Alva Review-Courier -

In a regular meeting Monday, the Alva Board of Education approved hiring a custodian, approved three Kansas trips for the livestock judging team, and handled various tasks related to the start of the new fiscal year.

Board President Jane McDermott opened the meeting with members Shane Hansen, Larry Parker and Karen Koehn present. Kevin Pingelton arrived a few minutes later.

Washington Principal Madison Williams presented T.J. Gluth as a candidate for the custodian position at her school. Board members voted unanimously in favor of Gluth.

Superintendent Tim Argo reported the resignation of Krista Friday who has accepted a position with Burlington Schools. Amber Sandoval turned in a voluntary separation because she has a position elsewhere.

Argo told the board he expects to have several certified positions on the agenda for the August board meeting. He said these candidates are in the process of completing testing and other paperwork for emergency certification. With those, the Alva schools still have three certified positions open for an early childhood teacher, middle school social studies and speech language pathology.

Salary Increases

Salary schedules for the next school year were presented to the board. Argo thanked Koehn and Hansen who are on the salaries committee for their help. He said the total administrative salaries were reduced by a factor of 0.05 to bring them more in line with other district pay. Administrative salaries total $593,000, an increase of about $37,000 over last year.

Teachers will receive the state-mandated $5,000 pay increase for the new school year. The first year is state-funded, but it is unclear whether the state will pay for subsequent years. While some contracts are still pending, he said the estimated total of teacher salaries is $6.4 million, up about $533,000. He added that since 2019, Alva schools have been paying their teachers above the state minimums.

Support personnel will also receive raises. Argo said these are needed due to the increased costs from inflation. All non-certified employees will receive a $1.00 per hour increase. Staff salaries total about $2.2 million, an increase of $349,000 over the year just finished.

Board members voted to approve all salary schedules for FY23-24.

New School Year Actions

The board voted to accept credits from Northwest Technology Center (NWTC) for students attending Career Tech classes and earning credits in mathematics and/or science for the coming school year. Argo explained that NWTC offerings such as biomed and computer classes will earn credits toward high school graduation.

A three year statutory waiver was approved allowing the Alva School District to service fewer than 10 alternative education students at Alva High School and Alva Middle School without participating in a cooperative agreement. Argo said Alva usually has more than 10 students in alternative education, but if that number decreases below 10, this waiver will relieve them of the obligation for a cooperative agreement. Previously, the waivers were for one year, but Argo was advised to make it three years for less paperwork.

Four contracts were approved as a group. The school contracts with the City of Alva for two school resource officers (SRO) for a total of 14 hours per day. Argo said one works eight hours while the other works six. The second SRO works at NWTC the other two hours. Last year the contract was for $38.04 per hour; this year it is increased to $41.85.

Jan Eden, PT provides physical therapy for homeschooled and homebound students.

Argo said the school had very good reports including some physical improvements from student physical therapy with Share Medical Center.

The fourth contract approved was Stepping Stones LLC providing school psychologists. Argo said they charge $800 per evaluation for student IEPs (individual education plans).

The board approved the renewal lease agreement with Midwest Bus Sales for five 71-passenger buses. This is the final year of a three-year renewable agreement. Argo reminded the board of the difficulty in getting buses from their former supplier during the pandemic and said the agreement with Midwest has worked out well.

FFA Advisor Chad Blocker requested approval for the Livestock Judging Team to travel to three out-of-state events in Kansas. The contests are Labette County, Kansas, on July 27-28, 2023; Crawford County, Kansas, on Aug. 3-4, 2023; and Pratt, Kansas, on Aug. 11, 2023. School board members voted approval for all three.

The board also approved a request from First Baptist Church in Alva to use a school bus July 24-29 to transport youth to and from Falls Creek in Davis. The church has used a school bus the last couple of years. They will provide a licensed certified driver and pay for fuel.

Board members were provided with a draft policy regarding “Complaints As to a Student Related to an Administrator, Supervisor, or Board Member”. They voted to approve the draft policy for policy committee consideration. The final version will be presented to the school board later for approval.

Strategic Plan Update

Before presenting a brief update on the strategic plan, Supt. Argo said he asked board members Koehn and Hansen to serve on the salaries committee while Hansen and Pingelton agreed to serve on the facilities committee.

Argo gave a brief strategic plan update, displaying a new accountability flow chart. He said the school site committees will work through the action steps for their site. The plan is for more frequent meetings and bringing reports to school board meetings.

He also displayed the 24 page working report card. At a question from McDermott, he said this has no relationship to the annual state report card. “I think we’ve made a lot of progress,” Argo said about the strategic plan.

Financial Information, Fundraisers

Supt. Argo said the school has final revenue figures for the fiscal year ending June 30. Gross production was up $241,575.76 from the previous year. Other funds also showed increases except for motor vehicle tax which was a little below. Total revenue was up over $1 million for the year. The school district spent $687,000 more than the previous year.

“Our building fund has been really strong,” said Argo. The actual revenue for the year was $880,297 while the estimate of needs as $658,000.

In child nutrition, there was a decrease in payroll and an increase in expenditures. The school received full reimbursement for every meal during the pandemic while federal funds provided free meals. This gave the child nutrition account extra money which is being used for the cafeteria renovation. McDermott asked if the carryover could cause the child nutrition budget to receive less funding. Argo said they just have to spend it down some.

The board was provided a list of 147 fundraisers for school activity accounts for next year. Argo said the items highlighted in yellow weren’t submitted for this year, but they had been held in the past. He said it’s likely a lot of these won’t be completed. Last year only 66 fundraisers were completed. Each organization and each high school class has been assigned a concession stand stint and a fundraising meal.

Examining the list, McDermott noted that no football fundraisers were listed. Dave Foster, athletic director and head high school football coach, attended the meeting. He said when he arrived two years ago he began developing a plan. “Our goal is to run a self-sufficient marketing plan,” he said. This will eliminate the need for individual fundraisers by sports teams. The sale of such things as Goldbug flags, game tickets, tier parking and advertising in programs will go into one athletic department fund.

As an example, he said the fund paid for rooms when the girls’ basketball team went to state last season. He said students are expected to pick up some of the costs such as meals after travel games but some families can’t afford those extra costs. He said those students will be taken care of.

McDermott asked several questions and determined that the fund is just for athletics. It includes cheerleaders but does not include other school activities.

A closed executive session was held at the end of the meeting to discuss AEA negotiations.

A video of the meeting may be viewed at http://www.AlvaReviewCourier.com.