By CRISTINA JANNEY

Hays Post

The Hays USD 489 school board voted in a special meeting at noon Thursday to stop a 4.6 percent pay increase for certain staff.

The staff, who incorrectly received the raise since July, will not have to pay back what they have already received.

The board met at the Rockwell Administrative Center to a standing-room-only crowd.

Classified staff and administrators received a pay increase in July of 4.6 percent without the school board’s authorization. Superintendent John Thissen said it was an administrative error and took responsibility for the mistake.

Thissen noted the 4.6 percent raise for all staff had been budgeted.

The error includes about 112 people who work for USD 489. It does not include custodians, who were covered under a contract negotiated by their union, SEIU, or paraprofessionals, who received a $2 per hour raise in a board effort to recruit and retain more special education staff.

The board has reached impasse with the teachers’ union. Hays NEA and board representatives will meet with a federal meditator to try to resolve that dispute next Thursday.

School Board President Mandy Fox proposed the district stop the 4.6 pay increase for classified staff and administrators until the board could reach an agreement with the teachers’ union.

The Hays district has typically given the same raise to other staff as it gives to teachers. Teachers are upset because they want a 4.6 percent raise as was given to the custodians and maintenance workers and initially given to the other staff.

However, when the teachers looked closer at the formula that was presented in negotiations, they realized their average raise was about 3.6 percent.

Thissen said at the meeting Thursday, if the board did nothing, he would be obligated to stop the 4.6 percent raise that was not approved by the board and require those who received the raise in error to pay back that money. This would come in the form of pay reductions until the money was paid back.

Fox’s motion initially failed to pass with Fox and board members Lane Bickle and Greg Swartz voting for the motion, and board members Mike Walker, Sophia Rose Young and Luke Oborny voting against.

Oborny and Young both said they thought the staff who received the raise in error should continue to receive the same pay and not have to pay any money back.

“I feel we as a board knew what was going on,” Oborny said. “In April it was discussed we were going to look at a 4.6. We discussed it with all of these different groups. We then negotiated with SEIU to a successful contract at 4.6. It all seemed to be going great until we found a math error in August, and that seems to be where that train seemed to derail.

“I don’t like how John [Thissen] has seemingly take all the responsibility and guilt here, because this was not a surprise to me. I felt through our meetings, and perhaps they were upstairs, I felt this was the way we were going, this is the way we should be going, this was our, as in all of us, this was our plan. I am confused. I don’t understand why we are backing up and going in a different direction now.”

Walker said he was very hesitant to take away someone’s pay.

“I am especially concerned, no offense to the administration, but the folks who earn less money — the bus drivers and secretaries,” he said.

Oborny echoed Walker’s sentiments.

He said he received an email from a classified staff member with the notification of their pay increase.

“It is still less — this person has worked in our district for years, for eight years — and it is still less than what I start employees out at Nex-Tech,” he said. “Today I cannot vote to decrease.”

Schwartz noted the board never voted on the raise, which is against board policy and state statute.

Walker proposed a compromise that would allow the raises for most of the group involved, such as kitchen workers, bus drivers and secretaries, to continue, but administrators and directors would stop receiving the raise until negotiations were resolved with the teachers.

That motion died for lack of a second.

After that motion died and Thissen clarified he would have to require staff to pay back raises if the board was unable to come to a consensus, Walker said he would change his vote on Fox’s motion.

Young said she was upset with the how the motion was stated. She said she wished the motion to be split. She said she wanted staff to be able to keep the pay they had already received, but she also wanted to continue the 4.6 percent raise until the teacher negotiations were completed.

Walker restated Fox’s motion. He refused to take amendments.

The motion passed with Fox, Bickle, Schwartz and Walker voting for and Young and Oborny voting against. Board member Paul Adams was absent.

The board then met in a short executive session. The board took no action after the executive session.

Evelyn Younker, cook manager at Hays Middle School, has worked for the school district for 36 years.

“I feel they should have given us that 4.6, and I believe it is only right that they leave it,” she said.

She said the paras and bus drivers have both received raises in the last couple of years and it is time the rest of the staff received raises. She said she has lost her retirement package and health insurance and had sick days capped.

“I am out here now where they say, ‘Stay, stay, stay. We are really going to take care of you when you get close to retirement age.’ They aren’t taking care of any of us,” she said.

Younker was using her extra income to pay down bills. She said she was counting on that money.

“Guess what? It’s gone. Now I have to figure something else out,” she said. “It is sad because we are so underpaid. It is so ridiculous.”

