The Trenton R-9 Board of Education approved of a bid for construction of an addition to the district’s maintenance building at its meeting Tuesday evening.
The board approved the bid from Andy Gannon of Phased Electric for $53,000. Supportive Services Director Kris Okenfels shared that Phased Electric could start on construction as soon as this week. He said Trenton Park Superintendent Jason Shuler will assist with dirt work. John Kramer of Kramer Construction also submitted a bid for construction for $84,640.
The board approved Doctor Brent Blevins of George K. Baum and Company to go to market on the district’s tax-exempt general obligation refunding Series 2010 bonds. The district has an opportunity to refinance the bonds for a projected savings of $186,100. More information will be provided at the December meeting.
Superintendent Dan Wiebers reported that the district will receive a Maximum Refund Settlement from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City for the period of July 1st, 2016 to June 30th, 2017. The refund is $132,437. Wiebers will develop a plan to reimburse any employees and retirees paying for health insurance their portion of the Max Refund. He will present the plan during the December meeting.
Summer School Principal E’Lisha Gass reported 158 out of the 337 students participating in summer school in 2017 received perfect attendance. Eighty-four students missed less than 14 hours, and the average daily attendance was 81.29%. Twenty-seven students did not reside in the district. Gass said students earned nearly $24,000 in incentives given as gift cards and daily prizes. She noted parent and staff surveys received mostly positive responses.
Wiebers shared that the funds available to the district after paying the company providing the curriculum (Catapult), a fee for busing, payroll, and for supplies totals $73,688.73.
The board of education approved a grant request from the first-grade teachers for a $500 Missouri Conservation Grant. The funds from the grant will purchase student materials to teach about life cycles, specifically that of turkeys.
High school speech class students presented a proposal for the district to pay for all juniors to take the ACT. The state no longer funds juniors taking the ACT. The cost per test is $46 without the writing portion, which would cost the district $4,140. The board approved paying for juniors to take the test without the writing portion February 27th.
Mark Higgins from Conrad and Higgins, LLC presented a rough draft of the 2016-2017 school audit. He reported there were no problems or concerns. The board will need to approve the audit at the December meeting.
The board approved multiple Missouri School Boards Association policy updates introduced at the October meeting with several changes.
Kris Ockenfels was named the Information Security Officer and Taya Ray as the district’s Alternate Information Security Officer on a policy dealing with data governance and security. Rissler Elementary School Assistant Principal Kayli Burrel was named the Foster Care Liaison on a policy dealing with students in foster care.
Two parts of a procedure on data governance and security were not adopted.
One part not adopted dealt with password changes at least every 90 days to access district confidential or critical data and at least every six months to access other district data. Board member Brooke McAtee said she would like to look into what it would take for the district to have passwords changed every 90 days.
The board approved the hard surface bus routes for this school year. Superintendent Wiebers shared the district’s winter weather procedures.
Board of Education terms of Martha Roberts and Cliff Roeder will expire at the April 10th meeting. Candidates may file for election December 12th through January 16th. Election day will be April 3rd.
The board recognized Rissler students and staff for an article about the school appearing in the Positive Focus Fall 2017 edition. Rissler Student Council members introduced themselves and told the board about the activities in which the council participates.
Trenton Middle School Principal Daniel Gott introduced Middle School Students of the Month for October’s character trait of courtesy.
High School Principal Ron Franklin introduced High School Students of the First Quarter.
