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March 28th, 2024

usd 480 fitzgerald and vargasUSD 480 board members Kathy Fitzgerald and Naomi Vargas listen to a presentation on one of the action items during the board’s most recent meeting Monday evening. L&T photo/Elly GrimmELLY GRIMM • Leader & Times

 

The USD 480 school board took it easy on itself when it came to new business during its most recent meeting Monday evening. 

Up first in the first round of new business was discussion of the Memorandum of Understanding renewal with JAG (Jobs for America's Graduates). 

“Have there been any changes made to this agreement from what we did last year?” Board President Sarah Mersdorf-Foreman asked. 

“No, there have been no changes to the actual agreement, and the cost is the same as last year,” Superintendent Renae Hickert said. “And for those who aren’t aware, JAG’s goal is to ensure at-risk high school students remain in school and get basic skills through classroom and career-based learning through the students’ time. They are also provided with academic support services, graduate and receive 12 months of follow-up services by the JAG–K career specialist. That’s just some of what this program does.”

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Ultimately, the board approved the 2021-2022 JAG Memorandum of Understanding agreement renewal. Up next for the board was discussion of the district’s e-rate switches project. 

“This is part of our e-rate funding, we started a new 5-year cycle,” Director of Technology Rusty Tuman said. “Our plan is the switches will be on a 10-year rotation, that’s what we’ll use this 5-year cycle for, and then the next 5-year cycle will be about access points, and that ensures all of our switches and access points are replaced every 10 years. This gets us away from Cisco, which is about $60,000 a year in SmartNet that we pay for as far as managing and licensing. With two of the bids we got, they were not within specs, they didn’t have what we asked for. The total is slightly more than $1 million, and we would be responsible for 38 percent of that, which is about $408,951.”

Ultimately, the board  approved the bids from ISG for the e-rate switch projects for a total of $1,088,608.

The board also heard a COVID-19 update from USD 480 Director of Operations Chad Mease. 

“From the data as of Friday, March 5, we have nine active cases, and 43 in active quarantine,” Mease said. “That’s among the lowest we’ve had, and we’re continuing to see a downward trend.”

“Just for comparison’s sake, have you talked to other districts like Dodge City or Garden City or Wichita to see what their numbers are right now?” Mersdorf-Foreman asked. 

“I don’t believe so, not at this time,” Mease said. “At our county level, I know our numbers are continuing to go down, and we’re not seeing anywhere near the amount of hospitalizations we were seeing at the beginning of the year.”

The board also approved several items in the consent agenda, including the concurrent enrollment agreement between USD 480 and Seward County Community College. 

“It is the policy of the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) and Seward County Community College to encourage high school students to take advantage of postsecondary opportunities by enrolling in college courses while still in high school,” the MOU noted. “SCCEP is the SCCC program to provide postsecondary learning opportunities for eligible high school students from partnering high schools. The SCCEP meets KBOR concurrent enrollment policies as of the date of this agreement. Academic credit will be granted by the college for course work successfully completed by the student and may qualify as both high school and college credit. SCCEP course work will qualify as credit applicable toward the SCCC Associate in Science, Associate in Arts, Associate in General Studies, or Associate in Applied Sciences degrees. SCCEP course work will also transfer to Kansas Regents universities, as per the university’s transfer articulation agreements. Students will be responsible for payment to SCCC for the negotiated amount of tuition, books and other applicable costs except in the case of tiered technical courses. SCCEP courses must be reviewed annually by SCCC faculty in the discipline to assure grading standards, course management, instructional delivery and content meet or exceed those in regular on-campus sections, and each SCCEP program must be reviewed at least every five years by SCCC to assure compliance and quality considerations.”

The MOU also talks about eligibility for enrollment, advising and student guides. 

“SCCEP students shall be enrolled as degree or non-degree students and meet the SCCC requirements for admission as a degree-seeking or non-degree-seeking student,” the MOU noted. “SCCEP students shall also have met SCCC enrollment requirements, satisfied course prerequisites, and followed institutional procedures regarding assessment and placement. SCCEP students must achieve the same score or sub-score on a standardized placement test as is required for students enrolled in the same on-campus course. Students must be authorized by the school principal to apply for enrollment, and SCCEP students will be provided with a student guide that outlines their rights and responsibilities as college students and a description of how courses may be transferred to a Kansas public postsecondary education system.”

In the second round of the agenda’s new business, the board also approved the execution of the closeout agreement with ESP (upon legal consent) and authorized the district to make the final payment of $365,064.20 upon execution. The board concluded the meeting with a workshop session about facilities and the budget.