Rock Hills offers ZOOM classes

Rock Hills USD No. 107 Board of Education met Monday. Kenny Mizner, president, called the regular meeting to order. Those present were Kenny Mizner, Bobi Fogo, Brenden Wirth, Lori Slate, Lori Yelken, Marc Grout, Brandon Hollerich, Rex Boley, Sam Meyers, Cassi Owen and Janet Higer. Guests were Jenna Langer, Zac Snethan and Jen Hannon.

The agenda adding item 6H – superintendent evaluation was approved.

The audit is scheduled for Sept. 20, 21 and 22 Auditors will be present two of the three days.

Principals Report: Two Rock Hills graduates have established scholarships for high school students who are taking college courses for concurrent credit at Rock Hills. The winner of the Bergen Quinn scholarship was Caitlyn Scarrow and the winner of the Holden Ross scholarship was Buck Luedke

Fifteen Rock Hills students have signed up for a trip to Washington D.C., Mount Vernon and Gettysburg during the summer of 2023 as part of the World Wide Classrooms organization.

Rock Hills has four students enrolled in Spanish I virtually via a Zoom classroom in partnership with Lakeside High School.

Rock Hills has seven students enrolled in Zoom classes through Dodge City Community College. The courses the students are taking are Range and Pasture Management and Animal Science. These classes are for dual college and high school credit. They are free to the students through the EXCEL in CTE program.

Today (Thursday) qualifying senior students will travel to Salina to take part in the Dane Hansen testing to become eligible for scholarships through the Dane Hansen Foundation

The National Honor Society induction ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29, in the Little Theater

Amandra McChesney, Rock Hills Junior-Senior High School counselor, will be starting a monthly Zoom meeting with other counselors or IPS (Individual Plans of Study) coordinators. This group consists of districts in the state that are in the beginning phase of implementing IPS in buildings.

PreK-5 Principals Report: Back to School Night began with an annual Title 1 meeting. Then families went to meet teachers and see classrooms. All gathered outside on the playground for a dance party and ice cream social.

A new Para was hired to work with Mr. Duskie as he has 23 students in the classroom.

The 5th graders attended the legislative coffee with Senator Bowers, Rep. Moser and Rep. Waymaster.

Superintendent’s Report:The transportation staff are transporting 195 students each day. This is up almost 30 students from last year. This includes regular bus routes, PreK drop off and take home, after school practice and shuttling students between buildings and city hall after school. An additional yellow bus route and two additional suburban routes have been added from last year. One bus driver has been hired and the district is taking applications for another bus driver.

A draft transportation plan for the board to review is being worked on. This plan has current use of district vehicles, mileage and replacement and purchasing plan.

Preliminary student numbers are up from last year. In addition, student participation numbers for activities, especially sports are up from last year in the junior-senior high school.

Through NCKC4, Clark Coco was able to find online college classes for high school students to take this semester. Students are enrolling in CAN course with NCK Tech. NCKC4 is working with NCK Tech on enrolling students in the CDL and OHSA classes.

A Spanish I class is Zoomed into the classroom for students. Othr courses offered are math, comp, speech and psychology through Cloud County Community College.

A settlement statement was received from KASB. Symmetry (old KJUMP) will pay back approx.$7,600 to the district. This is a result of the higher-than-normal utility bill back in February. WoodRiver Energy is the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) new natural gas partner for the KASB Energy Management Program (KJUMP).

The soil sample report from the samples taken at the elementary school are being reviewed. A plan is being made to fix the water issue in the elementary basement when we get heavy rains.

A grant was submitted to the Kansas Department of Education. This is a food service grant for convection ovens for both the elementary and junior-senior high kitchens. A dishwasher for the elementary and a convection steamer for the junior-senior high school.

Both building have started screening students using Fastbridge.

The USD 107 COVID-19 Dashboard has been created to post the building and district positive and quarantined student and staff numbers to the public. It is updated on Fridays and posted on the district website http://www.usd107.org. It can also be viewed by using the district mobile app that can be downloaded from Google Play or App Store, just search Rock Hills Schools.

The Hansen Foundation wanted additional information for the Gaga Pit to be constructed at the elementary school. Plans are to start construction soon.

Zac Snethan and Jen Hannon from HTK presented their plan outline to conduct a Facilities Study for Rock Hills.

The quarantine procedures were explained by Mr. Boley. He shared a letter with the board Pamela Wirth had sent to the county commissioners regarding quarantine protocols and recommendations.

Mr. Boley visited with the board about certain Student Medical and Extraordinary Circumstances, the “40 hour rule”, where students cannot have more than 40 hours of remote learning unless they meet certain circumstances and the board has to approve them. He informed the board this will need to be approved monthly at the board meeting and would be on the consent agenda moving forward. Names of the students cannot be released to protect their privacy. The Student Medical and Extraordinary Circumstances was approved.

Mr. Boley explained state transportation funding. He shared a transportation plan with the board, including age of current vehicles and a surplus schedule as well as current transportation route needs. Mr. Boley had two bids for Suburbans. He recommended the board purchase a 64-passenger bus, two Suburban’s from Alexancer Motors Inc. and a Collins 14 passenger non-cdl bus with activity seating. The board approved the recommendation.

Mr. Boley, Brandon Hollerich and Brenden Wirth will be working together to begin the district policy review process.

The board discussed the superintendent evaluation process.

After a discussion regarding KJUMP, the board approved a contract with Wood River Energy. They also approved the settlement agreement with Symmetry.

Brenden Wirth was appointed first delegate for the 2021 KASB Delegate Assemblies and Kenny Mizner as the alternate delegate.

After executive sessions were held, the board approved the following supplemental contracts: Alex Carabahal and Pamela Wirth, co-sponsors for junior high cheer; and Tycen Higer as elementary MTSS Para for fourth grade.

The meeting was adjourned.