BonnerSprings.com

The Bonner Springs-Edwardsville School District has begun to feel the effects of the economic downturn.

Aside from the cost of fuel for its 23 school buses - 14 are driven on a regular school day - the increasing costs of other day-to-day operations are being felt.

Superintendent Robert Van Maren told the district school board at its meeting Monday night that the economy's apparent direction was a good reason to move quickly on acquiring the land for a bus barn for the district, whose buses are now housed in a structure attached to the high school's locker rooms.

"The way prices are going up, that's one reason we're trying to move faster," Van Maren said Tuesday. "I'd like to get something done by the end of next school year."

The superintendent said he estimated the price of the barn, including the purchase of necessary land, would be $1.5 million, though he hoped to complete it for less than $1 million.

Van Maren said he based the cost estimate on a bus barn built recently in Branson, Mo. The barn would include a couple of bays for maintenance work on the buses, and another bay for washing them plus moveable offices. Van Maren said the district was looking at 12 acres near the old Multi Foods mill at 2410 S. Scheidt.

For the same economic reasons compelling it to look for a bus-barn location, the district is looking toward the need for another high school in five or six years.

RSP Associates, an Olathe-based professional planning and education consulting firm, was commissioned by the district last year to produce a report released last month that included a demographic analysis to forecast population trends and enrollment predictions and to determine where the next schools should be built. RSP has begun researching the best location for a new district high school, based on available land, traffic-use patterns and where students will be living.

Van Maren said RSP would probably have the information to the district in six months.

In other actions Monday the board:

¢ Approved two computer purchase proposals, from Apple Computers for $128,826 and from CDWG for $75,300. The Apple proposal includes 75 laptops for staff at the three elementary schools, plus two iMac video editing computers for each elementary school and Clark Middle School, licenses, carrying cases and two-day training from Apple. The purchase of Apple computers was recommended by the district's 21st Century Learning Committee, composed of teachers and building and district administrators. The old computers will be recycled internally in the district and the unused leftover ones will be declared surplus and donated to EnTrust Computers, a Kansas City, Kan., agency that distributes low-income families.

The CDWG deal includes replacement of two computer labs at Edwardsville Elementary School, replacement of the high school computer-aided drafting lab and the addition of extra units, and the replacement of some Clark Middle School teacher computers. The CDWG bid was the lowest of eight bids.

¢ Approved the payment of construction bills for $192,652 and warrants for $457,487.

¢ Approved the purchase proposal for a school bus for $75,903 from Midwest Bus Sales, which was the only bidder.

¢ Approved a recommendation from the district's Wellness Committee to pay for half the monthly membership dues to the YMCA for any district employees who goes to a Y at least 10 times a month. Van Maren said the maximum cost for the initiative, which would take effect when school begins in the fall, would be $5,000.

Tamara Koppang, business manager for the district, said the district's health insurance provider was considering adjusting its rates in light of the new policy.

¢ Heard an end-of-the-year report for Bonner Springs Elementary from Principal Kim Mitchell and Gayle Bertram, assistant principal. See Skate park activities concern school staff, Page 1A.

¢ Heard bond-issue, summer projects and superintendent's updates from Van Maren.

Van Maren said the handicapped lift for the press box at the David Jaynes Field at Bonner Springs High School was completed, at a cost of about $40,000. District staff would soon be taking a walkthrough of Delaware Ridge Elementary to inspect if repairs are eligible under the building's one-year warranty. Needed work includes some heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, cracks in the building walls and drainage issues, Van Maren said.

The high school graduation commencement ceremony for next school year would be moved back one week from this year's, Van Maren said, which he said was the earliest in the state.

There are 227 high school students in 340 sections, and 35 Clark Middle School students enrolled in summer school, Van Maren said, while 142 students are enrolled for elementary summer school.

¢ Held a 10-minute executive session to discuss teacher contract negotiations.

¢ Approved new contracts for Jacqie Brewer, Clark social studies teacher; Jill Cavanaugh, bus driver; Marie Kane and Joy Marts, Delaware Ridge kindergarten teachers; Adam Meschke, Delaware Ridge fourth-grade teacher; Marcelo Miranda, high school custodian; Karen Parrett, purchasing agent; Michael Robinson, Clark lead custodian; Renee Stanley, payroll specialist; Kim Stephens, curriculum and instruction aide; William Turley, Clark and high school band teacher; Susan Wright, Head Start family service advocate; Rob Marriot, Tim Ney, Brian White and Ron Wray, drivers education teachers; and summer school contracts for Julie Day, Bob Gadwood, Katie Greenwood, Scott Hagedorn, Heather Marmon, Pam Stewart, Pam Turner and Anna Wiley.

¢ Approved the resignations of Julie Day, Clark language-arts teacher, assistant volleyball and head basketball coach for Clark; Morgan Grabmiller, child caregiver; Michelle Green, Clark cheerleading coach; Justin Howe, high school assistant baseball coach; Amy Iwert, high school Spanish teacher; Shelly Marx, Bonner Springs Elementary at-risk math aide; Rick Moulin, high school head baseball coach; Rhonda Newton, Edwardsville fourth-grade teacher; Lyndsey Torneden, Clark language-arts teacher; and Ann Decker, high school math teacher, to accept a position as Clark math instructional coach.

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