At its regular board meeting Dec. 18, the USD 503 Board of Education looked at the Strategic Plan from 2020-2023 in preparation for creating a new strategic plan.
The process for creating the new plan will begin Jan. 2, with Superintendent Lori Ray and Assistant Superintendent Jeff Pegues meeting with certified staff, to look at progress made and where the district stands now. They will meet with various certified groups for 45 minutes throughout the day to do a SWOT analysis, to talk about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats – things that the district can work on and toward.
“Some of those things are given in a strategic plan – teaching and learning, the academic portion of that. That’s why we are here. That needs to be part of the strategic plan. Facilities and infrastructure, that does as well, but there is also an opportunity for staff to give some input on things they think are important and valuable,” Ray said.
Ray and Pegues will also meet with classified staff. Building administrators started reaching out to parents before winter break to see who would like to be on the strategic planning committee. Pegues and Ray will be meeting with parents in the evenings through January and February, and they will plan also lunches with community groups as well to garner input from them.
IN OTHER BUSINESS, the board:
Hear The total of $4,663,635 in ESSER III funds, has all be approved, allocated and spent. It was required the district spend 20% ($932,727) of those funds on learning loss. In all, the district ended up spending $1.5 million of the funds to address learning loss. The yearend report is due Jan. 15.
There will be a special meeting of the board Jan. 11 at 5:30 p.m. in the high school community room to learn the data on academic achievement.
The district office is closed Jan. 15 to observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Observed as Mike Kastle and Joan Thompson were honored for their service to the Board of Education. Both were lifelong educators bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to their positions on the board. Thompson served 8 years on the board. Kastle served on the board for 6 years. “We are better because you have both served,” Ray said. “You will definitely both be missed.”
Heard that according to the transportation report there were 173 activity trips the first semester, requiring 223 buses. Heard with all students eating for free this year, numbers of students eating has risen. At the high school alone, the cafeteria served 5,836 breakfasts and increase of 2,100, and almost 13,400 lunches, an increase of 3,621. Garfield breakfasts and lunches have gone up. The number at Guthridge students eating has increased by 1,287 meals. Guthridge served more than 7,000 breakfasts. The numbers have also increased for the middle school. Ray said they have also provided 777 Viking Vittles (sports meals) the first semester.
Accepted a total in donations of $8,972.03 for district schools.
Heard recommendations from KASB regarding policy updates on cafeteria meal balances and military leave. Board action will be taken in January.
Approved the Safe Return to In Person Instruction as printed.
Learned all topics for executive session will now be handled individually in separate executive sessions upon recommendation of the Kansas Association of School Boards.
The board went into executive for 25 minutes with the superintendent and assistant superintendent regarding nonelected personnel. The session was extended for another 15 min and then extended for another 10 minutes.
The board reentered executive session for 5 min. for a confidential student topic.
Hired Brittany Berry middle school track assistant coach and Kyle Hutley middle school track assistant coach effective the 2024 season.
Approved a two-year contract for superintendent Lori Ray for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years with a 5-2 vote. Lou Martino and Olivia Lyons voted against approving the contract.
Approved a two-year contract for Jeff Pegues for the 2024-25 and 2025-2026 school years, with a unanimous vote.
Approved one-year contracts for the 2024-2025 school year to all building principals and assistant principals.