Terry edwardsMMS football coach
Staff writer
In one of the shorter meetings of the year, Marion-Florence USD 408 board of education unanimously re-elected Chris Sprowls as board president Monday.
Board member Lyle Leppke was absent.
The board also re-elected Sarah Cope as vice president, Becky Summerville as clerk, and Martin Tice as treasurer.
Cope also was elected as District School Improvement Team representative. Leppke retained his seat as Marion County Special Education representative and Keith Collett was named his alternate.
Jan Helmer stayed as TEEN representative with Kathy Meierhoff as her alternate.
The Marion Middle School football team filled its coaching vacancies by hiring former assistant Terry Edwards as head coach. Former star MHS lineman Drew Looper was named assistant.
In other business:
- An increase mileage reimbursement from 50.5 cents to 55 cents per mile to comply with federal regulations.
- A presentation was made by MHS FEA sponsor Mary Griffith and FEA member Kristen Steinborn.
- No changes were made to school lunch prices after raising them in 2008-09. USD 408 Superintendent Lee Leiker said the district will be financially OK without raising prices.
- Accounting principles waiver and all school handbook policy changes were approved.
- Meeting times for the 2009-10 school year were set at 7 p.m., the second Monday of each month. The December meeting will be at 7 a.m.
- Leiker estimated pool expenses from July-December to be roughly $41,000. Costs will be split by the city and school district. “It’s better than we thought it would be,” Leiker said.
USD 408 check forged
A check issued by Marion Elementary School out of the activity fund has been forged.
Marion-Florence USD 408 superintendent Lee Leiker notified the board of education Monday a check for $530.66 had been forged and cashed in Salina.
Leiker said the account with Marion National Bank has since been closed. The bank sent out warning across the country to other banks about the forgery.
Leiker said the bank had been working to resolve the problem.
“It was caught in time so there was no financial loss to the district,” he said.
Funding drops 2%
Leiker also reported that the state issued another decrease in school funding, this time 2 percent.
That amounts to roughly $61,000 that the district will not receive for its 2009-10 general fund budget.
Leiker said with strong planning and fiscal responsibility, the district was in “OK shape.”
“We are trying to think ahead and be pro-active,” he said. “We are prepared.”
Leiker also said there could be possible cuts in the future, but did not anticipate any at this time.