EXCERPTS of USD #384 Regular Board of Education Meeting

A Regular Board of Education meeting for USD #384 Blue Valley was held on November 13, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. in the Board Room. Members present were Mitch Innes, Jason Hartman, Reo Shultz, Stephen Corkill, Amy Cassel, and Melissa Geisler.  Administration present was Rex Boley, Superintendent, and Alison Moore, Board Clerk.

CALL TO ORDER:  President, Jason Hartman called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m.

APPROVE THE AGENDA: The Board approved the agenda with the following addition: 13l Roepke Fund. Stephen moved to approve the agenda with addition; Mitch second; motion passed 6-0.

Tim Innes joined the meeting via GoogleMeets at 6:03p.m.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Board and guests recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 

WELCOME GUESTS: President, Jason Hartman welcomed our guests. 

POSITIVE BOARD COMMENTS: 

  1. FFA trip to Nationals went very well; Jenny Hoeltzel did a good job of keeping parents updated on goings-on of the trip.

  2. FCCLA trip to Alabama also went great.

  3. Trap team had another tremendous year.

  4. MES Halloween party was a success; great to see a strong tradition continuing.

  5. Congratulations to Mr. Meals for the award he was given through KASB.

  6. Football made a strong effort and made it to the playoffs this year.

  7. MS Cross Country won league.

  8. There was a 2-page spread of happenings in the Riley Countian – very nice to see Blue Valley represented this past month.

SPECIAL REPORTS: 

  1. None

RECOGNITION OF STUDENTS/STAFF: 

  1. Student of the Month:

    1. McCormick Elementary School – Abbott Brenner

    2. Blue Valley Middle School – Claire Deetjen

    3. Blue Valley High School – Trace Sump

PRINCIPAL REPORTS: 

  1. MES – there was a great turnout for parent/teacher conferences; the entire elementary school attended Britt’s Farm pumpkin patch – thank you to the PTO for paying so each student could attend; new outlets were installed in the cafeteria/gym for 2 new microwaves so that students can now bring lunches from home to heat up; MES participated in Red Ribbon week with a twist – they focused on healthy choices rather than drug and alcohol free; the first Monday of the month, each teacher is met with to discuss student needs and work on interventions needed.

  2. RMS – MS StuCo hosted a Halloween dance/party on Oct. 30; MTSS support has been implemented at the MS level; Counselor and Social Worker have been meetings with students regarding life skills; Mr. Fronce and Mr. Boley attended BVL/OTL joint league meeting – Mr. Fronce will be in later in the meeting to discuss.

  3. BVHS – School-wide Service Day had 8 groups served 168 community service hours; Ms. Palmgren took a group of girls to the Leonardville Nursing Home and there was a resident that is a Blue Valley alum and holds a track record, which one of the girls does that same event currently; Nov. 7-9 was Apply Kansas for all Kansas seniors to apply for college for no application costs; Nov. 8th was campus-wide college visit day where students visited over 18 college and logged over 5,200 miles; MTSS has been working great – 50% of the referred students are ready to transfer out; it’s great to see the organizations heading to Nationals – FFA Convention two weeks ago, FCCLA National Conference last weekend, and Fall FBLA Conference this weekend.

SUPERINTENDENT REPORT: 

  • District house has been leaking, causing mold issues; mold has been mitigated; new lines were installed; they are also looking at adding a wall and entrance door to separate the garage from part of the living area.

  • Overhead door opener was installed in the tractor barn.

  • Gravel around the fuel barrels was delivered and spread out, and the concrete slab for the storage shed has been poured; Mr. Buchanan and Mrs. Ellis will be leading students in building the storage shed.

  • Skylights in the old gym have been sealed by Diamond Roofing and they’ve also provided a report on the condition of the district roofs with an estimated timeframe for repair/replacement.

  • Been working on gathering information so can develop a Long-Range Facilities and Maintenance plan survey; this will be sent out to students, parents/patrons, staff, as well as school board members.

  • Dirt has been added to the low spots in front of the HS on the north end; there has also been work done to drain water from the west side of the HS.

  • Deb and Jim have been working with Central Mechanical to resolve water drainage issues at the HS as well as hot water supply to the west end of the academic hall of the HS; also looking at running a camera down the drainage lines of all 3 buildings to see what condition they are in.

  • Mr. Boley attended the KASB convention; he met up with Mr. Herrman who is our KASB area school board representative; Mr. Herrman would love to come visit with the board; Mr. Meals completed the LFT Leadership program with KASB.

  • Mrs. Brenner and Mrs. Hoeltzel have been working on student fees and statements have been sent out.

