ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The USD 480 school board had an easy time at its last meeting of summer vacation Monday evening.
Up first came the administrator reports, starting with Superintendent Stephen Linkous, who praised the janitorial and maintenance crews for their work this summer.
“I really want to thank all the staff who have helped us prepare everything for the coming school year,” Linkous said. “I consider them unsung heroes and want to thank them because a lot of times, people forget about all the hard work that goes into making sure a school building is ready before the students and staff officially come back. They deserve a big shoutout for everything they do.”
Linkous also briefly introduced new Assistant Superintendent of Academics Maria Gomez-Rocque before the report from Director of Operations Chad Mease.
“For our project at Bright Start Early Learning Center, we did get Change Order No. 1 in the amount of $6,855.93, and that is for some additional steel tubing and facia due to lowering the ceiling to allow for the HVAC ductwork penetrations,” Mease said. “For the Liberal High School Parking Lot Replacement project, we did have Change Order No. 1 in the amount of $15,020.34, and that is to remove and replace 176 square yards of additional pavement to maintain proper grade elevations. With the overall district safety and security, USD 480 hosted an ALICE Train the Trainer class July 29 and 30 at Eisenhower Middle School. That ended up having some great turnout, there were 24 total attendees, with 15 USD 480 staff, six Liberal Police Department staff and three participants from other communities. There was also behavioral threat assessment training for district building administration and their assessment teams. It’s definitely been a busy time.”
Director of Technology Rusty Tuman then gave a quick report regarding Chromebook checkout.
“We’ve been doing the annual Chromebook checkout out the Ag Building, and we were able to check out 1,854 Chromebooks,” Tuman said. “With just the stragglers, we’ve still got about 162 to go, and they’ll come in throughout the next couple weeks to get what they need before the school year starts. We did 71 checkouts the first day, 529 checkouts the second day, and 345 checkouts the third day, which totals nearly 900 checkouts, and then on the last day was when we had the rest checked out. We stuck around and kept the doors open, and my team was able to help everyone who came in. Something I do need to bring up is after a recent lightning storm, we did lose a switch and a couple phones and a couple other things. During that time, we went ahead and switched out the entire network and updated those switches and installed some additional switches where they were needed.
Up first under the agenda’s new business was discussion of Resolution Q concerning Gomez-Rocque’s hiring as the new Assistant Superintendent of Academics, which was ultimately unanimously approved. Up next for the board was discussion of refrigeration equipment for the Transportation Department, and the board ultimately unanimously approved quote from Bumper to Bumper in the amount of $10,999.99 for two refrigerant machines to allow transportation staff to work on the various systems throughout the district’s vehicle fleet.
Up next for the board was discussion of furnishing and installing a mobile storage system for the renovated LHS Library storage room, which is similar to the ones installed in both middle school athletic and PE storage areas, and the board ultimately unanimously approve the quote from Southwest Solutions in the amount of $49,998. The board also unanimously approved a bid from Midwest Bus Sales in the amount of $166,670 for the purchase of a 77-passenger bus before moving on to discussion about a Special Education case manager.
“Due to the small amount of qualified applicants for a Special Education teacher, USD 480 is seeking the support of a virtual case manager from Quantum Health Professionals,” Special Education Director Dane Parcel said. “This virtual teacher will provide the case management necessary to remain compliant with IEP paperwork and deadlines. This case manager will collaborate with on site staff on a weekly basis to help provide appropriate lessons for students based on their present levels, and the staff on site will carry out those lessons, gather data necessary, and provide the documentation needed in order for the case manager to complete the required special education documentation. In addition, the case manager will attend all IEPs and submit paperwork to the USD 480 Special Education Department as required. At this time, the case manager will focus his or her services at Bright Start Early Learning Center.”
Ultimately, the board unanimously voted to approve an agreement with Quantum Education for a virtual case manager.
For the last items under new business, the board unanimously approved quotes from Shawnee Mission Ford for a total of $174,731 for the purchase of two 10-passenger vans and one full-size SUV, and also unanimously approved the purchase of professional development for $56,000. To conclude the meeting’s new business, the board unanimously voted approve quotes from Southern Office supply in the total amount of $16,387 for office furniture for the Bright Start Early Learning Center addition.
