BonnerSprings.com

The Bonner Springs-Edwardsville School District Board of Education welcomed back a familiar face at its Monday night meeting.

The board approved the recommendation of the candidate-search committee and appointed Connie Hadley, who had previously served from 2003-2007, to fill a vacant school board position. Board member David Pierce was absent.

When she didn't run for re-election in April 2007, Hadley was succeeded by Robert DiMaggio, who resigned in June after moving outside the district. The other candidates were Keith Cushman, Starla Newberry, Troy Thompson and Kent Wilson.

The committee of board members, which included Olliea Jarrett, Gregg Gibson and Cliff Brents, interviewed each candidate before making its recommendation.

In other actions Monday, the board:

¢ Approved payment of warrants for $241,921.

¢ Approved publication of the district's proposed 2008-2009 budget, which calls for a 1.48 mill levy increase. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 in assessed property value.

The increase would bring the district's mill levy to 65.401, up from 63.921. The district's total expenditures for the coming school year are projected to be $35,069,449, which is about $4.3 million more than the actual expenditures for 2007-2008.

The increase brings the district to the maximum local-option budget percentage allowed under state law, said Tami Koppang, board clerk.

Brents asked how much delinquent taxes affected the need for the increase, and Koppang said "a bunch: 12 percent" of district property taxes were delinquent.

Koppang said she tried to "cut it really close" and not raise the levy but the State Department of Education said not to do that because "if one or two big taxpayers don't pay" the district would need to raise the levy more drastically.

"I'd rather do this than all of a sudden" raise the levy by 5 mills, Koppang said.

¢ Approved a request to rename the Bonner Springs Head Start school building for Louisa Fletcher. (See related story, Page 1A.)

¢ Met new staff members at Bonner Springs Elementary, Delaware Ridge Elementary and the district central office.

¢ Heard a year-end report on Youth Friends from Larry Berg, district coordinator. Volunteer hours for the program, which pairs community members with students who need extra help with academic tutoring or mentoring, increased in the 2006-2007 school year by 2,477 hours, for a total of 9,710 hours by 187 volunteers helping 747 students.

¢ Approved a bid of $8,453 per month for janitorial services at Delaware Ridge Elementary by PCI Building Services.

¢ Heard a report from Superintendent Robert Van Maren. The remodeling of the central office was dealt a setback when water leaked in after a recent storm. The contractor replaced the carpeting. Half the rooms in Edwardsville Elementary and Bonner Springs Elementary have had their carpeting replaced, Van Maren said.

Black students in the district will be receiving surveys from the organization Pipeline for African-American Teachers, on their interests, including a teaching career, he said.

¢ Approved a $100 donation for a Kansas Association of School Boards campaign to attract new teachers in the state.