School board to discuss upgrades from copy machine to pole vault pit

ELLY GRIMM • Leader & Times

The USD 480 school board will look to have an easy time with its next meeting Monday evening starting at 6:30. Monday’s meeting will be in Room C107 of the Liberal High School East Annex.

Up first under new business will be a request for the purchase of a new copier for Sunflower Elementary School. 

“Sunflower Elementary School has a need for an additional copier for the teacher's workroom in the northwest wing of the school.  Currently, teachers from this area have to use the office copier and when there are meetings, such as IEP meetings, that require confidentiality, they have to go to the far southeast wing of the school,” the agenda information noted. “Southern Office Supply has provided a quote for a Sharp digital copier with external finisher that prints 75 pages per minute using Sourcewell Contract, with the pricing as follows: Purchase Price – $12,580; Lease – $440.30 per month ($5,284 per year). Staff is recommending the board approve the purchase of the additional copier in the amount of $12,580.”

Up next for the board will be discussion of the adoption of the 2023-24 employee handbook.

“The District Leadership Team has collaborated with to prepare a new employee handbook that reflects the latest policies and procedures of the USD 480 school district,” the agenda information noted. “The handbook is intended to provide general information and guidance to all employees, and we will update the handbook for changes to board policy and district procedures as needed. The new handbook complies with applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations that affect the employment relationship.  These laws and regulations may change from time to time and the handbook will be updated accordingly. Staff is recommending the board approve the adoption of the employee handbook for the 2023-24 school year.”

After discussion of upgrades to the LHS high jump and pole vault pit, the board will then be discussing the use of ClearTouch IFP for professional development. 

“We have asked KCAV to provide a quote for nine days’ worth of professional development training on the new ClearTouch IFPs. This would allow for six hours of training at each building over the course of nine days,” the agenda information noted. “Staff is recommending the board approve the ClearTouch PD from KCAV in the amount of $13,500.”

Also on the agenda for the board will be discussion of renewing GoGuardian. 

“GoGuardian Admins allows us to track and GPS locate Chromebooks.  We utilize these features when a Chromebook is lost or not turned in, we can also remotely lock the Chromebook and render it useless,” the agenda information noted. “Additional features include added student traffic tracking and content filtering. GoGuardian Teacher was implemented for the teachers at Seymour Rogers Middle School, Eisenhower Middle School, and in the Focus/Credit Recovery classes.  GoGuardian is a classroom management tool that allows teachers to view student’s Chromebook screens and control many aspects of the device.  Teachers are able to monitor the Chromebooks of students in their class utilizing tools like locking screens and closing tabs. Staff is recommending the board renew GoGuardian in the amount of $33,470.40.”

To conclude the meeting’s new business, the board will be discussing the purchase of GoGuardian Beacon.

“Beacon is a machine-learning solution that notifies pre-determined school staff of instances where students may be at risk of suicide, self-harm, or potential harm to others. Beacon was designed to help school staff proactively identify at-risk students and quickly facilitate a response,” the agenda information noted. “Beacon is a multi-class classifier machine learning model built to identify students’ online behaviors that could be indicative of suicide or self-harm by analyzing their browsing across all student content. This includes search engines, social media, email, web apps, and more. Beacon shows a holistic view of the student's online behavior. Based on search content, Beacon can also alert staff to potential student safety threats or violence. Staff is recommending the board purchase GoGuardian Beacon in the amount of $23,690.”