Dec. 2, 2022 ~ The Olathe Board of Education met Dec. 1 for its regular meeting. The agenda included a school spotlight and two presentations.
Recognitions
- The Olathe Northwest High School girls’ golf team won the 6A state championship title.
- The Olathe North High School gymnastics team won the 6A state championship.
- Emmy Keller of Olathe Northwest earned the 6A state gymnastics title in all-around, vault and floor exercises.
- Alexis Purdy of Olathe West High School earned the 6A state gymnastics title in the beam event.
- Regency Place Elementary teams won first place in both the fourth and fifth grade categories of the districtwide fall Math Wings competition.
- Olathe Public Schools Foundation was recognized for its consistent financial and volunteer dedication to the district. More than $5 million was invested in district programs over the past five years.
School Spotlight
Chisholm Trail Middle School Principal Rick Sola highlighted his school, staff and students in a short presentation. Opened in 2000, the Chisholm Trail Wildcats come from three elementary schools and are encouraged to become confident, compassionate and critical thinkers. A fundamental goal for staff is to make sure all students have a positive teacher/student relationship. The school reaches out to the surrounding community with various service projects, especially CST Service Day each April. As part of the CST ROCS (Respect, Ownership, Compassion, Safety) program, students earn tokens when they are caught demonstrating an expected positive behavior.
Audit Review
Representatives from Allen, Gibbs & Houlik, L.C. shared information from the fiscal year 2022 audit and related findings. For more information, please read the fiscal audit review.
Transportation Update
Deputy Superintendent John Hutchison made a brief presentation regarding the status of the district’s bus transportation system. There is a local and national bus driver shortage that Olathe Public Schools is experiencing due to competition in other industries or staff choosing not to return to the profession. The district is averaging 140-160 late buses per month due to the bus driver shortage. Hutchison presented a few short-term solutions and pointed to long-term solutions that would need community input. A districtwide survey will be sent out on Dec. 7 that will collect information regarding transportation.
In other business, the board:
- Approved a consent agenda including meeting minutes, financial and accounts payable reports, human resources report, a student trip, and social studies curriculum revisions.
- Approved the purchase of replacement floor scrubbers for Black Bob, Heritage, Indian Creek, Meadow Lane and Rolling Ridge elementary schools. (Bond 2022)
- Approved renewal of the annual licensing for Destiny software from Follet. (capital outlay)
- Approved the bid for upgraded classroom projector equipment. (Bond 2022)
- Approved the purchase and installation of vape sensors for middle schools, Prairie Learning Center and Mill Creek Campus. (Bond 2022)
- Approved the renewal of annual support and maintenance for Cisco network systems. (capital outlay)
- Approved the renewal of the language arts database subscription. (Learning Services and capital outlay)
- Accepted proposals for Phase 3 of the elementary playground equipment and surfacing upgrade project at Briarwood, Brougham, Cedar Creek, Central, Havencroft, Heritage, Northview, Prairie Center, Ravenwood, Ridgeview and Woodland elementary schools. (Bond 2022 and capital outlay)
- Accepted trade bids as part of Bid Package 2 for the new Santa Fe Trail Middle School. (Bond 2022)
- Approved the board’s legislative priorities for the Kansas Legislature’s 2023 session.
- Approved audit reports for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022. (general fund)
- Received information on future action items including server maintenance and support, VMware license renewal, BusinessPLUS and Human Resources management software renewal, EndPoint security asset licenses, sixth grade elective world languages course, board policy updates, compressor rack upgrade for the Food Production Center, and Cisco FLEX Enterprise agreement renewal.
- Received the Head Start director’s monthly written report.
- Received written details of the fall parent-teacher conferences.
- Received an update on Bond 2022 projects.
- Held an executive session to discuss non-elected personnel.
The complete agenda is available by visiting the BoardDocs website.
