School board approves purchase of truck

Following a vote to amend the agenda, the Concordia Unified School District 333 board of education voted 4-0 to approve appointing Mike Cleveland to fill a vacant seat.
Board members Nancy Owen and Kevin Pounds were not in attendance for the meeting.
Cleveland, who was elected to fill the Position 3, Sub-District 3 seat on the board in the November 7 general election, will serve out the unexpired term of Tony Miller.
Miller, who was serving a second term on the board, resigned from his position in July after accepting a job as an assistant football coach at Concordia High School.
The school board made the decision during its regular meeting in August to leave the seat vacant until after the election.
Cleveland, who also serves on the Cloud County board of commissioners, filed to run for the Position 3, Sub-District 3 seat and joined Miller and Jerlynn Johnston on the ballot. He won the election with 630 votes.
The results of the election will be made official when the county commissioners canvass the ballots on Monday.
Cleveland is expected to be sworn in to position on the board during the December meeting.
In other action taken during the meeting, the board approved the purchase of a 2023 Chevrolet Express 3500 truck from Briggs Auto Group, Inc., Manhattan, at a cost of $50,149.00.
Superintendent of schools Quentin Breese reported to the board members that the truck was driven to the school, tested with the liftgate and aligned to the district’s dock.
Breese also reported to the board that the other bid received was for an Isuzu cargo van from Kansas Truck Equipment Company, Inc., at a cost of $92,997.
The board was informed that Farm Country Ford was unable to find a vehicle and did not submit a bid and that Concordia Chevrolet located a truck on Car Finder but the cost with no box or liftgate was $52,000.
A resolution stating that USD 333 agrees to be a participating employer in a ESSDACK Consortium 403(b)457(b) retirement plan, to be effective as of the required implementation date as set forth under the plan, was approved.
The negotiated agreement for the ESSDACK plan states that effective January 1, 2024, USD 333 will match dollar-for-dollar the stated amount of $25 per payroll for all certified and classified employees enrolled in the plan. All employees will be vested immediately.
The board also approved an interlocal agreement with Smoky Hill Education Service Center, an early graduation request from Conner Boden, changing the March meeting from March 11 to March 18 because of spring break, and a board of education policy on the enrollment of nonresident students.
Included in the classified staff changes approved by the board was the resignation of Zoe Brichalli as head dance coach and assistant spirit squad coach and the hiring of Kelsey Crain as assistant  girls’ wrestling coach and Samantha Dillow and Rachel Franz as co-directors of the Concordia Afterschool Program.
Concordia High School physics students Hattie Blackwood, Lacie Duvall and Zach Finlayson and instructor Quentin Clark gave a presentation to the board on a zipline experiment they had conducted.
The students were developing a theory on gravity, friction and the physics involved with moving objects through experiments that included constructing a zipline at the school for action figures and then traveling to the Wildwood Adventure Park in Manhattan for zipline tours.
“Really, everyone in the physics class contributed. I had a person for statistics. I had a person for planning stuff,” Clark said. “This was very much a student-led project.”
The board also heard a presentation on the new Key Club that has formed at Concordia High School, from the sponsor Alexis Koops.
The Key Club is a student-led organization for students to provide service, build character and develop leadership.
Members of the Key Club will be involved in several service projects in the community.
The board met in two separate executive sessions during the meeting. One for 10 minutes for the purpose of discussing non-elected personnel and one for 15 minutes with Breese and Concordia Junior-Senior High School principal Chad Eshbaugh to discuss matters relating to actions adversely or favorably affecting a person as a student.