HUTCHINSON, Kan. — In brief comments before the USD 308 Board of Education on Monday night, Superintendent Dr. Dawn Johnson updated them on a discussion she had with the Boys and Girls Club about Avenue A school.
"I have met with Lance Patterson and Skip Wilson of the Boys and Girls Club," Johnson said. "They originally talked about purchasing Avenue A school. They came and talked with me. They are withdrawing that offer to purchase. They would still like to partner, so we have met and walked through Avenue A, just to kind of take a look at that, so I will continue to work with them and bring an update back to the board."
The board also heard a presentation on budget planning Monday night.
Sheila Meggers, Assistant Superintendent of Finance, led board members through a presentation about district budget planning and the Building Needs Assessment that administrators worked on for the upcoming year. Board members were able to ask questions and give input through the presentation.
Also, the board approved an increase to the contract with Durham School Services of 6.1%, or a cost of $20,323 to the school district. Normally, a 3% increase is what is in the regular contract, but Durham asked for the additional funds so it can pay drivers, monitors, mechanics and administrative staff more.
The board also approved adding a second school resource officer in the district.
"The MOU would be that we would have the same MOU we have now with the city," Johnson said. "We would pay 50 percent of the salary. All the costs for uniforms, all the costs for training, all the costs for providing a vehicle, all the costs for radios, I mean everything else, the city and the police department would be paying for. We would just provide that. I believe it's right under $40,000."
Though specifics are still to be worked out, when 308 had two officers before, the second one was based out of the middle schools and then traveled to schools throughout the district as needed. That was the intent of the board as they passed the motion on Monday.
The board also approved a Title I agreement for the students that go to Holy Cross Catholic School and live in USD 308. USD 308 has an employee that provides those federally mandated services at that school. The agreement is so that USD 309 and 313 can help pay for that employee, if funds are generated for those districts by students that attend Holy Cross.
The next regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting is Monday, August 22, at 6:00 p.m. at the USD 308 Administrative Center, 1520 N Plum.