School board holds last meeting of the year

The Stockton USD #271 Board of Education meeting was on Monday, December 11th, and started with the approval of the Consent Agenda.

Next, the board members received the District’s audit review by Tom Carpenter with Mapes and Miller. The board members accepted the presented audit, with Carpenter sending the paperwork to the State.

After another discussion about the Classified Handbook, the board members voted to remove the bereavement leave proposal and allow sick change to PTO, with 66 days allowed to carry over at the end of the year.

Senior Claire Plumer presented the proposal for a Senior trip to Colorado in March. The board members voted to approve the trip as outlined. The Board reviewed three bids for cyber security and cameras for the school. After a short discussion, the members voted to approve the bid from TIS as presented.

During the Maintenance update by superintendent Sarah Armstrong, she stated from the information provided to her that the high school roof needs to be replaced. High Plains Roofing will do the roof replacement and install the gutters.

Armstrong then spoke about KASB’s services that will be added to the District Policy Book in electronic format. KASB also offers the board members a program that helps with Board agendas.

The members approved Policy JBCC for the enrollment of non-resident students as it was presented.

President Jesse Stithem read the list of December policies to the other board members, with the second reading of the policies to be read at the February meeting.

Grade school principal Stacey Green gave her report informing the board members about the upcoming in-service days. She noted that the Building Leadership group met. The school has received a $455.00 Legacy Grant. Green reviewed the statistics for students missing school, with 12 critical for 23 or more days missed. The Fastbridge Reading program is moving along nicely. The school will host another evening event for parents in February like they did this past fall. Green stated that the school needs more substitute teachers and para professionals.

High school principal Lindsay Cravens stated that one senior had been interviewed for the Dane G. Hansen Scholarship. There are 34 students signed up for the Hunter Education Course. Winter athletics have begun. The second-semester class schedules are complete. There is a Career Planning Day set for January 13th. The computer applications class has started work on coding. The recent Blood Drive went well. The teachers and staff are filling in where needed due to illness.

Superintendent Sarah Armstrong reported there are 295 students enrolled. The District is working on the math curriculum at this time. The board members received a budget update showing that 58% of the budget is still in the General Fund.

The outgoing board members, Stephanie Niblock, Daphne Plumer, and LeAnn Dix, were given tokens of appreciation for their time serving on the Board.

During Board Member Reports, Thelma Berland attended the school board training with the new school board members. She felt it was an excellent session that emphasized keeping the lines of communication open with the public.

Chad Sterling attended the Special Education meeting. The group is working on new contracts and looking at a new building.

BJ Hoeting talked about the survey the teachers had taken for technology for the District.

Next, several executive sessions were held from 7:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. to discuss non-elected personnel relating to supplemental, classified, certified contracts, negotiations, and student matters. The first session included board members Stephanie Niblock, Jesse Stithem, LeAnn Dix, Daphne Plumer, Chad Sterling, BJ Hoeting, Thelma Berland, superintendent Sara Armstrong, principals Stacey Green and Lindsay Cravens. The remainder of the sessions included the board members and Sarah Armstrong being called in for some of the sessions.

When the Board returned to the open meeting, they voted to hire Laura Moffett as the head junior high track coach, with Troy Rogers and Jess Billinger as assistant coaches. They also approved an ESOL Evaluation stipend for Dana Horton before they adjourned the meeting at 9:38 p.m.