The USD 253 Board of Education received a snapshot of some of the most immediate maintenance needs for district facilities as part of their regular board meeting Wednesday evening.
During the meeting, Projects and Maintenance Director Cory Nicolet presented a list of “immediate big projects maintenance needs” related to all district buildings, focusing specifically on needs at Emporia High School and the Mary Herbert Education Center. While speaking with KVOE News Nicolet explained the list is the equivalent of a “physical” for district facilities of everything they have “looked at” to this point.
According to Nicolet every project contained within the list will be submitted independently if it is for bid or will be done independently if it is within his department’s ability to “take care of.” Much of the funding for said projects will come from the district’s capital outlay fund, however, Assistant Superintendent for Business Operations Pam Stranathan tells KVOE News it is not feasible for said projects to all be done within the same fiscal year.
With that in mind, she says the work will likely have to be broken up over a significant timeframe.
Stranathan says there is already some work underway on items contained within the list with more planning to be done in the near future. Nicolet will return to the board’s next regular meeting to present more information on immediate needs for the district’s various elementary school buildings.
Currently, the list contains an estimated $5.2 million in immediate needs with Emporia High School accounting for more than $3.6 million alone.
In other business, board members reviewed and approved upcoming changes to Emporia High School’s graduation credits to fall in line with recent mandated changes by the Kansas State Board of Education. Among the changes, students will be required to attain 24 credit hours to graduate with some minor curriculum changes including students needing:
*Four units of ELA/Communications including 3.5 of ELA and .5 of communications.
*One unit of STEM elective
*One total unit of physical education and health: .5 credits each.
*.5 financial literacy.
The new requirements will also include “post-secondary assets” and all students will have to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) regardless if they plan to pursue a post-secondary education. While the changes allow any student, family or school to opt out of that requirement, USD 253 Board President Jami Reever felt it was an unnecessary addition by the state board of education.
The changes will go into effect for the class of 2028 and can be viewed in their entirety under the board docs tab at USD253.org.
Separately Wednesday, the board approved Reever as the district’s representative on the Emporia Recreation Center steering committee and Dr. Anna Lasota as the district’s at-large community appointee. District employees Randy Wells, Tell Kirk and Lee Baldwin were also appointed to serve as ex-officio, non-voting, representatives.
The USD 253 Board of Education will reconvene on Wednesday, March 27 at 6 pm inside of the Mary Herbert Education Center.