Kevin Ubert, a food service employee for 12 years, said, “For too long we have been taken advantage of and not been treated fairly and properly. Until we stand up for ourselves and prove a point to the board and everyone that has treated us improperly, nothing will change or get done.

“We have to stand united together and prove a point to the board that we need to be treated fairly and compensated properly.”

Kim Schneweis, negotiator for the Hays NEA, and Kathy Rome, Kansas NEA representative, addressed the crowd after the board meeting.

Schneweis thanked the crowd for attending the meeting. She noted the teachers’ pay is not legally bound to pay for other staff. The Hays NEA can’t legally negotiate for the other staff.

Rome said, “This easily could have been taken care of today with someone making a motion to give you your 4.6 percent pay raise and be done with it. It is not tied to teacher negotiations. It should have been taken care of today.”

Rome said classified staff and administrators can join the NEA and urged the staff to do that.

 

 

By CRISTINA JANNEY

Hays Post 

Thomas More Prep-Marian students will be performing the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic musical “Oklahoma!” this weekend.

Show times are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. All tickets are $8 and are on sale now at www.tmp-m.org and will be available at the door.

If you are unfamiliar with the classic, it is a love story set outside of Claremore, Oklahoma, in 1906 featuring spirited songs, dance and comedy.

Travis Grizzell, director, said he chose “Oklahoma!” because coming off of the school’s last two musicals, “The Little Mermaid” and “Into the Woods,” it was a return to a classic musical. He also thought the musical would fit the student talent pool.

“It worked out well with the other two musicals in our community this fall as well,” he said. “People were treated to the music of Abba in FHSU’s ‘Mama Mia,’ and they can also discover a wonderful new show in Hays High’s ‘Bright Star’ and also revisit a golden age show in our ‘Oklahoma!'”

The challenges for this musical are the same as all the others the school has produced.

“There tends to be a perception that because a show is older or better known, that you can just crank it out easier than some others,” Grizzell said. “It’s a musical, so it still has a lot of props, multiple costumes, hours of dance and music rehearsal and a lot of set for our shared venue space. When you take all of that on and match it up with our students’ availability, it gets pretty hectic.”

He said this cast brings energy and ownership to this show. He added he has had more student help on the production side of this show than probably any other musical he’s directed.

“They’re a combination of new, young actors and older actors that have been chompin’ at the bit for that lead or featured role,” Grizzell said. “The kids are putting their heart and soul into this, making it their own and leavin’ it all on the stage each night. I think that’ll come across well for our audience.”

He said he would encourage community members to get out and attend these shows and support our local performing arts.

“I would like to add that you may think you know ‘Oklahoma!,’ but the beauty of live theater is that every single show is different,” Grizzell said. “I encourage all your readers to get out and attend these shows and support our local performing arts. It’ll be a great time, and we look forward to seeing everyone this weekend!”

Below is a cast list.

OKLAHOMA!

AUNT ELLER – ALEX HERRMAN

CURLEY – LANE WERTH

LAUREY – KAITLYN BURD

IKE SKIDMORE – KOOPER HUDSONPILLAR

FRED – AAKASH PATEL

WILL PARKER – DYLAN WERTH

JUD FRY – BEN PFANNENSTIEL

ADO ANNIE CARNES – ANNIE WASINGER

ALI HAKIM – PAUL BRULL

GERTIE CUMMINGS – MADISON FOSS

ELLEN – HAILEY CASEY

KATE – MADELYN SEILER

SYLVIE – HAYLI MEIER

ARMINA – WHITNEY BEFORT

AGGIE – MAGGIE BRULL

ANDREW CARNES – LUCAS KRAUS

CORD ELAM – HUNTER FLAX

JOE – AIDAN NORMANDIN

MIKE – NICKLAS HELGET

VIVIAN – ABBY PEELER

VIRGINIA – MAGGIE BAALMANN

JESS– JASMINE ROBLES

REBECCA – MORGAN OLMSTEAD

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Footsteps in empty rooms, voices in the dark and disembodied voices coming from the other side are a few of the unexplained experiences the members of Old School Paranormal have experienced in their investigations of the unexplained.

Old School Paranormal of Hays investigated the Hays Public Library this summer for reported haunted happenings. They came back to the library Thursday night to present their findings to the public and share more about their otherworldly hobby. If you are a believer, their findings are chilling.

Old School Paranormal team members said they were called in by the library staff to help solve decades of paranormal claims by both patrons and library staff members. Claims included phantom footsteps, books moving on their own, a haunted painting, a man in a purple jumpsuit and claims that long-gone librarians are still tending to their beloved library.

