Burns patrons request executive session with school board
In its last meeting of the year, Peabody-Burns Unified School District 398 school board, with members Lou Anderson and Peggy Phillips absent, started the meeting with two executive sessions to discuss personnel. The sessions took place during the public forum time set aside for district patrons to address the board. Hector and Lisa Mosqueda were included in both sessions, as were the superintendent and the high school principal. No action was taken by the board upon returning to open meeting.
Also during the public forum, Cathy Crane and Tim and Sandy Jenkins expressed their displeasure with the decision by the school board not to build a new elementary building in Burns following the condemnation of the Burns school by the state fire marshal earlier in the fall. Heather Keene and Brad Stuhlsatz also expressed their concerns. Karen Saner, kindergarten teacher at Burns, told the board that the kindergarten students had adjusted well to their new classroom setting in the Burns community building.
Lou Anderson had requested that the question of the kindergarten students remaining in Burns during the second semester be placed on the agenda. In Anderson's absence, board member Gary Jones made a motion to table the discussion until the January meeting so Anderson could take part in the discussion. After a second by Eldridge, the motion failed 1-4. Jones cast the only vote in favor of tabling the topic.
In other business related to the closed building in Burns, Superintendent Tom Alstrom reported that the water had been turned off and a new line had been run to the community building. He said potential buyers had contacted him about purchasing the auditorium seats and the boiler, which was installed in the building last year. The board also voted 5-0 to sell the elevator from the Burns Elementary building to a church in El Dorado for $200. A decision on setting a date for an auction of surplus items from the school was tabled until after the first of the year.
Alstrom told board members that the Burns City Council had denied the school district a burn and bury permit that would have allowed the district to bury the building on site rather than haul the refuse to a landfill. Bids for the demolition of the building will be re-let as they were based on the ability of the contractor to dispose of the materials on site. Alstrom will look into the cost of replacing the orange plastic fencing which currently surrounds the building with a more substantial barrier.
The board approved emergency substitute certificates for the remainder of the 2001-02 school year for Kevin Washington and David Wetta.
Future Farmers of America members showed the board a slide presentation of their trip to the FFA convention in Louisville, Ky.
Board members Doe Ann Hague, Gary Jones, and Gilbert Loewen, and Superintendent Alstrom attended the Kansas Association of School Boards convention in Topeka. They reviewed the various sessions they attended with the rest of the board.
The board approved computer lab renovation at Peabody Elementary School, changes in the football playoff schedule as proposed by the Kansas High School Activities Association, and heard regular monthly reports.
Alstrom reviewed the energy management system. The board requested more information before making a decision.
The meeting adjourned at 10:35 p.m. following two more executive sessions for the purpose of discussing personnel. No action was taken after either session.
