The Fairfax R-3 School Board met in special open and executive sessions May 12, 2025, at 7:30 a.m. in the Fairfax superintendent’s office. Miles Smith, board president, called the meeting to order at 7:31 a.m. Also in attendance were: Treyvor Umbarger, Stephanie Stevens, Courtney Grossman, Brett Johnson, Shelby Hurst and Crystal Woodring, board members; Nick Kemerling, Superintendent; and Karen Burke, secretary. All agenda items were unanimously approved by roll call vote.

Barbara Terry was hired as K-12 Principal and the resignations of Lauren Clark, Gracie Mobley, and Alyssa Herron were accepted.

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The Fairfax R-3 School Board also met May 22, 2025. Miles Smith called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Also present were: Brett Johnson, Shelby Hurst, Stephanie Stevens, Crystal Woodring, Treyvor Umbarger and Courtney Grossman, board members; Nick Kemerling, superintendent; Karen Burke, secretary; Lexi Heck and Melanie Lucas, CTA members.

The agenda was approved as presented.

Consent Agenda

The consent agenda included the following:

• Review of minutes of the April 16 reorganization, regular, and executive meetings, and the May 12 special open and executive meetings.

• Financial report showing a fund balance of $2,697,377 on April 30, 2025, compared to $2,389,594 on April 30, 2024.

• The monthly bills were reviewed and approved for payment.

Superintendent’s Report

The gymnasium sound system was replaced last week by Midwest Data Center in time for graduation and the alumni banquet. The four suspended speakers were not replaced at this time.

Rob Liles was onsite to survey a newly-formed sinkhole located on the south fence near the press box. Rob reported he feared the corrugated metal tube that spans the width of the football field from Highway 59 to First Street is beginning to fail. He was asked to look at the tube 10-12 years ago, too, and told the board at that time there would be tube issues in the future. John Brown filled the hole prior to elementary field day. The situation will be monitored throughout the summer.

Custodians and maintenance have started to work on summer projects. Teachers were able to submit summer work orders during their checkout procedure on Thursday. Those orders are being prioritized and Mr. Kemerling is hopeful most can be completed before the start of school in August.

East Atchison Athletics

The EA baseball team finished their season with a district semi-final loss to Maysville. Their final record was 10-12 and a third place finish in the 275 Conference.

The track teams had another successful year at both the junior high and high school levels. Athletes competed at state track.

Summer strength training and conditioning has started at both schools and team activities are starting soon. Summer schedules can be found on the Fairfax website.

Updates

The legislative session ended a day early last week with several education issues being debated/voted on this spring. The school is still waiting on guidance from the association/attorneys on how to move forward, but items that will need to be addressed are:

• Minimum Wage – Schools were previously exempt. Starting August 28 all employees will need to earn at least $13.75 per hour and by January 1 all employees must earn at least $15 per hour. The school is waiting on guidance from attorneys on how to interpret this in regards to sub pay, gate/table workers, etc.

• A bell to bell cell phone ban was included in a safety bill.

• Fully funded baseline teacher salary grant. The school will be cautious in the budget.

Principal’s Report

General information was reported including elementary field day, the music program, preschool graduation, graduation, and grade reports.

MAP and EOC testing finished up well. Both EOC and MAP are through the same online client. Scores should be here in June.

Textbook and consumable requests are being finalized and will be ready for ordering in June/July for next year’s budget. Many big ticket items are presented for board approval this evening.

Final end of the year reports and DESE CORE data are being worked on.

School registration has been set for August 6.

Spring 2025 NWEA and STAR test scores were reviewed.

The nurse’s report was available for the board to review.

Board members voted unanimously to approve the consent agenda.

New Business

Board members approved payment of $4,674.30 to First Student for April transportation.

There was discussion on First Student quotes. First Student would only be used during junior high football and basketball seasons, and also during junior high track season. The school always ran two to three vans on those days, which ended up costing the district an amount similar to the rate shown on the First Student quote. The school is putting wear and tear plus miles on the 10 passenger vans, which are becoming harder to replace. Mr. Kemerling recommended contracting First Student for trips and after school practice. Board members voted unanimously to approve his recommendation.

Discussion on the Tarkio Tech concurrent agreement followed. This gives the Fairfax R-3 School District a cheaper tuition rate when the school agrees to send kids to Tarkio Tech. Mr. Kemerling recommended accepting the Tarkio Tech concurrent agreement. The board also discussed getting a history on the number of students who have attended vo-tech programs before and whether or not there should be a cap set on this. Board members voted unanimously to accept the Tarkio Tech concurrent agreement.

Board members voted unanimously to renew MEUHP as district health insurance provider and increase the district contribution from $670 to $674 per month.

Board members voted to approve the payment of $6,050 to Software Unlimited for the 2025-26 school year. This is for renewal of Software Unlimited as the school’s accounting software provider.

The Area Cooperative for Education Support (ACES) for the 2025-26 school year was approved. There are two fees associated with this service, one for $17,213.17 and another for $9,000.

Payment of $1,200.00 to WBN Lawn Care for lawn services was approved.

There was discussion on curriculum purchases. For the past several years, Fairfax R-3 has purchased curriculum items in July at the start of the new fiscal year. By purchasing in June the school could be in deficit for one year, but they would be able to make the orders when the principal is still under contract and early enough that all items will be received prior to the start of the new school year.

Board members voted unanimously to purchase the following curriculum items: On To College ACT Prep – $1,525.00; Microsoft Licensing, $1,423.00; Goodheart-Willcox Publisher (FACS), $1,361.00; Saxon Math, $3,697.20; Imagine Learning, $5,100.00; NWEA, $1,740.00; PLTW, $950.00; Ramsey Education, $997.08; Really Great Reading, $3,273.90; and Amazon (Saxon Books), $1,663.04; for a total of $21,730.22.

Tarkio sent items they would like to discuss at the June co-op meeting between the two schools. Fairfax board members will voice their recommendations to Mr. Kemerling to pass along to the Tarkio administration. Handbook changes will be made at June school board meeting

Board members voted to advertise for an Early Childhood Special Education position and to add fencing around parts of the school.

Board members voted unanimously to change the Farmers State Bank account from an MMDA to a commercial account.

The next regular board meeting will be Thursday, June 26, at 6:30 p.m. in the school library.