The Fairfax R-3 School District Board of Education held a regular meeting May 14, 2024. Miles Smith, board president, called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. Those in attendance were: Chance Clement, Crystal Woodring (via Zoom), Treyvor Umbarger, Courtney Grossman, and Shelby Hurst, board members; Nick Kemerling, superintendent; and Karen Burke, secretary. Board member Brett Johnson was absent.
The agenda was approved as presented.
Consent Agenda
The consent agenda was approved. It included minutes of the April 15, 2024, regular and executive sessions and the April 26, 2024, special open and executive sessions.
The financial report showed April year-to-date revenue of $2,533,176, and year-to-date expenses of $1,899,725. The fund balance was $2,389,594.
The monthly bills in the amount of $198,490.51 were reviewed and approved for payment.
Superintendent’s Report
Staff is preparing for this weekend’s upcoming graduation.
Mr. Kemerling has spoken to some of the board members regarding the signs purchased by the Fairfax Booster Club. Signs were purchased to place on each side of the district owned walking bridge. MoDOT was contacted to obtain a work permit, which is required for anything involving the bridge since it falls in MoDOT’s “air space.” Mr. Kemerling was told no signage is allowed to hang over a federal highway or inside the MoDOT right of way.
Teachers are turning in summer maintenance requests along with their end of year sign-out sheet. Mr. Kemerling will look at the requests and finish making a summer maintenance schedule. Summer projects include: repair molding and paint on the north exterior of gymnasium, paint north side of elementary, replace lights in band room hallway, room painting, and floor refinishing, including the old gym.
Mr. Kemerling also gave an update on the East Atchison Wolves, including spring sports and the summer schedule.
Principal’s Report
The principal’s report covered general information which included Elementary Field Day, the music program, preschool graduation, high school graduation, MAP and EOC testing, textbook and consumable requests, grade reports, final end of the year reports, and DESE CORE data.
School registration has been set for August 6. Registration paperwork will be online for parents to print prior to registration.
The school will need new Chromebooks. This year, several reached the end of their upgrade lives and can’t be used for testing any longer.
The 2023-2024 NWEA scores were reviewed.
Summer trainings will include the following:
• CPI training – Members of the school’s crisis intervention team have their yearly training at Craig on August 1 (refresher) and August 7 (initial). Individuals are required to go through a full day of initial training and then a yearly half day refresher.
• LETRS Training – A training through NWRPDC deals with the science of reading and determining why students have reading and comprehension issues and how to work with those students. It is not a “program” but a scientific reasoning behind reading issues. All of the elementary teaching staff is enrolled in either year one or year two for the fall of 2024.
• CPI refresher training will be August 1, 2024, 12:30-3:30 p.m. at Rolling Hills Library in St. Joseph, Missouri. This is a three hour refresher training for anyone needing to update their certification in CPI.
• CPI Foundation training will be August 7, 2024, 8:30-3:30 p.m. at the NWMSU Student Union Building in Maryville, Missouri. This is a six hour initial training for anyone wanting to be CPI certified.
New Business
The following payments were approved:
• First Student Transportation, $2,063.02 for April Vo-Tech transport (19 days with Craig and Mound City at $108.58 per day).
• MFA Oil, $1,448.97 for April fuel bill.
• Sectional Track Hotel Bill, $1,548.42. This is an EA Wolves expense for the track meet in Adrian.
• HUDL, $14,500.00. This is an EA Wolves expense for two gym cameras and two football field cameras. This is an addition of the Fairfax football field camera, which was agreed upon during co-op renewal. This payment will be due in September, but approved early to avoid interruption of service during football and volleyball seasons.
• Falls City Mercantile, $2,848.34. This is the cost of food for breakfast and lunch services.
Board members also approved the concurrent enrollment contract with Tarkio Technology Institute. This is dependent on any student enrolled in a TTI program. One student is interested.
A revision to board policy was discussed. The revision adds language that deals with the assessment of these individuals and will allow Fairfax R-3 to be compliant. Board members voted unanimously to approve the revision to Policy 6180 which deals with English Language Learners.
There was discussion on the cell phone policy. The handbook and board policy do not match and it is the recommendation of the majority of the school board to rewrite the board policy to match the handbook and bring it back to the next board meeting for approval.
The next regular board meeting will be Thursday, June 20, 2024, at 6:30 p.m.
The meeting adjourned at 7:38 p.m.
