The Eureka USD 389 Board of Education held a short monthly meeting on Monday, Feb. 10. As routine for the February meeting, the board was slated to discuss administrative contracts, but due to three board members being absent from the February meeting, the topic was tabled until the March 10 meeting.
Following the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) implementing the Kansas Education Systems Accreditation (KESA) 2.0 model, District Principals Stacy Coulter and Angie Lowe provided a short update. KESA 2.0 focuses on the following fundamentals for school improvements: Structured Literacy, Standards Alignment, Balanced Assessment and Quality Instruction. This improvement model replaces the KESA accreditation model, which focused on the four Rs (Relationships, Relevance, Responsive Culture and Rigor). With moving the KESA 2.0, the district will be accredited annually. It was shared that five teachers continue to work together and do strategies each month. Those five are looking at attending a training conference that will grant them the ability to train fellow staff members. The lone training for 2025 is being held in Florida over the summer. The board approved to support the learning opportunity in July for those five individuals with funds coming out of Title funds.
Three quotes for a Chevrolet Traverse were presented to the board, in hopes of replacing a vehicle that was recently totaled out by insurance (after a vehicle/ deer accident). The board approved the lowest bid for a 2024 Chevrolet Traverse, totaling $38,896, with insurance reimbursing the district $18,000. Discussion was also held regarding the bus fleet. Transportation Director Derek Larcom noted that two buses are approaching 17-20 years of service and the district will need to replace these with 47 or 53-passenger buses when they reach 25 years of service.
The 2023-24 audit was presented with Rodney M. Burns, CPA LLC noting there were no significant difficulties encountered in the conduct of the audit. The board approved the audit as presented.
The proposed 202526 school calendar was presented for review. The approval of the calendar will be held during the March meeting. During discussion, board members noted the economic impact the recent FFA competition had in the community. The annual event is held on the first Wednesday of February and brings roughly 230 students from more than 20 schools and their advisors to the community. If the proposed calendar is approved, the first day of school will be held on Aug. 21, winter break would be Dec. 22 through Jan. 5, spring break would be held March 16-20, graduation would be May 17 and the last day of school would be May 20.
The board approved the resignation of Nicola Jordaan, paraprofessional and approved the employment of Kendall Morris, paraprofessional at Marshall Elementary School.
Eureka USD 389 Board of Education meets on the second Monday of each month at 6 p.m. at the board office. Their next slated meeting is Monday, March 10.
