March 9, 2021 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion:  President Meeske called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM.

Discussion:  Agnes Strand expressed to the board her hope for the addition of the third music teacher to Chase County Schools. The addition would allow her to return her focus to band. She mentioned that there was a decline in the number of students that participated in band and part of that was due to scheduling issues which could be fixed with a third teacher.

Discussion:  Mr. Hauxwell informed the board of upcoming events for students including state speech on March 18th, 5-8 vocal and band concert on March 16th, SPVA music contest on March 23rd, and high school quiz bowl on March 16th and 18th. He then gave the board an overview of the spring sports and the approximated number of participants. He mentioned that prom would take place on March 20th and the promenade would be at 5:30 pm in the longhorn gym followed by dinner and the dance at Broken Arrow Cellars. The boy's basketball team will have their first game on the state tournament on March 10th vs. Yutan at 3:00 PM MDT. The boys had a great send off Tuesday morning as well as a pep rally Monday night. He lastly informed the board of the money the school received for various district and sub district basketball games.

Discussion:  Mrs. Odens began by mentioning how last week the K-4 staff and students celebrated Dr. Seuss week. The 1st grade led the celebration and had different themes for each day as well as awarded prizes for the best dressed students. There will be 2 more ARC professional development days on March 16th and 25th. Mrs. Odens said she will be attending the Region V Principal's meeting in Sidney on March 17th with Mr. Sorensen. She noted that the UNL food day for the 5th & 6th graders has been moved to March 30th and Kindergarten round up has been scheduled for April 19th. Students and staff are working hard to prepare for NSCAS testing that will begin after Easter break. Teachers have been giving students practice tests so they are familiar with the format of the test. Lastly she informed the board that the change in mask requirements from required to suggested had everyone very excited!

Mr. Sorensen went over a few events that took place in the past month including FFA week February 20-27th, class registration on March 2nd for the 8th-11th graders, & FBLA state testing on March 3rd. He noted that ACT registration for the Sophomores and Juniors would be March 16th and that the ACT test would be March 23rd for Juniors and March 30th for sophomores. He also mentioned that the NSCAS testing for math and ELA would be April 13-14th for the 7th and 8th graders. He said there will be a pilot test for science as well.

Discussion:  Mr. Lambert started by explaining to the board how he and the principals were still working to fill open teacher positions. He noted how academics have been a primary focus of the district and they just received the academic achievement boards and had them hung in the commons area. He also mentioned how a focus of the teachers continues to be NSCAS and ACT prep with their students. He then moved on to building and grounds and mentioned the new website is still set to launch April 19th. He and Dallas met with Martin Building Systems out of Madrid and will soon have a bid for a potential storage building on the school grounds. The extreme cold temperatures shifted the concrete by some doorways, but Dallas was able to catch in time and fix so as not to mess up the new doors. He also noted that a new motor was installed in Shorthorn gym, the kitchen was looking to update some equipment and possibly work on changing the flow of the kitchen, and they have 3 bids for new buses. They are waiting to see if they will receive some grant money from the Federal government for the buses. Lastly, he noted that district was beginning the process of switching to American Fidelity as our 125 plan provider with enrollments for the following school year to begin March 16th. He provided the cash balances of all funds and noted how they are halfway through the year and have only used 42% of the budget.

Discussion:  Meeting adjourned at 7:52 PM.