  • District has been working to get 4 people CDL certified by December 1st.

  • Requested KSDE auditor come earlier – will allow us to have a firmer number on our next legal max statement from KSDE.

OPEN FORUM: Matt Williams addressed the board. Matt has concerns regarding the coach for the girls HS basketball team. He states that he feels the incoming coach is inexperienced and lacking credentials; the school should be looking for good mentors for the team. Matt said the expectations when hiring should be high and they need someone with experience.

CONSENT AGENDA: The Board approved the Consent Agenda as follows: 

  1. Approved Minutes: October 09, 2023 Regular Board of Education Meeting 

  2. Approved Receipts 

  3. Approved Hirings: Samantha Jones – Vocal Music K-4 & Vocal Music 5-12 Supplementals

Mitch moved to accept the consent agenda; Amy second; motion passed 7-0.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

  1. Bus Leasing – routes are almost at max capacity and buses being maxed at maintenance costs; possibly look at a larger activity bus?

  2. Denver Stock Show FFA – Reo moved to approve the FFA trip so that Mr. Hoch can get rooms reserved; Tim second; motion passed 7-0.

  3. MATC MOU – still no deal with MATC.

Tim Innes exited the meeting at 7:20 p.m.

NEW BUSINESS:

  1. Approve Warrants/Transfers – No new checks to approve. It was requested that the checks listing have more of a description on the credit card entries; also it was requested that board members get the check listing report at least the Friday before so they can review it. Mitch moved to pay the bills; Melissa second, motion passed 6-0.

  2. KC Mavericks Hockey Game – Mr. Meals would like to look at taking the Royal Blue students to a hockey game in KC. The game is on the last day of school before Christmas break so with a 7 p.m. start time and late night getting back, it won’t affect students the next day. There would be roughly 30 students going and the school can get a deal on bulk tickets. Jason suggested looking at January dates since parents may have already left for Christmas break at that time. Mitch moved to approve the trip with a chance of moving dates; Amy second; motion passed 6-0.

  3. District Website Redesign– looking to streamline website to make things easier

  4. Senior Athletic Pass – feedback is good from community; 65 & older, in & out of District, and all they provide is contact information in exchange for a pass; launch date of November 20th; patron will fill out the card and school will laminate for them; pass is only good for BV home games, no tournaments. Mitch moved to approve the athletic pass; Stephen second; motion passed 6-0.

  5. Middle School League Merger – Wetmore is no more and Troy is leaving OTL; FB & VB will play on a trial-basis for a 2-year contract.

  6. Early Childcare Survey – survey was sent out to patrons and good information was sent back; feedback is positive for the district looking at providing all-day daycare.

  7. Open Enrollment Policy – Amy moved to accept the open enrollment policy; Mitch second; motion passed 5-1 with Stephen opposing.

  8. Softball Update – there are currently 8 games on the books right now; the only thing that is worrisome is transportation; temporary fencing was ordered for games; there has been some interest in coaching positions.

  9. KSDE Audit – moved up from spring to fall to get numbers sooner rather than later, but have not heard anything since the auditor was out.

  10. School District Audit – have not heard from Bruna about scheduling the audit.

  11. New Board Member Training – looking at after Thanksgiving for training so as to include newly elected members to join.

  12. ROEPKE Fund – meeting tomorrow to discuss dispersal of funds; Reo will represent school again this year; money from Roepke Fund was allotted for FB scoreboard maintenance last year but nothing happened; Melissa moved that Reo request the funds be used for treadmills for the weight room; Stephen second; motion passed 6-0.

  13. Personnel - The Board held an executive session to discuss personnel. The purpose of the executive session is to protect the privacy interests of an identifiable individual.  

    1. Board moved into executive session at 8:30 p.m. for 30min with Rex Boley, Anthony Meals, Caitlin Combest, and the board. At 9:00 p.m. the board requested 20 min more. Anthony Meals, and Caitlin Combest exited executive session at 9:20p.m. and the board requested an additional 30 min.

Meeting reconvened at 9:47 p.m. and it was noted that no action was taken during executive session.

Reo moved to accept hiring Brooke Moser as Assistant HS Girls Basketball Coach; Mitch second; motion passed 6-0.

During one of the January boys basketball home games, outgoing board members will be recognized.

Future Agenda Items: 

  1. Food Service

  2. KESA/School Improvement/MTSS

  3. Long Range Facilities and Maintenance Survey

  4. Royal Blue Trip for Middle/High School Trip – Jan Date

Adjournment: Amy moved to adjourn; Stephen second; meeting adjourned at 9:50 p.m. 

Alison Moore, Board Clerk