Topics discussed during USD 379’s monthly Board Meeting on February 10th included: Grants, USD 334 Consolidation, School Improvement Day, Curriculum, Legislation, and more.
Wakefield would like to apply for another Project Lead Grant. Wakefield’s current 5-year after-school grant expires this summer.
Brett Nelson, Superintendent, spoke briefly about the capital outlay plans for facility improvements. Nelson and the Board talked about the PowerSchool breach. It is currently being worked on by PowerSchool, USD 379 has not received any updates as of yet.
Jaclyn Pfizenmaier, Director of Curriculum & Instruction, stated that on March 10th USD 379’s School Improvement Day will take place at Smoky Hill ESC in Salina. The team will bring one goal to this event, detailing what the District can improve on. She also presented a KSDE Gateway to Math Courses handout, helping outline the math three pathways needed throughout the students’ time at USD 379.
Nelson showed an outline that USD 334 did on the disorganization and consolidation of students. USD 379 has around 30 Miltonvale students from the consolidation this past year. The disorganization outline draft shows a timeline of how the process might work. Nelson stated all are districts are working on ways to split the districts if USD 334 dissolves.
The Board discussed the adoption of a new 6th-12th grade History, Government, and Social Studies curriculum. They are looking to keep the same Savaas platform they currently use; the new curriculum would be more updated. The Board discussed the adoption, they will look to approve the curriculum at the March meeting.
Board member Dave Jermark read a remark about how the Board should be looking into and handling the possible necessary budget reductions the District could face in the near future. He spoke about tier budget reductions and praised Mr. Nelson on the work he’s doing to keep everyone updated. Work is currently being done on these issues as they come up. Declining student numbers are the key reason for these discussions.
After executive sessions, contract renewals were approved for Anita Breen and Jaclyn Pfizenmaier in their current positions.
