As physical changes continue inside of USD 253 Emporia school buildings, changes in leadership are also on the horizon following the USD 253 Board of Education’s most recent meeting Wednesday night.
As part of the consent agenda portion of the meeting board members unanimously approved a series of hirings, resignations and retirements. Among the resignations was Emporia Middle School Principal Steven Bazaan who has led the school since July of 2017.
Bazaan’s resignation comes as Assistant Principal Emily Baker will also be moving on after she was named the new Principal of Riverside Elementary following the resignation of interim Principal Katie Adams. USD 253 Superintendent Allison Anderson Harder could not offer specifics to the shuffle of leadership, however, she says the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with hostility towards the teaching profession as a whole may be playing a factor.
Also during the consent agenda portion of the meeting, the board approved the hiring of Brad Jones to fill the vacant Assistant Principal position left by Baker for the 2022-23 school year. More information is available at KVOE.com.
In other business, Board members received the latest update on the nearly $80 million Building For the Future renovation project. According to Eric Woltje of McCownGordon Construction, the Jones Early Childhood Education Center is roughly 98 percent complete with some kitchen equipment and a final inspection by the Kansas Fire Marshall the only remaining items. Woltje also reports that work at Emporia High School is nearly 85 percent complete.
Work on Logan Ave. Elementary School is nearing the 40 percent mark, however, Woltje says the discovery of asbestos has slowed that project’s progress slightly.
Work on Emporia Middle School is set to begin in June following board approval of the project’s guaranteed maximum price – just over $18.6 million – during Wednesday’s meeting. This follows approval of the GMP at Village Elementary School back in March and means 94 percent of the Building for the Future complete master budget has now been utilized with approval of the final two budgets still remaining. Woltje adds the district has managed to remain under budget thus far despite some projects exceeding original estimates.
He says the district should be proud of this accomplishment.
Programming for renovations at Timmerman and Riverside should tentatively begin next month.
In separate matters Wednesday, the board received an update on education redesign efforts from staff and leadership at Riverside Elementary School. Riverside, along with Timmerman Elementary School, was approved for redesign as part of the Apollo III cohort last July.
Board members also approved the adoption of core math resources for preschool, elementary and secondary levels as presented by the district’s teaching and learning department. Board approval will see the following resources integrated into district schools come Fall.
Preschool – Eureka2 – $46,325.0
Elementary – enVision Math – $377,221.14
Emporia Middle School – Reveal Math – $127,917.76
Emporia High School – HMH into AGA (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt into Algebra 1/Geometry/Algebra 2) – $156,434.14
Bids for special education classroom furniture at Emporia High School, the purchase of two new school buses, a resolution authorizing the sale of general obligation bonds as a cost saving measure and a renewal of health insurance consultant services for 2023 were also approved.
The USD 253 Board of Education will reconvene Wednesday, Apr. 27 at 6:30 pm inside the Mary Herbert Education Center.
