Garden City Public Schools Board of Education met during a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, December 4, 2023. The meeting was held at the Educational Support Center Board Room, 1205 Fleming Street.
Mark Rude was recognized for 12 years of service and Jennifer Standley was recognized for 8 years of service on the Board. This is their last month on the USD 457 Board of Education.
The Board received a building presentation from the Garden City Virtual Academy. The majority of students in the program transfer within the district. The Virtual Academy is often the last chance for a student to graduate. Students often transfer to the Virtual Academy due to the 21-credit requirement. Their graduation rate and dropout rate correlate with students who have transferred from Garden City High School and Garden City Achieve. The Virtual Academy also enrolls a large number of juniors who are working towards early graduation. These students typically have higher GPA’s and are often college bound.
Monica Diaz, Title Programs and Services Coordinator, provided a KELPA Data report. The Kansas English Language Proficiency Assessment (KELPA) is part of the federal elementary and secondary education legislation for English learners. KELPA measure English language proficiency in four domains: listening, reading, writing, and speaking.
Gina Galpin, Director of Special Education, provided a report on Significant Disproportionality. States must annually collect and examine data to determine whether significant disproportionality based on race or ethnicity is occurring in the state and each school district of the state. This is in with respect to the identification of children as children with disabilities, including the identification of children as children with a particular disability; the placement of children with disabilities in particular educational settings and the incidence, duration, and type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions.
Under New Business, the board approved an agreement for $27,400 between Echelon Front and the district for a full-day workshop; and GMCN Design Fees for Roofing Projects across the district. They approved the following Curriculum Council New Course Offerings: ECHD 105 Early Childhood Education, Information Support and Services Workplace Experience, Cyber Security I, Foundations of Information Technology, and Computing Systems. They also received information on a Social Worker plan for the district. The plan calls for the integration of licensed social workers into every K-12 school in the district to support student holistic development.
The board approved the following items during the meeting. They include: Minutes of the November 6 regular meeting; a grounds tractor from Kanamak Equipment for $34,675.54; Kenneth Henderson Middle School Flooring from Star Commercial Flooring for $131,270.47; two Hustler Mowers from Hustler Turf for $30,832.00; Board of Education Policy JBCC, Enrollment of Nonresident Students; and technology items to dispose of.
The next regularly meeting of the Board of Education will be Thursday, December 21, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. in the Board Room at the Educational Support Center, 1205 Fleming Street.
The complete agenda can be found here.
The Board of Education meeting can be viewed here.