tractor and blade owned by the district as surplus property. The items will be listed for sale on an online auction web site.
* Accepted the resignation of Carolyn Griffin as an early childhood education paraprofessional.
* Met in executive session for 10 minutes with Rundle, Pfrang and Holloman to discuss teacher negotiations and non-elected personnel.
Back in open session, the board approved the early graduation of five Royal Valley seniors, including Cody Brown, Tayler Klobnak, Kylie Park and Annie Wiese.
Board members agreed to offer a contract to Luke Beatty as a district technology assistant.
The board also approved contracts for John McManigal and Doug Spencer as high school assistant softball coaches. Members also agreed to terminate Kim Tyler’s contact as a kitchen manager at the Hoyt site.
* Adjourned the meeting. Board member Rusty Douglas was absent from the meeting.
