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Centre school board approves revised gift policy

Towns to monitor light usage at ball diamonds

By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

At its Nov. 8 meeting, the board of education of Centre Unified School District #397 approved a revised gift policy.

As revised, the policy reads: "A donation of a gift valued at $250 or more from any organization or individual making a gift to the school district shall have prior approval of the board.

"Gifts with a value of less than $250 may be accepted at the discretion of the superintendent. All gifts will be regarded as district property and reported to the board, regardless of value.

"Persons or organizations desiring to make gifts to the school district should contact the superintendent."

A related policy was revised to state that donations of $250 or more from student organizations shall require prior board approval.

The board instructed superintendent Bob Kiblinger to continue working with school board attorney David Shriver to establish a not-for-profit Centre Education Foundation to receive public gifts to support educational programs and goals of the district.

Kiblinger reported feedback received from Burdick, Lincolnville, and Tampa regarding electric light bills at ball diamonds. The district has covered the cost for more than 10 years.

David Johnson told Kiblinger the switch box at Burdick's ball diamond is kept locked and only two people have keys. Burdick is headquarters to one summer ball team and had a light bill of $256 during the 2003-04 season.

On Kiblinger's visit Nov. 1 to Tampa City Council, members agreed to lock up the pole which is used to trigger the light switch, and to monitor light usage. Three teams used the Tampa field, and the light bill was $1,200.

Lincolnville mayor Victor Burns was present at the board meeting. "We don't want you to cut the strings completely," he said. "We will do a better job of monitoring usage."

Lincolnville was home to two teams, and the light bill for the year was $1,514.

At the October meeting, clerk Peggy Falen reported the electric company will not disconnect meters during the off-season, so the district receives ball diamond bills throughout the year.

Jesse Brunner expressed a desire to get patrons' opinions on the matter of who should cover the cost. Leona Hajek said she would like the district to continue to pay the bills for another year to see what improvements can be made in usage.

Clark Davis said the practice of paying electricity at ball diamonds has been in place for many years. He said the least the board can do is to share the cost. He said the issue should be addressed at budgeting time for the district and municipalities, which is July and August.

Kiblinger reported payment of a property insurance premium of $86,159.32 for the 2004-05 year. He said he learned while reviewing insurance coverage, raising the deductible from $10,000 to $50,000 only would save the district $5,572.

"My goal is to work on the fire rating and get it down to an eight or nine," he said.

The board accepted Holly Hemmer's resignation from her position as part-time custodian, effective Dec. 11.

The board spent 15 minutes in executive session to evaluate the performance of the superintendent. Kiblinger was called in for a few minutes before the meeting reopened.

Centre FFA is collecting items for hurricane relief efforts. The board granted permission to transport items Nov. 20 to a drop-off point at Kansas Coliseum near Wichita.

The board also approved a bus trip to Lawrence by Spanish students to view an exhibition put on by the KU Latin American Studies Department.

The board voted to meet March 14 at the Sunflower Senior Citizens building in Tampa and May 9 at Burdick Legion Hall.

The board spent 15 minutes in executive session with Superintendent Kiblinger to discuss personnel.

After returning to open session, they approved $300 additional pay for transportation director Steve Smith. They also approved a 25 cents per hour increase to head custodian Ron Mille for completing asbestos training.

Board members were encouraged to celebrate American Education Week, this week, by eating breakfast with staff members at Centre schools on Wednesday or Friday.

The next meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13. Unless otherwise announced, all meetings are held in the multi-purpose room at Centre Elementary School.

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