The Alva School District is in good shape, according to Superintendent Steve Parkhurst. The fiscal year (FY) 2018 general fund is $10,417,593.89, up $765,158.74 from FY 2017. Warrant comparison shows the district has spent $295,378.73 more this year than last. Even gross production tax is up about $10,000 from the year previous.
Employee changes include Clayton Walker resigning from Alva High School (AHS), Laura Beth Hamil resigning as a paraprofessional because she is facing numerous surgeries, and Louis Zwiefelhofer custodian at Longfellow Elementary School. Kara Bradt will return as high school band director for the balance of the school year.
The board voted to re-hire all administrators for the next school year. The list includes Les Potter at AHS, Stephanie Marteney at Alva Middle School, Alysson Tucker at Longfellow, Shane Feely at Washington and Madison Williams. Tim Argo was rehired as assistant superintendent for FY 2019. The board continues to hold specially called executive sessions to interview and discuss employing a new superintendent to replace the retiring Parkhurst.
Several fundraisers were approved. The AHS baseball team expects to make a profit of $3,000 selling chairback seats at $50 per chair for the 2018 season; Longfellow is holding an eight-day book fair with estimated sales of $3,000 with expenses of $100 leading to an anticipated profit of $2,900. The FFA will hold a coin jar and hat fundraiser in February to raise $300 for a Stamp Out Starvation project; Longfellow will have a spell-a-thon March 5–29, hoping for sales of $15,000 with a profit of $12,000. FFA students are going to plan and grow plugs and cutting for sale during the month of April in order to make sales of $5,000 to raise funds of $2,600. The money raised will be used to pay entry fees and purchase educational supplies. In May, the FAA wants to hold a bass and catfish fishing tournament to raise $1,500 to raise funds for local charities.
Items declared surplus and moved to the bus barn include from Washington School a Casio projector model ZLL-M140; a projector screen; and an ACTIV board, model PRM-AB2B-02. From the high school were moved two Panasonic KXT7420 phones, a time-clock, time-cards and time-card holder.
The board voted to notify the county excise board of several budgetary changes where money is moved from one account to another, which is different from what was submitted to the excise board for approval. Parkhurst said these changes do not alter the total money approved.
Verleta Eckels, food service director, reports the cafeterias are serving more meals this year. For example, in December the average number of lunches served was 635.36 and an average number of breakfasts served was 218.79. À la carte sales were $2,404.55.
Parkhurst provided a brief summary of legislative proposals. SB 920 would require consolidation of districts with fewer than 200 students. SB 1079 proposes a 16-member school oversight committee for the state. The proposed $5,000 teachers pay raise will cost the state $700,000.
Assistant Superintendent Argo gave a PowerPoint presentation showing the “Curriculum Mapping” coordination plans for all the schools. He said the complete plan will be ready to start the year next fall.
Superintendent Parkhurst said $8,500 was spent with Waller Glass to replace the Alva High School north door. It previously was an electronically unlocked door where a magnet key was needed to open it. Over a few years, the door has been damaged by students without keys yanking on it trying to get in for basketball practice after hours or coming from the north parking lot. The door will be replaced without the magnetic key provision.
Another expenditure of note was to install a new AHS baseball field sprinkler system. Parkhurst said the old system was probably installed at the time Bill Crenshaw was overseeing the field. The cost divided among several vendors is $14,846.66.
Three different proposals for portable add-on buildings were distributed. The board will review these for the next meeting. Costs typically were around $80,000 but included restrooms and handicapped access ramps.
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