The Hugoton USD 210 Board of Education met in a special meeting Monday, Janury 25. Members present were Matt Mills, Todd Gayer, Stephanie Heger, Mike Persinger, Dettra Crawford and Paula Rowden. Barry Hittle was absent. Also present were Adrian Howie, Traci Shields, Davonna Daharsh, Kay McDaniels, Arick Miller, Scott Strom, Clayton Rekz and Aaron Buys.
A group from 360 Energy Engineering came in to discuss the design development midterm handout for the elementary school projects. At the January 5 special meeting the board voted to enter into a Design Services agreement with 360 Energy Engineering. Scott Strom talked about the HVAC upgrades at the elementary. One interior room has no ventilization air and will have to have some work done. He discussed the use of the split cooling system installed last year. He recommended moving it to the kitchen to provide supplemental cooling. That way they can avoid turning on the chillers just to cool the kitchen in early mornings and also in the summer time. He detailed the equipment the district would need for heating and cooling. It included chillers, high efficiency condensing boilers, variable speed pumps, dedicated outdoor air system, hot water piping, windows, ceilings and much more.
The estimated cost for the project is between $3.5 million and $4.25 million. Scott also talked about some upgrades to the high school HVAC. He informed the board the high school boiler is about 35 years old, and if it were to break down there isn’t a back up currently available. Some of the things needing repair are from the 1960’s and 1980’s.
The 360 Energy Engineering will meet with the board again in March with some more definite information and costs before letting bids out to contractors and subcontractors.
Superintendent Howie talked about House Bill No. 2504 concerning school districts relating to the realignment of the districts. He said in a home county with 10,000 students or less, the state board shall realign the boundaries so there is only one realigned school district for each county. If there are more than 10,001 students, the district boundaries will be realigned within the county to have 1,500 or more students. It also says the state board shall not divide or disorganize a public innovative district in the course of the realignment process. After the realignment is effective the number of school administration and supervisory service employees employed by the school district shall not exceed 120% of the number of school adminstration and superviory service employees of the district with the largest enrollment in the prior year. He will continue to follow the House bill to see where it leads.
The board declared May 18, 2016 to be the last day of school for the 2015-2016 school year.
The Board met for a monthly meeting Tuesday, January 19. Board members present were Matt Mills, Todd Gayer, Stephanie Heger, Mike Persinger and Barry Hittle. Dettra Crawford and Paula Rowden were absent. Also present were Tiffany Boxum, Larry Lyder, Lance Custer, Traci Shields, Kay McDaniels, John Girodat, CJ Korf, Stuart Scott, Barbara Trujillo, Danny Ray, Tom Frederick, Silvia Arellano, Cleotilde Nava, Ariel Arellano, Denice Ochoa, Mayra Zizumbo, Jennifer Burrows and Mary Reimer.
The Hugoton Recreation Commission report was presented by Danny Ray and Tom Frederick. Currently the Hugoton Recreation is operating on 2.75 mils. With the drop in value of the mils the Rec has lost about $110,000 a year since 2012. For the past six years the Rec has not received any program fees. Tom informed the board of some recent projects that have been completed. The projects were the restroom and consession facilities at Parsons field and the plaground at Parsons Field for the younger children. Tom also told the board Citizens State Bank donated two new scoreboards to the Recreation for Hartley Field and Legends field. This will allow the Rec to donate the existing scoreboard from Legends field to the high school baseball field. The Rec will have to order new football helmets as after ten years the inside shell becomes loose and uninsurable. Currently the Rec is in a hold program because of the loss of money from the decline in mils. The Rec used to do lease to buy. But later they put extra money into CDs for when they needed to buy something they could pay cash. Currently the Rec is using the CDs because their revenue for the year is $500,000 and the budget is $600,000. They will continue to work to cut their budget.
The Hugoton Learning Academy presented some of the ESL class members. The students got up in front of the board and informed them of their progress and what they were doing in class. One student has finished her class and no longer needs a translator. One student is taking college classes through the high school. Some of the students were making hats and leggings from old sweaters for presents for their children as an economic class. They showed the board some of their work.
The board briefly talked about the KASB Recommended Policy Updates.
The board discussed Strategic Planning. They will discuss it more at the Monday meeting when Paula and Dettra are present.
The Board of Education Walk-Throughs are planned for Wednesday January 27. The group will meet for walk throughs at the district office at 8:30 a.m. then start the walk through at 9:00 a.m. at the ECDC.
The board discussed the 2015-2016 calendar conflict. The last day of the school year was set at May 19. The calendar sent out during enrollment said May 18. The board decided to do May 18 and if there are any snow days it might change to May 19.
Superintendent Adrian Howie gave a short report through a conference call. He briefly talked about the legislative session and what it means for the district. The board approved minutes from the December 14, 2015 and January 5, 2016 minutes. Also approved were the district financial reports.
The board accepted the resignation of Mr. John Girodat at the end of the 2015-2016 school year and the resignation of Carmen Cifuentes.
The meeting adjourned.
