ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The USD 480 school board made some quick work of its new business at its most recent meeting Monday evening.
After recognizing Prairie View Elementary School as a Challenge Award recipient and hearing an update from Liberal High School staff members about recent state testing (see Thursday’s edition of the L&T for a recap of this update), the first item up for the board’s approval was a request for an additional agriculture instructor at Liberal High School.
“Per the agenda, The growth of the agriculture program at LHS requires the addition of new courses to meet the demand,” Assistant Superintendent of Schools Ruben Cano said. “An additional position would allow LHS to offer four sections of Intro to Ag, four sections of Animal Science, one section of Small Animal Care, and one section of Equine Science. As you can see from the chart I put together, there is definitely the demand there, because we have 82 students requesting Intro to Ag, 90 students requesting Animal Science, 24 students requesting Small Animal, and five students requesting Equine Science.”
“What is the cutoff as far as us saying there aren’t enough students for a particular class to be offered?” board member Alan Brown asked. “I see the Equine Science has only five students requesting it, so at what point do we determine there’s not enough interest to justify a class/program?”
“Being how this program is just starting out, that number should increase,” Cano said. “Those initial students will go through the class, and then they’ll tell their peers about it, and the word of mouth should spread about it being available.”
“I do remember we used to have some limit, like one year, especially with the more technical school-related programs, before making that determination,” Brown said.
“That is something we’re talking about, and I know that’s something that’s still in place with the CTE courses,” Cano said. “It’s definitely something that will need to be monitored, and then obviously the board will make any decisions in the future as to what will happen.”
“And I was wondering, do we have anyone qualified to teach these classes?” Board Vice President Sarah Thompson asked.
“We are looking into all of that, that’s why this position is before the board” Cano said.
After some more brief discussion, the board ultimately unanimously voted to approve an additional agriculture instructor at LHS.
Up next for the board was discussion of a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with Fort Hays State University (FHSU).
“Per the agenda, according to Hirefox, an MOU with a college helps establish a formal affiliation between the employer and a qualifying cap-exempt entity, such as a college or university,” Director of Special Education Dane Parcel said. “This formal relationship may allow H-1B petitions to be filed under cap-exempt status, meaning the petition would not be subject to the annual H-1B lottery and could be processed at any time of the year. Examples of MOUs that may qualify for cap exemption include: internship programs where teachers gain experience through partnerships with colleges/universities, dual credit programs where high school students earn college credits through collaboration with a university, and professional development programs where the school district partners with a university for continuing education or training. Per the MOU, FHSU is currently actively working with USD 480 to address literacy needs for the school districts served by USD 480. This collaboration includes targeted professional development for teachers, specialized literacy training programs, and the integration of research-based literacy interventions to enhance student outcomes.”
“I don’t see anywhere in this MOU where it says this is required, and it even says it might help, there’s not really anything firm about the H-1B petitions,” Brown said. “Everything I read in our agreement with them, they’re responsible for that work, so I have a hard time signing or approving a contract that says they’re going to charge whatever, and there’s not even an amount listed or an hourly amount or anything that’s fully firm.”
“We don’t, we just have a written agreement that we’ll reach out to them if we need their assistance, but we don’t have any current conversations going on,” Parcel said.
“So then my question is, why is Hirefox not reaching out to them?” Brown asked. “The way I read this, they’re responsible for taking care of those pieces.”
“I can’t really answer as to why they’re not the ones,” Parcel said. “They just asked me to help organize this agreement and bring it to the board.”
“But again, there’s nothing in this agreement that says it’s required, but they’re required to do their duties and are supposed to take care of those pieces,” Brown said. “So is this something that would be amended as the teachers come on board? The exact wording is ‘Services provided by FHSU will be negotiated to compensate FHSU for development and delivery, and nothing herein will be construed as FHSU being obligated to provide certain services.’ It almost seems like Hirefox is trying to get us to be responsible for part of their job.”
“In reaching out to the university, this is what they shared with us,” Parcel said. “But we can definitely keep those conversations going.”
Ultimately, the board voted to table the matter until a future meeting.
