USD 333 board informed of district property purchase

Superintendent of schools Quentin Breese reported to the Concordia Unified School District 333 board of education during a regular meeting on Monday night that the district had purchased a house at 427 West 10th St.
The property, which had been foreclosed on, was acquired by the district through a Cloud County Sheriff’s sale on Monday.
During a special meeting last Friday, the board approved giving Breese and district treasurer/business office manager Ronda Gumm authority to enter into real estate contracts on behalf of the school district.
“The property was listed in the Blade-Empire to be sold through a sheriff's auction. The property is located between property the school district already owns and we anticipate this property to be utilized for an extension of our current daycare facilities or additional parking for the high school,” Breese said.
USD 333 has now purchased seven properties located in the block north of the Concordia Junior-Senior High School.
A home located at 920 Cedar St. was purchased by the school district in May 2018.
During the fall of 2020, the board approved the purchase of properties located at 415, 421, 435 and 437 West 10th St., and one located at 912 Cedar St.
The land acquired was included in plans for possible facilities improvements and additions.
In the only action item on the agenda for the meeting, the board approved a request for early graduation from Kenya Flesher, who will have completed all of her requirements for graduation by the end of the fall semester.
Concordia Junior-Senior High School counselor Bailey Echer presented information to the board on Reality U, Parent/Guardian University and the Certified Technical Education (CTE) programs offered by the district.
Reality U is a 75-minute interactive and engaging personal finance simulation that eighth grade, 10th grade and 11th grade students participated in.
Students imagine their life as a 26-year-old and complete an online lifestyle survey. The information is entered into the software, along with the student’s grade point average, to create a unique and individualized future scenario.
Each scenario includes the student’s information as well as marital and family status.
Students are given a checkbook register to track their monthly purchases from the 12 booths representing services and/or products that adults typically must purchase or consider each month. The checkbook register can’t fall below zero.
The program engages students to help them understand the importance of how their performance in school today impacts their future.
“For some of them it was a real eye-opener,” Echer said.
Parent/Guardian University seeks to educate and empower families and partners, advocates and lifelong educators in their students' education through free courses, resources, events and activities.
Echer said that the district recently has its first Parent/Guardian University event and hopes to meet monthly.
The first of the meetings dealt with anxiety.
On the CTE programs, Echer reported that the district had its first advisory committee meeting last week.
The six CTE pathways offered in USD 333 include biotechnology and agriculture, business finance, construction and design, digital media, health science and manufacturing.
It was reported to the board during the meeting that two teachers in the district have been nominated for 2023 Kansas Teacher of the Year.
The nominees are Katie Nease, a third-grade teacher at the Concordia Elementary School and Jenny Acree, an English and language arts teacher at Concordia High School.