Staff writer
Following the recommendation of Superintendent Lee Leiker, the USD 408 Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to join the virtual school program offered through Educational Services and Staff Development of Central Kansas.
The ESSDACK program allows the district to receive state funding for students who take classes through virtual school.
Joining the program the district will pay ESSDACK the base state aid per pupil plus an additional five percent of that figure. Then ESSDACK returns 10 percent to the district. The Kansas legislature has yet to rule on the amount of state aid that will be allocated to schools in the state budget.
Students who take virtual classes will be responsible for taking state assessment tests through the program, but the scores of those tests will count toward USD 408’s Adequate Yearly Progress standards, Leiker said.
Leiker said he preferred the ESSDACK program to other virtual school providers because ESSDACK partners with districts.
If a student from another district wanted to enroll in USD 408’s virtual school program, they would still enroll through their own district.
“Across the state, people are trying to pad their enrollment,” Leiker said of other districts’ use of virtual school programs.
Another advantage is that ESSDACK tests students before they enroll in virtual school to measure their competency for the loose restriction of an Internet school program.
“Over 50 percent of students in virtual school drop out,” Leiker said.
Students who cannot attend regular school because of extenuating circumstances such as a car accident can make up classes through virtual school, Leiker said.
The ESSDACK virtual school program is available for students in grades three through 12.
In other business:
- A computer applications class, currently taught by Jennifer Janzen at Marion Middle School for a semester to eighth-graders, will be moved to the high school and offered as a yearlong elective. Janzen told Leiker that a semester is not long enough to teach all the competencies in the class. Keith Collett and Duane Kirkpatrick voted against the move.
- One-half of a fine arts credit was waived for MHS senior Shayla Rahe. Rahe took forensics as a class for one semester, but thought another of her classes counted as fine arts that did not. The board allowed the credit to be waived because of Rahe’s continued participation in forensics, plays, musicals, and other fine arts programs.
- An out-of-district request was approved for Cole Richards who will attend Marion Elementary School kindergarten this fall. Tonya Richards of Hillsboro applied for the request because she works in Marion.
- A resignation from maintenance worker and groundskeeper Tod Siebert was approved in the consent agenda.
- MHS principal Brenda Odgers gave a presentation about senior Ariel Depler accepting a “Yes I Can! Award” April 27 in Washington, D.C.
- The board met for 45 minutes in executive session to discuss personnel. No actions were taken after the discussion.
The next board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. June 13.