During the night investigation, the paranormal investigators as well as Samantha Gill, adult librarian, and Vera Elwood, young adult services librarian, thought they heard footsteps on the main floor of the library while they were in the basement. The library was closed and locked. When they searched the area, no one could be found.

The investigators used electromagnetic field detectors, which are also known as EMF or K2 detectors, in the building. The theory in ghost hunting is a spirit can alter the electromagnetic field to interact with the living. The devices beep or light up when interacting with a spirit.

Both Gill and Elwood asked the spirits questions while holding the EMF detectors and both devices indicated to very specific questions. This led the librarians and the investigators to believe they might have been in contact with a former female librarian as well as a spirit of a teen boy.

“What was most interesting is that it almost was an intelligible conversation,” said Scott Stults, a team co-founder, lead investigator.

Steve Stults, a team co-founder, lead investigator and Scott’s brother, said “Is it a ghost? Is it somebody who is stuck down there and can’t get out and needs help getting out? We don’t know — possibly, possibly not.”

The investigators, who usually spend all night in a location, only spent four hours at the library and said they would like to come back for an extended probe.

Villisca Ax Murderer House
The team visited the Villisca Ax Murderer House in 2016. Sometime past midnight on Monday, June 10, 1912, a person or persons entered the Moore house in Villisca, Iowa, and used an ax to bludgeon eight sleeping people to death. This included mother and father, Josiah and Sarah Moore, their four children, and two of the children’s young friends. The children ranged in age from 5 to 12.

The killer or killers were never brought to justice, despite a decade-long investigation. Some believe the killer might have jumped a train in Iowa and traveled to other communities, including Ellsworth and Colorado Springs, Colo., and committed more murders.

The team recorded video of what they believe is the murder speaking through a spirit box. The machine rapidly cycles through AM and FM radio stations. The theory is spirits can speak through the white noise.

Voice in the dark
Scott said about 95 percent of the team’s evidence comes from audio recordings. Audio recorders can pick up sounds or what appears to be words or phrases that the team did not hear with the naked ear at the time of the recordings.

The team is made up of five men, which also includes Kevin Sauer, investigator, tech manager, electronics specialist, social media manager; Neal Dreher, investigator and building systems specialist; and John Kreutzer, co-founder, lead investigator, case manager, researcher. However, the men claimed to have recorded children’s and women’s voices during investigations.

“When you capture a woman singing at 3 o’clock in the morning, how do you explain that?” Scott said. “You are out in the middle of nowhere. That is why we do the things we do.”

The team shared a number of EVP, electronic voice phenomenon, they recorded at previous investigations.

At the Ness County Bank, the team thought they heard on a recording a female voice saying, “Please don’t leave us. We need you.”

When Steve was on a previous paranormal team, he recorded at the Midland Hotel in Wilson what they thought was a girl’s voice, saying “Mommy.” There was a fire at the hotel in the early 1900s, and the story goes the ghost of a girl who died in that fire haunts the hotel and pulls on guests’ sheets.

At the Ennis Handy House in Goodland, the team recorded what sounded like a woman singing, “You don’t have to leave. You don’t have to go.”

The spirits also at times seem to aggravate other senses. The team claims they intermittently smelled pipe tobacco in one building they investigated. In another instance, Steve said he felt a searing pain in the back of leg as if he had ben bitten by a dog.

Tools of the trade

Sauer ran the group through some of their other equipment, which included video cameras with night vision, low-tech, old-school witching rods, skeletal mapping software and trigger props, including a small toy train that makes a noise only when it is physically touched.

“Imagine you are somewhere, and I will use Fort Harker as an example,” Scott said. “They have a depot there, so obviously it makes sense to put that train in the depot. Nobody is in there. It’s locked. The curator opens the door and walks in, and that is going off across the room. So what would have prompted that or caused that to go off? That is the paranormal part of it.”

Despite all of the tech, Sauer said the team’s best asset is their own senses.

Scott said, “If you hear something and it sounds like a whistle, you try to figure it out. Maybe you are in a building that was built in 1888, and the windows have some gaps in them and it is windy outside. Just because you hear something doesn’t automatically make it a ghost or spirit.”

Even the believers are skeptics

Steve said no one has been able to prove without a shadow of a doubt the existence of ghosts. The team operates on theory. Paranormal is anything outside the realm of normal or what is expected.

“It nutshell, it is the investigation of claims or reports of ghosts or spirits or any paranormal activity.

“There are a lot of instances we are going into places that have claims of doors closing on their own, or you live by yourself and you hear footsteps upstairs in the attic, things like that,” he said. “We are not saying those are ghosts. That is where we come in and try to figure out what the heck is going on.

