December 13, 2021 at 6:30 PM - Monthly Meeting

Discussion:  The meeting was called to order by Mrs. VanPatten at 0630.  There were only three members present to begin with, so the agenda order was altered.  Here is the order of events: Hearing of Visitors, Transportation Update, KESA Update, Upcoming Training Opportunities, & Insurance Update.  At that time (6:55 PM), a fourth board member arrived and then we went back to the top of the agenda and attended those that required action in the order presented.

Discussion:  Mrs. Baird visited about the annual Angel Tree project her class participates in.  First National Bank and Trust has a tree set up with ornaments identifying needs and requests for gifts.  The fifth graders participate in fund-raising (popcorn and bake sale) events that allow them to contribute to this cause each year. 

Discussion:  Mrs. Rudd shared the heat press she purchased for the school and then shared some of the products that could be made with the new device.  This is a way to help school organizations have a better profit margin for fundraising events, offer faster turn around on product orders, and allow students to learn valuable marketing skills. She also presented the board with t-shirts, made with the press, as a thank you for their support and work they do for the school.

Discussion:  Mr. Gebhard went over some of the recent transportation repairs.  

Discussion:  Meeting returned to open session at 7:18 PM.  No action taken. 

Discussion:  Kinze had organized the 25 responses from staff members into Excel and Word documents.  Board members took time to review the information.  It was requested to have an average score for each question presented at the January meeting.

Discussion:  Mr. Tharman did a recap on the past five years of the KESA (Kansas Education Systems Accreditation) process.  On February 22nd, the district will have the OVT (Outside Validation Team) visit.  Once this is complete, the information will be presented to the ARC (Accreditation Review Council).  

Discussion:  Negotiation training is an annual requirement for those on the negotiating team.  The training offered by KASB on Thursday, February 10th (1 - 3 PM) was selected as the preferred day.
 

Discussion:  Mr. Tharman shared two upcoming health insurance meetings:  American Fidelity (Gravie) on December 14th @ 1:00 PM. and .
Freedom Claims Management on December 20th @ 9:00 AM.  

Discussion:  At the last Council of Superintendents meeting, Mr. Tharman learned that the state is allowing 3-year old at-risk students to qualify for state funding (0.5 student).  This is a significant amount of possible revenue.  The one element that keeps Northern Valley from qualifying for this .... is the number of hours those students are enrolled in.  Students need to have 456 hours per school year in order to qualify for the funding.  Currently, our three-year olds are here 324 hours per school year.  Discussion followed.  It was agreed that we need to consider some changes to capitalize on this opportunity.  Mr. Gebhard will share this information at the next Kindergarten Readiness meeting. 

Discussion:  Five freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors, and one senior volunteered to represent NV in the annual WKLL Scholarship Testing.  This is an academic competition with the other league schools.  Mr. Tharman asked the board to look ahead for scheduling Building Walk-Throughs.  It was agreed that January 25th would be the preferred date. 
Superintendent Evaluation will be sent out to each board member later this week. Christmas Break starts Dec. 23rd and teachers return for a workday on Jan. 3rd.  Students return on Jan. 4th. We have a new student that will be starting after break as well. The KSDE Audit will be the week of January 10th.  Amber and Kinze are collecting the requested information.  
The KCTC (Kansas Communities That Care) survey will be done on January 12th.
HS Youth Survey results were shared with the board. Next month the board will elect officers and set meeting dates and times for the next year. 

Discussion:  Mr. Gebhard shared about JH basketball / Christmas concert on Monday, Dec. 20th in the HS Auditorium / Bake sale during the BB game on Thursday, Dec. 16th / Watch D.O.G.S (Dads Of Great Students) will be starting up again in the spring semester. / AR parties will be next week. The Spelling Bee is set for January 25th.