The October board meeting was held on October 14th, 2024. This meeting included a transportation issue, the Kansas Horizon Award, as well as resignations and hiring of staff.
Southeast of Saline is getting two new buses. One in December, and one next August. They had a meeting about all the rules and regulations. Stephanie Hungate, Southeast transportation director, had some issues regarding footwear for bus drivers. She is recommending a policy for footwear being closed-toed shoes and no sandals. They had a hard time finding a policy in the state and even in the country. They found one in Oregon that required closed footwear in their policy. Justin Knopf, the president of the board, decided to chime in and remind us of the winter that we had last year. The roads were bad and none of the buses or vehicles had four-wheel drive. A lot of kids are being sent out that don’t have four-wheel drive and want to prioritize gas mileage and low cost. They are thinking when they update suburbans that they will get four-wheel drive for safety concerns.
Jill Ade, District Five representative, does not believe that a footwear policy should be added to the policy and questioned why this was brought up. Stephanie says that it was brought up to her. Jill then decided to talk about how truck drivers drive long hours on the interstate in sandals. Jill wants the drivers to be comfortable andis concerned about intruding into personal lives and medical issues. Jimmy Shelby decided to add a comment that if drivers would like they can bring a different pair of shoes for after the bus ride.
Mrs. Gorman thanked the staff for doing a fabulous job being short-handed and helping out a lot. With this being said, Mrs. Gorman brought up that one of the third-grade teachers, Jessica Mikkleson, was admitted to the Kansas Horizon Award. All four principal contracts have been extended for two years. There have been five resignations: Matt Garretson, assistant Baseball Coach, Pam Boyd, Library aid, Angela Koshgarian, music accompanist, and Debra Was, musical assistant director. Additionally Matt Hansen was hired as Musical Assistant Director. This concluded the October board meeting.
