Oct. 11, 2022 ~ The Olathe Board of Education met Oct. 6 for its regular meeting. The agenda included a school spotlight on Frontier Trail Middle School, an overview of 2022-23 student enrollment and an update on staff recruitment efforts and overall staff demographics by Human Resources.
Recognitions
- Kevin Hulsen, Olathe West High School technology teacher, received the Technology Student Association’s Technology Advisor of the Year award.
- Olathe West High School social studies teacher Jordan Boyd was selected by the National History Day organization as a 2022 Teacher Award nominee from Kansas.
School Spotlight
Frontier Trail Middle School principal Dr. Rod Smith shared an overview of the school’s points of pride, focusing on three areas: academic achievement, climate and culture, and community engagement. Frontier Trail focuses on priority standards and creating SMART goals to effectively monitor student academic growth and understanding of learning targets. In addition, the school implements tiered instructional support in the areas of literacy and math to meet the needs of all students. As a jaguar community, Frontier Trail offers a variety of opportunities for community partnerships, family collaboration, and curriculum connected to real-world experience.
2022-2023 Student Enrollment
Dr. TIm Reves, assistant superintendent for elementary education, shared information regarding enrollment for the 2022-23 school year. As of the official count day on Sept. 20, the district has a total enrollment of 29,277 students from early childhood to grade 12. This is a decline of 227 students from the 2021-22 school year. Dr. Reves provided an overview of the demographic makeup of the district, as well as a high-level view of enrollment growth by level.
Human Resources Update
Dr. Lachelle Sigg, associate superintendent of human resources, provided an update on staff recruitment efforts in the district. Currently, the district employs over 5,000 staff members. The district’s recruitment efforts focus on three main objectives: special education, increasing diversity and long-range focus. To increase special education staffing, the district offers several opportunities to grow staffing from within, including a para-to-teach program. The district strategically casts a wide net to recruit from universities that have a more diverse enrollment. Finally, the district has a long-range focus on programming, including Olathe’s Future Educator program, to inspire current Olathe students to pursue teaching careers.
In other business, the board:
- Approved a consent agenda including meeting minutes, financial and accounts payable reports, human resources report, several student trips and an Ad Astra Government Relations contract.
- Approved all high school science courses.
- Approved bids for compact truck loader for the Operation Services Center.
- Approved annual contract for pest control services.
- Approved phase I of elementary playground equipment and surfacing upgrade proposals.
- Approved trade bids for summer 2023 HVAC upgrade projects.
- Approved trade bids for summer 2023 roofing projects.
- Approved contract for athletic apparel and equipment.
- Approved Kronos maintenance and support renewal.
- Approved board member Brian Connell as the delegate and board member Joe Beveridge as the delegate alternate for the 2022 Kansas Association of School Boards delegate assembly.
- Received almost two dozen future action items including student trips, science curriculum updates, interior door lock and barricade system, on-call stage rigging service provider, construction bids and proposals update, architectural-engineering request for proposals for projects, district athletic complex scoreboard replacements, pilot purchase of laptop devices, email security software, classroom projector updates, purchase of vape sensors and Board of Education room audio visual system upgrades.
- Received the Head Start director’s monthly report.
- Received the 2022 Bond update.
- Received the 2021-22 annual report of student health services.
- Held an executive session for the board to discuss salary, benefits and related items of the bargaining unit pursuant to the exception for employer-employee negotiations under KOMA.
The complete agenda is available by visiting the BoardDocs website.
