By C.D. DESALVO
Hays Post

On Monday at the Rockwell Administration Center, the Hays USD 489 Board of Education was presented with an update from the administration’s technology committee on which machines it is reviewing to replace laptops that K-8 district teachers currently have.

“Regardless of brand, I think it would be in our advantage to enter back into a self-maintainer program with whichever vendor that may be,” said Scott Summers, director of technology. “We have done self-maintainer in the past as far as when we had Dells, we had Dell-certified technicians and, when we switched to HP, they were certified for HP and that allowed us to do our own repairs in-house instead of sending the machines back to the vendor. So that is really a big thing I’m looking at.”

The existing laptops will be seven years old this fall and some teachers have even gone to using their own personal devices, he said.

“Somewhere around 30 percent of the roughly 1,500 repair tickets we have had this year have been some sort of issue with those laptops,” said Summers.

The three models that the technology committee has narrowed it down to are Dell, HP and Lenovo. Superintendent John Thissen said that more than just performance is going into consideration for the devices.

“The machines in comparison ended up being close to the same when it comes to cost. The issue is sometimes the reliability of the device and what kind of service can we get for them? What does Fort Hays State University use? What does Hays Medical Center use? Those are things being investigated too in trying to make that determination,” he said.

Board President Lance Bickle noted the K-8 staff just recently received iPads and that some school districts use only iPads in the classroom.

“The issue I have is with everything else going on, I have a hard time spending money on a second device for staff members. What is it that we can’t do on the iPads that they have to have a laptop for? I ask that because I know there are districts out there that only have iPads,” he said.

Summers said teachers thought it was easier for them to create content on laptops.

“I know last year when we talked about that it came down to content creation. A lot of them felt that it was easier to do content creation on laptops as opposed to the iPads,” he said.

Thissen said he thinks a majority of the teachers would rather use laptops instead of iPads.

“At least a few teachers I talked to identified the laptop as an instructional tool and the iPad as a learning tool, and I think if they had to pick between the two, they would end up picking the laptop as their instructional tool,” he said.

Thissen also explained that in districts that were iPad only, the teachers did not have their own iPad or device provided by the district and that the teachers use the same iPads in the classroom that the students use.

Board member Luke Oborny also brought up that the iPads are only 16 gigabytes of storage space, which has been an issue for the teachers.

The technology committee will meet on April 18 to review the three vendors and plans to have a presentation for the board by the end of the month.

The board also voted to approve the purchase of a K-5th grade math curriculum by a vote of 7-0. The Go Math series was purchased in 2011 and teachers recommended its renewal for the 2015 series. The approval is for a 5-year renewal totaling $96,315.60. Since it is a renewal with Go Math, the district will not have to pay the full purchase price of approximately $200,000.

Full work session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phW3CMkmGk8&t=2406s

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

There will be more places to park around the Ellis County Administrative Center in downtown Hays after the Ellis County Commission approved the purchase of two properties surrounding the 718 Main Street location.

The commission voted 3-0 Monday to approve the purchase agreement for the properties, owned by Commerce Bank, at 113 E. Seventh and 132 E. Eighth for $150,000 and $10 for the personal property associated with the two lots. The commission also approved the bill of sale.

According to County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes, the county was approached by Commerce Bank about purchasing the property in late 2016 after the bank decided it would close the Eighth Street drive-through location.

In 2012, Ellis County purchased the building at 718 Main from Commerce Bank. County offices occupy the basement and first floor making up the Ellis County Administrative Center. Adams Brown Beran and Ball leases the second floor of the building and has an agreement that runs through 2021 with two extensions through 2031.

Smith-Hanes said with all of the changes going on at the 718 Main location, there is a need for more parking.

“Since most of the county functions have consolidated here and with the recent addition of new staff with Adams Brown Beran and Ball, the parking lots of kind of crowded,” he said.

Once the sale is complete, the county plans to use the lot at 113 E Seventh as parking, Smith-Hanes said, and then begin negotiations with Adams Brown Beran and Ball to lease the building at 132 E. Eighth. The two entities will work with an architect to reconfigure the parking lot, which will include upgrades to the building’s landscape.

“I’ve had some preliminary discussions with the city of Hays and the Downtown Hays Development Corporation. Suffice it to say, people are in favor of additional parking in downtown Hays,” said Smith-Hanes.

The commission also approved the transfer of $150,010 from the county’s budget stabilization account to pay for properties at Monday’s meeting.

That account, according to Smith-Hanes, was designed to “protect cash flow in the general fund to cover such instances as emergencies, revenue shortfalls, changes in timing of revenues and unanticipated capital needs.”

“The purchase of these two parcels is unanticipated capital need,” he said.

The county will then use the increased amount of unencumbered cash balance in the general fund to repay the budget stabilization account in 2018.

“It makes sense to take control of the property around 718 Main,” Commission Chair Barb Wasinger said. “It’s advantageous to have the extra space that’s over there that Adams Brown Beran and Ball would like to use so there’s some lease income.”

Commissioner Marcy McClelland agreed there is a need for more parking.

“I think we were met with that quite some time ago,” she said. “I think it would be very helpful for both our customers and also Adams Brown Beran and Ball so that there’ll places for people to park.”

In other business, the commission approved the hiring of a person to fill an Environmental Associate position vacated after a county employee passed away. The new position also contained a change in job title and description.

Commissioners tabled a decision to fill a vacant full-time position within the Appraiser’s Office. The position was changed from full-time to part-time in 2017. Appraiser Lisa Ree said she has had trouble keeping someone in the position because it is part-time. Ree said counties similar to the size of Ellis County average 10 employees in the Appraiser’s Office. Ellis County has seven and a quarter positions.

The commission also approved an update to the county’s personnel policy.