Ark Valley News - Group forms to promote district

Group forms to promote district
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: January 11, 2018

A group of concerned residents is forming to advocate for the Valley Center school district primarily on the state level.

Elevate 262 is in its infancy and includes 19 parents representing each school in the district.

The group had its first meeting last month.

Valley Center High School science teacher Chad Baalman, who is working on an administration degree, is organizing the group.

"The hope is to eventually build it, hand it over and let parents just run the thing," Baalman told the school board Jan. 8.

Baalman said the group's focus is to represent the school district's interests with decision-makers in Topeka. He said Elevate 262 is looking for more members.

Baalman said similar groups in other districts, such as Andover and Goddard, have more than 500 members.

"Talk about power in Topeka," he said.

Officials with those groups spoke to Elevate 262 last month, describing the advocacy work they do and opportunities to connect with lawmakers.

"I'm excited to see what's going to come out of this," said school board President Rhonda Price, who also is the board's government relations representative.

In other business Jan. 8, the board:

•Welcomed new board member Jason Reffner, who replaced Richard Harris.

•Approved gifts of $27.98 from the Abilene PTO to purchase a tripod for music; $2,000 from Grant and Anita Tidemann for fire suppression hood at The Learning Center; $120 from the intermediate school PTO for a Nearpod subscription; 25 boxes of school supplies from ProjectTeacher.Org for West Elementary; and $1,500 from Infinitec to support co-teaching at the high school.

•Approved the disposal of certain unused books at the high school and approved the disposal of two medical recover beds at West.

•Appointed Roger Joyal as vice president of the board, serving through the remainder of the school year.

•Heard a report from the Sedgwick County Special Education Cooperative.

•Heard Wheatland Elementary students present a skit explaining the board's open chair philosophy.

•Heard a report on Hornet Studios from students and teachers Ty Unrau and Gavin Couvelha.

•Learned that the board will have a retreat from 8 a.m. to noon Feb. 3 at Wheatland and the district would participate in the Wichita Home Show Feb. 8 through 11.

•Heard a mid-year financial report from Superintendent Cory Gibson. Through Dec. 31, the district spent about $419,000 more than the year before.

•Heard a report on the district's 25-year capital outlay plan.

•Tabled until February appointments to committees to replace Harris.

•Approved a motion to give the Valley Center Recreation Commission notice it would be discussing next month the district's facility agreement with the rec commission. The document was approved in 1992. The district learned last fall that a district water line feeds the rec commission's McKay Petrie baseball and softball complex, prompting district officials to revisit the agreement

•Met in executive session for 10 minutes to discuss an employe evaluation.

•Accepted the supplemental contract resignation of Holly Rutter (high school volleyball head coach, May 22).

•Accepted resignations from Sue Ann Wildt (building aide at West, retirement, Jan. 31), Robin Rains (human resources administrative assistant, Jan. 12), Diane Janke (ESOL aide, Jan. 2) and Matt Archer (science teacher at the middle school, retirement, May 22).

•Approved transfers for Natasha Waters (from cook at the high school to satellite kitchen manager at West, $10.30 per hour, Dec. 18), Beulah Dahna (from three hours per day to 4.5 hours per day, food service, Dec. 18), Ashley Davis (from four hours per day to five hours per day, food service, Dec. 18), Carla Clark (from District Office receptionist to human resources administrative assistant, $16.80 per hour, Jan. 15), Whitney McGee (from fourth-grade teacher at Wheatland to second-grade teacher at Wheatland, Aug. 13), Kelsey Bloss (from fifth-grade teacher at the intermediate school to sixth-grade teacher at the middle school, Aug. 13), Jeanette Blackwell (from sixth-grade teacher at the intermediate school to fourth-grade teacher at the intermediate school, Aug. 13) and Jeralynn Howell (from sixth-grade teacher at the intermediate school to fifth-grade teacher at the intermediate school, Aug. 13).

Board member Brad Barbour came to the meeting at 8:10 p.m.