The board of education of USD#508 held a regular board meeting on Monday, February 8, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. at 1108 Military.  Members present were:  Mary Kirkpatrick, Brandon Williams, Chuck Sweeton, DeAnne Binns, Joseph Skye, Josh Sweaney and Dusty Deringer.  Also present were:  David Pendergraft, Superintendent, Vicki Bradley, Clerk, Cory White, HS Principal, Jason Walker, MS Principal, Robert Womack, Central Principal, Ken Boeckman, Lincoln Principal, Art Roberts, Alternative Learning Director, Gene Nelson, Elementary Guidance Counselor, Lori Kellum, MS Guidance Counselor, Shelly Bottorff, HS Guidance Counselor, Charles Rector, teacher, and coach, HS students Libby Thomasson, Kenny Herrenbruck and Narciso Ortiz.

President Binns called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

Brandon Williams led the board and guests in the pledge of allegiance. 

Mary Kirkpatrick made a motion to approve the agenda as printed.  Josh Sweaney seconded.  Carried 7-0.

Joseph Skye made a motion to approve the consent agenda which included approval of the bills, approval of minutes of the January 11 and January 25 meetings, and approval of the treasurer’s report. Dusty Deringer seconded.  Carried 7-0.

Charles Rector expressed his appreciation to the board, Mr. White and Mr. Reynolds for their support of the power lifting program.  Libby Thomasson, Kenny Herrenbruck and Narciso Ortiz showed their trophies to the board.  Mr. Rector thanked the students for their hard work in this program and expressed his pride in their accomplishments.

Shelly Bottorff, HS Counselor along with Lori Kellum, MS Counselor and Gene Nelson, Elementary Counselor, gave a presentation on Career Cruising which is a software program to assist students in career choices throughout their K-12 school experience.  This program will allow students, parents and educators to all be involved in helping the student to pursue their career choice.

Josh Sweaney made a motion to approve purchasing and implementing the Career Cruising program for grades K-12 as soon as possible.  Brandon Williams seconded.   Carried 7-0.

President Binns reported on the Superintendent evaluation.  The board will complete the evaluation and conduct the evaluation at the March meeting. 

Superintendent Pendergraft reported on a recent trip to Topeka, along with Dusty Deringer, to visit with legislators and to attend the hearing on HB2504, commonly known as the consolidation bill.  Due to concerns of business people, economic staff developers, patrons and others, this bill will not proceed in this session.  Mr. Pendergraft informed the board that Kansas had 305 school districts that have voluntarily consolidated down to 286 districts and feels that others will continue to do so as their needs and demographics change.

President BInns presented resignations from Chuck Zordel as teacher and Amber Marrett as 7^th grade Volleyball coach.  Brandon Williams made a motion to accept the resignations of Chuck Zordel and Amber Marrett as presented.  Joseph Skye seconded.  Carried 7-0.

Superintendent Pendergraft presented a school calendar for the 2016-17 school year for approval.  The staff were given three calendars to choose from and the proposed calendar was the one that the majority voted for.  After much discussion, the board decided to make a change in the calendar.

Dusty Deringer made a motion to adopt the 2016-17 calendar with the following change:  staff and students will attend school on October 28 and October 31, and Thanksgiving break will be for the entire week of November 21-25. Brandon Williams seconded.   Carried 7-0.

Ken Boeckman, Lincoln Principal informed the board that he and his staff are working on implementing programs to help increase reading fluency and comprehension in his building.  He also reported that headphones will be added to the student supply list for the coming school year.

Robert Womack, Central Principal reported on the iStation reading program.  He also reported that students and staff celebrated Kansas Day last Friday with sunflower cupcakes provided by Opaa! and a program about Kansas which was put on by the 3^rd grade classes and one 5^th grade class.  Mrs. Hancock was in charge of this program about Kansas history which was very informative and entertaining.  Mr. Womack also reported that one bicycle rack has been moved to the west side of the street and all students who live on the west side of the street will park their bikes there, while students who live on the east side will continue to park their bikes on the east side.  This alleviates any child having to cross the street on their bicycle.  He also informed the board that they honored Mr. Gene Nelson, Elementary Guidance Counselor for National Counselor Appreciation Day.

Jason Walker, MS Principal, reported on local contest for students.  One of the contest is the Peace Poster contest sponsored by the Lions Club.  He reported that one student has placed in that contest and will be recognized for accomplishment.   Mr. Walker reported that on Thursday, the MS teachers and students will be preparing for state assessments with the first test being the multi disciplinary performance task.   He also reported that basketball season is complete.  He was very pleased with the season and reported that the students had improved.  The 7A Boys team had a record of 11-3 and placed 2^nd in the league, 7A Girls team had a 7-7 record.  8A Boys had a record of 8-6 and 8A Girls had a record of 10-4 and placed 2^nd in the league.  Mr. Walker expressed his pride in the coaches and students for a great season.    He also reported that the MS celebration National Guidance Counselor day by honoring Ms. Lori Kellum.

Cory White, HS Principal, reported that the HS also celebrated National Counselor Appreciation Day by honoring Shelly Bottorff and expressed his appreciation for all she does.  Mr. White reported that on February 1, seven Seniors received KU honors.  Those students were:  Brennan Cummings, Justin Jones, Brennan Kipp, Mallory Maryman, Kayla Spence, David Street and Hanna White.  He also reported that on staff development day, the HS and MS staff went through the ALICE intruder training and feel like they have a good solid plan in place.  He reported that Mr. Reynolds was at Pittsburg for the Freshman basketball tournament at Colgan this week.  Mr. White also reported that the boys and girls basketball teams took 3^rd place at the Southeast classic.  He also reported that he will have some changes for the HS handbook to present to the board at a later date.   Mr. White presented a new program for the boards consideration.  He presented the possibility of Senior students being able to take dual credit courses from Labette Community College and perhaps some other schools if that is possible.  After much discussion, the board directed Mr. White to work out the requirements that each student would have to meet in order to qualify for eligibility to take these classes.

Josh Sweaney made a motion to move forward with the dual credit program as presented.   Chuck Sweeton seconded.  Carried 7-0.

Art Roberts, Alternative Learning Director, reported that the virtual audit is coming up next week.  Anne Taylor will take a group to NEO Wednesday to tour the campus and available programs.

Joseph Skye made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss non-elected personnel and negotiations in order to protect the privacy interests of the individuals to be discussed and to protect the public interest in negotiating a fair and equitable contract and that we return to open session in this room after a 5 minute period of time.  This session is to include the board and Superintendent.  Josh Sweaney seconded.  Carried 7-0.

8:05 p.m.  Enter executive session.

8:10 p.m.  Resume regular session.

Chuck Sweeton left the meeting.

Comments and concerns from the board included obtaining data for the ACT and achievement tests, developing strategies and measurements for curriculum K-12, having a planning session for the board and administration to set goals and aligning our programs to meet those goals.

Dusty Deringer made a motion to adjourn.  Brandon Williams seconded.  Carried 6-0.

8:47 p.m.  Meeting adjourned.

Vicki Bradley                                    DeAnne Binns

Clerk/Board of Education                   President/Board of Education