The Fairfax R-3 School Board met in regular session February 28, 2019, in Elementary Room 3. Mike Lewis, board president, called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m. Board members present were Doug Miller, Josh Oswald, Sam O’Riley, Marshal Oswald, Chris Smith, Jon Graves, and Mike Lewis. Others present were Fairfax R-3 Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Burright and Fairfax R-3 K-12 Principal Dustin Barnes.
Communications
Monica Bailey presented the tax renewal measure for Atchison County Development Corporation.
A gift of $25 from Lori Smith in memory of Norm Simmons, Fairfax Class of 1979, was accepted for the playground fund. The library received a grant for agricultural library books from FCS Financial. Katy Baker (senior class representative) presented the itinerary for the 2019 senior trip.
Doug Miller presented the agenda. Sam O’Riley made a motion to approve the agenda as presented and the motion was seconded and approved.
The board reviewed the minutes from the January 17 regular and executive meetings and the February 13 executive meeting. The board reviewed the financial report and the monthly reconciliation report indicating a liquid balance of $1,413,990.62. Dr. Burright reviewed the fund balance with the board, indicating a total balance of all institutions at $1,725,369.39. The January monthly bills in the amount of $156,648.80 were reviewed and approved for payment.
Special Report
Lease Purchase Update: Current balance is $245,742
Insurance Clearing Account: Current balance is $201,395 (roofing project)
Superintendent’s Report
Construction Update: As of this meeting the contractors should be done in the gym. Windows are installed, partitions, and plumbing should be finished. We will be scheduling a time to go through the final punch-list. We are still waiting on the Science lab and EIFS work to be completed.
Transportation: 95 is ad-vertised. Still waiting on Doc’s Diesel and the weather for Bus 5. Bus 6 and 17 are in service. Silver van heater is going out and blue van needs repairs on the door.
Index Salary Schedule: Still have a regular salary schedule but for extra duty or certain positions, a % multiplier is applied to the base or defined amount in order to determine pay; like we have now with extra duty, but ours is based on the current pay of the individual.
Wind Farm Update: Both bills have made it out of committee and are set for debate with very little change. My fingers are crossed for this legislation to pass. We are also closer to a final agreement with Ameren in lieu of local tax assessment. They want to put a wind turbine training session in the agreement as a requirement. If we all agree to this, it would be a three-day training conducted by Ameren, for the students in each district. This might be a good thing, but I do have reservations about making too many of these deals. Most recently, I received word that the legislation passed out of committee 14-0 in favor.
Principal’s Report
General Information:
1. County Band and Choir Day was held at Rock Port Monday, February 25.
2. Sophomores will be visiting Vo-Tech on March 14 to check out what programs are available to them.
3. Mr. Schieffer is taking online courses to implement our first Middle School PLTW Module – Medical Detectives; starting this module with the 7th graders this week.
4. Snow days have really pushed back our classes. We are working on setting up our amended MAP and EOC schedule for tests; pushing them back a little later than normal.
5. Sports and Activities
• High school winter sports are over. Both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams had fine seasons. We qualified a wrestler for state as well!
• Junior high wrestling is still going on. We have one wrestler from Fairfax.
• The first Scholar Bowl meet on was held Thursday, February 28 with six kids out of for the team.
• Baseball starts this week.
• Track for non-basketball players starts this week as well.
• Golf and track for everyone starts next week.
• Junior high track starts March 11.
APR Report
Fairfax scored a 99.6% on our Annual Performance rating with perfect scores in Subgroup Achievement, College and Career Readiness, Academics, and Graduation Rate. A score of 98.8% was earned on Academic Achievement.
Josh Oswald made a motion to approve the consent agenda. The motion was seconded and approved.
It was recommended by Dr. Burright that the board approve the 2019-2020 district calendar as presented. Josh Oswald made a motion to approve and the motion was seconded and passed.
It was recommended by Dr. Burright that the board approve the modification to the school calendar of April 22, May 16-17, and May 20-23 as full days of school and March 15 and May 24 as half days of school in the 2018-2019 school year. Josh Oswald made a motion to approve and the motion was seconded and passed.
It was recommended by Dr. Burright that the board approve the payment of the MUSIC Umbrella Policy for the cost of $1,297.00. Sam O’Riley made a motion to approve and the motion was seconded and passed.
It was recommended by Dr. Burright that the board approve the 2019 senior trip itinerary and budget as presented. Josh Oswald made a motion to approve and the motion was seconded and passed.
It was recommended by Dr. Burright that the board approve the payment of lease purchase fees in the amount of $11,331.83. Sam O’Riley made a motion to approve and the motion was seconded and passed.
Dr. Burright sought clarification from the board regarding the scope of work concerned with refurbishing or purchasing new lockers for our athletic locker rooms. The board came to consensus that $20,000 should be the highest estimate of costs acceptable. Dr. Burright will present three different possibilities for locker purchase/refurbishment at the March board meeting.
It was recommended by Dr. Burright that the wording in Regulation 4320 be changed to delete any reference to consecutive years and to specify the Fairfax R-3 School District. Sam O’Riley made a motion to approve and the motion was seconded and passed.
The next regular board meeting will be Thursday, March 14, 2019, at 6:30 p.m. The meeting adjourned at 7:59 p.m.
