The Tarkio R-I Board of Education held the regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. in the central office of the Tarkio R-I School District. Board members present were Garrett Wood, Brooke Vette, Amy Hurst, Raymond Gebhards, Sam Hannah, Jamie Barnett, and Josh Wright. Prior to the meeting, the Tarkio teacher association treated the members to cake in recognition of School Board Appreciation Month. The board appreciates everyone taking a moment to recognize the members for the special role they play in our school and community.
The consent agenda was approved which included the following items:
• The minutes from the February 21 regular meeting and closed session meetings
• Transfer of funds to pay certified teachers
• Program evaluation for the vocational and technical programs
• Confirmed Mr. Piper as an assistant baseball coach for the 2023-24 school year
• Accepted resignations from Mrs. Unternahrer as Tarkio High School Scholar Bowl Coach, Mrs. Daugherty as second grade teacher, and Mrs. Hughes as custodian
• The board approved the following trips – State FFA (April 17-19), State FBLA (April 14-16), State Music (April 25-26), and Senior Trip (May 6-7).
• The food service contract was approved for the 2024-25 school year per the contract with OPAA. This will be year two of a five-year contract.
• The board approved the 2024-25 salary schedule. This is the same schedule as the current school year. Mr. Heddinger will present the board with a revised 2024-25 salary schedule in June that will reflect any raise or changes for the 2024-25 school year.
• The contract stipulations for certified staff and work schedules for the non-certified staff were approved for the 2024-25 school year.
• Tessa Rolf was approved as a substitute for the district upon the completion of all documentation and background checks.
The district financial reports were presented for the month and the board approved the bills for the month. A three-year utility report was provided that showed a decrease of nearly 70% in the utilities for the high school during February.
Monica Bailey, Executive Director for the Atchison County Development Corporation, shared some information with the board concerning the upcoming ¼ cent Economic Development Sales Tax renewal vote slated for April 2. Mrs. Bailey asked everyone for their support with this initiative and gave a short presentation on what the money does for Atchison County.
Mrs. Parshall provided a written TAC report. The CTA report was also presented.
Administration Reports
Mr. Barnes reported on the following elementary, facility and technology updates:
• Attendance was 95% for the first three quarters.
• Grade cards were sent home as the third quarter ended on Friday, March 8.
• Third quarter AR and PBIS assembly was held on March 20.
• Preparations are being made for MAP Testing.
• The school is working on implementing a gifted program for grades 3-5 in the elementary and for grades 6-8 in the middle school.
• The high school and elementary leadership teams met on Monday, March 18, with RPDC.
• There are 20 students signed up for preschool at this point for next year.
• We are working on ideas for summer school and working on a theme for the event. The school is looking into partnering with the Tarkio Nutrition Center to provide food to students attending summer school.
• A technology rotation schedule is being created and all devices have had readiness checks conducted on them for MAP Testing.
Mr. Dodson submitted a junior high and high school report which included the following information:
• Total junior high and high school enrollment is 161 students and overall attendance is 94.64%.
• FFA and FCCLA week was held February 19-23.
• The NHS induction ceremony took place February 28.
• The 8th grade had a county career exploration on March 19.
• County Government Day was held on March 20.
• Sophomores toured NTS on March 12 and Tarkio Tech on March 20.
• High school track started with 20 girls and 15 boys. There are 19 boys out for high school baseball. Junior high track has its first meet on March 28. There are nine boys out for golf.
Mr. Heddinger reported on the following items:
• Building and Grounds Update – Tile/drain line repair at the TAC has been completed. Lawn care, mowing, snow removal bids will be covered under new business. The geothermal rebate process with the support of RSM is progressing. Mr. Heddinger will be speaking with RSM on Thursday, March 21, to begin the pre-filing process.
• We are gathering maintenance requests from staff to prepare a summer work schedule of projects to be completed.
• DESE is currently working on updating the MSIP 6 Guidance Document. One area of importance in this revised document will deal with how growth is measured under MSIP 6.
• Career Ladder will be available again for the 2024-25 school year, districts have until April 30 to register to participate in the program.
• A new tool to analize MAP and EOC testing data is being released by DESE. This new tool is called the Missouri Data Visualization Tool or MO DVT for short. Training opportunities will be available this summer for this new tool.
