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Thursday
March 28th, 2024

actual usd 480 logo ELLY GRIMM • Leader & Times

 

The USD 480 school board will be hearing a lot of information from many different departments during its next meeting Monday evening starting at 6:30. 

The meeting will begin with the administrators’ reports, including from the director of operations. 

“With performance contracting, the HVAC contractor is currently going back through all rooftop units and performing commissioning of each unit to ensure proper operation,” the agenda information noted. “With the Cottonwood Elementary School and Sunflower  Elementary School kitchen remodels, the bid opening is Feb. 25, and the pre-bid was Feb. 11, but no contractors attended.”

Some technology updates will also be given. 

“With the vape detector activity update, between Feb. 4 and Feb. 18, there were 21 Vape detector alerts,” the agenda information noted. “There is also a Board Doc password policy update, they are changing their password policy to require 10 character passwords that must include an uppercase letter, lowercase letter and special character.  If your current password meets these specifications then you should see no change, if not you will be prompted to change it when they enter Phase 2, not date has been given yet.”

The elementary school buildings will be present to provide reports for the State of the Schools address, and the other part of the report from the director of elementary education will include more information about a service dog at Meadowlark Elementary School, which was discussed during the board’s last meeting. 

“As long as the district has some negligence in the incident occurring, the district’s liability policy will respond for bodily injury or property damage caused by the dog to a third party,” the agenda information noted. “So in this case, meaning those not working for the district, nor property owned by the district. If a fellow, coworker is bitten that falls under the area of worker’s compensation, so that would be covered too. Likewise, if a suit springs up that is clearly false, the insurance company will still defend the district. The policy does not cover injury to the dog itself although we can write a policy to do so as we do with the county’s drug dog. It is about $800 per year and we insure the dog for $4,000, so it is not inexpensive.”

Among the other discussion for the board will include Navigate Prepared. 

“Navigate Prepared is an application that can provide a common platform to district staff to utilize during drills and emergency situations. It provides a suite of emergency preparedness tools as well as a platform to communicate with users during an event,” the agenda information noted. “Key features include student information synced from power school to allow for up to date class rosters, reunification information by student, emergency plans, maps and resources in one spot, resources for emergency situations in the hands of all staff members, training scenarios, and a threat assessment tool. Staff is requesting the board approve the quote from Navigate Prepared in the amount of $40,400.”

The purchase of some new buses will also be up for the board’s approval. 

“The transportation committee and department have recommended the purchase of the following buses: one 27-passenger SPED bus with wheel chair lift, replacement bus, and two 77-passenger buses, one replacement and one addition,” the agenda information noted. “All three are to be purchased through the state bid. Staff is requesting the board approve the purchase of three buses, not to exceed $285,000.”

Network infrastructure equipment will also be on the board’s agenda. 

“Category 2 E-Rate funding became available for FY20 (FY20 only) in late December 2019, Category 2 funds network infrastructure including switches, access points, battery backups and other items that allow students to access the internet,” the agenda information noted. “In an effort to continue updates to the capabilities of our network infrastructure to facilitate the educational needs of USD 480 students the recommendation is to approve the purchasing through E-Rate for several items. Staff is requesting the board approve the purchase of the following items: Switches in the amount of $97,465.44 from Mvation, Access Points in the amount of $58,741.80 from SHI and Battery Backups in the amount of $58,429.00 from ISG.”

To conclude new business, the board will be asked to approve changes to the 2020-2021 student handbook and the 2020-2021 Certified and Classified Staff handbook.