Total enrollment increases by 71
Staff writer
The Centre board of education learned Monday that the district’s property/casualty, fleet, and liability insurance policy that is up for renewal in November would have a $10,000 deductible. That compares with a current $1,000 deductible.
“We’ll be handling all the incidentals,” board president Mark Heiser said.
The school’s agent, Marc Shepherd of Copeland Insurance, said the many natural disasters around the world have contributed to the rise, which is consistent among all property insurers.
The board approved using Employers Mutual Casualty group as its insurer. The premium amount will be determined later based on future evaluations of the property by the insurance company but is expected to be little changed from the previous year’s $55,450.
Copeland also informed the board that, because it has outsourced its custodial services, its workmen’s compensation premiums will begin to drop significantly starting in July. The district filed several substantial claims four and five years ago from that department, resulting in sharply higher premiums.
Enrollment increases
Because of an increase in enrollment in the Kansas Online Learning Program sponsored by Centre, the 2013-14 enrollment on Sept. 20 stands at 404 compared with 333 last year. This includes 229 on-site students and 169 virtual students. The on-site count is unchanged from last year.
Superintendent Brian Smith reported that most of the virtual school students are adults. Forty-six of the 169 are kindergarten through 12th-grade students.
Among on-site students, first- grade and sixth-grade are the smallest, with 11 students each. The largest class is the junior class with 25. The second-grade and senior class have 24 students each, followed by fifth-grade, eighth-grade, and freshmen at 22 each.
In other business:
- Installation of a new speaker system at the football field with the addition of handheld and lavalier wireless systems was approved at a total cost of $3,207.
- Purchase of window film coverings for 20 windows on the east side of the south wing was approved at a cost of $115 per window, totaling $2,312.
- The board spent an hour in executive session with Smith to discuss personnel. Activities director Greg Wyatt was in on the closed meeting for 10 minutes.
- The board spent 10 minutes in executive session with Smith to discuss a student matter.
- The board will meet with Gary Sechrist of the Kansas Association of School Boards from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 11 as a follow-up on their goals and expectations for the new superintendent. The regular board meeting will follow at 7 p.m.
- The board approved a special session at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14 to revisit long-term goals.