Kimball School Board OKs Two Projects For High School

The Kimball School Board approved two projects for the high school during its most recent regular meeting June 15.

First, an LED lighting project and renovation project on the junior high/senior high walls were approved and will begin shortly. Mohr Ranch and Construction received the bid to remove 5780 square feet of carpet in the hallways and texture drywall, prime, and paint the walls for a total of $18,500.

In addition, Strauch Electric received the bid to remove old lighting fixtures and install new LED lighting in various classrooms.

Two public hearings were held with no comment from the public, and the board reaffirmed policies addressed during the hearings with no changes.

The policies are KPS Board Policy 1001.02 Parental Involvement and KPS Board Policy 501.06 Student Fees.

Meanwhile, Superintendent Trevor Anderson is compiling a list of the district’s surplus property, and a list of that property will be presented at the July board meeting.

Anderson also prepared, and the board approved, the district’s job descriptions, which were lacking or incomplete with the most recent update having been made in 2012.

A lengthy discussion centered around transportation, including vehicles, busses, in-town routes and bus stops.

Anderson explained during the meeting the costs associated with the in-town bus. He later went into more detail in response to an email from the Observer.

“This past year,” he wrote, “we had an average of 12 stops on the in-town bus route, depending on student ridership.”

He then focused on the costs of the in-town route, explaining, “Depending on maintenance and fuel cost, a bus route costs approximately $20,000-$25,000 to operate on an annual basis.”

School improvement coordinator Heidi Chesley reviewed the NWEA test results from this past spring. The students were tested in math, reading, language usage and science.

Chelsey said, “We had great growth across the board.”

NWEA MAP data will be posted to the school website in the near future.

The Superintendent Report for June provided an encouraging financial update indicating that 51.05% of the budget has been spent with 75% of the fiscal year completed. With only 25% of the year remaining, there is 48.95% of the budget unspent. Actual Year to date expenditures are $5,463.917.87.

While this year the General Fund has a cash balance of $2,840,787.88, in 2020 at this time the balance was $1,771,178.63, and looking back another year, the cash balance in 2019 was $1,431,008.76.

The next regular board meeting will be held July 12 at 6:30 at the Kimball County Transit Building.