“If we can’t, with our vast array of devices, come up with an explanation as far as what is going on – that is what paranormal is. It doesn’t mean there is a ghost or anything like that. Paranormal is more than spirits or spooks or whatever you want to call them.”

Scott said paranormal investigation is not like it appears on TV in shows such as “Ghost Hunters.” Those shows take hours or days of video footage and only show viewers the most exciting bits and pieces.

“It is a lot of sitting around in the dark, sometimes people falling asleep. It is a lot of sitting around and waiting,” he said. “When things happen, it is exciting. It’s a rush, but it takes a long time for things like that to kick into gear. Sometimes it doesn’t happen at all.”

Dreher said when you get home you have to go through hours of video or audio even though you believe there is probably nothing on the recordings. It can take the group as long as three months to evaluate all of the audio and video they take during a full investigation.

Future investigations
The team is preparing for an investigation at Fort Riley, the first one of its kind authorized by the military.

The team is always looking for new sites to investigate. It does not charge for investigations, but will accept donations for expenses. This is a hobby for the men, who all have day jobs. They do not claim to be professionals, but they do carry insurance.

The team doesn’t usually investigate outdoor locations because of the environmental distractions. They also require a property owner’s permission and will not trespass. They also typically do not investigate private residences. Most of their investigations are in museums or other historical buildings.

Find out more on the group’s website.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

A new program at Hays Middle School seeks to prevent suicide and self-harm among its students.

Already this year, HMS has reported multiple students with either suicide attempts or serious self-harm incidents, Julie Zollinger, school psychologist, said.

The school is rolling out a pilot of the Signs of Suicide prevention program this month. Zollinger gave a presentation on the pilot to USD 489 school board members at their meeting Monday.

SOS is the only program that research has shown increases students knowledge about suicide risk and depression, and decreased suicide attempts.

A report in 2016 indicated SOS reduced self-reported suicide attempts by 64 percent.

Over the last 10 years, the program has been implemented in more than 1,000 schools.

The strongest indicators for suicide are depression, substance abuse and previous attempts of suicide, Zollinger said. For youth ages 11 to 19, suicide is the second-leading cause of death. In Kansas, suicide is the third-leading cause of death for middle school youth.

Depression has been linked to poor school performance, substance abuse, running away, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness in addition to suicide.

“The SOS program was created to address the issues of youth depression and suicide simultaneously and age appropriately,” Zollinger said.

She added more than 90 percent of youth who die by suicide have a diagnosable mental health issue, most often depression. Yet 80 percent of youth with a mental disorder are never identified.

The SOS program has the following goals:

• Highlight the relationship between mental health and suicide

• Teach that suicide is, most often, a fatal response to a treatable disorder – depression

• Encourage individuals to seek help from adults

• Encourages students to seek help when they are concerned about themselves or a friend

In addition, the program seeks to reduce stigma, encourage students to seek help for themselves and others, engage parents and teacher to promote education and prevention, increase access to mental health services and strengthen community partnerships.

The students will learn to ACT.

Acknowledge: that you are seeing signs of depression or suicide in yourself or a friend and that it is serious.

Care: Let your friend know how much you care about them and that you are concerned that they need help.

Tell: a trusted adult that you are worried about yourself or a friend.

HMS has already started to roll out the program to a pilot of 25 students. The staff has seen training videos, consent letters have gone out to parents and parent training is set to start later this week.

Parents can watch a video on SOS, receive a newsletter and receive access to an SOS online portal.

Students will also watch a video and receive a newsletter. To complete the session, they must fill out a depression screening and hand in a response card indicating if they are concerned about themselves or a friend. The students also get wallet cards and ACT sticker for their lockers.

SOS research has indicated 12 percent to 15 percent of students report they need a follow-up after they complete the SOS training. That rate is higher if there has been a recent trauma in the community.

Counselors and the school psychologist will be on hand to help students who self-refer or refer a friend. Parents will be contacted, and the students referred to community mental health services if necessary.

Materials for the program were paid for through a gift from the USD 489 Foundation for Educational Excellence. The startup pack for the middle school cost about $500, but Zollinger said further materials would be less expensive and some resources like the newsletters could be produced in-house.

Zollinger said she hopes the SOS program could be rolled out to the entire middle school. The school is only limited, at this point, by the number of mental health providers available following the implementation, she said.

Board member Luke Oborny said the numbers and the evidence on suicide were staggeringly scary.

“It is not a matter if there is a need,” he said. “I am glad you are helping to try to fill that void.”