By Emma Loura/Manhattan Mercury
The Boys and Girls Club is set to move into two local elementary schools.
The USD 383 Manhattan-Ogden Board of Education on Wednesday voted unanimously to establish Boys and Girls Club programs at Frank V. Bergman and Ogden elementary schools, the only two without a previous on-site partnership.
The two schools had before-and after-school programs before using 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, but ongoing complications including financial problems and low staffing prompted the district to seek an expansion of its agreement with Boys and Girls Club.
Boys and Girls Club will take over the schools’ existing CLC grant-funded programs in fiscal years 2025 and 2026, and then it will be able to apply for those grants in the future.
The USD 383 Manhattan-Ogden School Board also approved the purchase of gap plan insurance from Bay Bridge Administrators for an annual estimated cost of $274,464 on Wednesday.
The plan would work as a supplement to a primary insurance plan and lower the annual deductible and maximum out-of-pocket costs. Adding the $2,000 benefit to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kansas health insurance plan the district has lowers the annual deductible for a single employee to $4,000 and the maximum out-of-pocket payment to $4,350.
“We’re thrilled to offer this to our staff at a pretty low cost,” board president Jayme Morris-Hardeman said.
The district’s health insurance committee identified the plan as a way to help qualified employees improve the cost and coverage of their health care.
The elevator at Theodore Roosevelt is getting a repair after a lightning strike fried its pump motor earlier this month.
The school board approved proposal from ThyssenKrupp Elevator Company to fix the elevator for $11,313.
School maintenance staff found out the elevator wasn’t working on June 7.
“That elevator is not that old,” Morris-Hardeman said. “It’s a fairly new elevator so I was surprised to see that. A lightning strike makes a lot of sense.”
