Staff writer
USD 408 Superintendent Lee Leiker’s contract was extended through the 2016-17 school year at Monday’s board of education meeting.
The school board reached the decision after an executive session that lasted 45 minutes and included personnel decisions as to who would handle negotiations over teacher contracts.
The meeting began with a presentation by second grade teacher Ginger Becker and Elementary School Principal Justin Wasmuth about STEM learning.
Becker and Wasmuth had board members spend five minutes constructing a recreation of “Jack and the Beanstalk” using a standard 200-piece set of Legos.
Becker said the hands-on learning provides a different type of platform for students to use their brains.
Wasmuth said students that struggle in class may excel with hands-on projects like Legos, while excellent students may encounter challenges when faced with hands-on learning.
Leiker reviewed policy-change suggestions from the Kansas Association of School Boards, which included the cessation of monitoring district cellphone use and the practice of suspending or expelling students who exhibit behavior problems either at school, on school property, or at a school function.
A teacher inservice originally scheduled for Monday was moved to Feb. 4; there will still be no school Monday, in honor of the district landing on Newsweek’s list of America’s top 500 high schools. Monday is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Principals and board members expressed gratitude for the recognition they received at halftime of Friday’s high school basketball game. Faculty district-wide were brought onto the court, receiving a standing ovation for landing on Newsweek’s list.
“It was really cool to see the kids that were there show their appreciation,” Board President Chris Sprowls said.