School enrollment continuing to increase

The Board of Directors of Odessa School District #105 met in the high school library Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at 7 p.m.

The board held a workshop in the district office at 6:30 p.m. to review board policies and procedures, attended by superintendent Dan Read, principal Jamie Nelson, board chairman Ed Deife and board members Heather Valverde and Joe Schlomer. Board members Marcus Horak and Roland Singer were absent.

In personnel matters, the board approved contracts for Ellen Holman as the director of the school musical, Lindsy Starkel as the National Honor Society advisor, Travis Schuh as the high school head boys basketball coach, Kim Kruger as high school head girls basketball coach and LaRee Kuchenbuch as the high school assistant girls basketball coach. The board also approved Policy #2410 on high school graduation requirements on second reading.

Read showed board members a card from the sixth-grade students thanking them for their support of the trip to Camp Wooten last month.

Read reported that the student full-time equivalent enrollment for October was 227.4. Due to the late arrival of science test scores, he said he would report on the district's test scores at the board meeting next month.

Read concluded his report by reminding board members of the legislative dinner the district will be hosting for area administrators and board members on November 17 in the library. Senator Judy Warnick and Representative Tom Dent will attend. The dinner will be catered by the FBLA. Topics to be discussed include funding under the McCleary decision, fair employment compensation throughout the state, local control of levy expenditures and a simple majority for bond issues.

Nelson's report included an actual student head count of 241 and a summary of the recent homecoming activities. Kudos to: science teacher Jeff Wehr for being one of five finalists selected by a statewide selection committee, for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, Terri King for being awarded a $500 scholarship from Northwest Professional Educators to attend the 2016 NCCE Conference in Seattle, local pumpkin-patch owners for the field trips and pumpkins harvested by elementary students and the Parent-Teacher Organization for once again providing every student and staff member with a Titan T-shirt.

Upcoming activities reported by Nelson included college visits for high school students arranged by the district's career and college counselor Kimberly Ryan, the annual Bi-County STEM Challenge hosted by Jeff and Julie Wehr, parent-teacher conferences November 5 and 6, the Veteran's Day assembly on November 10, and the upcoming FFA Halloween Carnival.

Bruce Todd reported the current standings of the various junior high and high school fall sports programs. He also said he will be in charge of NE 1B baseball which will include scheduling league games, coordinating all-league selections and coordinating league/district playoffs. Todd is currently working on establishing procedures for visiting teams with locker room and facility information, directions, parking and other pertinent information prior to arriving for games in Odessa and Harrington.

Justin Parr reported the boilers have been fired up and will be inspected November 3. He asked the board for approval to have Control Solutions Northwest install a natural-gas heater (which the district already owns) in the greenhouse to eliminate the need to run the Ag shop boiler 24 hours a day. The board approved.

Once a few remaining audio speakers arrive and are installed, the new phone/bell/intercom system will be complete, Parr said. The first phase of the installation of the new reader board downtown has begun with the removal of the old pole, he said.

Read presented the ASB balance sheet for September, as well as the financial activity reports for general fund for September showing revenue at $280,443 and expenditures at $436,179 for an ending balance of $500,594. He presented computer printouts and balances for all funds.

Due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the next regular board meeting will be held Wednesday, November 18, 2015 at 7 p.m. in the high school library. The board scheduled a board workshop at 6:30 p.m. before the regular meeting.

The board approved the first reading of Policy #6126 – Reimbursement for Goods and Services as recommended by Read. Changes to the policy included establishing the district's mileage rate at the federal rate of $0.575 per mile and increasing the district's daily travel meal allowance from $30 per day to $50 per day.

Also approved was resolution #2-2015-2016 - Assigned Fund Balance Authority, reading, in part, as follows: "WHEREAS, The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 54.... requires that governmental entities classify their fund balance as Non-Spendable, Restricted, Committed, Assigned, or Unassigned. WHEREAS, Assigned Fund Balance represents those amounts that are intended by the school district to be used for specific purposes but are neither restricted nor committed...WHEREAS, GASB 54 allows for the governing body itself (the board), or by a body or official who has been delegated the authority by the governing, to assign fund balance amounts for a specific purpose or purposes...The Odessa School District Board of Directors hereby bestows the ability to designate assigned fund balance to the District Superintendent indefinitely from the approval of this resolution. Adopted on the 28th day of October, 2015."