Staff writer
Before the USD 408 Board of Education meeting was fully underway Monday, three resignations were announced in the consent agenda.
Michael Ayers is resigning from the Marion Middle School English teaching position.
Phoebe Janzen is retiring from the Marion High School counselor position.
“I’ll be able to spend more time on my farm,” Janzen said. “I’ll be able to be a grandma. It’s on good terms.”
Brenda Odgers is resigning as MHS principal.
“I’m looking for a job,” Odgers said. “I’ve got my resume out several places.”
With these resignations and Marion Elementary School Principal Rod Garman having resigned in February, the board was left with decisions on several positions. After an hour of executive session, several personnel moves were made.
The board approved the hiring of Justin Wasmuth as MES principal. The board is offering the current Manhattan district elementary school teacher a contract of $53,000.
MMS Principal Tod Gordon made $63,180 for the 2010-11 school year. Garman also made $63,180 for the 2010-11 school year. Odgers made $70,000 for the 2010-11 school year.
Gordon was appointed to take over the high school principal position next year. He will retain duties as athletic director.
“I said all along, from the beginning, that I will do whatever I need to do to make it work,” Gordon said.
Missy Stubenhoffer was appointed to a full-time contract as MMS principal. She will continue to teach algebra at MMS.
The board has yet to decide how much Gordon will make as MHS Principal or how Stubenhoffer will make at MMS.
The board also voted to eliminate one teacher aide position at MES, one cook position, and reduce the high school business teacher position to five class periods instead of seven. Jennifer Janzzen currently teaches business at MHS.
Before the executive session, Superintendent Lee Leiker also detailed what he would be cutting from the budget the board will consider approving in August.
He said Janzen will not be replaced with another full-time counselor, district nurse Kristen Garman will not be replaced with a full-time school nurse, and bus driver Danny Duckworth’s position will not be filled. Although the board will eventually have to approve part-time contracts for the counselor and nurse positions, Leiker estimated the three reductions would save the district $40,000, $20,000, and $11,500, respectively.
Leiker said he would move $50,000 from the transportation budget to the operating budget.
A 15 percent reduction in the athletics budget worth $24,000 was suggested. Not purchasing any new textbook series Leiker estimated would save the school $20,000.
He also recommended reductions in the amount paid to the Marion Recreation Commission by $1,080, and Parents as Teachers by $700.
“We’re willing to serve fewer students,” Leiker said of Parents as Teachers.
Leiker also suggested cutting expenses across the board, but was not specific about what cuts would be made and how much money they would save.
For now, the schedule appears to be free from cuts for budget reasons.
The board approved the 2011-12 schedule and the district is contracted for 178 school days, the same amount as this year. USD 397, 398, and 411 have cut days from their school schedules in attempts to save money over the past three years.
Virtual School
Leiker also asked the board to consider starting a virtual school program in the district.
Leiker said the Technology Excellence in Education Network discussed creating a virtual school network that incorporated all schools in Marion County, but nothing was ever created until USD 397 set up a virtual school program in August.
The primary motivation for Leiker is to serve Marion and Florence students who are forgoing traditional classes and attending the learning center in Hillsboro.
“I do believe it’s a viable program to keep those funds and do a better job serving students,” Leiker said.
Leiker said he would like to have the program at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year. He made no suggestions about a virtual school service — USD 397 uses Lincoln Interactive, based in Pennsylvania, as its virtual school service — or how USD 408 personnel would implement and operate the necessary technology.
The board did not approve any motions related to virtual school on Monday but Leiker said he would look into the details of the project.
Career and Technical Education
MHS Families and Consumer Science teacher Myrta Billings presented information about state funding for Career and Technical Education classes.
Currently, Kansas provides extra funding for high school academic tracks, called pathways, leading to careers accessible without a four-year college degree. MHS already offers several classes that fall into pathways category that could receive funding.
Classes related to agriculture, including animal science, agribusiness, and ag welding fall under the pathways curriculum for funding. Classes related to family and community science, including career and life planning, parenting, and career and community connections, would be another pathway. Classes related to construction, including drafting, cabinet making, and residential carpentry are also classes MHS currently teaches and could receive funding for if the classes are classified correctly and given a specific pathway.
Each pathway requires a school to offer a class at an introductory level that is not funded, as well as medium-level and advanced-level classes that are eligible for state funding. By only changing the name of a class like government and tweaking the curriculum slightly, USD 408 could receive nearly $350 for every student in the school.
“We’re going to have to look at our curriculum,” Billings said. “We need to get our students thinking sooner.”
Billings also said Hillsboro High School has 12 pathways set up and is proposing creating two more. USD 410 has also proposed forgoing multiple offerings of classes to focus more on CTE courses.
TEEN
TEEN Director Brandi Hendrix gave a presentation about the organization’s finances.
USD 408 pays $36,440 to TEEN. The district’s dollars are divided into six sections: $5,400 to PD 360, $570 to Blackboard, $3,170 to Unitedstreaming, $3,000 to school improvement network licensing, and $2,500 to communication in schools. The district also paid $21,800 for 40 streamed Interactive Distance Learning session videos for MES.
TEEN leases their Internet cables to Eagle for $56,000, USD 408’s cut being $11,200.
In other business:
- Cheerleading sponsor Diane Jeffrey and cheerleader Taylor Harms asked the board if they could raise funds for new uniforms. While the board advised them to continue the fundraising plan of either selling snow cones or cotton candy at baseball games, they decided that the district would purchase new uniforms when the time was appropriate.
- Marion recreation board member Bart Peace was approved for another four-year term.
- School facilities were approved for the Community Bible School committee to use June 6 through 10.
- Kansas Association of School Board membership and legal services were renewed.
The next USD 408 Board of Education meeting is May 9.