Kimberly+Kirk

01-24-10 EDACE 886 Case Study Proposal

Instructor: Jeff Zacharakis Kim Kirk

Kansas State University

The group I am working with is the USD 362 school board. The district covers 320 square miles and includes the northern portion of Linn County and a small section of southern Miami County. The district is a consolidation of LaCygne, Fontana, Parker, and Centerville. The district serves approximately 300 pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students, 220 sixth through eighth grade students and 480 ninth through twelfth grade students. In the late 1960’s, a bond election was passed for the construction of Prairie View Junior-Senior High School. The building was completed in the fall of 1970. In January of 1987 a new building was completed south of the academic building. This building houses several administrative offices, the boardroom, weight rooms, and storage areas for the district food services. Another bond election was passed in 1996 to fund a middle school and fine arts facility. These buildings were opened in September 2000. The school board members establish a vision for the education program, design a structure to achieve that vision, ensure schools are accountable to the community, and strongly advocate continuous improvement in student learning. They are elected to the board in alternating years and serve a four-year term. Three were elected in 2009 and four will be elected in 2010. The school board members come from all walks of life they are farmers, secretaries, doctors, lawyers, homemakers, architects, truck drivers, professors, business owners, and real estate agents. The school board works closely with parents, administrators, education professionals, and other local citizens to create the educational vision we want for our community. In a larger sense, the ultimate role of the local school board is to help preserve our nation’s liberty, prepare our economy for prosperity, and enrich the lives of our people. It is in the schools of each local community that real teaching and learning happen. Prairie View mission statement is "We enable, educate and empower those we serve" Some of the core issues faced by the board are the use of storm shelters by the public, policy changes and the budget. In the cities of LaCygne and Parker the residents were used to knowing they could go to the local schools for safety from storms if they needed. The issue of storm shelters has been on going. Last March the board directed Superintendent Chris Kleidosty to call all local municipalities and inform them not to open district buildings as emergency shelters for public use and to look at the legal ramifications of opening buildings. This action took place after the local fire departments decided they no longer wanted to be responsible for the key to the school buildings. This appeared to be the first that the board or current superintendent knew that the public was using the buildings as storm shelters. Although the district buildings have reinforced storm areas, Kleidosty reported that the buildings are not Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-approved shelters. FEMA approval is required for use by the general population. The debate then became whether to close down the buildings due to liability or open them because they are public buildings. On Monday July 13, 2009, the board took action disallowing the general public use of buildings for emergency storm shelters. This decision was made after consultation with insurance underwriters and attorneys. Currently USD 362 and the cities of Linn County are actively participating in a hazard mitigation plan, which may create new opportunities to create FEMA approved structures, among other things. A few of the policy changes the board has decided to try, or are looking into, are transfer/non-resident policy. If students reside in district, they would have the chance to enter a different elementary school other than the one they reside in boundary wise. If more requests than slots are available a lottery system would be used and that transfer would be considered permanent. Non-resident students would have the same option if there is room after in district residents. This was tried for the current school year. Other changes are having the board meetings go no later than 11:00pm and deciding how many board members and how often they could meet over the phone instead of being present at the meetings. The stakeholders are school board members, parents, staff, students, and the residents of LaCygne and Parker as well as the mayors and city officials of these towns including the emergency preparedness committeewoman and the LaCygne fire chief. I have obtained my information from a variety of sources. I have spoken with a school board member, and a staff member. I have also looked in the archives at minutes from the board meetings for the past year, and the school’s history. I have also looked at past newspaper articles from two different newspapers. I will be attending the board meeting on February 8th at the district office.

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