The Fairfax R-3 School Board held a regular board meeting April 19, 2018.
Mike Lewis, president, called the meeting to order at 6:38 p.m. Also present were: Jon Graves, Sam O’Riley, and Josh Oswald, board members; Jeremy Burright, superintendent; Dustin Barnes, principal; and Karen Burke; secretary. Doug Miller, Marshal Oswald, and Chris Smith were absent.
Roger Dorson from Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sent a card to congratulate Fairfax R-3 on passing the levy.
Board members voted to approve the agenda as presented.
The board reviewed the minutes from the March 15, 2018, regular and executive minutes meetings and the March 23 special meeting. They also reviewed the financial report and the monthly reconciliation report indicating a liquid balance of $967,876.28 as of March 31, 2018. Dr. Burright reviewed the fund balance with the board, indicating a total balance of all institutions at $1,097,419.44 as of April 19, 2018.
The April monthly bills in the amount of $88,751.18 were reviewed and approved for payment.
SUPERINTENDENT’S
REPORT–
Gym bid discussion: Notifications to solicit bids from architects to help with the updates to the building (including repairs to the gym) are being sent out. Additionally, the board approved the purchase of a 10-year lease purchase agreement to fund these projects.
Entrepreneurial Boot Camp: Fairfax R-3 will be partnering with Atchison County Development Corporation to offer a six-session boot camp on entrepreneurial thinking and problem solving. This program will be open to middle and high school students and will engage a group of learners in the process involved in creating a business, problem solving in the community, and the implementation of a community solution. Participants will be in contact with local entrepreneurs and business leaders who will serve as guest speakers and serve as resources for the students. The culminating activity will be the presentation of the project to a committee for possible backing and implementation. It will be hosted in Fairfax and the commitment for students is once a week for two hours.
Wellness Program : Fairfax R-3 is in the process of designing a comprehensive wellness incentive program for the district. Currently the program would revolve around the encouragement of healthy life habits. The program would begin with staff members but eventually expand to students, differentiating by age and role.
SRSA/REAP Grant: The Small Rural Schools Achievement grant has been submitted for the next fiscal year. This is an annual funding source that allocates $10,000 in federal funds to the district each year the grant is completed. Funds for this grant roll over into the next fiscal year if they are not spent. Currently this grant funds technology for the district and will continue to supplement the budget in that area.
Hillyard Bids: Discussion only. Dr. Burright is trying to reduce overhead for maintenance materials by soliciting bids from Hillyard. Hillyard is currently pledging dispensers that would regulate chemical usage, the reduction of different kinds of cleaning supplies and paper products, a slightly reduced cost for the annual gym refinishing, and has demonstrated a small floor scrubber. He is in the process of contacting Meyer’s, the school’s current supplier, to solicit a bid for next year. Because the amount of chemicals used isn’t currently standardized, it will be hard to tell if the price point for chemicals will be cheaper.
SUPERINTENDENT’S
REPORT–
Upcoming events were discussed, including MAP testing and field trips. The senior trip will be May 9-10, and Elementary Field Day is scheduled for May 11.
Mrs. Hedlund has started working on scheduling with students for next year and is working on four-year planning meetings with current eighth graders.
Finals will take place May 16 and 17 with make-ups scheduled for May 18.
The Alumni Banquet is May 18.
School dismisses on May 22.
Mr. Barnes also shared the following information:
Pre-K has an enrollment of six so far for next year. Screening is May 2.
There will be 10-11 in kindergarten next year.
A Project Lead the Way Showcase is planned for Friday, May 11, after the field day to show off modules and projects that have been  completed.
The 2018 Monsanto Grant has been completed and submitted. They are writing for expansion of the program into the middle school levels.
Composites have been digitized and the school is working on putting them on the school website by specific decades.
He also reported they are working with several schools in our area (Tarkio, South Nodaway and Nodaway-Holt) regarding an assessment tool called NWEA. It is a K-12 assessment tool. K-2 has specific skill assessments. K-12 assessments show where students are on a normed continuum and shows what skills they are ready for next. It can also provide instructional data as well as ACT data. They are looking at using this to replace Terra Nova assessment in K-2 and to help with MAP/EOC in grades 3-10. In addition, it will use data for K-6 Tier Groupings, dyslexia assessment and 8th grade At Risk data. Dyslexia and At-Risk are new mandates that must be implemented into the school’s data collection and tier groupings starting next year.
It has been a wet start to the spring sports season. The Wolves’ teams are competing well and looking forward to some successes this year.
CONSENT AGENDA–
Board members voted to approve the consent agenda.
NEW BUSINESS–
Updated Certified Staff Salary Schedule: The certified salary schedule has been updated to reflect an increase to the base pay of 1.3%, to increase base pay to $30,213. Board members voted unanimously to approve the updated salary schedule as presented.
Pay Rate: It is recommended to set a base hourly rate for non-certified 12-month or 9-month school-year, non-certified staff at $9.35/hour. Board members voted unanimously to set the non-certified staff base rate at $9.35/hour.
Pay Rate for Transportation: Josh Oswald made a motion to set the base pay for bus drivers be established at $25 per route. Jon Graves made a motion to set the base pay for bus drivers, as it relates to shuttle and trip driving at $9.75 per hour. Board members unanimously approved the motions.
Extra Duty Pay Rates: Board members voted unanimously to set extra duty pay rates as presented.
Mowing Bids: Board members accepted two mowing bids: Aaron Simmons bid $125 per mowing of the football field, and Kaleb Oelze bid $180 per mowing of the school district property.
Approval of Graduates: The slate of 2018 graduates as presented was approved, pending successful completion of graduation requirements.
Senior Trip 2018: Karrigan Bowling, on behalf of the 2018 senior class, presented the itinerary for senior trip. The itinerary was approved as presented.
Extra Duty Assignments: Board members voted unanimously to approve the extra duty assignments as presented.
Insurance Rates: Board members voted to approve supplier Midwest Public Risk of Missouri insurance provider as presented.
ACES Contract: A social worker comes to the school four days per month for half a day per visit. Board members voted to approve the social worker contract with ACES for half days, four days a month at a total cost of $6,520.
Gym Use: Board members voted to approve the use of school facilities at the rate of $50 per hour unless the board waives this fee. They also voted to waive the fee for Inspire to use the gym for training purposes.
Contract for Lease Purchase: Board members voted to approve the contract with LJ Hart for underwriting services for a ten-year lease purchase.
The next regular board meeting will be Thursday,May 17, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. in the school library.
The regular board meeting adjourned at 8:22 p.m.