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School board approves dust collection system

In the only action item put to a vote, the Unified School District 333 board of education approved the purchase of a dust collection system to be installed in the Concordia Junior-Senior High School wood shop.
The board accepted the low bid of $40,090 from Hood Htg. Air, Plg. Electric, Inc. for the purchase and installation of a Ventaire CDC dust collection system.
Callabresi Heating & Cooling, Inc. submitted a bid of $47,920.
During the discussion on the purchase of the dust collection system, superintendent of schools Quentin Breese informed the board members that the district was planning to have a full-time woods program beginning next year. Currently it is offered three hours per day.
The hiring of Joshua Pounds as a junior-senior high school woods instructor, a new position, was approved by the board under staff changes for 2019-2020.
The only other action item listed on the agenda for the meeting as the purchase of uniforms for the Concordia High School band.
Breese recommended that action on the uniforms be tabled as he is still negotiating a price.
During the November board meeting, Breese and Concordia High School senior Allison Poore presented information on the uniforms to the board.
It was proposed that 80 uniforms be purchased from Fruhauf Uniforms, Inc., Wichita, at a cost of $47,602.40.
The current band uniforms are in their 21st year of use.
Concordia city manager Amy Lange met with the school board during the meeting, and gave a presentation on the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District.
Established in 2000, TIF has helped fund several projects that met the criteria within the district.
TIF will expire in 2020, and Lange said that the city commission has not considered extending it.
There will be approximately $315,000 in TIF funds remaining when it expires.
Lange said that a project utilizing those TIF funds being considered is the construction of a parking lot on West Sixth Street adjacent to the Brown Grand Theatre.
Demolition of two houses would be necessary for the parking lot. The city owns one of the houses. The other is currently unoccupied.
Also during the meeting, the board toured the middle school/junior-senior high school building.
The board is currently in the process of reviewing possible school improvement concepts and costs estimates for a potential bond election.
Mike Mayo, principal architect with Ebert Mayo Design Group Architects & Planning Consultants, was contracted by the district last year to provide facilities planning services.
The concepts Mayo has presented to the board include renovations to the junior-senior high school building.
The board has conducted two study sessions to discuss plans put together by Mayo, and has a third study sessions scheduled for November 19.
Breese presented the board with two options for the 2019-20 school calendar. A vote on the calendar will be taken during the December meeting.
Also during the information update portion of the meeting, Breese discussed with the board the possible implementation of the Teacher of the Year program. It will also be included as an action item in December.
The board met in executive session with Breese for 30 minutes for confidential business data and 30 minutes, with Breese, for purposes of discussing non-elected personnel.

 

Concordia Blade-Empire

510 Washington St.
Concordia, KS 66901