The South Barber USD 255 School Board spent over an hour and a half in the middle of their May meeting Monday night in executive sessions. The first 15 minutes were for negotiations.
The remainder of executive sessions were for non-elected personnel. Fourth grade teacher and current assistant elementary principal Kaynette Scheck was called in several times as was Superintendent and current elementary principal Dr. Mylo Miller and Grade 7-12 Principal Brent Shaffer.
Upon return to open session, the board voted to hire Mrs. Scheck as full-time elementary principal. The board specified her salary at $60,000. She’s taught elementary for 16 years. She was a preK-6th math instructional coach for three years in Great Bend.
Scheck has served as the 4th grade math and ELA teacher and assistant principal for the past three years here at South Barber Elementary. She earned a Bachelors of Science of Education K-6 with a special endorsement in mathematics from East Central University in Oklahoma. She earned her English for Speakers of other Languages (ESL) certification from Newman University in Wichita. She has a Masters of Science in Education Administration – Building Principal through Fort Hays University.
All members were present as President Mark Pollock called the meeting to order including: Brian Quick, Deb Helfrich, Jenna Mostert, Mike Miller and Emily Lohmann. Besides the superintendent and principals, Business Manager and Board Clerk Julie Johnson was present. When Johnson retires in October, Alisa Gonzales will take over the board clerk job. She attends the meetings as Johnson trains her.
Dr. Miller said that South Barber’s graduation went well on Sunday afternoon and thanked all who made it happen. Referring to the scholarships and awards for the seniors, he said that the local money given to those students was $40,000. The superintendent said he’s amazed at the generosity of the community. For example, he mentioned the plasma cutter the FFA just got cost $25,000. The school received $20,000 grant money for it from Kiowa groups: the General Store; Myrtle King Estate; and the Monty Thompson Foundation. The district is paying the remaining $5000.
Longtime physical education teacher Deb Hitchcock submitted her resignation. The board accepted her resignation with “great reservation.”
The board approved hiring Abigaile Harris as the Business/Computer Applications teacher for the 2022-23 school year. She comes to South Barber from Jay, Oklahoma.
The agenda had the hiring of J. Shawn Hooker as head coach for SBHS girls and boys basketball and for physical education and history at the grade 7-12 site. However, the board tabled it temporarily with Hitchcock’s sudden resignation.
Cady Tucker submitted her resignation as the art and spanish teacher which the board accepted.
The board discussed, but tabled, giving retention bonuses to South Barber employees for the 2022-23 school year.
Monthly expenditures totaling $325,531.76 were board approved.
Again the board discussed changing the start and end times of school to 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This is because the school has exceeded the required number of hours for the school year by 98 hours. When principals Shaffer and Scheck were asked their opinion, both had many pros and cons. Such as more collaboration time for teachers; scheduling conflicts; and many more pros and cons. Everyone seemed unclear of what they should do. Finally, Pollock called for a motion. The issue died for lack of a motion.
The board voted to raise the community weight room fee from $25 to $100 per year. The superintendent said there are about 60 active memberships.
In his report to the board, Principal Shaffer thanked the PTO and everyone who helped provide goodies for teacher appreciation week.
Shaffer said regional and state sports are coming up that some SB students have qualified. In tennis Zander Myers qualified in singles and Caden Rathgeber and Tony Vasquez qualified in doubles to compete at state.
Regional track is at Spearville May 20.
The last day of school is Thursday with the last bell for the summer at 1 p.m.,