The Manhattan Ogden school board had a very full agenda during its regular business meeting Wednesday, April 18.
This meeting, like many before, started off with construction.
Trisha Brooke-Fruent, Program Manager, brought before the board a bid for the Bluemont sewer and also a bid for classroom furniture for Marlatt Elementary. Both of these bid items passed unanimously with a 5-0 vote.
Dean Youngers, Project Manager, brought before the board a change order for the Bishop Stadium track storage area rebuild. This passed unanimously.
Keith Noll, Director of Maintenance and Facilities , also brought two bids before the board. The first was for the Frank Bergman HVAC Controls and Cooling Tower. The second was that for the Woodrow WIlson roof replacement. Again, both of these items passed with a 5-0 vote.
The board had a team and some students whom they wanted to give special recognition to. The Manhattan High School Science Olympiat Team placed 1st in the Regional Kansas Science Competition for the 12th year in a row. The team also placed 3rd in the large school division at the State Science Olympiad Competition . They medaled in 11 of the 23 events.
The board also wanted to congratulate Felix Amanor-Boadu and Brian Burton, both Manhattan High school students, on being finalists in the 2012 National Achievement Scholarships.
Old business items started off with Board Vice President Dave Colburn talking about the board vacancy and informing the board that there have been 4 letters of interested submitted thus far. People still have until Tuesday, April 24th at noon to get their letters to the board. April 25th will be the first special board meeting to discuss those interested and who would best fill the vacant seat.
The other old business item was a follow-up to the winter retreat topics and Superintendent Bob Shannon talked about the items and his ideas on the best way to continue getting those items taken care of. No action was taken on these items.
The new business items brought about some discussion. The first new business item on the agenda concerned the school meal prices for the 2012-2013 school year and increasing lunch by $0.05. This would raise lunch prices to $2.45 for elementary students, $2.60 for secondary students and $3.40 for adults. This passed with a unanimous vote of 6-0.
Student fees and textbook rental for the 2012-2013 school year was up next. The board passed the first reading unanimously.
Textbook adoption and purchase for the 2012-2013 lead to a lot of discussion and debate, especially concerning the Common Core State Standards and the materials needed to align the 6th graders with grades K-5. The board did pass this unanimously.
The facility naming policy and the contracts for 2012-2013 also passed unanimously .
The board will meet Wednesday, April 25 at 5:30 PM at the Robinson Education Center for a review of letters of interest. The next regular business meeting will be Wednesday, May 2 at 5:45 PM.