• The Center for Disease Control (CDC) released new guidance on the isolation time for an individual that tests positive for COVID-19. The new standard is reflective of how an individual with a cold or flu would be treated, fever free for 24 hours with no medication and no symptoms.
• Welfare and Benefits Committee met with Mr. Heddinger on March 4. The staff survey indicated the following priorities – insurance, base salary, Career Ladder, and sick day accumulation. Mr. Heddinger will work from this list and meet with the committee again on April 8. The renewal rates from MEUHP have been received and for the HSA plans the rates will increase 8.5% and for the PPO plans the rates will increase 9.5%. As a result, Mr. Heddinger is soliciting rate quotes from two other vendors, Missouri Educators Trust (MET) and Ozark Schools Benefits Association (OSBA). Once more information is available it will be shared with the staff and board.
• Legislative Update – The General Assembly is on spring break. The most recent piece of legislation that has moved through the Senate is SB 727 – Voucher Program Expansion. This bill on its own was struggling to make it through the legislative process. Several amendments have been added to this bill to make it more appealing to some folks. In general, with all of the additional amendments this bill is just bad for education. Go to bulletin@mcsa.org to read for yourself and learn more about SB 727.
• MOSIS and Core Data Submissions – This month Lumens came to Tarkio to do some in-person training. This will only help to improve how we gather all of the information that is required in the MOSIS and Core Data systems.
• Safety Drills Update – The district participated in a state-wide tornado drill on March 6. The Crisis Go App worked as expected.
• Mr. Heddinger shared the agenda items for the April meeting with the board. These include district goals, non-certified evaluations and assignments for 2024-25, extra duty and coaching evaluations and assignments for 2024-25, insurance renewal update, and program evaluation for special education, at-risk, and talented and gifted.
• The next Board of Education meeting will be held April 15, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. in the superintendent’s office.
Mr. Barnes shared with the board an updated Facilities Use Agreement Policy and Regulation 1420 concerning the multi-purpose room. The board approved the amendment to this policy.
Mr. Barnes led a discussion providing a report on the school’s CSIP. This month he focused on the viable curriculum.
The board listened to the third and final reading of the school calendar for the 2024-25 school year. Highlights for this calendar include a school start date of August 21 and last day of May 15. The school day will begin at 8:00 a.m. and dismiss at 3:10 p.m. By adding the additional time, the total hours of attendance for the 2024-25 school year will be 1,092.30 hours. This is 48 above what is required and should provide enough extra hours to avoid having to make up school days due to cancellation. The board approved the 2024-25 school calendar as presented.
The board was presented with four bids for the lawn care of the school property. The board approved Thomas’ Lawn Care for the lawn care application for the district for the 2024 season 7-0.
The board was presented with two bids for the lawn mowing of the school property. The board approved Thomas’ Lawn Care for the mowing for the district for the 2024 and 2025 seasons 7-0.
There were no bids received for the snow removal for the district. Mr. Heddinger will put this out for bid again in the fall.
Mr. Heddinger presented to the board and the board approved a list of items to be declared as surplus. The items include – Torchmate plasma table, 7-foot finish mower, a lateral pull-down machine, and two leg curl/leg extension machines. These items will be advertised for closed bid according to Policy 3390.
Mr. Heddinger presented the board with two resolutions to approve working with Missouri Capital Asset Advantage Treasury (MOCAAT). This organization will allow the district to earn a much higher interest rate on it’s CDs. This will be tabled until next month pending a presentation by MOCAAT.
Mr. Barnes shared with the board the golf contract between the school and the Tarkio Golf and Country Club. No action was taken at this time.
Mr. Barnes shared information related to a co-op request the school has received from Craig. The board made no motion on this topic.
The board met in closed session to discuss teacher evaluations and vote on teacher contracts for the 2024-25 school year.
The board voted to extend contracts to all non-tenured teachers currently with the district for the 2024-25 school year.
The board voted to hire Katarina Bennett as a third grade teacher for the 2024-25 school year.
All tenured teachers work under a continuing contract and will be issued new contracts for the 2024-25 school year.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:51 p.m.
