RE-1 School Board Approves Senior Trip, Hears Reports

By Chris Sorensen

KCP Staff

February 27, 2004

The Kiowa County School District RE-1 Board of Education met in regular session Monday evening with board members Keith Crow, Bill Woelk, Ralph Berry, John Weirich, Marty Miller and Larry Watts present. Board member Marlynn Eikenberg was absent.

Larry Gifford, Athletic Director, submitted a written report to the board in which he praised improvements shown by middle school athletes, and their coaches, Betsy Barnett, Janel Randel and Montee Tinnes. Both high school basketball teams would enter the district tournament seeded second. Five high school wrestlers, Hunter Uhland, Tyler McCracken, Cody Cordova, Kelly Lindholm and Shawn Kraft, qualified for the State Tournament.

Gifford also informed the board that Barnett was working to get input from CHSAA regarding girls’ spring softball. A presentation will be made to CHSAA in April; however a decision may not be made at that time.

Barnett submitted a written High School Administrative Assistant report noting that a reporter from a Denver newspaper had interviewed her and a student about dual credit program in which a student is able to satisfy requirements for both high school and college credits via a single class. She stated the district is on the "cutting edge" with such programs.

The winter sports teams were submitted for CHSAA’s Academic All-Team program. The girls’ basketball team was submitted with a combined grade point average of 3.51, while the wrestling team had a 3.34 GPA and the boys’ basketball team had a 3.23 GPA. Barnett also plans to enter the spring teams, including baseball, track and music, in the competition as well.

Both school libraries were named High Performance Libraries by the Colorado Library Association for the fourth consecutive year. In the past, such honors have included a monetary award, however no such award was made this year.

Brenda Stoker, Elementary Administrative Assistant, also presented a written report, which stated that Stormi Nash and April Turcotte were winners of the VFW Coloring Contest. Third grade students will be completing CSAP reading tests February 23 and 24. Other CSAP tests will be completed between March 8 and April 1. The eighth grade Knowledge Bowl team placed fourth at Karval, while two seventh grade teams placed second and third.

Watts expressed his appreciation for the jobs that Gifford, Barnett and Stoker were doing, and also noted his belief that the district was well-represented by the coaches and athletes at the state wrestling tournament.

Board members approved plans for the senior trip as outlined in previous meetings. The students will travel by train from Lamar to California, where they will visit Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, spend a day at the beach and participate in other activities.

The board also approved Shannon Ellenbarger as a substitute teacher, and Janie Bush and Judy Bean as bi-lingual education aides.

The meeting was closed to the public at 7:25 p.m. The agenda cited "HVAC Project-C.R.S. 24-6-402(4)(e) Determination of positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations and instruction of negotiators," as the reason to close the meeting, which was re-opened to the public at 7:47 p.m.

Glenn Smith, Superintendent, stated that health insurance premiums would increase by two percent in the coming year. In the previous two years, premiums had increased by 15 and seven percent. Smith also said he would be discussing options with the staff to create an additional savings for the district, including increasing the deductible. According to information presented at the meeting, 80 percent of covered employees did not meet deductible requirements last year, so an increase in the deductible would have no immediate impact on most employees. Crow stated that higher deductibles will help mitigate future premium increases.

Smith stated that bids for electric work at the athletic fields came in higher than expected, so additional bids would be reviewed. Following a recent light snow, leaks were discovered in the roof of the old gym, which will need to be addressed. A new sever will be installed which will provide the staff with access to an online grade record system, among other features.

Smith concluded the meeting with an overview of the system currently used for teacher evaluations, and explained how he conducted evaluations with individual teachers. He also noted changes he would be making in the evaluation process to help teachers improve their skills.

The meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m. The next regular meeting will be held March 30.