By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
At Monday’s meeting, the 2015-16 Hays USD 489 Board of Education met for the first time and, following a reception for out-going board members, the board got to work quickly, electing officers and addressing several waiting agenda items.
During the appointment of new officers, board member Josh Waddell made a motion to have member Lance Bickle run the meeting during the election of a new president, vice president, clerk, record keeper and treasurer.
Board member Sarah Rankin nominated Bickle for president, a motion that was approved unanimously. Waddell was elected vice president, Sarah Wasinger was reappointed as board clerk, Cheryl Shubert as deputy clerk, and Ranae Booth as treasurer. Votes for all positions were unanimous.
In the report from Superintendent Dean Katt, the board was informed Scott Summers was hired as the district’s technology director. In his report Katt also noted summer maintenance projects are going well, as Hays High lighting upgrades and facilities cleaning projects are nearing completion. Maintenance on the Hays High track, however, has been delayed due to recent weather.
The board also approved a long list of consent agenda items, generally reappointing officers and coordinators from last year to continue in their positions for the upcoming school year. The agenda items also continued policies without major changes from last year, including school hours, record destruction and the reappointment of the Board Attorney Bill Jeter. The items were passed unanimously by the board.
In new business, the first agenda item to be discussed was the manner in which the board will continue signatures for payroll checks and bill payments. Bickle decided to continue in his predecessors footsteps with manual signatures.
Next the board considered dates and times for future meetings, finding no changes were necessary and so, will keep the current meeting days and times of 6:30 p.m. Monday — as well as aim for a two-hour cap on time.
“There was a study done recent about corporate meetings and, when given a specific time frame, the work was accomplished in that time frame. So it can be done, I know it can be done. We just need a little more rigor to get there,” Rankin said.
Katt suggested that work sessions could be used to flesh out policy and agenda details, enabling the board meetings to be more efficient without “rehashing” the same topics over and over again.
“Those are some of the things that I want to talk about during our retreat, but as we go through I think it’s going to be easier to keep some time time constraints if we think about those types of things,” he said.
Technology was also on the agenda with the board hearing recommendations from Katt for device cases to be purchased for the districts’ Microsoft surface tablets and iPads.
“This is actually under what we thought we would need for iPads, but it’s over what we need for the Surface,” Katt said. Board members questioned why it was necessary to go over budget.
“The way I’m looking at that even with the under on the iPads we still have a substantial over — we’re still $10,605 over budget, Bickle said.
Katt said the reason for the overage was based on initial pricing prior to handling the cases.
“The iPads were close, the others we were just making assumptions on what was out there, based on internet, looking at things. When they sent them, they were just junk. … They wouldn’t have really protected anything,” Katt said. “I think we need to protect our investment and get what we needed.”
The board unanimously approved the suggestion.
The next Board meeting will be July 20, at 6:30 p.m. in the Toepfer Board Room at the Rockwell Administration Center, 323 W. 12th.