School breakfast, lunch prices to see slight increase in 2015-16

The cost to feed students at Kimball schools was raised at the regular board meeting for the Kimball Board of Education held July 13.

“Again we try to slowly creep towards our free and reduced amount,” Superintendent Marshall Lewis said. “This year we are recommending we increase breakfast and lunch by five cents.”

Lewis explained to the board that the district is reimbursed at a certain level for those meals and the goal is to equalize the charge across the board.

“Otherwise, technically, our free and reduced is actually covering the cost of our full-pay students,” Lewis said. “The free and reduced are paying more, if you will, than our full pay students - even though they are not paying, the state is.”

Updates to the staff handbook were made at the meeting as well, and according to Lewis, two separate documents for certified and classified staff were combined into one, eliminating overlaps.

“I will ask the staff for feedback,” Lewis added. “I’m sure I made errors combining the two.”

Lewis provided the proposed handbook to the board in a condensed book for evaluation.

One change made was to equalize pricing for staff meals when traveling for conferences and other school business.

Pricing varies, Lewis explained, for travel to metropolitan area such as Omaha and Denver.

“We updated our meal expenses for overnight travel to match the guidelines for Nebraska. We follow the IRS guidelines,” Lewis said. “When you get to Omaha, when you go to Denver, there is a different amount. We don’t want to do all of that, we just want to say that for this meal, this is what it is – not vary by location.”

Unearned leave can also be deducted under the new handbook.

“So you get, for example, eight PTO (paid time off) days at the beginning of the year. Two weeks into the year you can use all of that. Then you have no more remaining,” Lewis said.

For staff that leaves before the end of the year, if the amount of PTO accrued is less than the amount taken, the difference is subtracted from their last paycheck.

“I don’t really think we are going to be in a situation where someone has earned less pay than we would be able to recoup that from,” Lewis added. “Unused PTO becomes sick leave and that issue’s only for sick leave. Annual sick leave is what accumulates.”

Lewis added that there were clarifications to the open-door policy and chain of command in the handbook.

“I did add that scheduling a time to meet with a supervisor is highly encouraged. A lot of times people want to just stop in and they don’t realize there is other things going,” Lewis said.

Lewis further advised the board that while the para professional employees currently in the district have met the training standards of the district, new employees who may require training can jump-start that with Project Para.

“We want all of our para professionals to be highly qualified, and right now everyone meets the expectations we have set,” Lewis added. “If they have a two or four year degree. We don’t feel like we need to have them go through that process.”

Project Para reviews ethical approaches to issue and how to handle certain situations, as well as job scope, according to Lewis. It is a self-guided training that is completed over the internet.

Additionally, there is a training set aside for those employees through the Educational Service Unit #13 for continued education.

“On Aug. 10, we are taking all of our paras and doing a training through the ESU 13. And that will offset one of the days we would normally have them working,” Lewis said. “We really want to get on top of training our paras because a lot of times they are the front line. We are really excited about it.”

The board also:

- Approved the purchase of a skid steer for $11,000.

- Approved several board policies, which require annual review, with no changes. These policies include parental involvement and fee changes, both requiring public hearing.

- Approved changes made to the student and staff handbooks for the coming school year.