Board Digest

Board Digest

February 19, 2024

 

Following each board of education meeting, the Director of Communications recaps the board meeting in the Board Digest. To view the full agenda, click here.  


Learning Without Limits

Board Appreciation

The Seaman Agriculture Department celebrated School Board Appreciation Month by donating plants from the greenhouse to each board member as a token of their appreciation. Students in the Plant Systems Pathway take Horticulture and then Floriculture & Greenhouse Management. In this class, they have the opportunity to propagate a huge variety of plants. These plants being presented at the February board meeting were propagated from large parent plants in the fall and ones just like them will be sold at their Spring Plant Sale on April 24 and 25. This sale will also include many varieties of vegetables and bedding plants started from seed by SHS Students. The profit from this sale will be used to continue to foster student learning through hands-on opportunities. Part of the profits are also being set aside as we work towards our large goal of building a new greenhouse that will be able to fit our other large classes within the Plant Systems Pathway. "We hope you enjoy the plants and want you to know how much we appreciate all that you do for USD 345," said SHS Teacher Madison Koenen.


SMS Award

The board recognized Seaman Middle School for winning the Pauline J Barker School Award through the Living the Dream, Inc. This award is named in honor of Pauline J. Barker, who was one of the founders of Living the Dream, Inc. She saw the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a vehicle for the empowerment and improvement of individuals and their communities. She fervently believed that his dream could best be accomplished through the educational process. Seaman Middle School received this award for exemplifying the value and power of Dr. King's message.


Superintendent Remarks

Mr. Willson reminded the board of the SEAF Banquet scheduled for February 29 at Seaman Middle School. The SEAF Board will be recognizing our teacher mini-grant winners and student scholarship winners while enjoying entertainment provided by Seaman High School students. Mr. Willson will also be presenting a State of the District which will include the launch of a new employee recognition program. 

Brad Willson
Brad Willson
Superintendent

Vice President Remarks

Christy Weiler updated the board on her recent visit to Washington DC for the NSBA Equity Symposium and Advocacy Institute. Christy shared how beneficial it was to have such a diverse team of board members and others from Kansas attend. "I think what was so great about this, is that we all came from different sizes of schools," said Christy. We had a superintendent there, Frank was in his role as past-president for NSBA, and we had KASB legal and the executive director there." With Christy's role at KSDE, she was able to share the perspective of how cuts would affect the state as well as the Seaman School District. "We have about 500,000 kids at almost 50% free and reduced so the cuts to title funding would really hurt us." She stated that zeroing out title II and title III funding would be about a $20 million cut to Kansas. Click here to view her presentation slides 

Christy Weiler
Christy Weiler
Vice President


Board of Education Consent Agenda

The consent agenda contains items packaged into one agenda item. They are often routine and garner very little discussion. A full list of consent items can be found by visiting the BoardDocs website 


Discussion Items 


Action Item

  • Consider Bids: Mathes HVAC - APPROVED
  • Consider Bids: WI HVAC, Ceiling, Lights - APPROVED
  • Policy Updates - APPROVED
  • Enrollment Fees/Driver's Ed Fees - APPROVED
  • Appoint Michelle Caudill and Christy Weiler to Negotiations Team - APPROVED

Next 345 Board of Education Meeting

The next regularly scheduled board meeting will take place on March 18. It is scheduled to start at 6:00 pm.

Regular board meetings are scheduled on the second Monday of each month at 6:00 pm, with the exception of February, March, and April, which will be held on the third Monday. Regular meetings may be adjourned to another time and place when necessary. Special meetings may also be scheduled on an as-needed basis. 

Regular meetings typically take place at the Seaman Education Center. When meeting locations change, notice is sent out to the public and made available online. Board agendas go live on the Friday afternoon prior to the regular board meeting. 

All regular meetings are streamed live and available on the district's YouTube Channel. A recap of the meeting is also made available through the Board Digest

Both in-person and digital public comment are accepted at regular board meetings. The public comment agenda item may be found in the meeting agenda

Remaining regular meetings for the 2023-24 school year:

March 18, 2024
April 15, 2024
May 13, 2024
June 10, 2024
July 8, 2024


Board of Education Agenda

To review previous board of education agendas, click here.


How Can I Watch a Previous Board of Education Meeting?

The video from the meeting will be available by the Tuesday at noon following the meeting. The video can be viewed by clicking here.

 

Seaman School District USD #345
901 NW Lyman Rd | Topeka, KS 66608